What a show!

One hundred and twenty examples of anything in a show tend to cause overload in the viewer. How many Chinese urns, Renaissance oils or vintage cars can anyone take, after all?

So if I tell you that the Balenciaga show at the de Young museum in San Francisco was too small, that will give you some sense of just how riveting the output of the Basque haute couture master really is. The appeal of the oeuvre of this master designer to any photographer is clear. There is a special combination of art and craft, as seen in the best photographs. It’s not enough to make it. You have to make it fresh and new and original and breathtaking. You have to know how to use color and line and cut. And you have to make it well. It’s a skill which tests many disciplines. And the best of the best attracts the best photographers to record his work for posterity. Irving Penn, John Rawlings, Richard Avedon – a who’s who of fashion photographers did Balenciaga’s miraculous creations justice.

The show was simply thrilling. What was really so extraordinary was to realize just how quintessentially Spanish his designs are. If you know your Goya, El Greco and Zurbaràn, you will see them in the gowns time and again. The absolute show stoppers are the two bolero sequined jackets which are masterpieces of form and design. One is on the right in the first snap, below. And anyone who tells you there is nothing new to be had in the black cocktail dress has not seen the Basque master’s myriad renditions. Just beyond perfection, and made with an unsurpassable commitment to quality. The snaps are not great as the lighting was low and even at ISO 1600 I was struggling to keep the camera steady, plus they had a million guards waiting with arrest warrants if you were caught. What kind of BS is this “no photography” rubbish? Well, in true Spanish tradition, that was simply a red rag to this bull.

Look at the raincoat far right in the second picture – worn by Mona Guinness. Take something old and make it completely new. Stunning. Or the red shawl number in the last picture. (There was a black shrouded version but I couldn’t get a picture – it was like nothing I have ever seen). Can you wonder he kept his designs secret until the last moment to stop the Diors of the world ripping him off?

Severity of line and architectural construction and attention to detail were everywhere. One of the guards, catching me shaking my head in sheer disbelief, even engaged me in conversation and allowed as how he too thought the bolero jackets were the best thing there. The appeal of Balenciaga is universal.

The show was also a reminder of what it took to be a Balenciaga woman:

• 5′ 6″ minimum
• Size 6 maximum
• 110 lbs or less
• Wasp waisted
• …. and married to great wealth

It runs through July 4. See it if you can.

1/6th, f/4.4

1/8th, f/4

1/10th, f/3.5

All snapped on the Panny G1, ISO 1600 at 14mm on the kit lens. This is the first time I have rued not having an M9 with a Summilux …. after all, it’s a mere fraction of a Balenciaga original.

If you want a fine book with many pictures taken by Penn, Avedon, Horst, Beaton, Hoyningen-Heune, Rawlings and Cartier-Bresson (!), check here. Or just get the show catalog which is a bargain at some $45.

Beautiful relics.

This store on Geary Street in San Francisco affects a ‘bespoke English tradition of tailoring’ image; in reality, the stuff inside is trashy clothing for teenagers. But who could fail to be drawn in by this exhibit of classic Singer sewing machines?

G1, kit lens @ 20mm, 1/320, f/2.8 ISO320.

It’s hard to imagine the size of the fortune made by Isaac Singer (1811-1875) with his great invention, which saw standardized parts used to make manufacturing as efficient as possible. Add the availability of installment payment plans and the business went ballistic. In the book “The Wealthy 100“, which computes American fortunes as a fraction of Gross National Product, thus rendering comparison between then and now meaningful, Singer ranks as the 52 wealthiest American ever; his partner, Edward Clark, who came up with the installment sale idea is at #33. Even then the world treated banksters favorably. $5 down and payments for ever on the remaining $95. By comparison, Bill Gates is at #31. Unlike Gates, Singer gave the world something that worked and worked well.

The store clerk told me they have 600 (six hundred!) machines all told and, looking around, I have no reason to doubt that. They were nice enough to let me take a snap from inside which shows the machines, each individually illuminated, at their best. These are objects of great mechanical beauty, as usable today as the day they were created.

The store is named All Saints and is at 140 Geary Street, San Francisco.

Chevy rules!

Somehow, among the chaos that is Fishermen’s Wharf in San Francisco, I managed to pick out this beautiful Chevrolet Impala with its no less lovely passenger.

G1, kit lens @17mm, 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO320.

Phew!

Take my advice. If you really must make your way uphill from North Beach in San Francisco, up Powell Street to Nob Hill, take the cable car. I pushed my bike all the way up and if you see camera shake in this image, it is on account of my heart rate which was ticking along at some 200 per. None of this was helped by the parking garage behind me which boldly stated that parking was $12 for the first hour and $52 a day maximum.

