Mono Lake, in the High Sierra

We just returned from hiking a section of the 211 mile John Muir Trail. On our way to the trailhead, we stopped by Mono Lake, which Mark Twian called a “lifeless, treeless, hideous desert… the loneliest place on earth.” This was also the place where Clint Eastwood filmed the “High Plains Drifter.” In any case it is an pretty haunting place. one which draws many photographers to try to capture its stark yet mystical qualities.

Stay tuned SilberStudios.Tv where I’ll bring you a video of our hike with photo tips along the way. He’s some of the shots on our journey:

Late in the summer of 1995 my wife and children and I decided to go camping in Big Sur.  We loaded up with all of the camping paraphernalia, bikes on top and of course my surfboard and wetsuit. We stayed at Pfeiffer campground out in a sunny open spot with millions of trees all around. Fall was just touching the air and it was beautiful.

One afternoon, we made our way to Andrew Molera, a park at the beginning of Big Sur, only about three miles from the point that is the northernmost boundary of the Sur. It lies at the foot of the Santa Lucia range, where the mountains flow down into a meadow and then jut out into the sea.

To get to the beach you have to hike about a mile through a winding path that takes you past flowing eucalyptus trees, then across a flat open meadow that has become a campground, finally past some willows, and then suddenly you are there at the beach. All this sounds fun and wonderful, except when you are carrying assorted items, pushing a bike and keeping small children encouraged that the beach is “just around the next corner.” Naturally it was a relief to get to the spot.

We deposited all of our stuff, and of course I had a look at the waves. I had been to this point a few weeks earlier and had looked at this perfect wave as it peeled off the reef and rolled into shore. I marveled at its perfection, though the wave was perhaps only a foot high. I knew that on the right day, with the right swell, it would set up here and give an awesome ride.

I looked outside and saw what appeared to be small surf breaking off the rocks that hung right at the corner of the point. It didn’t seem to be much, but a guy and a girl were there getting their wet suits on, preparing to go out. I asked them about the waves and they said that it was big enough to surf; this instantly peaked my interest, so I high-tailed it back to the van on my bike to retrieve my board and wet suit.

I got my stuff and headed back to the beach, carrying my board awkwardly in one arm while trying to hold on and peddle through the sand and dirt. This proved to be quite a challenge. My determinism won out and I was quickly back at the beach in spite of the tiring and awkward transport problem.

I got my wetsuit on, grabbed my board and paddled out next to the two that I had spoken with on the beach. The girl was a “sponger,” that is she was on a boogie board. The guy was riding a short board. He was getting right in close to the rocks and catching 3-5 foot waves, getting short but fun rides.

From my perspective, out in the waves, I had quite a view: Above me were the mountains sharply jutting up to the sky like a steep staircase going from this sparkling sea to some other hidden preserve. 180 degrees the other direction, there was a rock jutting out of the sea about 100 feet high and 300 feet around. The waves came around the rock and were then propelled towards shore, but really only broke right next to the small rock next to the point.  It was quite exhilarating out there with the waves crashing, spraying mist up which was caught in the sunlight. It sparkled and flashed as it drifted back to the sea.

Getting right up next to the rock was intimidating. The ocean is unpredictable, and in its fickleness I didn’t want to end up like a toothpick pummeled against the rocks.  So in my caution I tried catching waves in a few spots away from the rock, but had no success. The waves would come in, I would paddle like mad but they teased me and would not set up, they rolled by and laughed at me, this fool out in the water.

The sponger girl told me that the only place to catch them was right up next to the rocks. “You have to get right in there.”  I wasn’t happy to hear this and continued to try to beat the ocean at its own game, but I was like a tennis player being served aces by a pro. By now the sea had racked up an impressive 10 serves to my zero waves caught.  Sitting on my board I looked back to shore. A group had come in on horseback and were moving along the beach, looking out at us in the water. My family was back there playing on the sand, my wife reading, wondering if dad was going to catch anything.

The girl and guy paddled in, so now I had no excuse not to get in the right spot. I paddled right over next to where it was breaking up against the rocks. The force of the waves was awesome— whoosh—this huge force would come in and smash against the rocks. I got as close as I dared, which was very close to the smash-point.

