matt's pictures

odd moments

I’m grouping these together because I feel like it, and because I can. They’re from two recent Odd Salon events. There’s a kind of coverage that one of the regulars (maybe a fellow?), Alexander, does very well: the long lens, close portraits of all the speakers (if I knew what his web site was, I’d link it here). I tried my hand doing that, and found that I was much more interested in watching the talks. So now, when I have my camera, I might shoot a couple pictures of whoever is speaking, but I’m also just as interested in all the things that happen around the event.

There’s a set of sort of symbols I associate with Odd Salon. The Curator’s chair. The Podium. The light in the wings, and the odd sunbursts. They’re a thing. Anyway, here’s today.

(There’s also the angle of the people that are actually working the event, the food vendor and the bartenders; that’s a different essay.)

Posted on 2018-06-28T06:36:45Z GMT

RAD volume 6

This was the second one of these I went to, and the first one I’ve taken any pictures at (that I recall; the last one was last november). It was just this incredible, engaged group that was gathered to talk about art that was happening in the media right then; Childish Gambino’s This is America had just dropped, as had Dirty Computer and one other thing I can’t remember; I think most people talked about the first two. Good discussion, but you really had to be there.

There’s always a theme, and the theme is different every time; the upcoming salon is on wellness. I might talk about book making, and how putting them together is a sort of therapy for me; a way to tie things up at the end of a project.

Speaking of projects: it feels like PROJECT SAN PABLO is coming to a close. I need to get some things scanned, and work on some editing, and then I’ll probably do a zine with the results.

Posted on 2018-06-26T06:08:47Z GMT

dropping in to the mission

This was one of those days on my way to somewhere, when I found myself with some time to kill in the mission. Time to kill, and distance to cover, I suppose. It’s nice to get there during the golden hour, just to see what’s happening. The next post will be about something, I promise. But for now, we’re just in this liminal space.

Posted on 2018-06-25T06:53:45Z GMT

sunday with friends

This was maybe a month ago? again, I could look at my calendar and try to figure it out, but meh. This is a real different post than the last one, but I think it’s just as valuable. It’s important to remember what we have, and what we’re fighting for. Truth and beauty in the people around us. Anyway.

Annie was in town, and the ladies did a bunch of stuff (trip to Sonoma, wine tasting, some kind of pedicures? maybe?), but sunday the whole group of us hung out. Brunch at portal, bottomless mimosas, followed by a brief nap and refresher, trip to the corner store for supplies, and then over to Roger and Olivia’s for multiple kinds of grilled cheeses, literally grilled on a charcoal grill. They were amazing and I was far too busy eating them to take pictures of them.

Today was my first day my new job, working for Chime (the banking startup). It seems like it’s gonna be really nice working there. I think I’m gonna enjoy doing the work they have for me. And that’s all the work talk you get.

Anyway, here’s today.

Posted on 2018-06-21T06:44:34Z GMT

today's anti-fash action

Just got back from this, posting from the phone. Me and about 1000 other people showed up and blocked the road in front of the ICE offices in San Francisco. It may even still be going; the cops were just directing traffic around the crowd; they didn’t seem keen on trying to break it up.

I’ve tried (mostly) to keep faces out of these; because we’re about six months shy of a full blown police state, and there’s no telling how photos of people at protests might be used against the protestors. About half the people there were also broadcasting, though, meaning that me keeping faces out altogether is pretty pointless. The local news media showing up seemed almost redundant. That said, I’m glad they were there.

I couldn’t tell you how many people were there. More than 500 and less than 5000 is my best guess. I wish it was more; I wish the whole damn city were in the streets, yelling “No Justice, No Peace!” and “Immigrants are welcome here!”. This was good though.

Ice protest 2018