'Steelhead and Other Revelations'
Through Feb. 27, Gallery 16

'STEELHEAD FLYFISHER, writer, photographer, graphic designer." That's how Jeff Bright describes himself these days, although you may also know him as a musician – heading up Jeff Bright and His Sunshine Boys, a western swing band based in San Francisco. As a bandleader he's semiretired, but his other widely varied interests have come together in a very active and avid way in "Steelhead and Other Revelations," a photography show with an accompanying book he designed. The presentation is unusual for Gallery 16; it's a little more documentary than the space's previous shows, and it ties in to a fundraising effort for the California Trout organization, which protects wild steelhead and trout in our state's river system. Even if you're not a fly fisher, it's impossible to walk away from Bright's photographs without appreciating the depth of his passion for his muse. The fly-fishing catch-and-release ethic makes this kind of photography quite a technical challenge; Bright says he's lucky to catch one steelhead in a month of trying, and then to capture it satisfactorily on film before it swims away is an even more difficult proposition. Glistening with water, the backs of the fish gleam blue, red, copper, and green, and their luminous black eyes stare out at nothing, giving them an inscrutable and somehow prehistoric appearance. They seem delicate and powerful at the same time – sometimes big and thrashing, sometimes small and content to loiter in Bright's hand. Interspersed are several photographs of riverscapes, often bathed in early-morning mist and only occasionally with another person visible out there on the water. Fly-fishing's a solitary sport, but apparently not a lonely one; it's clear that when he's on the river, Bright is among kindred spirits. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 1616 16th St., S.F. (415) 626-1616. (Lindsey Westbrook)