Then it happened. A good-sized wave moved in toward me. This is the moment of truth when a wave walls up outside and begins to roll in, picking up in height. This is the ocean rolling its ball to the pins, only I’m the pins, and it’s my desire to get a strike. The wave rolled in, I in turn did my part of the dance, turning to meet it and then paddled. This is the real moment of truth, if all of my efforts match the energy flow of the sea, and if I have chosen the right spot to grab my partner, then we will dance.

The wave moved in towards me, the toothpick next to the rocks. I paddled, looking over my left shoulder. “Will it pick me up, will it?” Faster, faster, turn a bit, “yes, I’ve got it!” This is a connection straight to the multi-thousand horsepower engine of a wave. By comparison, man-made engines are toys. Now I was at the start of this power curl that picked me up, hoping to smash me against the rocks so it could score its final victory. But I outsmarted it by being in the right spot, paddling fast enough and at the right angle to catch this wild beast. I popped up and turned to angle on the wave. The wave picked me up fully and now I was Tarzan riding on the back of this wild tiger. I stood up and knew that I had it, knowing I was riding the beast that would sooner thrash me and teach me a lesson about who was boss.

Now I was king and in control. “Wave time” changes, now the seconds that go by are in a different time zone. By my watch only a few seconds had ticked by since I started this dance, but each second was in its own unit, shining and twisting, stretching like salt water taffy at the boardwalk. The seconds stretched, the wave picked up bigger and then it transformed: It became a rocket, a jet engine. It started to fold over me and began to roar and blast out spray. The beast had gone from just a tiger loping along, to one in a full-death-sprint after its prey. I knew something was happening, but being in the experience instead of looking at it, I didn’t really know what it was.  I could feel my wave transforming and the ride changing, the sound, the raw energy getting closer to me.

I heard something else. From the shore I heard cheering, could that be?  I shot a quick glance to my left and saw people lined up on the beach waving and cheering in my direction. They had noticed this magic that I was riding too. Now I knew something was happening.

The wave was over my shoulder trying to catch me and win, trying to swat me off, like a wild bronco with a rider strapped to its back. But this was the magic: It couldn’t get me. I was defying its intentions and defying gravity too. I was tricking time in the bargain turning its ever-clicking wheels into a twisted stretched out moment. I, not the sea, not gravity, and not time owned this moment. It was like the force and power of the whole universe had a door on it that can be opened at the right moment and you can step through. I had done this and I was on the other side of this force.

I thought this was the longest ride I had ever been on and saw that the wave was just going right down the line towards the beach to the south. For a moment I thought of exiting, but then why? Ride this beast all the way in, stay with this magical moment. The force was diminishing, but the effect on me was not: I was out of my head. This was amazing, something had happened that I didn’t know if I could ever describe to another.

I finished the wave off, turned and quickly paddled back out. I was stoked beyond belief. My body was vibrating with exhilaration. The grin on my face was bigger than the board. The crowd was still cheering for me. All I could think was that I wanted more. I didn’t want the taffy to snap back, the force to die away and the ride to be over. I wanted this feeling to go on forever, to stay on the other side of the door forever.

I paddled back to the spot, this time happy to be right next to the rocks, cocky that the waves couldn’t get me. I had been knighted by the sea, I had the magical ride.

I danced around with some other waves, but nothing even approaching my magic wave came by and I decided to take my act to the shore and have my victory with the sea, bronzed forever in my memory.

I paddled in as far as I could, found the bottom, and got off and walked in with the board under my arm. I got to shore and undid my leash, winding the cord around my board.

My kids found me and screamed, “Dad you should have seen the wave you were on, you got tubed!” When I heard this I was in disbelief. I had a great ride but tubed? Nah. Just a great ride.

I walked up the beach and saw the sponger girl and the guy, who said, “Man you were in the barrel!” Then I really was tubed, I really had made it.

My wife told me the back-half of my board was covered by the wave, only the front poking out.  My family was thrilled to see dad get the ultimate ride and come back smiling. We had all shared this dance that would live on forever as the moment I stepped through the door in Big Sur.

