Welcome to Bay Area PhotoScene!

This is your source for information on San Francisco Bay Area exhibitions, talks, artist receptions, and workshops for people interested in photography. Our focus is on events that are free or are sponsored by non-profit/educational organizations.

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Meanwhile ... last chance to see these events! They will end within the next 2 weeks:

WOLFGANG TILLMANS: TO LOOK WITHOUT FEAR

Event Type: SHOW

2023-11-11 to 2024-03-23  

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

151 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Adult   $25.00, 65+   $22.00, 19-24   $19.00

Hours: Mon 10:00 AM-5:00 PM;  Tue - Wed 12:00 AM-12:00 AM;  Thu 1:00 PM-8:00 PM;  Fri - Sun 10:00 AM-5:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (415) 357-4000
email: visit@sfmoma.org
website: www.sfmoma.org


Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear is the most comprehensive exhibition of the influential artist’s work to date, charting the development of his practice from the 1980s through the present, across every genre of photography imaginable. From early experiments with a photocopier to ecstatic nightlife images, intimate portraits, incisive documentation of social movements, and innovative cameraless abstractions, Tillmans’s broad subject matter reveals his steadfast commitment to engage unflinchingly with the world.

Tillmans plays an integral role in designing and installing his exhibitions. This survey features both framed and unframed photographs arranged in constellations that extend from floor to ceiling, magazine pages taped to the wall, video work, and his Truth Study Center table installations. This approach embraces the concept of visual democracy, where, as Tillmans puts it, “If one thing matters, everything matters.”

JOINT CUSTODY

Event Type: SHOW

2024-01-06 to 2024-03-23  

Slash Art

1150 25th st, Building B, San Francisco, CA 94107

Event is Free

Hours: Thu - Sat 11:00 AM-6:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (415) 654-5179
email: info@slashart.org
website: www.slashart.org


Joint Custody features works by artists Natalia Lassalle-Morillo and Lacey Lennon that center frameworks of performance as tools to (re)examine personal histories. Scripts are saved things: memories revisited as dialogue, setting, and action. The dynamic between actor, director, and camera is a mechanism for negotiating the entangled relationships of daughters and mothers, the tension between our interior emotions and the selves we perform in public. Each take is a conversation that allows the scene to unfold differently. A reciprocal opportunity to rewrite a narrative that once felt fixed or to reveal latent ones.

Lacey Lennon’s series of photographs are sometimes documentary in approach, but mostly are based on short plotless plays and premises she writes about moments of everyday reckoning with grief, love, and family. She invites performers—actors, athletes, dancers, and friends—to interpret the prompt. Rehearsals might take weeks, the shoot a couple of days, during which Lennon allows her subjects to improvise as they bring their full messy selves to bear on their embodiment of the stories. The photographs remain as traces of the original encounter; a stilled visual rhyme of the performance that renders the complexity of emotional, physical, and psychic communication through gesture, expression, and tone.

Lassalle-Morillo’s and Lennon’s practices probe the ability of film and photography to capture multiple simultaneous perspectives of a single moment by blurring the boundaries of documentary, documentation, and performance. Their works operate at the seams of fiction and reality, where stories slip between the gaps in images and invite us to discover a world beyond the frame through the experiences of others.

ONLINE ARTIST TALK: CPA ARTIST GRANT RECIPIENTS ANDREA OREJARENA & CALEB STEIN

Event Type: ONLINE ARTIST TALK

2024-04-02   12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Center for Photographic Art

San Carlos at 9th Avenue, At the Sunset Center, Carmel, CA 93921

General Admission   $10.00, CPA Members   $.00

For more information:

phone: (831) 625-5181
email: cpa-info@photography.com
website: photography.org


Artist duo Orejarena & Stein and curator Shana Lopes discuss the artists' new book and travelling exhibition, American Glitch, which looks at the slip between fact and fiction and how this manifests in the U.S. landscape, the duo's adopted home. An ocean of information leaves us perpetually asking what's real and what's fake. In an era defined by screens, conspiracy theories, and the advent of the Metaverse, the notion that we're existing within a simulation has become increasingly popular, often in a satirical collective protest to late stage capitalism, disinformation and increased dependence on technology.

