By 6:30 a.m. Saturday, about 100 people gathered at California and Gough Streets in San Francisco, completely blocking traffic.

“Is this it? Is it happening?” one woman whispered excitedly to a friend as the sun began to peek over the top of California Street.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Tyre Nichols’ life continues to be honored by Memphians―his photography was featured in an exhibition held by Memphis activists on Friday.

The event marked the start of four days dedicated to Nichols’ passion for photography, hosted at Fourth Bluff Park.

The event will run from noon until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday at Fourth Bluff Park.

On Sunday, it will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at MARTYR’s Park.

The finale will be held on Monday― it will be a demonstration for police reform outside Memphis City Hall at 5:30 p.m.

Beth Hoffberg, one of the event organizers, says the event is meant to highlight the type of person Nichols was.

“We just want people to remember who he was and why we are fighting for justice,” said Hoffberg.

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The title image in Nathaly Alvizures’s first solo exhibition, “Secret Doors,” illustrates both the discomfort of the unknown and her readiness to step onto a new path for her life. There are more than a dozen images she selected, created since 2016, currently on display at the Mission Valley Library.

“I was never working specifically for this exhibit because I never imagined my work was going to get this far. In addition, it was really hard for me to choose between each image in my portfolio because they all represent something in my life. They all have a story to tell,” she said, describing the theme of her conceptual photography show as “a combination of intimate suffering and a journey to a new life in every way.” An opening reception for “Secret Doors” will be held at 3 p.m. today, at the library.

Alvizures, 40, is a self-taught conceptual photographer and mother of five, currently studying radio, television, and film at San Diego City College. She took some time to talk about her work, the life experiences that have informed her art, and what she loves about living in Linda Vista.

Q: In the description of this exhibition from the San Diego Public Library, it says that you’re a self-taught conceptual artist who was born in Guatemala and came to the United States when you were 11 years old. How did you first learn about conceptual art?

A: Yes, I am a self-taught photographer and artist. I bought my first and only camera in 2013, after I taught myself face-painting, body-painting and special effects makeup. I wanted to showcase my work as a makeup artist with good photos. I started by learning the basic stuff, such as the settings of my camera, composition, and lighting. That took me about a year to learn. I would use my own children, sometimes nieces and nephews, to practice what I was learning in photography. I would put my children to bed and start my learning routine every night from around 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. I did that for about nine months. As I learned, my basic portfolio started to take shape. I began to be known as a “kid photographer” even though that was never my intention.

Q: How did you come to decide on photography as the medium for the conceptual art you wanted to create? What is it about photography that you prefer?

A: I’ve always loved photography. I remember always carrying a disposable camera since I was a teenager. I remember having so many pictures on my walls and closet of random people and scenarios all the time. However, I never thought of pursuing photography as something serious. What really got me interested in this form of self-expression was my background in poetry. I went through hard times in my teenage years, and poetry was my outlet to cope with the hardships at the time. I reconnected with my love for poetry in 2011. I began to consider the possibility of using my poetry to make visual illustrations as a form of self-expression, which turned into conceptual photography in 2014.

What I love about Linda Vista…

I love living in central San Diego because the beach, my church, and my school are within 15 minutes.

Q: The library’s description of you and your work also mentions personal struggles with housing and domestic violence. Are you comfortable sharing what was happening during that time in your life?

A: Out of respect for my children, I’d rather not go into details about domestic violence. That is part of my past and I decided to not dwell in the past, but instead move forward. I can tell you that this exhibit has been inspired by so many things I’ve been through my life, including child abuse, dyslexia, abandonment, domestic abuse, homelessness, divorce, child custody, cancer, depression, and financial hardships. My main goal now is to inspire people who feel stuck and hopeless, as I did in the past.

Q: It says that you focused on your passions of motherhood and photography. Can you talk about how motherhood helped you during this time?

A: Motherhood helped me so much to keep pushing through adversity and struggles. I made my children my main focus in life, providing for them, setting a good example in every way possible, and taking the opportunity of being homeless as a way of teaching them coping skills and love to protect each other. There was a time when they were looking out the window at Becky’s House Shelter and they were scared because they saw homeless, intoxicated people acting in all different ways. They told me that we were homeless just like them and they were scared. I told them to look inside the room where we were: we didn’t have much, but we had so much more compared to them. We had beds, blankets, access to a bathroom and shower, and even a kitchen. I took motherhood to a level I never knew existed before.