Yep, I’m hooked on my iPhone, love to take shots with it and love to hike with it and soften the miles with all those tunes (my wife rolled her eyes last weekend when she heard I was listening to Jimi Hendrix The Wind Cries Mary–ah well the ’60s-’70s gap!)

This is a long ways from the the serious in-the-darkroom–having shot with my Leica M2 or my medium format Rollie, never would have dreamed that there would be a time I’d get a shot with my phone  and actually like it.

There are some very good tips, which my friend Chase Jarvis published recently read and use they really help.

I think the cool part is being able to get those shots otherwise missed (I know I’ve told you to always carry a camera, but, dang there are those times..)  Here’s a few… memories captured along the way… See more on my FaceBook

Thomas Hawk, getting his shot of the Golden Gate bridge, cold December day

Hiking above Silicon Valley

Feng Shui waiting for my Sponsor meeting

Africa Tree in Lake , originally uploaded by marc silber.

Going through my Africa shots again, ran across this one that hadn’t put up before. It’s a lesson to look over your shots to catch all of them that capture your emotions from the time you shot them: I remember this shot and seeing it at the time as a BW. An example of “visualization.”

Sunset, Hermanus South Africa, originally uploaded by marc silber.

This was almost my last shot, ever! I was so intent on catching this shot, that I started to cross the small highway, instinctively looking first to my right to see if any cars coming–but this being South Africa, drivers were on the other side, as I started to step out –woosh along came a car going very fast that pushed me back. (This was how Winston Churchill was seriously injured by a car while crossing Fifth Avenue in New York in 1931.)

As you see, this shot has deeper meaning for me. I’m very glad it wasn’t Marc Silber’s last shot!

 Wedding in Franschhoek, South Africa

Look closely and you’ll see the steering wheel on the right side, where the chafferer is about to drive the happy couple off, over the rainbow.

Click here for more Africa Shots

Gathering at a small village on the edge of Kruger National Park

Boy and his burro in same village

Zebras, near Kruger National Park

Click here for more Africa Shots

We recently went to South Africa, what an amazing place for a photographer! I’m still processing over 1000 images that I returned with, but I’m putting up a few right away:

You see here one of the many lions we had a chance to meet!

We stayed at the beautiful and, as you can see, very conveniently located, Tinstwalo Safari lodge. We dinned with the many large game that came by to drink and bathe, or maybe just to drop by to see us!

Cape Buffalo at sunset, are, along with the hippo, considered to be the most dangerous animals in Africa.

Wild dogs are an endangered species and rarely seen.

Baby leopard (the other kind of leopard!)

Every sunset was an amazing time to shoot.

 Please stay tuned for more shots that I’ll be adding to my portfolio…

How quickly this summer has passed! I took the shot above exactly one year ago while hiking the John Muir trail. We ended up at Yosemite Valley on Labor Day with this view of Half Dome (to see other images in my portfolio click here.)

I didn’t know then that I would return to shoot the video in this amazing place with Ansel Adams’ son, Michael. If you haven’t seen that yet, click here.

On that note, we have surprises awaiting you when we roll out our first season of photoCycle.

Save The Date: Atherton Artists Show

If you’re in the Bay Area, stop by and see my work at the Atherton Artist show, Friday Sept 19, reception 4-7:30 PM, Jenkins Pavilion, Holbrook Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Ave, Atherton.

Classroom Geometry, originally uploaded by marc silber.

I took this shot 44 years ago, it was published a few years ago in a photo-essay I did for Gentry Magazine, so I guess you could say it is now my first professional photo.

Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about how photography relies on geometry. I agree. I see in images that I admire a sense of geometry—the placement of lines and objects. Contrasting proper placement can be things out of place or unexpected as in this shot.

So many times we’re limited to holding the camera in the landscape or portrait position, but what happens when you change the horizon as I did above.

Your thoughts?

Half Dome is an amazing monolith to just look at and not even think, just look or talk quietly with friends, in this case with Robert Scoble, Michael Adams, Rocky Barbanica and Thomas Hawk.

