BAP: Derek
   
   
 

Yesterday was the first meeting of the Bay Area Photologgers in a few months. Today's picture is of Derek. A few more faces that I took from the get-togther are listed below:

It was great to hook-up with local, enthusiastic photobloggers again. There's quite a concentration of us in the San Francisco but we didn't seem to have the urge to socialize in person on the scale that groups in NY and Toronto do, until now. When I attended the first BAP get-together we sat around a couple of tables; yesterday we took over a whole deck.

I don't know if we're trying to distinguish ourselves from our Northern and Eastern cousins, or if it's Heather's way of limiting the length of these socials but we've always met outside. I want to see pictures of the photobloggers from Toronto or NY sitting around outside in February. Truth be told, it was freezing yesterday (San Francisco freezing, not Toronto freezing). I made the mistake of believing the weatherman who said the weekend was going to be as warm as last Thursday and Friday. I should have known better and dressed in thermals and a down jacket instead of a T-shirt. By the time we left I was shivering so much I could hardly hold my camera steady. I guess hot chocolate rather than Guinness would have been a better beverage choice.

I wish I'd arrived a few minutes earlier, in time to hear the introductions. There were some familiar faces from previous socials. There were some people I recognized from their blogs. There were also a lot of new faces too. I wish I could have tied them to their respective blogs. We should wear name tags that include URL's (that's only a half serious suggestion) or maybe have a rogue's gallery on the BAP website.

The conversation was smart and interesting ... for the most part. At one point, after talking about some art cinema, we accidentally slipped into a discussion about how the Lord of the Rings extended edition movies differed from the books. There followed an awkward silence as we realized how geeky we had just sounded. It was great to hear what people were working on though. It made me realize what a great forum photologs are for true enthusiast, amateur and adventurous photography. Long may it continue so

So what did I learn about Bay Area photobloggers from this meeting? We're older than you might have thought, predominantly white, predominantly male and predominantly Canon DSLR users. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those things but I wonder if this typical of the photoblogging community as a whole. Anyways, Heather and Derek have set up a great BAP site where you can drop by and meet your fellow Bay Area photobloggers in the virtual world before committing to meet us in real life. I hope to see you there or at our next get-together - just remember to wrap up warm.