Frank Pictures Gallery

Frank Pictures Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, Los Angeles

4 April 2009

The Month of Photography - Los Angeles (MOPLA) kicks off with the official opening of Ithaka in LA. The first 2 hours was a private reception for family and friends. Alex's celebrity friends came out in force. Her parents and sister were there to lend their support.

Below are some photographs of the private reception courtesy of wireimage.com

Location report for fanofalex by Vallejo_Jr............ I arrived there at around 8, and the public opening was at 7. It took me over an hour to drive down there.

So as I walk down to where her exhibit was, there was this large crowd outside, and as I got closer, I noticed that there was even a larger crowd at the doorway to the entrance. So I decided to stay outside for a while, until the crowd died down. After a few more minutes out there, I decided to go inside. It was freezing outside.

Once I finally made it inside, there were so many people around. I thought to myself, ‘there is no way, I’m going to get any time with Alex.’ As I took another look around the room, I spotted Alex. She was wearing a black sleeveless top and black slacks…oh here’s an interesting tad bit, she had on black nail polish.

Anyway, I noticed Alex was talking to a large group of people. So I knew that the only way I would get to Alex was through Claire, the press lady. I asked one of the workers there, if Claire was around. And sure enough she was. Once I found Claire I introduced myself to her, and asked her if I could take pictures with my digital camera, and she said yes. So I went around the room, it was a small area, believe me, even though it looks bigger from the front door. I snapped two photos with my digital camera, and I noticed the photos weren’t coming out. First off, the camera wasn’t mine, and I never used it before. So I looked at the menu screen, and I found my problem…the memory card was full. At that point the only camera I did have was on my phone. I knew it wasn’t the best, but I figured it was either this or nothing.

When I got back to the gallery, I spotted Claire again; I asked her if there was any way she could introduce me to Alex. She said she could, but that it would be a while since Alex was talking to other people. I told her it was fine, and I’ll continue taking photos.

So I started going through the gallery, looking at Alex’s photos, and taking a few pics here and there. Every once and a while, I’d look over to where Alex was, to see what she was doing. I felt weird taking photos of Alex, that’s why I didn’t take very many. I must have circled that exhibit a thousand times.

I saw Alex coming in my direction and I said ‘hi’ to her, and I told her I was from her fan site, and she asked for my name, and I told her, "Laura Vallejo" and I shook her hand, I didn’t realize that my hand was cold until I shook hers. She noticed it as well, and I told her I was outside for a while, having a hard time getting in here, she understood and said it was crazy. She said that she had to give some catalogues to some people and that she’d be back. So I went back to wandering around again.

I went into the next room, where some of her negative photos were held. So I stayed there for a while and read the poem which was above the back door frame. When I went back into the main room again, I ran into Claire. I told her that I met Alex, and that I was still taking pictures. Claire told me that now would be a good time to take pictures of Alex. And I asked her why? She told me that one of Alex’s costars has arrived and is talking to Alex. I’m not going to lie to you; my first thought was Rachel Shelley. I got so excited; I asked Claire whom it was. She said Jennifer Beals. I was like what, no way. I asked Claire if she thinks Jennifer wouldn’t mind me taking her picture. Claire wasn’t so sure.

So I spent a good 10 minutes, tip toeing around Alex and Jennifer, trying to take a good photo of them, without being so obvious. Apparently some other people started doing the same thing too. We all wanted a photo of the two of them. But it seemed like, every time I got a good angle for a photo shoot, Alex seemed to notice. So I would go about, trying to pretend like I was looking at a photo message, when I wasn’t. This went on two more times. Then, Alex came over to me and asked me if I wanted to take a photo of her and Jennifer. She said that she would ask Jennifer if she wanted to take the photo. But if it was going to happen, it was going to only be one photo. So I look over to where my gallery buddy, Christen is (she had a good camera with her), and I gave her the nod, that the photo was going to happen. So once Alex gave me the okay, I don’t know why I did this, but I introduced myself to Jennifer, and shook her hand (I was in heaven!) I knew my pic wasn’t going to come out right, so I tried to take the picture as best I can. After I snapped the photo, I showed it to them, it looked decent. And that was when Christen asked if she could take a photo too, and she did.

