I went to PhotoL.A. this weekend and I wasn't too wowed by much. Maybe it's because I am always looking at photography so not much is new to me. But it was nice to see the prints in person instead of on the internet or in a magazine. The first time I went to one of these was in San Franciso which was called PhotoS.F. (Do you see a pattern here?) I was amazed to see so much photography under one roof.

There were over 80 exhibitors at PhotoL.A. which included galleries, publishers, and consultants. I was exhausted and had a low blood sugar moment at a gallery booth. A photographer wanted to talk about his work and kept baiting me and all I could think about was food. I was beginning to shake. I can be too nice sometimes and instead of excusing myself, I reluctantly bit his hook. He started talking away about how none of his photography is digitized and I just thought, "Oh no! I'll never get out of here! I won't be able to eat and I won't be able to see the rest of the exhibitors!" The reason why I even held off from eating was that I felt like I didn't have enough time to see everything and now this guy was talking to me and I didn't want to talk to him to begin with and if I had to choose between food and him, it would be a mustard covered pretzel!! (That was a run-on sentence on purpose. It illustrates my panic that was rising in me.)

When he asked me, "Are you a photographer as well?" I said, "Yes, and I am having a low blood sugar moment. I only had a bowl of cereal and a Power Bar and I need to eat."
And I was out of there.

My highlights at PhotoL.A. are meeting Horoshi Watanabe and seeing Marie Navarre's work at the Lisa Sette Gallery. I love Hiroshi's quiet, classically beautiful, black and white photoraphy so it was an honor to meet him. Unfortunately, I couldn't talk very much because my low blood sugar moment had stunned me for the rest of the afternoon. Marie Navarre's work is very zen and she incorporates thread, paper, and film into her work. Her art stirs something inside of me.

I was also happy to run into the various people from L.A., San Francisco, and New York who I know from having been involved in the photo world for so long. The most surprising encounter was seeing someone who I first got to know when I interned at SF Camerawork and then ran into him every once in a while in SF. It had been about 4-5 years since I last saw him. He is doing well and is in the process of having a book published.

Next week...ArtL.A.!!