Still, I managed to get my wits about me, wiped the perspiration off the brow, leaned on the old two wheeled steed and snapped a picture of one of the costliest residences on the west coast. No one said Nob Hill was cheap.

Nob Hill home. G1, kit lens @38mm, 1/100, f/6.3, ISO320.

Here is the location and the direction along which I suffered my coronary:

A slice of civilization.

Grant Avenue in San Francisco starts life at O’Farrell and Market Streets and, once it crosses California Street, enters the frenetic world and nicotine laden air of Chinatown. A few blocks of stores full of strange foods, garbage goods and neon signs later it crosses Columbus Avenue and enters Little Italy. The contrast could scarcely be greater. No crowds, no chintz, neighborhood restaurants and some fine high end stores.

I was strolling up this civilized stretch of Grant the other day and came across two chaps working the parking meters, one on either side of the road. I caught up with one and chatted with him while he worked his magic. It was quite something to behold. In one smooth motion he would open the locking door, remove the green coin cylinder, pop it into the coin box on his heavy dolly, empty it and replace and lock. So practiced was this routine that I had to speed up from stroll to walk, just to keep up!

He told me that on a street like Grant Avenue, totally parked out all the time, they have to empty the meters every other day, with an average yield of $40 per meter. Wow! “But these meters also take credit cards, don’t they?” I asked. “Yes, but coins will never die. People like to use coins.” I’m not sure whether that’s job protection speaking or reality, but it was sort of reassuring in a nation where all manual labor is being either obsoleted by technology or exported to China.

I tried a couple of snaps and this one catches his intensity, the coin cylinder and all.

Meter Man.

Another block north, at Vallejo Street, is Al’s Attire, a cavernous store whose enticing window displays pulled me inside. Modeled on the British bespoke tradition, Al’s makes shoes, hats and jackets. One window has a display of cobbler’s lasts which the owner assured me are not for show. They are all in use.

Lasts at Al’s.

Some of the exquisite ladies’ shoes on display here could be straight of of Vanity Fair (Thackeray’s not SI Newhouse’s). Viewed from inside the store the light is to die for.

Large expanses of leather are lying around, waiting to be crafted into shoes.

Sheets of leather waiting to be crafted into fine footwear.

The other window display is no less impressive:

Hats and tools.

Crossing the road the Live Worms Gallery has yet to open and has a spare window display with a little model Ford truck. I snap it merrily and only notice that I have included my hand and camera when in Lightroom later. Still, it seems to work.

Ford at Live Worms.

A few yards further down and a soccer game from Italy is enthralling the lunchtime crowd. I quickly crank the G1 up from ISO320 to ISO1600, knowing that it’s going to be dark inside there. It takes seconds to do as I have the two options stored in the first two of the three available Custom settings. As luck would have it my timing coincides with that rarest of events in world class soccer, a goal!

Goal!

Before heading down to Washington Square my eye is caught by a gorgeous race bike at Cykel. Just as I approach a fellow bicyclist gives the machine a longing glance. The owner of the store tells me it’s a carbon fibre and aluminum frame, and the tires are glued to the rims. This is a board track racer so there are no brakes, one gear, and the whole thing weighs just 15 lbs! No, I don’t ask the price.

Board track racer at Cykel.

Heading west to Washington Square I thank my lucky stars that I am carrying that little charmer, the 45-200mm Panny in my shoulder bag. To describe a lens with a maximum reach equivalent to a 400mm on a full frame body as a ‘charmer’ may sound like a bit of a stretch, but it’s true in this case. It’s the first super telephoto you don’t think twice about taking with you. Weight is not an issue, the optics are tremendous and the built-in OIS means the tripod stays at home. The reason I’m glad I have it with me is that there’s a chap, down to his skivvies, doing all sort of bizarre calisthenics in the center of the park and I’m not about to poke my camera in the face of one who, for all I know, has a black belt in martial arts. The Panny’s at full chat, extended to 400mm for this one:

Skivvy man.

Exiting Washington Park there’s a mural celebrating the SF Giants’ World Championship victory in baseball. Quite how you become a world champion in a sport largely played only on these shores I’m not sure, but even someone as disinterested in baseball as I can assure you that the City will not let you forget the Giants’ championship status. I still have the 45-200mm on the Panny so wait lazily on the little traffic island in the middle of Columbus until the scene is just so.

World Champions.

Turn the corner onto the main artery of Little Italy, Columbus Avenue, and there’s a local enjoying a cappuccino and some reading. Yes, not everyone uses an iPad:

No iPad.

These are the sort of scenes which typify that fine corner of San Francisco known as Little Italy. And now it’s time for lunch.

Lunch in the mirror in Little Italy.

All snaps on the Panasonic G1 with the kit lens at ISO320, except as noted.