Afterwards, a lot of people started to come up to me wondering if and how I knew Jennifer Beals. I told them I didn’t. I’m just a huge fan. As I walked to the other side of the room, I ran into another woman, she was talking on her cell phone to her friend. She asked me if I knew Jennifer Beals, I told her no. She asked me if it was possible for Jennifer Beals to talk to her friend on her cell phone. I thought to myself, that’s never going to happen. But, I told her, "you know what, anything is possible." And with that she walked over to Jennifer, and I was not going to miss this. She told Jennifer that she was a huge fan and that she was wondering if she could talk to her friend on her cell. At first Jennifer hesitated. But then gave in. Jennifer took the woman’s cell phone and talked to the woman’s friend for about two minutes. (I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo of this…I guess I was in too much shock that Jennifer even did it.)

I spent the rest of the night talking to other people at the gallery. It wasn’t until one of the women I was talking to told me that Alex was leaving. And I looked at my phone and realized that I haven’t taken any great photos of Alex. I tried looking around for Alex, and I spotted her going out the back. And that’s when I thought back to what someone once told me. So I went up to Alex and tapped her on the back. I apologized to her, and asked her if I could take one more photo. And she said she had to leave, but would take one more photo. I thought of a photo of the two of us. So I asked her for a photo of us together, and she said sure. I tried to take the photo with my cell phone, but my hand kept shaking, so Alex took my phone and snapped the photo. I don’t know why I rested my head against hers, but I guess she didn’t mind. After the photo, I said thank you and she left.

All Photographs courtesy of wireimage.com

Location report by deegee

I got there right at 5pm thinking that I might be able to get into the private event already. As I parked my car and started walking to the entrance, I noticed Alex’s dad walking in the parking lot. I just love how her whole family supports her, her mom and sister were there too.

I got to the front door and nobody asked names or checked any lists, so I just walked in. It was very crowded and it took me a moment to realize that I was actually standing in a room full of Alex’s wonderful photography – and then of course in a room with Alex herself.

I spotted her talking to a bunch of people and continued making my way through the room. The place was not very big and the first room contained about 12 coloured photographs, the second room was much smaller and displayed the black and white photos, about 8 of them. Her work is just incredible, the depth in those photos is amazing and the way they displayed them just made you feel as though you were looking out through a window (or various) and seeing this breathtaking forest. I love the coloured ones much more than the black and white ones. I find a couple of the B/W ones a bit eerie (in a mysterious kind of way) actually, but still very beautiful. The room was very brightly lit and so packed with people, at times it was difficult actually looking at Alex's photos - since they are quite large (as many of you know who have seen these in person in either London or NYC), you need to stand about 2 meters away from one to be able to admire it properly. Drinks were being offered outside, I didn't partake in that since I wanted to stay clear headed and not miss anything due to bathroom breaks. They also played music outside of the gallery next to the bar.

The outside of the gallery was just as crowded with people as the inside, people hung around and chatted. The atmosphere was very relaxed. Judging from all the people that attended this event, people definitely appreciate her work and her talent. I spotted various celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Anne Ramsay, Brook Smith, Kathy Najimy, Matthew Perry, Halle Berry, Janice from Friends and of course the wonderful, oh so gracious Jennifer Beals. Jennifer was so shy and beautiful and it was such a treat to see her support her friend by attending the exhibition. Alex of course is stunning in person. I thought that she was gorgeous on television but I can’t describe her beauty, her class and her energy I experienced in person. I found it awkward to take photos of anything, as the room was full of celebrities and Alex’s friends and to them the event was not something to capture on film, as these events must be very ordinary to them. I didn’t want to stand out so I didn’t take many photos, I certainly didn’t want to intrude on the stars and their privacy.

I did speak to Alex at the very end. I had already purchased a catalogue and took it with me to LA. I wanted Alex to sign the print for me but she convinced me not to get her to sign the front as she said that it would bleed into the copy and so she signed my catalogue instead. Then I asked her if she minded standing next to my favourite photograph so that I could take her picture. She already had her jacket on (as you can see in the photo) and Jennifer was waiting for her to leave. So it was very brief but amazing. She was super nice, she already had all her bags in her hand and ready to leave. She dropped them to sign my catalogue and posed for the photo. I thought that was very nice of her.

The whole experience was just such a pleasure.

Photographs by deegee