Click HERE to register

RECEPTION FOR THE 29TH ANNUAL FREMONT CULTURAL ARTS COUNCIL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION

Event Type: OPENING

2024-03-23   6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Fremont Main Library

2400 Stevenson Blvd, Fremont, CA 94538

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (510) 745-1400
email: fcacphotoshow2024@gmail.com
website: https://fremontculturalartscouncil.org/events/annual-juried-photo-show


The 29th Annual Juried Photography Exhibit for Fremont photographers will be held from Mar 23, 2024 to May 4, 2024. This year, the month of April is designated as ARTS, CULTURE & CREATIVITY MONTH and the Photography Exhibit will be held in conjunction with the celebration.

The exhibit opening is planned for Saturday, Mar 23rd from 6:00-8:00 pm and photographs selected by the panel of judges will be on display on the first floor of the Fremont Main Library. The event is a joint venture with Fremont Cultural Arts Council (FCAC), the Fremont Photographic Society, and the City of Fremont.

DORIS MITSCH: LOCKED DOWN LOOKING UP

Event Type: ONLINE ARTIST TALK

2024-03-27   4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Center for Photographic Art

San Carlos at 9th Avenue, At the Sunset Center, Carmel, CA 93921

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (831) 625-5181
email: cpa-info@photography.com
website: photography.org


Click HERE to register before March 26 at 6:00pm, space is limited. You will receive a zoom link the evening before.

Please join artist and innovator, Doris Mitsch for this inspiring online artist talk. Doris will discuss projects including the experiments with scanners, the series of layered images she showed at TED, and her current project of photographing the home she recently lost in a fire, which has turned it into something like an archaeological dig for her own life. And she'll also touch just a little on the specter of AI.

WINTER EXHIBITION: TOGETHER WE RISE: IMMIGRANTS IN AMERICA -- PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK TUSCHMAN

Event Type: SHOW

2024-01-08 to 2024-03-30  

FootHill College

12345 El Monte Rd, Krause Center For Innovation - Building , Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

Event is Free

Hours: Mon 9:00 AM-5:00 PM;  Tue 9:00 AM-7:00 PM;  Wed 9:00 AM-5:00 PM;  Thu 9:00 AM-7:00 PM;  Fri 9:00 AM-5:00 PM;  Sat 10:30 AM-4:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (650) 949-7318
email: walgrenjudith@fhda.edu
website: www.foothill.edu


Mark Tuschman has worked as an international freelance photographer for more than 34 years. As a photographer committed to issues of global health and development, he was privileged to receive the Photographer of the Year award from the Global Health Council in 2009-2010.

His work includes Faces of Courage: Intimate Portraits of Women on the Edge, published in 2015 and documented the lack of autonomy that women and girls face in the developing world and all the efforts designed to empower them. Faces of Courage was recognized as one of the Best Photographic Books of the Year by American Photographer.

In 2018, Mark started another extended project documenting the contributions immigrants make to America. Together We Rise: Immigrants in America will be published in 2024. Over the years, Mark has become more motivated to use his photography to communicate in a more socially conscious way, a way that exposes people to both the degree of human suffering that exists in today’s world and the courage and fortitude that people manifest to overcome it.

INSIGHT/INCITE 20/20

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-03 to 2024-03-31  

Bolinas Museum

48 Wharf Road, Bolinas, CA 94924

Event is Free

Hours: Fri 1:00 PM-5:00 PM;  Sat - Sun 12:00 PM-5:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (415) 868-0330
email: info@bolinasmuseum.org
website: www.bolinasmuseum.org


This powerful exhibition presents a collection of incisive images and personal statements from the diverse perspectives of each photographer’s identity and background.

The photos speak to humanity’s challenges, hope, and resilience as we grapple with daunting political, cultural, environmental, and humanitarian issues.

The collection, curated by distinguished photographer Linda Connor, was created as a PhotoAlliance Portfolio, honoring the organization’s service to the San Francisco Bay Area’s prolific photography community. Connor selected works embodying insight, which incites us to respond with action.

Linda Connor is an internationally renowned photographer who taught at the San Francisco Art Institute since 1969 and is the founder and creative director of the PhotoAlliance in San Francisco. Her photographs are held in the permanent collections of major museums in the United States and Europe.