Q: Can you describe a couple of pieces in this exhibition that illustrate these themes of self-worth, struggle, and intimate suffering, and the story behind how each piece came into being?

A: One of the pieces you’ll find in this exhibit is “Secret Door.” This photo was made as my divorce was being finalized in 2019. I wore an elegant, red gown that almost looks like a vintage bridal dress. It’s open in the back and I am showing my petite frame in it. I am walking into a door that has nothing but darkness and there are butterflies flying all around me. This symbolizes my walking into singleness. It feels uncomfortable, and it feels like I don’t fit in. The butterflies represent my nervousness about not knowing how to be single.

Another piece is “Reborn.” The model is my 11-year-old daughter. Her long hair is covering her eyes, she is wearing gray clothing, and there are two butterflies in the image. She is holding a vintage brush in her right hand and there is a butterfly on her left hand. The other butterfly is right next to her right knee and there is a white, closed door behind her. The description under this photo reads: “This image is the face of the ‘Secret Door’ exhibit. The lack of color in the model’s outfit represents the uncertainty of the photographer’s journey up to this point. ‘I can breathe again, pieces are finally falling into place for me and my family.’ The tint of blue in the butterfly on the model’s hand symbolizes a sense of coming back to life again. The red spot on the model’s hand is a symbol of allowing growth from within. ‘I had to fight for my healing and to get to a good place emotionally and mentally after so many years of trauma.’ The hair covering the model’s eyes represents how life will always be a mystery at the end. ‘There will be doors that will open, doors that will close, and there will always be secret doors to be discovered, and I am ready for that.’”

Q: What has working on your art, your conceptual photography, revealed to you about your own self-worth, struggles, and suffering?

A: Working on my conceptual photography has taught me resilience, self-expression, and mostly what I’m capable of. I know life will always be uncertain, I will struggle with different things, but I have a companion and that’s my photography. There are a couple of pieces in the exhibit called “Frida Alan Poe” and in one of them, I made sure to make the scar on my neck visible. This scar is what is left of when I went through thyroid cancer in 2020 and 2021. I was living in a fifth-wheel RV and life was painful and uncertain at that time. I promised myself to show off my photography if I survived the whole thing. Photography has shown me my self-worth by giving me a voice to show people when I hurt, without saying a word.

Q: What has your work as an artist taught you about yourself?

A: This has taught me how brave I have been throughout my life. I never realized that, ‘til now.

Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

A: The best advice I have received is to surrender everything to God. I’ve done it and I have seen a change in my life.

Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

A: I think people who don’t know me personally would be surprised to find out that I’m only 4 feet, 9 inches in height. I look much taller in my self-portraits.

Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.

A: My ideal San Diego weekend would be enjoying a hike, flying my drone, having a nice meal, and watching a good movie or documentary. Perhaps, one day sharing those simple things with someone special, besides my children.

If you have a mobile phone, you likely have an excellent camera built into it. But while the latest Samsung or Apple phones can take stunning photos, it is often better to have a professional DSLR camera for more complex scenarios.

However, these cameras weigh several times more than the average mobile phone, making them bulky to hold up for even short periods. The best way to get steady shots that are in focus and convey all the details is to mount them on a tripod. But these, too, can be cumbersome, making a portable tripod the best option.

In this article: Amazon Basics 60-inch Lightweight Tripod with Bag, Tycka 56-inch Travel Tripod and Bonfoto Camera Tripod for Travel

A portable tripod is excellent for steadying your on-the-go shots

A tripod is a great way to ensure your photos or video footage comes without any distracting sways or shakiness. Nothing can ruin an amazing scene faster than erratic jerking or constant movement.

While that can still happen when using a tripod, you greatly reduce the chances when you place the tripod on a flat surface or affix it to a steady object. But not every tripod is suitable for all cameras. Doing a bit of research before spending money on additional equipment is a good idea.

For example, if you want to travel with your tripod, it’s best to look for a gadget that folds up to a compact and convenient size. Professional camera tripods are great, but they often aren’t designed for quickly stashing in a backpack or satchel.