“FOCUS ON BEAUTY” EXHIBIT

Atherton-based fine art photographer Marc Silber’s newest exhibition, “Focusing on Beauty,” opened with a reception at the Richard Sumner Gallery in Palo Alto on Feb. 2. The show, featuring 40 years of classic black-and-white photographs, color photographs and recent prints, attracted longtime friends, collectors and several of Silber’s students.

At the reception, Silber had the chance to tell the stories behind many of his pieces and gave an impromptu photography lesson.

Guests at the reception enjoyed viewing the prints, chatting with the artist and meeting gallery owner Mahmut Keskekci, who framed the artist’s newest color prints. The custom-designed frames mirror details in the abstract color in motion photographs.

A lifelong photographer, Silber first experienced work in a darkroom when he attended the Peninsula School in Menlo Park. He likes to tell the story about the silhouette pictured on his business card, which depicts fellow students from his eighth-grade class captured in a midair jump from a sand dune during a class field trip.

During his spontaneous photography lesson, he said, “So much of photography is about geometry.” Silber looks for juxtapositions and contrast in patterns.

“The fun of photography is to look for a shift in the scene,” he said. A perfect example is his first printed still life that dates back to his Peninsula School days, in which he rotated the camera and composed a shot of chairs stacked at various angles.

The exhibition continues through March at the Richard Sumner Gallery at 628 Emerson St. in downtown Palo Alto.

Colors and patterns can be wherever you find them: trees, grass, sky, or in this case, snowboards.

The show Focus on Beauty will be up into March so please drop by Richard Sumner Gallery, 628 Emerson St Palo Alto 10AM-5PM Monday through Saturday. Click for more details

Naturally at an opening I don’t get to take too many shots but here’s one of my son Bear and his girlfriend Monica:

Thanks to all those who dropped by for the opening. I love to get the chance to talk, get your feedback and see how people respond to my photos. Another photographer mentioned this to me once: One of the best parts of doing a show is to see how people respond, what they spark on and don’t–it’s like a live survey. Not that I’m changing what I shoot but it does help to get the feedback in the whole process. Ansel Adams taught to “visualize” the photograph from the moment of first seeing the shot all the way through to the finnished print, or in this case, being framed, on the wall and seen by others. Every artist needs to get that response one way or another to know if they’re on the the right track. (I will still love certain shots that I take even if they go unnoticed.)

So drop by and get some yogurt next door too (see Scoble’s entry below) you’ll be happy you did, trust me.

The entrepreneurial neighborhood of Palo Alto

Something is in the water in the neighborhood surrounding Emerson Street in Palo Alto. View map of neighborhood.

This is the neighborhood that’s brought us Google. Paypal. Facebook. HP. Java. BarCamp. Among other things.

But the entrepreneurialism doesn’t end with the big tech names. Gordon Biersch, a popular chain of microbreweries, started on this street.

I first learned about some of the entrepreneurial activity happening in the shadows of bigger companies back when I first took my car to a little garage in this neighborhood back in the early 1990s. If you visit Ole’s Car Shop you’ll meet Ole Christensen. This is no ordinary mechanic. He was so sick of the management systems available to car mechanics that he wrote his own in Microsoft Access and Visual Basic.

He’s not the only guy who has a college degree that’s coming up with new ways to run small businesses in this neighborhood.

On Thursday I went roaming around the neighborhood looking for other entrepreneurial stories.

I met up with Mahmut Keskekci. He’s worked in a small retail store, Richard Sumner Gallery, in this neighborhood for 23 years. He moved here from Turkey and has a degree in Electrical Engineering. What does he do now?

He frames Silicon Valley’s most expensive artwork at the shop he now owns, Richard Sumner Gallery. Just a couple of weeks ago he had a million-dollar Picaso in his shop. Today he’s hosting professional photographer Marc Silber, blog, who swears by Mahmut’s work.

I met up with Mahmut and Marc in the shop and videoed them. Here’s Marc talking about his photography and why he loves Mahmut’s work. Mahmut told me he does framing for the local Stanford University hospital, and local museums, among others. The video gets a little choppy, cause I’m using my cell phone but you get an idea of Mahmut’s philosophy. I restarted the video and we continue the discussion of Marc’s photography and Mahmut’s framing work.