BOOK SIGNING FEATURING WILLIAM NEILL'S YOSEMITE: SANCTUARY IN STONE

Event Type: BOOK SIGNING

2024-03-22   6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Bradley Print Services

566 Lighthouse Ave, Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (831) 884-5606
email: effie@bradleyprintservices.com
website: www.bradleyprintservices.com


Join us at Bradley Print Services and Photographic Center for a free community event featuring renowned landscape photographer, William Neill. We'll start the evening at 6pm with a brief discussion by Bill, followed by time for socializing and book signing.

William Neill’s new book Yosemite: Sanctuary in Stone is a personal selection of his photographs made over 46 years of living in and photographing the Yosemite landscape. The book includes words by Ansel Adams, John Muir, Gary Snyder, David Robertson, Chiura Obata, Kim Stanley Robinson, Terry Tempest Williams, Philip Hyde, and Paul Caponigro that complement the photographs and deepen the sanctuary theme. It also features three original poems by Shelton Johnson, a park ranger, and an original essay written by Guy Tal entitled “The Seduction of Certain Geographies”. The Sanctuary is more than a collection of photographs.

ABOVE AND BELOW CALIFORNIA’S OCEAN, THROUGH THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF MARC SHARGEL

Event Type: SHOW

2024-01-02 to 2024-03-29  

Felton Public Library

6121 Gushee St., Felton, CA 95018

Event is Free

Hours: Mon - Thu 10:00 AM-6:00 PM;  Fri - Sat 10:00 AM-5:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (831) 427-7708
email: feltonlibraryfriends@gmail.com
website: https://santacruzpl.libcal.com/calendar


The exhibit features images of local marine life and drastic changes in ecology, plus iconic western landscapes and eclipse photography.

Shargel is an award-winning nature photographer, marine conservationist and author of the three-volume Wonders of the Sea coffee-table series of books.

The library is open to the public 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Marc Shargel has taken his cameras underwater to photograph sharks, jellies, and kelp forests. On land he has made vivid images of eclipses and the great landscapes of the American West. As a scuba diver, he has been watching ecological shifts in the Central California Pacific since the 1970s.

Shargel has made photographic art from encounters with marine life ranging from tiny snails, to schools of jellies, to huge sharks. This is an Egg-Yolk Jelly that he found in Carmel Bay in 1999. Shargel will highlight the most extreme, recent changes seen fro

LOOKING UP: PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBEL FESSEHATZION

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-02 to 2024-03-31  

FootHill College

12345 El Monte Rd, Building 6100 Gallery, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

Event is Free

Hours: Mon 9:00 AM-5:00 PM;  Tue 9:00 AM-7:00 PM;  Wed 9:00 AM-5:00 PM;  Thu 9:00 AM-7:00 PM;  Fri 9:00 AM-5:00 PM;  Sat 10:30 AM-4:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (650) 949-7318
email: jordahlkate@fhda.edu
website: www.foothill.edu


Robel Fessehatzion is a self-taught African-American photographer and a member of the African diaspora (Ethiopia) based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Influenced by his upbringing near the foothills of the northern Sierra, his work focuses on the natural environment, identity, marginalization, and portraiture.

His creative research seeks to transform the landscape into a place of belonging by highlighting the harmony between existing elements while thoughtfully incorporating natural light and color within the frame. He is highly trained as a specialist in renewable energy technology development and most recently supported the capacity expansion of Covid-19 rapid PCR tests. When not outside in nature, he enjoys spending time with family and friends and watching basketball.

Join us in person on February 2 or on Zoom on March 6 to hear more about Robel's photography and journey.

