Kicking off ’09 in Frothy Style

The first S&S get-together of the New Year was a 6-person nacho, burger and beer affair at The Saloon January 2nd, in which several members outlined plans for documenting the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States.














Chris and Matt converse in Vulcan sign language © Frank Van Riper

[Unfortunately, Dan--or Senor Dan to his Mexican colleagues--the impetus for this fun meetup--had to cancel at the last minute. Wouldn’t you know, his in-laws wanted to have dinner with him that night. Sigh.]

But we soldiered on through a vale of beers, er, tears.

• Matt said he plans to make inaugural panos as close as he can, using the 35mm pano converter for his medium format Mamiya 7.
  
• Holly has signed on as a volunteer for the Obama campaign and plans to shoot her day as it unfolds.
  
• Erica said she will load both her film cameras (one color, one black and white) and walk from her downtown apartment, capturing the faces of people on the historic day.
• Frank, who has covered more inaugurals than he cares to remember, said he would stay home with his lovely wife Judy and watch everything on the telly. BUT he is looking forward to seeing everyone’s take, with an eye toward doing a column on “The inauguration through the eyes of not-yet-famous photographers.”

So if any other S&S-ers want to take part, go for it.

Remember too:

Erica is hosting an informal inaugural party at her place on Jan. 20^th from about 5pm on. Sounds like a good place to scope one’s digital take from the day.

Erica in Italian 'Vogue' mode © Frank Van Riper

On totally unrelated matters, Frank described some of the more mundane aspects of commercial photography, including a recent family portrait commission featuring six humans and five, count ‘em five, rambunctious pugs. But the pugs, bless them, stood stock still once Judy held a bowl of shredded chicken slightly out of camera range.

Smile for the Chicken © Frank Van Riper

On another family portrait job—this one involving 16 humans of all ages at the home of the grandparents—the fun really started when the grandfather asked for “a few shots” of his collection of toy lead soldiers.

The valuable collection, featuring literally thousands of the 3” lead figures in all manner of battle dress and posture, would have been at home in the Royal War Museum. The few shots turned into a few dozen, but it was a gas, especially when granddad happily forked over an extra $150 for the snaps.

That's Lawrence of Arabia on the right; Omar Sharif on left © Frank Van Riper

Those attending: Erica, Chris, Matt, Holly, Andy & Frank.