new thread
Coming SOON, to a theatre (or hyperboard) near you....
The First Annual Bizarre Longhaired Outdoor Photo Contest, which will include such categories as: 1) Best Pic of a "Longhaired" Plant; 2) Weirdest Longhaired Nature Scene; 3) Best Hairy Rock Photo; 4) Wildest Hair in the Breeze Pic; 5) Most Exotic Longhaired Garden Picture; plus, additional other categories to be announced, later...
The exact time and date has not yet been set; but, it will definitely be this coming fall (probably late Sept. or early Oct.). Also the exact location of this Longhair Meet Up (for the purpose of taking these weird photos) will not be revealed until later -- other than to say that it will be happening here in San Francisco, California.
Unfortunately, due to a problem in the past with a local stalker, the exact time and location of this event will only be revealed via private e-mail communications, rather than posting all of the details here on the board. If you are a regular participant on MLHH, we will know that you are NOT the stalker guy -- so if you live nearby the SF Bay Area, or plan on visiting Northern CA this fall, please e-mail me to let me know you plan on coming!
The pic I'm including here is one of the few examples that I already have in my iphoto library of a weird longhaired Nature Photo. It's taken in a remote section of San Francisco's coastline, called "Land's End" -- which is approximately mid-way between the touristy Cliff House / Surto Bath ruins area, and the upscale neighborhood of Sea Cliff near Baker's Beach. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, along with my hair that blew from the left into the picture frame area when I took this shot!
I'll try to include some other odd-ball longhaired pics in this thread -- as well as introduce you to some of the wild and exotic "Dr. Suess" type plants that are seen here in this unusual climate of the North American continent...
Happy thinking about your own bizarre longhaired picture-taking (regardless of whether or not you ever visit San Francisco)!
- Ken
OK, in order to help inspire you all, again I looked through the pics that I already have in my iphoto library, and found this silly shot that my friend Christopher took of me up in the northern coastal town of Mendocino a few years ago....
This rock would actually look WAY cooler (and even weirder, not to also mention BETTER - lol!) if I had NOT included my face in this shot; but hey, back in '05 when this pic was taken, I didn't know about this longhaired photo contest!
Oh! One more thing: contest rules will also be revealed, later... (like, when I figure them out - LOL)....
- Ken
This pic exemplifies some of the strange other-worldly looking plants that can be seen throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. When I first moved to CA from the Midwest in '77, I thought I had landed in Dorothy's Land of Oz or scenes from Alice in Wonderland or Dr. Suess books. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"
The plants in this pic were taken in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Poking it's lovely top high above is one of the many varieties of tree ferns that can grow well in our foggy climate. Most varieties of tree ferns that do well in Northern CA are originally native to parts of Australia, New Zealand, or Tasmania. The trunk looks a bit like a skinny palm tree, and sometimes they can get as tall as 15 or even 20 feet high! The extremely huge-leaved plant lower down in this pic is Gunnera -- a plant that originally is native to South-Central Chile in boggy wet areas of the Pacific coast of South America. One leaf of a giant Gunnera plant is so big that if turned upside-down, it could easily keep you dry underneath if, like an umbrella!
Besides Australia, New Zealand, and Chile, other parts of the world that have interesting-looking plants that perform well here in SF can come from South Africa, high elevation cloud forests of Mexico and South Asia, as well as plants that originally come from the Mediterranean region, including some of the Atlantic Islands like the Azores and Madeira. Then again, we also have our own unusual California natives -- the most famous of which is the giant Coast Redwood trees!
in one of our past local Longhair Meet-ups a couple of years ago, I think it was trolleypup who spontaneously went over to a plant like this, and started taking pics of someone's hair flowing all over it -- I hope he reads this post, and shares those pic(s), if he still has them! Bill & Larry were also there that day, as well as Scott (Absalom), Rick G, and Elizabeth Regina and her beau, Bill.
Hope these images have helped stir up your photography imagination!
- Ken
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Hi Ken, the post you are looking for is called "very rare hair plant". I will search the archives for it.
Scott
I found it. Here is that exotic plant you are looking for.
It WON'T copy and paste.
154090 in archives. (There may be a genius here who can get it to work.)
Scott
No way to preview, so I won't know if this works until it does (or doesn't. I guess I should add a bonus pic or something.
Thanks, Trolleypup!
I don't remember ever seeing these pics before -- either that, or I'm starting to get senile (LOL)....
Thanks for posting those here (now I don't have to go back into the archives)!
- Ken
Great photos Ken, especially the one of the mane at the seashore.
What a GREAT idea Ken ! I hope there will be a way those of us outside of the City by the Bay can enter photos....
I am back in Iowa and with 1000% humidity and thunderstorms I can guarantee that will be many photo opportunities for "weird-in-the-wind" hair !!
Thanks for the inspiration...
Walter
OF COURSE, absolutely, Walter!!! That's the fun thing about MLHH -- it's such a great photo-sharing experience! The only reason I'm organizing a SF longhaired meet-up this fall is just an excuse to do something unusual for those of us that are local to get together to take some weird longhaired pics... For me, it's also an opportunity to share my gardening and horticultural knowledge, along with my other favorite thing to take pics of: HAIR!!!
Cool!!!
You're welcome, Walter -- and I'm SO glad you didn't ask what the prizes will be for the people who might win 1st or 2nd place in this photo contest (WHEW!), because there are none (I'm too cheap - LOL)!!
Sounds like a great idea! I would be honored if you'd consider me as well. I'm in Sacramento, so it's not far from SF!
