Hydrangeas, the kitchen table, Friday afternoon.

Hydrangeas
Originally uploaded by inger h.

I often wish I had the inspiration to take a picture I love every day. But I am rarely that inspired. This little pot of hydrangeas has been calling me from the kitchen table for a few days now, so today I finally decided to shoot it.

At times the light in my apartment is amazing, this kind of diffuse white light, so nice for portraits and images like this. For some reason, this image reminds me of wedding photography. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily-- I guess it's just softer and more romantic than I normally shoot, so the result is somewhat unexpected.

And thats the whole point in experimenting, right?

We had nethin?

Sex Appeal Meter, Musee Mechanique, San Francisco, Ca
Originally uploaded by inger h.

Every once in a while my phone chirps the happy sound that indicates I have a new text message. Occasionally, they are clearly intended for someone else. Today, from area code 817 (Fort Worth, TX!) I received the following, in all its misspelled glory:

so there has got to b a reason. But I’m not mad I’m glad. Go ahead a see what its like w another person, develop mentally then see if we had nethin

friday night at the end of the world

Looking out on the golden gate from the bridge overlook
Originally uploaded by inger h.

There is a short story that has been rattling around in my head for a couple of years now. At one point, I had gotten into the habit of turning my car towards the Great Highway on Fridays after work, and driving along the foggy road to the Safeway at the end of Fulton. On their receipts, they call themselves "The Friendly Safeway at the Beach". It's a big, open, unremodeled building, with boxes of firewood for bonfires stacked by the door. They do a brisk business in sodas and snacks and smores and other beachy essentials.

On a Friday night however, it was possibly the loneliest place on earth. Muffled by low thick fog, the light fading from the sky in the way it does near the water, just getting paler and paler instead of really going dark. Well, every Friday I would stop by to do my weekly shopping, and think of a story that would be about this place. This quiet lonely place at the edge of the world, the end of the world. The end of the week, the end of the light. The end of the land. The end of... of what exactly?

So here I have a scene, and a place, but who lives there and what happens to them? Do they buy a box of firewood, host a bonfire as the sky fades out?

I still work on this story sometimes, when the fog hangs low and seems unwilling to leave. It'll come to me one day.

Clouds, Point Reyes National Seashore, California

Clouds, Point Reyes National Seashore, California
Originally uploaded by inger h.

I had a whole post about this picture composed in my head last night. I was awake, at 4am. Hungry and antsy, it happens sometimes when I have a dream that becomes too real or too upsetting or maybe even just too boring I'm not sure. Anyway, lying there in the dark, listening to the sleek hiss of the electrified Muni bus cruising up California street, I had some really interesting thing concocted, who knows what it was about, somehow I had linked this picture to something I'd been tossing around in my head lately. It didn't really make sense, or connect in some linear way, but it sounded okay and probably had more relevance than this. But I was too hungry, and got up for a glass of milk and a quick check of the email. By the time I made it back to bed, of course, it was gone.

And all I had left was this picture. It's of clouds.

The way to tea, West Highland Way near Fort William, Scotland

Sign pointing you to Tea, West Highland Way near Ft William, Scotland
Originally uploaded by inger h.

Hiking the West Highland Way was fun, in the same way that moving is fun. You know, how at the end of the day you are just bone-tired and happy to be stationary and consumed with the idea that you will never, ever do this again. It's not that I didn't like hiking it; I do love to hike. But it was one of the most exhausting hikes I'd ever been on. Silly me, and my expectations. I expect a hike to involve padding along in loose dirt, or over rocky bits and a few roots and snags to keep it interesting. Parts of the West Highland way were once part of the Roman road that ran through the north in a futile effort to conquer the Scots. In places, it's paved in big round cobbles, incredibly rough on the ankles. In others, it's hard packed like a dirt road. It's often out in the open (there really aren't that many trees in Scotland), and raked by wind. The trail climbs up the sides of mountains, and down again into hollow, barren dales.

Towards the end of a particularly long day's hike, I came across one of these signs. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything so British. They are convinced after all that nothing cannot be fixed by a strong cup of tea. About a half a mile later, another sign, pulling you forward. This one, coming as it was a mere third of a mile from the end of the hike at Fort William (near Ben Nevis) was particularly welcome. TEA! I's just there, around the bend! So close! So... close! TEA!!

La Michoacana, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

La Michoacana, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Originally uploaded by inger h.

I met Todd Hido last night! It made me want to load up a night shot of my own from a trip to Mexico a couple years ago. I shoot at twilight a lot, but rarely when it gets fully dark. Its a lot harder to control the light (everything gets more contrasty) and the color palette available to you shrinks considerably. Todd Hido is someone who has really learned to work that, and totally understands how to get the most out of it.

My friend Laura and I were at San Francisco's "First Thursday" event to visit the gallery opening of a friend of mine, Paul Mullins. The First Thursday event is always interesting. I think it should be called "Thursday Night Art Crush" or perhaps "Art-School Kids Gone Mild" ... we used to do the same thing when I was in school... hit gallery openings, down as much free wine as we could and make sarcastic cracks about the art. It's quite a scene actually, the stairways and hallways packed with people making their way to the different galleries who have all stayed open a few extra hours.

After seeing Paul and his excellent work (boy can that man draw!), we perused few uninspiring galleries before ending up at Stephen Wirtz, where Todd Hido was on hand to talk about his work. Laura was smitten by one of his photos she saw in a back room, so as we were finding out the prices and such, the gallery assistant was kind enough to introduce us to him. His work is done in very small editions, which are quite reasonably priced, considering. You should buy some.

Big Sur, California v1

Big Sur, California
Originally uploaded by inger h.

I am a lazy blogger.

Here is a picture I took a while ago. I've whored it up with photoshop filters. Still not sure how I feel about it. I've never liked photoshop gimmicks. Still, I suppose if I put in the necessary work to actually understand how to control them a bit I can put a bit of a spin on images in a way that smartens them up without looking like I have.

Kind of like the game you play with makeup. How to put it in such a way that most people won't even realize you have anything on.

Yeah, exactly like that.