Life Begins at 30

4am self-portrait

{094} April 4, 4:29 am (4am self-portrait), originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

Do you know Genie at The Inadvertent Gardener? Last June, my friend Kalyn emailed me to say that Genie was moving to the Bay Area from Iowa City, and that she thought we might like each other.

I was in a hurry that day, and didn't think much of shooting an email off to Genie inviting her to a group event that I had planned for the next week. I didn't really think Genie would show -- I probably wouldn't show up to hang out with a group of people where I knew no one. Well, Genie showed up, and she has been showing up ever since.

At some point, a blogger friend asked his wife, "Who is this person named Genie?" The wife answered, "I'm not sure, but I think we need to know her because she seems to be great friends with all our friends now." And it's true. Genie has charmed us all and been a great cohort in our Bay Area adventures.

A testament to Genie's influence, and the general spirit of our group of friends, is that she convinced several of us to participate in the 4 am project this weekend. On April 4, people around the world woke up at 4am and took photos.

At first we all grumbled a bit. "Why can't it be 4 pm?" one asked. We all talked about September 9, 2009 at 9 am being a better fit numerically. But we did it anyway.

And something interesting happened: I learned about the magic of 4 am. I learned that it's a time like no other. Most late night partiers have gone home, and most early birds are not awake yet. It's the quietest hour.

Genie and I explored Oakland, taking some photos at the produce market and near the Tribune building. Meanwhile Anita climbed Bernal Hill (with a very fashionable headlamp light that her sleeping husband insisted she wear), Jennifer checked out 13th street, and Dottie took this fantastic photo on Market Street. We all met up afterward and sipped 5 am bloody marys and shared our experiences.

Kudos to the 4am project for encouraging us all to leave our warm beds to take photos. It was a blast to explore that time of the morning with a photographer's eye.

Carrizo Plain, San Luis Obispo County

"Do you want to go check out some wildflowers today?"

I was visiting some friends last weekend near Paso Robles and Anna asked if I'd like to trek out "about 45 minutes" to see some flowers.  I've known Anna since I was fresh out of college, and she and her husband and kids live in San Luis Obispo county.

I was game, and we all crowded into a car to drive a windy road to the wildflowers.   I was sitting in the back with the kids (ages 7 and 3) and had to make strange rules for them like "do not put toe funk on me" and "don't get me wet." I won't lie -- it was cramped and I was feeling nauseated by the time we got out of the car nearly an hour and a half later. 

But friends, this drive was so worth it.

We went to the Carrizo Plain, which has been a national monument since 2001. The wild weather, the yellow of the wildflowers, and the majesty of the area made for a really fun photo day.  If you don't regularly check out my flickr stream, I thought I'd bring the photos to your attention.

The white lake bed that you see in the photos is called Soda Lake and it's a mostly dry, alkali lake that was dramatic to view.  Marc of Mental Masala went to the Plain last year and has more photos and explanation of the area on his site.

I left feeling wind weary, happy, and astonished.  It amazes me that I have been a Californian my entire life and that really beautiful, vast expanses of the state exist that I have never explored.  I can't wait to go back.

where i've been ...

Planning menus, taking long walks, checking out a brand new restaurant, celebrating with nearly all of San Francisco, walking in the rain, cooking up a storm, spending a lot of time at the new museum, hanging out with great friends, walking the beach at one of my favorite spots on earth.

It's a good day for rainbows

rainbow today, originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

The wild weather here in San Francisco today is making for great sky watching. It's hard to get work done when there are sights like this out my window. Happy Monday, all.

Annie Leibovitz @ Work

chinatown lanterns, originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

I saw Annie Leibovitz speak at City Arts & Lectures on Monday. I have always followed her work closely, but have never seen her speak. And I have a feeling that hearing her speak will be causing a shift in my photography.

Leibovitz was speaking on the occasion of the release of her book: Annie Leibovitz At Work. I haven't bought the book yet, but my understanding is that it's more of a textbook which addresses technique and composition and equipment.

Leibovitz received her professional training at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she began as a painter. She quickly learned that photography was her forte -- it was more immediate and more social.

During the Monday lecture, she read from her book and a portion was about what she learned as a young photography student.

"We were taught that the most important thing a young photographer can do is learn how to see. It wasn’t about the equipment we were using. I don’t remember being taught any technique. A camera was only a box that recorded an image. We learned to compose, to frame, to fill the negative, to fit everything we saw into the camera’s rectangle. We were never to crop our pictures. We went out every morning and took pictures and developed them in the darkroom the same day. Since the prints were washed in communal trays and everybody’s pictures were lying there with everybody else’s, you tried hard to come back with something good. In the evening we would sit around and discuss our work. We were a community of artists."