JUDY DATER: PROPHETS AND POETS

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-08 to 2024-03-30  

Modernism

724 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94109

Event is Free

Hours: Tue - Sat 10:00 AM-5:30 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (415) 541-0461
email: info@modernisminc.com
website: www.modernisminc.com


Judy Dater’s subjects are her cast of characters, she chooses them instinctively for what she perceives to be their ability to express emotions, to be playful, sexy and humorous, and to reveal what she identifies as soul. Her work transcends the personal and creates a universal language of expression that the viewer can identify, connect, and empathize with on an intuitive level. The human face is infinite in its variety. Dater finds her subjects (from Maxine Hong Kingston to Imogen Cunningham to name a couple) anywhere and everywhere, from standing in line to buy bread in Berkeley, California, to meeting someone on the street in Tokyo, or a cafe in Cairo, to stepping out of an elevator in Rome. “The excitement and delight I experience when I see a face that I want to possess allows me to overcome my inhibition and approach them, but not always. There are the ones that "got away." We live in a time of virtual experience where we can distance ourselves from the uncomfortable realities around us. I crave the authentic and revel in the messiness and complexity of human feelings and emotions.”

PAUL CAPONIGRO (B.1932)

Event Type: ONLINE EXHIBIT

2024-01-31   to 2024-03-31  

Scott Nichols Gallery

450 1st Street East, Suite G, Sonoma Square, Sonoma, CA 95476

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (707) 343-1928
email: info@scottnicholsgallery.com
website: www.scottnicholsgallery.com


Click HERE to view the photographs

TAMAS DEZSO: EVERYTHING IS LEAF

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-08 to 2024-03-30  

Robert Koch Gallery

49 Geary Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108

Event is Free

Hours: Mon - Fri 11:00 AM-5:30 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (415) 421-0122
email: info@kochgalley.com
website: www.kochgallery.com


The Robert Koch Gallery proudly unveils its fourth exhibition featuring the works of Hungarian artist Tamas Dezsö. His latest series, titled Everything is Leaf, embarks on a philosophical journey that intertwines human identity with the natural world, exploring themes of materiality, temporality, and ecological consciousness.

Everything is Leaf includes vibrant, large-scale botanical abstractions translated from slides of microscopic plant studies. The viewer is able to newly appreciate the complex and elegant anatomy of plant life. A lush, close-up image of a wildly intertwining garden, neglected for decades, reveals plants’ uncanny ability to persist without human aid. Dezsö’s work brings to light an appreciation for plant life’s extraordinary structure and capabilities, not dissimilar to human characteristics such as the ability to grow, reproduce, respond to stimuli, undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, and adapt to our environment.

Initially inspired by the writings of 17th-century German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Dezsö explores the idea that each leaf embodies the entire Universe. The series prompts reflection on human and vegetal identity, as explored by thinkers such as John Locke and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Dezsö comments on the influence of these philosophers, particularly Locke, who questioned the essence of human and vegetal existence. The exhibition encourages a reevaluation of plants’ significance in the face of the climate crisis, emphasizing their role in sustaining the planet and our interconnectedness as living organisms, a part of a greater whole.


ROB GAILEY: PHOTOMICROGRAPHS REVEAL STORIES WITHIN ROCKS

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-03 to 2024-03-31  

Bolinas Museum

48 Wharf Road, Bolinas, CA 94924

Event is Free

Hours: Fri 1:00 PM-5:00 PM;  Sat - Sun 12:00 PM-5:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (415) 868-0330
email: info@bolinasmuseum.org
website: www.bolinasmuseum.org


Geologist Rob Gailey photographs extremely thin slices of rocks using a petrographic microscope. Beautiful and complex images reveal groupings of minerals and textures created by geological processes. The rocks, primarily from West Marin and a few extraordinary exotics, tell stories of time spans and powerful physical conditions of pressure and heat not encountered in human experience. This fascinating exhibition–mixing visual images and science—is explained within the context of Bay Area geology and provides new perspectives on the world around us, including the rocks under our feet.

“ELEGY (FOR YOU & THE COTTONWOODS)”

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-14 to 2024-03-26  

City College of San Francisco Gallery Obscura

50 Frida Kahlo Way, Visual Arts Building Room 160, San Francisco, CA 94112

Event is Free

Hours:

For more information:

phone: (415) 239-3422
email: rtung@mail.ccsf.edu
website: ccsfphoto.wordpress.com/gallery-obscura/


This project debuted last spring in Carmel, CA at the Center for Photographic Art, thanks to an artist grant. For this exhibition at CCSF, photographs will also be accompanied by contact sheets, test prints, and other materials. We invited Prof. Christianson, in concert with the Portfolio Production class at CCSF this spring, to use the gallery as a “learning lab” to illustrate some of the behind-the-scenes processes that go into developing a body of work.

