Attending Temple and Annie's Exhibit

Last weekend we decided to get out of San Jose for a change and go up north. First, we visited the Oakland Temple. Having Maks around means we can't just go to the temple whenever we want. Getting babysitters is also a tricky task, and we decided we'll take turns going to the temple. Becca went on Saturday. Next time we're in Oakland, Ivan will go. By the way, those of you with young kids, how do you handle the situation?

Second, we visited San Francisco's Museum of Fine Arts (Legion of Honor) where they are hosting the exhibit of Annie Leibowitz. She is perhaps the most famous and controversial portrait photographer of our time (think photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono few hours before Lennon was shot, or pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair, or recent photo of Queen on the left), so I was naturally curious to see her work in person. We enjoyed the exhibit, and talked about it the rest of the day. Sure, there were famous pictures we are already familiar with, yet she had a lot of other work on display that most people aren't familiar with. Throughout her life she's done a fine job to document her family and personal life (and I was interested to see how she managed to maintain her style while doing that), and her photographs invited you into her life. To me the most memorable were her images from war zone (very shocking) and her landscapes. Becca enjoyed the atypical celebrity images presented there, as well as touching images of her aging parents. If you have a chance, you should plan to see the exhibit before they take it down in latter part of May.

Meanwhile, I am now in Virginia (an hour away from Washington, D.C.) for technical training at work, but will be back tomorrow. Though it's nice to see how green everything is here, I miss warm and sunny climate of our Northern California, as well as my wife and son.

Photo (c) Annie Leibowitz