I made a trek into the city to see an exhibition of Irving Penn photography at the de Young museum. I had succumbed to heavy advertising on Instagram, but it was nonetheless something I was interested in seeing. I also remember why I don’t undertake such journeys as often as I used to. I left at around 10:30 thinking I would escape the worst of the traffic. But I didn’t. It was slow going in the valley, sometimes stop-and-go, then the Bay Bridge was also very congested, not helped due to a crash that had blocked some lanes. Then I had to navigate downtown SF and find the parking garage. I finally made it there after about an hour and a half.
I think this is the first time I’ve been to the de Young. It was very nice, right across from the California Academy of Sciences, and set nicely in Golden Gate park. I mainly went there for the Irving Penn exhibition, and spent a bit of time looking at the photos. It was interesting to see the variety of his work. A couple of features particularly were interesting. First, his nudes were all headless — not all bodyscapes, but all separated from their person as distinct from his portraiture. Second, it was interesting to see how unsharpe some of the photos were compared to what seems to be demanded from today’s technology. Despite that they were still very impactful.
Traffic back was as bad as going, even though I left around 2:00. I’m glad I don’t have to drive in that mess every day. But it was nice to see some inspiring photography.