DARKROOM PRINT FINISHING

Event Type: WORKSHOP

2024-03-30   1:00 PM - 4:00 PM

East Bay Photo Collective

412 13th Street, EBPCO Community Darkroom, Oakland, CA 94612

General Admission   $60.00

For more information:

email: ebpco510@gmail.com
website: www.ebpco.org


This one day workshop will be held at the EBPCO Community Darkroom and lead by Jyoti Liggin. Signup info at ebpco.org/workshops

Get that pile of black & white darkroom prints out of the box in your closet! In this one day workshop, an instructor will guide you through a variety of darkroom print finishing techniques. Topics covered include hand-retouching (aka spotting), pressing, and dry-mounting prints. Bring your own darkroom prints to work with for this workshop or use some of ours. All other materials for this workshop are available through EBPCO!

EBPCO Members at the Basic level receive a 20% discount off this workshop; members at the Premium level receive a 50% discount!

PRESENCE / ABSENCE – GROUP SHOW

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-16 to 2024-03-23  

Mercury 20 Gallery

475 25th Street, Oakland, CA 94612

Event is Free

Hours: Thu - Sat 12:00 PM-6:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (510) 701-4620
email: mercury20@gmail.com
website: mercurytwenty.com


Through the compelling lens of black and white, Ray Beldner, Andrea Guskin, and Charlie Milgrim navigate the intricate dance between substance and void. In their exhibition, “PRESENCE / ABSENCE,” each artist explores the delicate equilibrium of opposing forces, inviting viewers to contemplate the dynamic tensions inherent in their works.

Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: March 1, 5 – 9 pm

MARC RIBOUD (B.1923)

Event Type: ONLINE EXHIBIT

2024-02-11   to 2024-03-31  

Scott Nichols Gallery

450 1st Street East, Suite G, Sonoma Square, Sonoma, CA 95476

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (707) 343-1928
email: info@scottnicholsgallery.com
website: www.scottnicholsgallery.com


Click HERE to see the photographs

FORECAST 2024

Event Type: CALL FOR ENTRIES

2024-02-16   to 2024-03-29   11:59 PM

SF Camerawork

Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd. Building A, San Francisco, CA 94123-1284

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (415) 487-1011
email: info@sfcamerawork.org
website: www.sfcamerawork.org


We invite you to submit work for FORECAST 2024, SF Camerawork’s survey of contemporary photography! This year’s acclaimed jurors, Rea Lynn de Guzman and Maggie Dethloff, will consider all works within the expanded field of photography, from traditional to experimental, with a focus on recently completed, thought-provoking projects. The work of up to six artists will be selected for a group exhibition at SF Camerawork’s gallery in San Francisco, and one artist will win the $1,500 Juror’s Choice Award.

EXHIBITION DATES: July 16 — September 7, 2024

Click HERE for more information and to apply

A COUNTRY CALLED CALIFORNIA: PHOTOGRAPHS 1850'S TO 1960'S

Event Type: ONLINE VIDEO

2024-02-24   to 2024-03-31  

California Historical Society

678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (415) 357-1848
email: info@calhist.org
website: www.californiahistoricalsociety.org


Click HERE to view

Photography collector Stephen White and curator Jonathan Spaulding discuss A Country Called California: Photographs 1850s to 1960s, a new book that traces the development of the Golden State from the nineteenth century to its emergence as the fifth-largest economy in the world as seen through the lenses of California photographers.

FEBRUARY PHOTO OF THE MONTH WINNER AND HMS

Event Type: ONLINE EXHIBIT

2024-02-24   to 2024-03-31  

The Image Flow

328 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, San Anselmo, CA 94960

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (415) 388-3569
email: info@theimageflow.com
website: www.theimageflow.com


Click HERE to view the exhibit

Photo of the Month Winner – Veronik Mol

Juried By: The Image Flow

The Image Flow is pleased to present the results of our January Photo of the Month – Abstract contest!

We evaluated a vast array of submissions based on composition, color, contrast, and overall quality. In addition to technical components, we considered the subject of interest, point of view, and whether the image tells a story aligned with our theme.