This afternoon if you drop by the gallery you’ll meet both Marc and Mahmut at 3 p.m. for the opening of Marc’s exhibition.

Anyway, more photos from my walk around the neighborhood are on my Flickr feed along with some snaps I made of Larry Lessig. Maybe I’ll see you over at the yogurt shop this afternoon. Who knows what kind of entrepreneur you’ll run into there!

From Photoicon: www.photoicon.com

It’s rare for a professional photographer to give his work away for free, but five decades worth of Marc Silber’s images can now be downloaded in an ebook.

SILBER EXPLAINS: “I want to show others what I’ve seen, that’s my passion.”
However, he is quick to add, “I’m a working artist - I still retain all rights to my photos and of course would love for viewers to purchase my actual prints…but I decided to make it easy to get the feeling of my work by offering some of it as an ebook.”

He also says the idea of having the ebook released just ahead of his exhibition is a parallel to a musical artist releasing a CD and then going on tour.

The exhibition will show a variety of images from widespread backdrops such as Paris, Big Sur and Mexico.

Hyde Park walk, London. Marc Silber

Richard Sumner Gallery

Marc Silber:

Focus on Beauty

2 February - March, 2008

The ebook, also called Focus on Beauty, can be downloaded at www.silberstudios.com/focus_on_beauty

Robert Scoble and I met with Steven Heiner, Nikon’s Senior Technical Manager

today to test drive the new D3, I won’t bore you with its details, but suffice it to say this is

the Ferrari of digital cameras. I had my “old” Nikon D2X and we wandered around getting a few shots:

The Ferry Building: “A famous city’s most famous landmark.” Herb Caen

This has been the jumping off spot for over 100 years (built in 1888)

t

irresistible…

We bump into Mark Anders, Adobe’s “Sr. Principal Scientist”

Robert does a Scoble Show on the spot

7 reasons why I favor love black and white photography:

1. I grew up with it, and it feels natural.

2. Doing color darkroom work was too expensive and too much hassle so I decided to master B&W in the darkroom and gain control over my final prints.

3. Playing with the zones from pure white (zone X) to pure black (zone 0) or as close as you can get, is fun and causes me to look at life differently. Funny how taking color out makes more of a shot.

4. It’s just cool.

5. I have to have a good reason to shoot color anymore. I love the “raw” look of B&W.

6. Taking equipment that is capable of the most amazing specturm of color and limiting it to B&W focuses all that power on the simplicities of the image.

7. Did I mention that it’s cool?

What are your thoughts?

I’ve just completed a new ebook: Focus on Beauty, it’s available for download, here:

Click to download, also subscribe to my Blog RSS while you’re at it.

This ebook is made up of two Photo-essays I did for Gentry Magazine of the Silicon Valley and surrounding area. It actually covers bits of my work from 1964 to the present. Briefly, the story is: After showing my portfolio (with images shot from all over –Paris, Mexico, Vermont, etc) to the magazine’s publisher, she asked me if I could go out and capture shots of our area of the valley. My immediate answer was “of course!”

However, it’s sometimes easier to spot photo-worthy shots elsewhere than right under your nose, but I approached it with the idea of finding places as though I had landed in a foreign land. The results were, I believe interesting, and for me fun. For example, I thought it would be great to get the shot of the polo ponies in action right in a residential area and so went to the Menlo Circus club during a game; but on the same shoot I also found that disarming shot of the horse posing for me in her stall. I also added in some of my classics like the shot from 1964 of my 7th grade class room.

There’s real satisfaction in being able to summarize my view of this remarkable area and present it to you, I hope you l enjoy it as much as I did taking these shots.

Marc

Here’s my first shots taking a 1 mile (70 laps) at the MA pool: I’m happy with the resolution of this little camera: (see the video Scoble shot.)

underwater blue

My coach –the best in the biz, Tom McRae

A bit too serious, but getting in my 70 laps

Yipes!

Beautiful Shepard waiting at Peet’s