Featured events- 03/10/2012 - Ton Koopman & The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
- 02/27/2012 - Classical at the Freight: Rossini Birthday Celebration
- 02/23/2012 - Michio Kaku: Physics of the Future, How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
- 02/23/2012 - 2012: a Turning Point? And If So, Which Way?: A Talk by Robert Reich
- 02/19/2012 - Takacs Quartet
Category Archives: Photography
The “before” pictures: Berkeley Art Museum/PFA
Call it “beautiful decay”: these stunning photographs, taken by David Stark Wilson, show the interiors of the future home of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA).
Just as with the new Magnes, which unveiled its new space on Sunday, BAM/PFA is to be housed in a 1920s-era 1939 building originally designed as a printing plant for UC Berkeley. It is located at 2120 Oxford Street at Center Street, in the heart of downtown.
Is it not fitting that, as the demand for printed thesis, documents, books and monographs has waned, the engine rooms that produced these volumes are now being put to good use while remaining in the cultural realm?
For a stunning bird’s eye view, launch a kite (or a balloon)
Michael Layefsky’s passion for aerial photography was born one day in 1997 when he was taking one of his customary walks on the UC Berkeley campus and he came across “this guy flying a humongous kite on the big lawn in front of the library”.
The “guy” turned out to be Cal architecture professor Cris Benton, an early adopter of kite aerial photography, whose stunning work can be viewed on his website and Flickr pool.
“Cris is both very talented and an educator. The internet was in its infancy when he started but he set out to document and provide information on KAP, as its known,” says Layefsky, who quickly became an eager student.
An early attempt by Layefsky to capture images from a camera rigged onto a kite took place in Berkeley’s Cesar Chavez Park. “It was really windy and way too hard to navigate the kite,” he recalls. “My wife nearly had her arm pulled out trying to help me.” … Continue reading »
We’re going on a Bear hunt: The Berkeley photowalk
Last week, self-described “photography factory” Thomas Hawk teamed up with Google+ to organize a photowalk in Berkeley. A previous photowalk on the Stanford campus had drawn more than 200 participants — the offer of free Google+ swag probably played a part — and Hawk felt it was only fair to come to the East Bay to avoid fueling the infamous Stanford-Cal rivalry.
Over 100 people signed up for the walk, including many photographers whose work we publish regularly on Berkeleyside — such as Michael Moore, Jef Poskanzer, Ira Serkes and Keoki Seu (to whom we owe a hat-tip for this story) – and others, including Sam Breach, Peicong Liu (aka noExcuseG), and Ryan Anderson (dak1b2006).
Tagged Berkeley photo walk, Google Plus, Thomas Hawk
Richard Misrach: A focus on the after-story
Richard Misrach is nothing if not patient.
When, in 1997, the renowned photographer moved into a home in the Berkeley hills and decided to capture his new view of the Golden Gate Bridge, he didn’t just take a few dozen shots and leave it at that.
Rather, over the course of three years, he shot hundreds and hundreds of photographs. The result was Golden Gate [Aperture, 2005], 85 beautiful meditations on the iconic bridge seen through the seasons from a single … Continue reading »
Shooting for posterity: Berkeley’s “Seven Days in May”
John Jekabson may have missed the summer of love, but he was in the thick of the “Seven Days of May” which saw Berkeley occupied by the National Guard under a state of emergency in 1969.
His black-and-white photographs of those events, a collection of which are currently on show at the Sonoma Coffee Café on Durant, tell the tale of those dramatic days in striking fashion.
Jekabson had a front-row seat to the turmoil as Assistant Editor of the Berkeley Barb, the well-known alternative weekly newspaper published by Max Scherr.
The Barb office was at 2042 University Avenue, just a block from the Cal campus which was the focus of much of the conflict. Jekabson was a writer rather than a photographer, and there were in fact dozens of freelance photographers working for the paper at the time. Nevertheless, he would often scoop up one of the paper’s many donated cameras and leave the office at lunchtime to snap pictures of the drama unfolding on his doorstep. … Continue reading »
Berkeley artist chronicles climate change in the arctic
The visible impact of climate change in Northern California consists of careful records on increasing rainfall or measurements of species slowly shifting habitat as conditions change. But in the extremes of the arctic, change is starkly visible. Berkeley artist Christina Seely‘s current project, Markers of Time, sets out to show that change through her photography.
“It’s so obvious up here,” Seely said, speaking from Anchorage, Alaska. “We don’t have dramatic seasons in the Bay Area, but here you can see the sea ice melting. It’s direct, it’s part of life. I want to shed light on these things.”
Seely is funding her ambitious project through Kickstarter, a site that enables crowdsourcing the financing of discrete projects. She’s about halfway to her goal of $10,000 by Sunday, July 17. Funders who give at least $15 can get a variety of rewards, ranging from a postcard from Barrow, Alaska to be sent on the winter solstice to artworks donated by other artists. … Continue reading »
Photographer captures drama of Berkeley after dark
John Vias prowls the streets of our city at night. He has been doing so for years, always waiting until darkness has fallen and the traffic is sparse before venturing out.
His passion? Night photography. His territory: Berkeley west of 6th Street, including the Marina and Cesar Chavez Park. The result? Stunning, moody images which can take up to twelve minutes under a full moon to emerge on his camera after he has released the shutter.
“There is more of a sense of mystery at night,” says Vias, explaining his motivation. “Things look different because of the quality of the light and the angles. There’s a theatricality and drama, compared to seeing the same thing with an even wash of sunlight on it.”
The impetus to explore his neighborhood after dark came to Vias when he was honing his craft on a UC Extension photography course in 2003. Assigned to shoot a roll of film for a darkroom class, he decided to do the assignment after sunset. “I’m a night owl, so one evening I thought, ‘why not go out now’?”
Would you sunbathe on Berkeley’s newest “lawn” chairs?
Javier Panzar was walking in Sproul Plaza today when he spotted these “lawn” chairs, which may be a sign that Cal is almost finished for the year or an expression of hope for better weather. “This is the Berkeleyiest thing I’ve seen in a while,” Panzar tweeted (@jpanzar).
Tagged Javier Panzar, Sproul Plaza
Berkeley bicyclists reach new height
The Least Most, a media collective focusing on “bikes, music, art, adventure and the overall pursuit of good times” posted these wonderful pictures of the Berkeley skate park on Fifth and Harrison streets. Clearly, bikers like the park, too. We thought the photos were worth sharing. They were taken by photographer Kyle Emery-Peck.
RAW party in Berkeley showcases local artists
The party that the national arts organization RAW is throwing Thursday night at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza defies description. It’s part fashion show, part art show, and part disco bash, with a dash of liquor and plenty of attitude thrown in.
About ten local artists will show off their wares in an event that pulsates with music, lights, dancing and talking.
“I call it an artists’ circus,” said organizer Mandolin Kadera-Redmond, who was hired by the southern California group in the fall of 2010 to put on events in Berkeley and other parts of the East Bay.
Mandolin Kadera-Redmond
Patrons who buy tickets will walk into a room and see fashion models strutting around, their bodies clad by local fashion designers and their faces made up by local make-up artists. They can look at the paintings and art installations on display – including one that puts succulents in stiletto heeled-shoes – converse with the artists and even buy their work. In the background music mixed by DJs will be pulsing. … Continue reading »
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