Sunday, December 19, 2010

San Francisco Images Collection - available framed pieces

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer


San Francisco photography - framed pieces for gifts, home or office

I am having a clearance on our current pieces in stock as we complete our shift to web galleries - these are the last of our collection and I am making them available at significant discounts (30-75%) - in many cases less than the wholesale value of the framing -

send me an email or call me at 415-434-8745 to make an appointment to come to the studio.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Photographs of San Francisco - all time favorites Slideshow




click on notes for more information

San Francisco Images Web Galleries

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Our photographs win Westin-San Francisco photo contest

Don't say you never win anything - two my classic shots of San Francisco Skyline won a photo contect for two premium room nights - time for a night out of the town! 

Check out this link to Westin's Facebook site to see other winners, and learn more about the Starwood-Westin Hotels.  They plan to make FB promotions an integral part of their marketing.

Facebook link for Westin San Francisco



To purchase this view as open edition print of this from our Web Gallery and see other San Francisco Images


Gate from Fort Point
during passing storm
hand-tinted black and white, 1/1, 8x10" view





Skyline from Alamo Square during passing storm
classic view yet hard to shoot- needs both hot light on city and dark clouds to separate skyline from East Bay Hills

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Personal Favorite San Francisco Skyline Photograph



















View from Clipper Street headed up Twin Peaks
Photographed with 8x 10" view camera, color negative material, during passing storm
by Bennett Hall

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Go to Court and learn about San Francisco History

Go to Court, Learn about local history?

That' right.  Thanks to an innovative program started by Hon. Judge Breyer of the U.S. District Courts' 9th District in San Francisco, their jury room rooms, public corridors and selected chambers areas are adorned with restored historical photographs with educational narratives telling colorful stories of Bay Area History.   The project began in 2002, and culminated this summer with the an installation covering three floors of the Oakland Federal building featuring Oakland, Alameda and Contra Costa County history.  Lawyers, their clients, jurors, and visitors will learn about the transcontinental railroad, the Key system, University of Berkeley, development of agriculture, coal, logging and other industries, dynamite in Hercules, the "Detroit of the West", Liberty Ships, the Cyclotron, Lake Merritt, waterfront development, water systems, bridges, tunnels, warships, the Mission system and even Charlie Chaplin in Niles.




The program is located in the Bay Area's primary Federal Buildings, Clay Street Oakland, 2nd Street San Jose and 450 Golden Gate, San Francisco - showcasing a total of nearly 1,000 framed photographs.  Each photograph was digitally restored from vintage materials from dozens of sources.  Each view includes a caption and story illuminating aspects of our local heritage, providing an education experience with the Court experience.  Te program was designed and produced by San Francisco photographer and artist, Bennett Hall and Helen Rischbieth of Business image Group, who worked in concert with the US District Court Judges in their respective areas, Hon. Judge Breyer, San Francisco, Hon. Judge Lloyd and Hon. Judge Seeborg, San Jose, and Hon. Judge Jensen in Oakland.  Production was all done locally, including custom framing made in their San Francisco shop Eco Framing, the latest project employing U.S. grown and manufactured solid Cherry wood frame moulding made using FSC certified methods.   An emphasis of producing this project in most 'carbon neutral manner possible was combined with using materials that were all made in America - two fundamentals advocated by Hall and Rischbieth's company.
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Blog:    US District Courts - Oakland Federal Building
http://businessimagegroup.blogspot.com/2010/08/bay-area-wide-local-history-program-for.html

Website - overview of Bay Area US Courts Program
US District Courts, San Francisco Bay Area • Community History exhibits, 2002-2010
http://www.businessimagegroup.com/USCourts.html

Media
Contra Costa times / Montclairian
http://www.contracostatimes.com/montclarion/ci_15828606?nclick_check=1

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

President Wilson hosts ladies luncheon at Palace Hotel, September 1919
















Presidential Luncheon, Garden Court of the Palace Hotel, September 1919

The elegant Garden Court, with its dome stained-glass ceiling and Austrian crystal chandeliers, was the site for some of the nation's most prestigious events. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson hosted two luncheons in support of the Versailles Treaty, which ended World War I. This was part of his 8000 mile tour, with 40 speeches in 29 cities in 22 days.

Purchase Images of the Palace Hotel

Slideshow on Palace History

Case Study - Palace Hotel

Wikipedia history on Palace Hotel 

Friday, May 14, 2010

Charlotte Mailliard wearing Palace of Fine Arts

Back in the 80's a project came together to light the Palace of Fine Arts, the lone remaining stucture from the Panama Pacific International Exhibition of1915, led by Gina Delacetia.  Bob Pritikin, the City's rather flamboyant adman and hotelier came together to create promotional and funraising events and stunts - leading to a our producing a series of life size super-realisiic portraits of notables around town wearing Beach Blanket Babalon hats, steve Silver organized around the effort


This portrait was of Charlotte Maillard Swig, now married to Charles Schultz, wearing this over the top head gear cum architectural model.   Eventually funding was secured at the lights were restored per the original plans for this Bernard Maybeck Jewel among the City's architectural heritage

Phoography was done with the 8 x 10" view for ultra high-resolution - every thread in the fabric sharp as a tack.  The originals cut outs are not at the Bob Pritikin Mansion on Chenery Street - pending become part of the City Museum there proposed by Pritikin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mailliard

Cyril Magnin greets his guests to his birthday bash

For Cyril's last Birthday bash, I had the pleasure of photographing him with my then trusty 8 x 10" view camera. He never questioned the size of the camera or the use - but a plan was under foot. Later in the darkroom - we made two larger than life cut-outs of Cyril - this one greeting guest as they arrived at the function over the awning of his long time residence, the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Here's to you Cryil! This town is just not the same without you.



Background from Wikipedia


Cyril Isaac Magnin (1899–1988) was one of the most prominent San Francisco businessmen of the post-World War II era, chief executive of the Joseph Magnin Company, which evolved into a multi-million dollar chain of upscale women's clothing stores.

Personally gracious and urbane, Magnin was a veteran political fund-raiser and power broker in the Democratic Party, dating back to New Deal days. He was Treasurer of President Franklin Roosevelt's northern California re-election campaign in 1944, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1948 (that nominated President Harry Truman) and again in 1964, when he co-chaired the Finance Committee of President Lyndon Johnson's campaign in California.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Magnin was one of a quartet of fabulously wealthy San Francisco Jewish contributors to Democratic candidates, appreciatively called "The Green Machine" by career politicians[1], the others being Fairmont Hotel magnate Benjamin Swig, Lilli Ann clothing company founder Adolph Schuman, and real estate mogul Walter Shorenstein.

The four did not always agree in their choice of candidates. Magnin himself was a major donor to the presidential candidacies of John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, and, in the interim, developed a close friendship with Lyndon Johnson.[2]

Magnin was the first of the "Green Machine" multi-millionaires to fade from the national political scene after the Party was bitterly divided over the Vietnam War in 1968 and 1972. But he later worked closely with San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto and was deeply involved in the civic affairs of the city for the remainder of his life. He was President of the Port of San Francisco and was instrumental in establishing such internationally-renowned institutions as the Asian Art Museum, the American Conservatory Theater and the California Culinary Academy. Serving also as the city's first "Chief of Protocol", Magnin reveled in the informal title of "Mr. San Francisco".