photo san francisco 2002, the third annual San Francisco Photographic Print Exposition, is being held July 25-28, 2002 at the Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, directly on San Francisco Bay. The show opened Thursday evening July 25 with a preview party to benefit Fort Mason Center's Historic Preservation Fund, a foundation to preserve this former military base, now a national historic landmark. Plenty to eat and drink (including a copious selection of Absolut Vodkas and a really big bowl of mashed potatoes), great chit-chat, complimentary Golden Gate Bridge view, the finest in vintage and contemporary photographic images, quality people-watching, and a fair amount of buying and selling made the evening a complete success.

This major exhibition, the best San Francisco has to offer, features 65 top international dealers of vintage and contemporary photography from Europe and America. In addition to the trade show, ancillary activities include a lecture by photographer Michael Kenna and on-site collecting seminars with W.M. Hunt, Director of Ricco/Maresca Gallery in New York City; collector/photographer Leland Rice; and Daile Kaplan, a former photographer and current Vice President and Director of Photographs at Swann Galleries. Those interested in the financial aspects of photograph collecting can also attend a panel discussion on changes in the photography market, moderated by Dale Stultz, founder of the Photographs Department at Christie's New York in 1978, and currently an independent appraiser, consultant and auctioneer.

For dealers and collectors alike, thousands of photographs are available for sale at photo san francisco with prices starting at under $50 for images by minor photographers or decorative photogravures and topping out around $200,000 for masterworks by the most famous photographers including Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Eugene Atget, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Imogen Cunningham, Edward S. Curtis, Michael Kenna, Andre Kertesz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray, Sebastian Salgado, Josef Sudek, Weegee, Edward Weston, and many more. Most dealers exhibit a wide range of images, but at the same time specialize in particular photographers, time periods, or geographical regions.

And now for the visuals:

Alex Novak of Vintage Works, Ltd., Chalfont, PA, alongside Gustave Le Gray's 1858 view of the French Fleet leaving Cherbourg, $175,000.

Bay Area photographer Tom Campodonico showing his die transfer floral prints at Gordon's Art Reference, Phoenix, AZ. Campodonico's prints sell for $750 framed, $450 unframed.

Need a break from enjoying the finest in vintage and contemporary photography? Step outside and enjoy the view.

That really big bowl of mashed potatoes I was talking about earlier.

Unidentified ice skater, circa 1940's, hand colored and air brushed by "Annjo" of New York, $1200 at Winter Works on Paper, Inc., New York.

Robert Tat of San Francisco alongside, left to right, a NASA lunar photograph from 1967, $675; an Edward Weston later printing by Cole Weston, $2200; and a pictorialist William Dassonville, $3000.

Refreshment review: More mashed potatoes than you can shake a stick at, not to mention chips, dips, cheeses, pasta, ice cream, fish on sticks, dainty BBQ sandwiches, sauteed veggies, and a bunch of other stuff that I had trouble seeing because too many people were in the way.