Also, consider where you’ll be doing most of your shooting. A portable tripod is best for quick photo sessions such as traveling abroad or going on a family holiday. In those cases, you aren’t always guaranteed to have a flat, steady surface.

An excellent solution for that would be to get a tripod that has flexible legs. These are specially designed so you can wrap the legs around any vertical object, such as a street lamp, a handlebar, a bridge railing or a table leg.

However, you must be mindful of the mounting screw size on the head and the maximum weight the tripod can handle. If the screw isn’t compatible with the camera, it simply won’t fit. And if the tripod isn’t strong enough to support a heavy DSLR camera, it might come crashing to the floor.

Best portable tripods for on-the-go photography

Amazon Basics 60-inch Lightweight Tripod with Bag

A basic yet solid tripod, it stands 60 inches tall when fully extended and can easily carry a weight of six pounds. It is compatible with most digital cameras and action cams that use the standard quarter-inch screw and measures a very portable 25 inches when retracted.

Sold by Amazon

Tycka 56-inch Travel Tripod

If you don’t have a lot of space in your camera equipment bag, this tripod is an excellent choice. While the standard usage is in the tripod form, you can attach the quarter-inch mounting head onto the included monopod. When folded up completely, the tripod is only 14 inches but extends to 56 inches in seconds.

Sold by Amazon

Bonfoto Camera Tripod for Travel

A robust option, especially when traveling, this portable tripod has a quarter-inch mounting screw with a 360-degree ball head and sectional interlocking legs. It stands about 69 inches tall when fully extended but easily reduces to just under 2 feet. The double telescopic shaft has a water level on top.

Sold by Amazon

Zomei 65-inch Camera Tripod

Able to safely carry a camera up to 11 pounds, this tripod stands 65 inches tall when the three legs are fully extended. However, it has three interlocking sections that reduce the size to just over a foot. It has a standard quarter-inch mounting screw and a removable panning handle.

Sold by Amazon

Vanguard Alta Pro 2+ 263AGH Aluminum Tripod

This tripod is an excellent choice if you need a bit more steadiness when taking photos or a swift hand for fast-moving objects. Below the mounting head is a pistol-like grip, making it easy to pan the camera. It stands 68 inches tall when fully extended but reduces to a portable size quickly.

Sold by Amazon

Joby GorillaPod 3K Pro Kit

Joby is known for its excellent camera accessories, and this small tripod is a great option. The legs have several bendable points, letting you securely attach the tripod to almost any vertical surface. Even though it is small, it can carry a maximum weight of 6.5 pounds, which covers just about all cameras.

Sold by Amazon

Manfrotto PIXI EVO 2-Section Mini Tripod

This is one of the smaller tripods you can buy, making it the perfect travel accessory for excellent holiday snaps. Weighing only 9.4 ounces, it has three sturdy legs that fold out from the base, and the mounting screw sits on a swivel head.

Sold by Amazon

Dolica GX650B204 Proline GX Series

The tripod is 65 inches when fully extended, but the legs easily slide into themselves to minimize its length. It has foam grips on each leg for additional handheld support and is compatible with any cameras that use the standard quarter-inch mounting screw.

Sold by Amazon

Xenvo SquidGrip Flexible Tripod

This tripod is an excellent choice as it’s small and compatible with many cameras. The legs are bendable, meaning you can easily wrap them around poles or railings to steady your camera while still getting the perfect shot.

Sold by Amazon

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When you step outside and are greeted by rainy weather, it can be tempting to turn around and head right back inside. However, if you are willing to brave those mundane conditions, you might be rewarded with worthwhile landscape images. This helpful video tutorial offers five tips to increase your chances of coming home with compelling shots. 

Coming to you from Henry Turner, this useful video tutorial discusses five bits of advice for landscape photography in inclement conditions. If you look at a lot of the most popular landscape imagery, you will probably notice it is taken during partly sunny weather, with golden rays cascading across the frame. Certainly, that can make for great photos, but just by virtue of its popularity, it can be quite difficult to make a photo that rises above the crowd. Moodier skies can help distinguish you right off the bat, and the drama they add can make for compelling and interesting images. Just be sure to take steps to protect both yourself and your gear! Check out the video above for the full rundown from Turner. 

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out “Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi.” 