Under the theme of Abstract, this monthly competition was open to professional and amateur photographers globally.

JESSICA CADKIN: A SMALL BODY

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-16 to 2024-03-23  

Mercury 20 Gallery

475 25th Street, Oakland, CA 94612

Event is Free

Hours: Thu - Sat 12:00 PM-6:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (510) 701-4620
email: mercury20@gmail.com
website: mercurytwenty.com


Using 35-millimeter slides from the 1950s through the 1970s, Jessica Cadkin layers them to create unexpected landscapes for her series a small body. The slides are from the estate sale of a deceased 100-year-old dentist who took vacation photos at locations including South America, Disneyland, and Hawaii. Selecting the slides was an intimate and voyeuristic experience: viewing a stranger’s life shared with his family, many of whom are presumably dead, seen through the lens of his camera at some of their seemingly happiest and most memorable moments.

The layered slides are lit from behind in 8” x 8” wooden boxes, painted to replicate the cardboard mounting that encased a majority of the vintage slides. Viewers are invited to look closely.

MEET THE ARTISTS OF "MEMENTO MORI - MEMENTO VIVERE"

Event Type: ARTIST TALK

2024-03-24   1:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Bay Area Photographers Collective

30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Marin Art and Garden Center, Ross, CA 94957

Event is Free

For more information:

email: programs@bapc.org
website: www.bapc.photo


A joint exhibition by the Bay Area Photographers Collective and Samurai Foto (Yokohama, Japan) Curated by Trisha Lagaso Goldberg

Artists Cindy Stokes, Chris Stevens-Yu, Ari Salomon, Ingo Bork, Mitch Nelles, Rusty Weston, John Martin

The Marin Art and Garden Center (MAGC) is a place of beauty and wonder. It transforms with each season and plays host to all manner of insects and animals that inhabit the site alongside the resident perennials, volunteer plants and old timers, like the mature trees that dot the landscape. In keeping with their mission, MAGC invites artists to present exhibitions at The Studio that address the natural world in some way.

From this framework and in response to the portfolios of both the Bay Area Photographers Collective and Samurai Foto Collective, the thematic foundation for this exhibition emerged. Phrases that came to mind included, “in full bloom” and “the bloom is off the rose,” two ends of a spectrum. Likewise, life cycles, such as birth and death; sunrise and sunset; the four seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall); and the progression of plantlife (bud, bloom and decay) also resonated.

Artworks included in this exhibition speak to multiple aspects of these natural cycles—from picturing a flower bud or new growth on the forest floor and the lace-like canopy of centuries old trees, to depictions of built environments designed to corral the natural world, the planting of seeds by agricultural corporations, the not-so-subtle effects of climate change, and even humans and the human world in modes of ascent, illness and decline.

Memento Mori | Memento Vivere was organized around these notions. The Latin phrase memento mori translates to: “remember you must die.” It is also a school of thought and painting originating in 17th century Europe. “A memento mori is an artwork designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the shortness and fragility of human life.” (Tate Museum, tate.org.uk) Memento mori artwork is often characterized by symbolic imagery that speaks to mortality and the ephemerality of earthly pleasures; a favored trope can be seen in still lifes of that era depicting wilted flowers, decaying fruit, dead animals being prepped for the dinner table, and even human skulls.

Some two-hundred years later, in response to this call to keep death in sight, the Latin phrase, memento vivere or, “remember you must live,” was engaged by thinkers of the 19th century. “Memento mori engendered an opposite imperative — memento vivere,” wrote James H. Capshew, professor of history and philosophy of science at Indiana University, Bloomington. “Less common and of more recent vintage, memento vivere seems to imply that a preoccupation with death is perhaps unwise and unhealthy.” (memento.sitehost.iu.edu/memento.html)

The artworks in Memento Mori | Memento Vivere reflect the full spectrum between life and death and are as varied and complex as the seen and unseen forces active in the natural world around us. The exhibition is designed to highlight the intrinsic way of things—from tenuous beginnings, to a middle life that is pedestrian and glorious in equal measures, and an end that may be tragic or magical. As the viewer makes their way through each space, my hope is that these works serve as a reminder for all to embrace this moment as the unknown on the horizon draws near.