I had a family member in town this week and had my camera out most of the time -- I shot a couple hundred photos. And I could hear Annie ringing in my ears during my photos. Reminding me to see. Reminding me to shoot an entire image instead of lazily knowing I'd crop later. Reminding me to compose. I am so lucky to have heard her.

If you're interested in hearing this interview, it will be played on KQED on January 4, 2009.

Chantenay Carrots, Marin Roots Farm

I realize that in my list I said I would do a post a day for 30 days.  But friends, I am so dang tired.  It's been a very long week, but pretty satisfying in general.

I "had" to go to the San Rafael Farmers Market this morning.  I post about Bay Area farmers markets on Serious Eats about once a month, and I realized that I hadn't been to a market in a couple weeks.  I needed some fodder for my post this upcoming Monday.

So off I went.  I spied these lovely carrots at Marin Roots Farm.  I am pretty sure that the carrots on the left are chantenay, but I like to call them Mr. McGregor's carrots.

I hope you can get to a market sometime soon, it's a fantastic time of year to be there.

Wandering Southern California

As much time as I spend in Southern California, I don't often get the chance to play tourist in my own hometown -- I grew up in LA, went to college there, and lived there until I was 26.  When a good friend from here wanted to experience the true Southern California, I was happy to play tour guide last week.  It was fun to show her some of my favorite places, and take a lot of photographs at the same time.

The above sign can be found at Zuma Beach in Malibu.  To tell you the truth, I have never seen the stand open, but love seeing the food stand as you turn the big curve on Pacific Coast Highway heading north.  The first couple days we were there were unseasonably warm, and the beach was lovely -- complete with a pod of dolphins playing in the nearby water.

The Southern California growing season is always a bit ahead of our Northern California season.  The Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market was full of visions of spring, and it was really wonderful to see the abundance that we have to look forward to in Northern California soon.  My find of the day was La Nogalera walnut oil -- a nicely balanced, light walnut oil that is grown and processed in Central California. 

While firmly in the "Californian Mexican" camp, I have always loved Border Grill for their appetizers and cocktails.  We stopped in one afternoon and shared a shrimp & hearts of palm salad, and a mushroom quesadilla along with about 20 pounds of chips and their wonderful salsas.

Nearly every Southern California trip in the past couple years has included a stop at Patisserie Chantilly in Lomita.  A Japanese bakery with French-style pastries, everything I have ever eaten here has been impeccably executed.  The epitome of perfection at Chantilly is the cream puff.  As soon as I walk into the patisserie, I usually have a huge smile on my face that remains during the whole trip.

We stopped by the old farmers market on Fairfax and Third -- just a quick run-through to check it out.  This particular farmers market (much more of a tourist destination with permanent store booths than the modern farmers market) makes me feel very old and curmudgeonly as it's hard for me to believe that a modern mall has sprung up around the market in what used to be the parking lot.  This photo is of the famous diner called Du-Pars which is famous for its pies and breakfasts.

The trip was great.  Additional food highlights included Mozza Pizzeria and Sunday Supper at Lucques, a vegetarian dinner we cooked for my family,  along with other bites and nibbles throughout the Southland.  Even five days felt short, and I feel like I didn't do my hometown justice. But there's always next time ...

Shutter Sisters

{147} in my kitchen window, originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

Some of my favorite people on the Internet have come together to create Shutter Sisters -- a "collaborative photo blog that welcomes all women with a passion for photography from experts to amateurs alike." 

I am very excited about this website!

Food Photography by Smitten Kitchen

Really great post about successful food photography over at Smitten Kitchen (via Serious Eats).

SPQR, Photos, and New Site Design!

Durian vendor, Ho Chi Minh City

I wrote a post on Tuesday at KQED's Bay Area Bites detailing my first impressions of SPQR.  I don't often do formal restaurant reviews, so this one is called "SPQR: A preliminary report."  In the words that I used on my flickr page, "Go.  Go Now."   I have a long history with A16, so the fact that I had to try SPQR within days of its opening probably isn't a surprise.

Speaking of Flickr, I've been slowly going through the Vietnam trip photos and posting a couple a day.   The photo above is one that I posted this week.  Nine months after the trip, I am finally feeling like I can start to digest parts of it and talk about it.  It took that long to not be completely overwhelmed by that amazing trip.   So I've been writing a small amount about my impressions with the photos.  You can see it all in the Vietnam Collection of my Flickr.  You can subscribe to a feed of my Flickr photos using this link.

Also, if you read this site through an RSS reader, you may not notice the site's new look.  I am happy to have new digs.  Thanks for everyone who weighed in months ago about the new look.  I chose a design that will allow me to swap photos in and out of the banner fairly easily.