Author: Manny Kagan

  

I Missed Him Very Much

A few weeks ago, we were invited to our friends’ 50^thwedding anniversary. The party started at 4pm. As it happened, we had tickets to a performance of Eifman Ballet on the same evening. Both events took place in Berkeley. The only issue was our puppy Max. We usually don’t leave him alone for more than three hours. Since we were going to be out for about 7 hours, we decided to have him stay at his dog sitter’s. I dropped him off there on Friday morning, and Elfa picked him up on Sunday morning.

When I came home from work on Friday night, there was no one waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Elfa tells me that Max knows when I am coming and sits by the door, even before I open the garage door. There was no one to celebrate Shabbat dinner with us on Friday night. Max usually sits and looks up while I read the prayer before the meal. At first, we thought that he has spiritual inclinations. Turns out that he was just waiting for an empty bottle of San Pellegrino water, which I give him to play with after dinner.

It is not the first time Max stayed overnight at his dog sitter’s, and on a previous occasion, we went away for a week. However, since we were out of our familiar environment, the experience was different.

If you own a dog and have a close relationship with your “baby”, you can easily relate to my personal experience. If you do not have one and are lacking love in your life, I strongly recommend getting one as a remedy.

Regardless if you have a dog or not, my photo-story book, “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”, which you can buy on Amazon.com, will bring you joy, I guarantee it. Meanwhile, enjoy these four latest images of Max. He sends you his best wishes.

Enjoy and Share with a Friend.

  

I Cheated

The first time I participated in the Break to Breakers was on May 20^th 2017. Ok, I didn’t exactly participate in the race. I went there to take photographs. However, after everyone started moving forward, not necessarily running, I decided to join the crowd in spite of the pain in my knee. My plan was to walk a few blocks, take a few pictures and go back home. Four hours later, I found myself at the finish line on the beach, with hundreds of images of the participants. Many of them dressed for the occasion, or not dressed at all. The next year I decided not to go, since our puppy Max was too young for me even to consider the trip. This year on the day before the race, the newspaper warned that the rain might “spoil the parade”; and besides, a seven mile walk could be too much for a young dog. So, I decided to cheat. At about noon, I took Max and we drove to 45^th Avenue and Lincoln, which I knew was close to the finish. In the park, we melded with the other walkers (the runners finished the race long time ago). People wanted to pet Max while I photographed my encounters. As predicted, it finally started to rain, and we returned to the car. There was an interesting coincidence related to the race. While finishing my next book, which my wife suggested to title “42 Encounters in San Francisco, Volume Two,” I decided to use one of the images from the race in the book, with the word “FUN,” as the story coincides with the image.

Cheating or not, the Break to Breakers event is really fun. It also has an amazing history. If I hadn’t checked online, I would never have guessed that the race began in 1912. In 1986, it had a record of 110,000 participants. If you’ve never taken part in the Break to Breakers and do not like to cheat like me, it will take place again next year on May 17, 2020 at 8am. I might see you there. Meanwhile, start running (or walking).

  

Where To Find Love

Last week, I alluded to the special reason as to why I am writing this story now. Two weeks ago, I participated in a photography workshop in Palm Springs, during which as an exercise, we had to create a composition and then photograph it. I frankly had no idea what to do, since my style of photography, which I call “encounters”, has nothing to do with directing my sets. Nevertheless, after a visit to the local antique store, where I found an artwork with the word LOVE written on it, I decided to use it as my prop. We were taken to special locations for our photo shoots. The first one was an hour and a half drive to what is now known as Coachella Movie Ranch. Online you will find a lot of photographs of the place. After I used the LOVE sign everywhere to take my photographs, an idea started forming in my head. But it took a second trip the following day, to another very interesting destination – the Salton Sea, as well as spending some time photographing at the Bombay Beach Estates to decide to create a Share Love campaign, utilizing social media starting with Instagram, where I am going to post images every day with the word LOVE, and some inspirational quotes written by me and other authors. I hope to spread the idea of sharing love. Like a small light that can dispel darkness, some love can bring a lot of joy into people’s lives.

Since returning home, I continued taking images with the LOVE sign. My first destination was Stern Grove, where we go play ball with Max. People whom I encountered there were more than happy to participate in the love sharing campaign. As time goes on, I intend to develop new ideas, which will help to share love. I hope you will join me too. For starters, if you are on Instagram, you will be able to find my daily posts on MannyKaganMrLove.
Please share love.

  

Please Share The Love

I believe that Kaizen, a Japanese business philosophy that believes in continuous improvement of working practices and personal efficiency, is the cornerstone of any occupation.  This is the main reason I constantly take classes and workshops to improve my photography skills and try to get a better understanding about my development as a person who has an inner desire to record the outside world using a photo camera.

Two days were spent photographing around Palm Springs. Before our trip, we visited antique stores where we had to choose props, which we would use for our creative process. My eyes caught two items – a beautiful silk scarf from India, a present for my wife, and a framed sign with the word LOVE written on it. The first hour and a half trip was to the Coachella Movie Ranch, which offered us an opportunity to use our creativity to create and photograph our masterpiece. On the second day we drove to another unusual destination – The Salton Sea. This place has an interesting history and certain areas which have abandoned houses filled with junk and graffiti. Some of them, like the Bombay Beach Estate, became a destination for artists. I used both locations to create images which incorporated my LOVE sign. Someone in the group, seeing me all the time with LOVE sign and listening to my remarks about life, called me “Mr. Lover”. I liked the idea, and upon my return, I decided to create a Facebook and Instagram page called “MannyKaganLove”. I hope this idea will catch on, and others will start sharing their LOVE images as well.  When we focus on love, many other issues in our lives might disappear.

  

How to Avoid Parking Tickets?

If you live in San Francisco, I am sure this headline got your attention. However, the solution is not what you had in mind. I am currently writing from Palm Springs; possibly the hottest city in California, where an average temperature in July is 108°. During the dinner with friends who live here, they told me that one of the benefits living in this hot place is the absence of parking meters. Even large parking lots are free. Wow! I am here together with my wife Elfa to attend the Palm Springs Photo Festival. This is an annual event where I have participated in the past as well. This year, I am taking a workshop taught by the renowned photographer-artist Roger Ballen. I will write the details of this experience next week, since this time I wanted to share with you some of the trivia related to the place which was known many years ago by the name given by the native Cahuilla people, who settled in the area about 2000 years ago. They called it “Se-Khi” (boiling water). The United States Government established the Agua Caliete (hot water) reservation in 1876.  Nowadays Cahuilla Indians, of whom about 400 live in the city, are the largest landowners. The city became a fashionable resort in 1905 when health tourists arrived with conditions that require dry heat. But even then, as it is now, many people moved to the cooler places during the summer. Movie stars started to make Palm Springs to be popular in the 1930s.  Since the early 1950s the city had become known as a spring break resort.  By 2017, the population had grown to about 48,000 people. It has one of the highest concentrations of same sex couples of any community in the United States. I was told that this trend exploded during the HIV epidemic, when gay men with AIDS moved there to die. Thanks to medical developments, their death was delayed. Since life here was cheaper than in other cities, like San Francisco or Los Angeles, their friends and parents followed soon after. I found another explanation online, as well.

Another place to visit while here is Joshua Tree National Park. We might come back to Palm Springs next year to attend another workshop. For me the results, which you’ll see next week, are worth the effort and the cost.