CANDID photos have been revealed, showing the outfits which Pamela Anderson and Janet Jackson shocked Hollywood’s most exclusive party with.

The photos are featured in a new book by celebrity photographer Selma Fonseca, which documents her work at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in the 2000s.

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Working the red carpet and behind the scenes, Selma hobnobbed with Hollywood’s glitterati and portrayed them with their guard down in a time before camera phones were a thing. 

In the book Partying with Selma: Inside Hollywood’s Brightest Night, fans get a glimpse of A-listers such as Gwyneth Paltrow as she joked around with then-boyfriend Ben Affleck in 2000.

In another snap, Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman’s eye-popping  cleavage was on full display shortly after she gave birth to son Levon in 2002 while As Good As It Gets actress Helen Hunt and movie producer Matthew Carnahan kiss in the background.

Two of the pics that stand out, though, feature former Baywatch babe Anderson, now 55, and Escapade singer Jackson, 56, and their get ups that set tongues wagging.

Anderson showed up to the party at Mortons restaurant in West Hollywood in 2001 wearing sunglasses and dressed in a tiny denim miniskirt, a white shirt tied at the waist and a knee-high pair of black leather boots.     

She spent the night hanging out with Brit actress Elizabeth Hurley, 57, and the two were pictured with friends including photographer David LaChapelle by Selma.

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The Brazilian-born photographer recalls how Anderson’s “trashy” outfit and antics with Hurley did not go down well with Vanity Fair.    

Selma Fonseca said: “The Vanity Fair people were appalled. 

“How can you come to a black tie Oscars party dressed like that?

“I think they’re right – if there’s a dress code, follow the dress code. 

“This year from what I saw all the girls seemed to be practically naked but back then everybody was super dressed up. 

“I remember that everybody was kind of looking at Pamela Anderson like, ‘What’s going on here?’

“The skirt was so short, you could see all of her a**. Her shirt was tied up and her boobs were really popping out. 

“She was with Elizabeth Hurley and they were being very touchy feely with each other and seemed quite tipsy.” 

Then Vanity Fair editor and Oscars party supremo Graydon Carter, 73, was open about how unimpressed he was with Anderson and Hurley’s “attentions to one another” at the party.

A Los Angeles Times article from 2002 says Carter’s response to the two women’s appearance at the previous year’s party was: “They can go to a Maxim party.”

In an excerpt from his book Oscar Night, published in 2004, he went further, writing: “We’ve seen our share of spectacles we’d like to forget, such as the time Pamela Anderson, looking like she had just come from a job at the car wash, spent the evening glued at the hip to Elizabeth Hurley.”

Carter was not the only one to cattily comment on the moment, with Hollywood legend Joan Collins likening Anderson to “a hooker on holiday” in a note in her diary from that night which was published years later.

Despite earning Carter and Collins’ disapproval, Anderson was pictured at the party again in 2005 in a somewhat more modest outfit – but still rocking the sunglasses.

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In 2002, it was Jackson’s turn to be the center of attention for showing off her toned physique in a very revealing mesh bikini top and a pair of jeans. 

Selma recalled: “Janet was at the top of her game that year, you can see that her body was amazing in the pics. 

“She was working out and looked incredible. 

“But I don’t think they were expecting her to wear that outrageous outfit. 

“You can show your belly wearing a dress, you don’t need to wear pants with a bikini top like that.

“The outfit was awful. 

“She was dressed the way you would to go to a rock concert, not a Vanity Fair Oscars party.”

Jackson may have taken the criticisms to heart because when she too was pictured again at the Vanity Fair party in 2005 she wore an extremely elegant white evening gown.

Another of the book’s standout pictures shows a gum-chewing Tom Cruise giving his now ex-wife Nicole Kidman a sideways look in 2000 – the year before they split.

It also includes a pic of late Tom Sizemore partying with Brad Pitt and Hailey Bieber’s dad Stephen Baldwin in 2001.

Looking back on the times that she had at the Vanity Fair party, Selma – who has also penned a TV show about how she migrated to New York City in the 1990s – said: “It was so much fun.

“Everyone was dancing to the band, people could smoke inside and everybody got drunk.

“There were no camera phones then so people could really let their hair down.

“It was the place to be on Oscars night.”

Hardcover photo book Partying with Selma is available on Amazon.

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