35MM MANUAL CAMERA BASICS

Event Type: CLASS

2024-03-24   3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

East Bay Photo Collective

312 8th St, Oakland Photo Workshop, Oakland, CA 94607-4210

Event is Free

For more information:

email: ebpco510@gmail.com
website: www.ebpco.org


This one day workshop will be held at Oakland Photo Workshop. Signup info at ebpco.org/workshops

For those who own a 35mm camera and want to learn how to get the most out of it. In this course, an instructor will guide you through the basics of manual camera function and making images with black & white 35mm film, including ISO, aperture, shutter speed, light metering, focus, and more. This workshop will get you making images that can be sent out for processing or prepare you for your own processing work in the darkroom. Participants must bring their own 35mm camera.

ONLINE SHOW AND TELL: LOST & FOUND PHOTOGRAPHY, INSPIRED BY THE RAYMOND COOPER ARCHIVE

Event Type: ONLINE WORKSHOP

2024-04-02   7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

East Bay Photo Collective

312 8th St, Oakland Photo Workshop, Oakland, CA 94607-4210

Event is Free

For more information:

email: ebpco510@gmail.com
website: www.ebpco.org


Theme: Lost & Found Photography, Inspired by the Raymond Cooper Archive and the current OPW exhibition, Raymond Cooper’s Oakland.

Dig through your own archive and see what forgotten gems you might find. Are there projects you put aside, locations you don’t remember visiting, people you haven’t thought about? Dig ‘em up and show ‘em off.

Hosted by Vince Donovan.

Click HERE to sign up

AFTER DARK

Event Type: SHOW

2024-03-01 to 2024-03-24  

MAG Galleries

3931 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114

Event is Free

Hours: Thu - Fri 12:00 PM-7:00 PM;  Sat - Sun 12:00 PM-5:00 PM;  

For more information:

phone: (415) 815-5615
email: mike@mag-galleries.com
website: mag-galleries.com


AFTER DARK: Works by Randall Whitehead, Chris Komater, and Anne Veraldi. Photography of Bodies Surrounded by, Emerging from, and Engaging with Darkness. These three artists are dealing with concepts of fragility of memory, ideas of beauty and the recognition of the other in their photographs. Randall Whitehead presents glamour portraits of mannequins from the years between the 1940’s and 1980’s in ways that bring race, class and ideas of fleeting beauty to the forefront; Anne Veraldi, captures ephemeral glimpses of life before they pass into the subconscious memory, and Chris Komater seeks alternative ways of presenting the bodies of large, hirsute man by focusing on how light softly illuminates sensual qualities.

WYNN BULLOCK (1902–1975)

Event Type: ONLINE EXHIBIT

2024-02-24   to 2024-03-31  

Scott Nichols Gallery

450 1st Street East, Suite G, Sonoma Square, Sonoma, CA 95476

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (707) 343-1928
email: info@scottnicholsgallery.com
website: www.scottnicholsgallery.com


Click HERE to view the photographs

BRETT WESTON (1911-1993)

Event Type: ONLINE EXHIBIT

2024-02-24   to 2024-03-31  

Scott Nichols Gallery

450 1st Street East, Suite G, Sonoma Square, Sonoma, CA 95476

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (707) 343-1928
email: info@scottnicholsgallery.com
website: www.scottnicholsgallery.com


Click HERE to view the Photographs

HOW TO TAKE PICTURES OF STRANGERS AND HAVE THEM BEGGING FOR MORE

Event Type: LECTURE

2024-03-22   7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Peak Designs

529 Hayes St, San Francisco, CA 94102-4213

Event is Free

For more information:

website: www.peakdesign.com/pages/flagship


Come join us at the Peak Design Flagship Store for an exciting event that will transform your photography skills! San Francisco's very own Pamela Perkins will share her secrets and techniques to help you overcome the challenges of photographing people you don't know. Discover how to create compelling compositions, capture genuine emotions, and tell captivating stories through your lens. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to enhance your travel and street photography skills and leave a lasting impression on your subjects!

