PICTURE THIS PHOTO FAIR; EVENT FEATURES INSPIRED LUMINARIES FROM THE FIELD AND DEALERS WITH VINTAGE AND CONTEMPORARY WORKS

A thousand words?

Multiply that by thousands of pictures, and volumes will be spoken at photo san francisco 2001 lowercase cool-speak for the San Francisco Photographic Print Exposition, which runs today through Sunday.

Last year, more than 3,500 attended the inaugural Bay Area fair. The Los Angeles-based Stephen Cohen Gallery, which held its 10th photo l.a. exposition in 2000, brought the concept to San Francisco to take advantage of the area’s reputation for photography, art collectors and the economic boom.

In this second outing, names like Eugene Atget, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and Ansel Adams whose birth centennial will be celebrated at a San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibit next month will likely draw just as many. In person will be luminaries like Ruth Bernhard, the 96-year-old San Francisco resident who will receive a lifetime achievement recognition award at the opening reception, and the sought-after photographer Richard Misrach, who will give a lecture Saturday.

American and European dealers will have contemporary works and vintage black-and-whites, especially the landscapes and detail works favored by seasoned Bay Area collectors. Prices range from $200 to $100,000 for rare works. Interestingly, Cohen Gallery assistant director Beverly Feldman notes last year’s dotcommers, whose visual aesthetic proved to be more developed and open than the average neophyte, gravitated toward bigger, more colorful prints perhaps the better to suit their loft spaces.

Feldman admits the boom has had a “little lull” since the first photo san francisco. “We’re hoping that it won’t affect attendance or interest in photography at all,” she says. Photos after all can turn out to be investments. “It’s a way of looking at art and having your art appreciate as well.”

What: Photo San Francisco 2001

Where: Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, Buchanan Street and Marina Boulevard, San Francisco

When: Opening reception 6:30 p.m. tonight. noon-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday

How much: $35 reception benefit; $12 one-day pass; $20 three-day pass; $5/$10 lectures and panels

CONTACT: 415-552-9201 benefit tickets, 323-937-5525 information, www.photosanfrancisco.net