That's great to know, Seishinkai! We haven't yet set an exact date for the local longhair meet-up -- other than it will be probably late Sept. Feel free to e-mail me as we get closer to that time, and I'll reply back to you.... I'm not always "quick" at my e-mail responses; but I promise I will do so!
It's also possible that we might end up having to have TWO different dates, because I work on the weekends (and yet I realize that most people don't). There's also the possibility that a couple of MLHH longhairs from out-of-state will be visiting SF around that time; but I'm waiting to hear back when their vacation plans and plane reservations are confirmed...
Thanks for the reply, -- and it would be fun to meet you this fall!
- Ken
A wonderful idea. I won't be able to make it this year, perhaps next. My hair should be of suitable length by then, in any case. We have some wickedly weird plants here in Az as well. We have a Cereus Mocstrosus that is 9 ft tall and 5 ft wide that has proven to be a prolific bloomer. Huge blooms the size of your outspread hand, that bloom late at night and are gone by noon of the next day. Many exotic succulents and of course all manner of cacti. I ma also originally from the midwest, Missouri, and there are dome botanical oddities in the Ozarks as well.
We truly love the bay area. Just too flippin' expensive.
Yeah, I know what you mean by "expensive" -- if it wasn't for the fact that I've lived in a rent-controlled SF apartment for a very long time, I couldn't afford to live here myself!
I'm familiar with the night-blooming Cereus, as I used to know a woman here who grew them indoors, and would call to let me know when the blooms were opening -- just GORGEOUS!!
Feel free to take any pics of your own hair with your local exotic AZ plants anytime you wish! This "Photography Contest" is really more international, not an issue of it being a Bay Area thing (it was just an excuse to get any Bay Area longhairs together for a local Meet-up, and to focus on longhair photography).
Thanks for the reply!
Later,
Ken
Well, I will be in California in mid-October, but I'll be down in San Diego county for my son's wedding. Unfortunately, I don't see a trip to SF in the cards this year.
Wow. Please tell me you're kidding about actual problems with a stalker. That's just a bit creepy.
Frodo
Greetings, Mr. Frodo!
No problem about the fact that San Diego being unfortunately not near enough to SF, I totally understand the $$ issue of not being able to come to this Meet-up in SF this year... The good news about photography, however, is that none of us actually "need" to have a formal meet-up in order to take some original and/or bizarre longhaired pics to share here. If there ends up being a Midwest Longhair Meet-up someday -- even if only one or 2 additional people -- you guys can do the same exact thing, having fun with photography! Or if no one else, you and your wife can take pics of each other, too!! I guess the main idea I had about this "contest" is simply to stir up the imagination, and to combine odd or unusual images of long hair and Nature...
I WISH I was kidding; but unfortunately, I'm not....
We've had a couple of local longhair Meet-ups here in the past where this guy apparently comes in from out-of-town and will sit at a nearby table in the restaurant that was announced to be the meet-up location, sitting just close enough to be a disturbance to the conversation, and even intrude by snapping UNWANTED pics -- very odd & creepy (although not "dangerous' or anything to that extreme).
Bill can tell you more about it, as I did not attend these meet-ups where this happened; but the stalking behavior is real -- which is why I'm not going to post any important info on the board here.
Thanks for your reply -- and have a great time at your son's wedding down in San Diego!
- Ken
Actually, I haven't lived in the midwest for more than 30 years. I'm over on the East Coast, down in the pointy end of southern Maryland. If you look on a map of Maryland and see the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, you're in my neighborhood.
Thanks, I plan on it :D
I've heard a lot of good things about that part of the Easy Coast -- especially the soft shell crab!
Back during the mid-'80s, when I was married (yes, even more shocking is that it was to a WOMAN - lol), my in-laws lived down in Dover, DE. We used to visit them frequently when Laurie and I lived in NYC from '84 - '87. We also honeymooned in '81 at Rohobeth Beach at the Southern tip of Delaware. I miss the nice warm swimming water of the ocean there -- Northern CA has the coldest, most gawdawful swimming conditions you can ever possibly imagine... people have no idea how SF is NOT conducive to the typical images of "summer!"
Have fun in the sun at the Maryland beaches while I put on a warm sweatshirt to keep the chilly SF fog off my back!
- Ken
Heh...that old graffitti-ed bathroom that washed down from a cliff somewhere!
I walked over to Bonita Beach a few weeks ago, but messed up the pictures by having the camera still set on overexposure from a previous series. Heh...by the end of the day, _I_ was set on overexposure too!
This sounds like an excuse to get out and about and take some pictures, not waiting for a meet that my schedule will likely scotch anyway.
Yes, but the question is: Why in the heck did they ever build a bathroom near that remote part of the coast, anyway? (LOL)
LOL
Yeah, no reason to have to wait, in my opinion, too. My sister-in-law from IL is visiting for about a week, for example, and we're trying to coordinate going over to GG Park with some of my nieces... Maybe I'll even twist her arm into taking a hairy plant pic of me when we go that day!
I still enjoy attending Longhair Meets, though, whenever it doesn't interrupt my work schedule too much. My biggest problem is that since I've been working most weekends over the past 4 or so years now, Meet-ups don't always work for me. But I try to attend any that I can. Oddly enough, I find someone's voice to be the most interesting part about meeting longhairs that I've gotten to know online first... Heck, I've already usually seen TONS of pics of their hair already -- so that can often be the LEAST interesting part about a meet-up (LOL).... Taking bizarre hairy pics, though, is fun no matter what!
- Ken
Oh yeah...there have been LHC meets where it was all regulars, and we never actually got around to taking hair pictures! We got some flack over that, since the average hair length was about Classic!