JOIN THE EBPCO LARGE FORMAT CLUB

Event Type: EXPERIENCE

2024-02-29   to 2024-03-31  

East Bay Photo Collective

312 8th St, Oakland Photo Workshop, Oakland, CA 94607-4210

Event is Free

For more information:

email: ebpco510@gmail.com
website: www.ebpco.org


Click HERE to sign up

After months of hints and rumors, it’s finally happening: a support group for large-format shooters and the large-format curious. Meetups, field trips and all sorts of photo-friendship are in store.

We’ll need help running this group, so if you’re naturally organized (as most large format photogs are), please let us know if you’re available to help out.

NATALIE AND JAMES THOMPSON GALLERY: PHOTOGRAPHY FACULTY EXHIBITION OPENING

Event Type: OPENING

2024-03-19   5:00 PM - 7:30 PM

San Jose State Art Galleries

Art Building 127, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (408) 924-4330
email: Gallery@sjsu.edu
website: www.sjsu.edu/thompsongallery/


The Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery is pleased to present this periodic opportunity to view recent works by current faculty in the Photography area: Jesus Aguilar, Kelcey Bauer, Binh Danh, Rick English, Jonathan Fung, Richard Haley, Victoria Heilweil, Erin de Jauregui, Robin Lasser, Kathleen McDonald, Valerie Mendoza and Alana Rios.

Featured are a divergent group of artists who, although displaying a wide range of media, style, and technique, share an interest in working with spatial arts media and a devotion to teaching. All of these artists have individually received noteworthy acclaim for their works. As a group, they combine significant successes in regional, national, and international exhibitions, public art commissions, and museum collections, as well as numerous grants and awards. We are delighted to have this opportunity to feature their thoughtfulness, craftsmanship, and vision in this special display.

This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Reed Estabrook, SJSU Professor of Photography from 1984-2012.

In conjunction with the opening of this exhibition, each exhibiting artist will speak about their work, its context, and its development as part of a walk-through in the Thompson Gallery, which will be held from 5 - 6 pm on March 19, 2024. This presentation and the following opening reception, held immediately afterward from 6 – 7:30 pm, are free and open to the public.

STUDIO PORTRAITS & LIGHTING MADE EASY

Event Type: CLASS

2024-03-12   6:00 PM to 2024-04-02   8:00 PM

ImageCentral

1099 E Street, Hayward, CA 94541

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (510) 881-6721
email: imagecentral@haywardrec.org
website: www.haywardrec.org


with photographer Russell Foote!

In this class, you will learn lighting for portraiture, as well as posing, light set up, starting with one light up to a five light set up! Tips and techniques from lighting modifiers to head shots. Utilizing a live model with clothing changes for different looks, styles and problem solving in a studio situation. Students must have basic understanding of their camera functions and manual control of aperture & shutter.

Click HERE to enroll

MIGRATION

Event Type: SHOW

2024-02-15   to 2024-03-21  

Vessel Gallery

480 23rd Street, Oakland, CA 94612

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (510) 893-8800
email: info@vessel-gallery.com
website: www.vessel-gallery.com


Migration has affected humans from the beginning of time. This show MIGRATION offers several ideas of migration. Photojournalist Lexine Alpert shares her ongoing social humanitarian work with diverse refugees in camps in the Mediterranean with her documentary-style photos.

CAMERAS + COFFEE + FUJIFILM

Event Type: WORKSHOP

2024-03-19   12:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Camera West

1255 S. Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94956

Event is Free

For more information:

phone: (925) 935-1424
email: sales@camerawest.com
website: www.camerawest.com/


We’re excited to have our Walnut Creek store partner with Cameras & Coffee for a hands-on event with Fujifilm and a micro workshop with Reggie Ballesteros on using Jpeg recipes instead of always shooting Raw images and editing in post. Cameras & Coffee Club is a Bay Area collective of photographers that combines their passions for cameras, storytelling, and coffee! Stay caffeinated and join us at Camera West Walnut Creek for this very special event.

No sign-up is necessary for this event. Please feel free to join us for some or all of it! We will have Fujifilm X100VI demos on hand, as well as many other Fujifilm cameras and lenses, for you to try for yourself.

For more Bay Area events with Coffee + Cameras, follow them on Instagram.