Andy Fraser’s Night Photography Blog has information about an opportunity to photograph the Pigeon Point Lighthouse while the original fresnel lens light is in operation. The event is this Saturday Friday, November 17. I’m hoping to be there.

Here is some information from Andy’s site:

California State Parks, Pigeon Point Hostel, and the United States Coast Guard will commemorate the 135th Anniversary of the first lighting of Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This annual event features an open house in the historic fog signal building from 10am until 7pm. The highlight of the evening is from 6-8pm when the historic lighthouse?s Fresnel Lens lights up the sky. Exhibits in the 1899 Fog Signal Building will feature lighthouse history, videos, marine mammals, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park is located between San Francisco and Santa Cruz on Highway 1, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, or 25 miles north of Santa Cruz. For more information, please call (650) 879-2120 or click here.

Visit Andy’s blog (click on the link in the first paragraph above) to read more and to see a few photographs.

From the New York Times:

In the early 1960’s, when Mr. Szarkowski… began his curatorial career, photography was commonly perceived as a utilitarian medium, a means to document the world. Perhaps more than anyone, Mr. Szarkowski changed that perception. For him, the photograph was a form of expression as potent and meaningful as any work of art, and as director of photography at the Modern for almost three decades, beginning in 1962, he was perhaps its most impassioned advocate. Two of his books, “The Photographer’s Eye,” (1964) and “Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures From the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art” (1973), remain syllabus staples in art history programs.

I’m switching over to an alternate hosting provider… tonight. Some notes about this process and what may happen over the next few days.

1. This site will likely disappear for as long as a few days – but it will return.
2. It is possible that a partially functional version of the site will come up first.
3. The alternate site will continue to run during this time: http://gdanmitchellphotography.blogspot.com/
4. There may also be problems with email – on a temporary basis you can use my gmail account at gdanmitchell [at] gmail.com.

Thanks for your patience, and watch for the new version of the site to begin taking shape soon.

Dan