Snap City is the first of six series under
Under Local Conditions, made by soulmates Toni Bailey and
Ken Mendoza for their own entertainment. They have spent fifteen
years shooting weddings at San Francisco City Hall, and between them
they have photographed 2,000 ceremonies under the tallest dome in
America, the one that stands taller than the U.S. Capitol.
The satire comes from that job: the grand-staircase turf wars, the
permit that expires while you are still on the landing, the
influencer who walks through the kiss, the couple who booked the
cheap slot and still wanted the mayor's balcony. Every episode
starts with a real City Hall photographer problem, then lets it run
until Mayor McDome wants a dolphin in the frame and Felix comes back
dusty from the fourth-floor spiral with the only clean shot on the
card. Toni has actually stood on that spiral. They even wrote
themselves into the background as the veterans in the hallway who
already know there are more places to shoot than the stairs.
After Snap City the franchise walks closer to home:
Wild Port, Family Defects, The Daileys,
Family Collusion, and
The Undisputed Sweetieport Dominion. This one puts the
cameras on first, with popcorn on the couch and a laugh at the
building you know by heart.
What City Hall is really about
The stuff about the photographers is completely true. That is what
makes it better. Toni and Ken did not invent the staircase racket or
the price collapse. They worked it. The original crew, Toni, Ken,
Mike, Joseph, Sasha, Rachel, and Oscar, had a couple of good years
under the dome. Then the influx arrived: cheaper rates, sloppier
files, no manners. The Snap City boys are that influx,
written down and sent out to work.
Everybody had to drop their prices. Toni and Ken put the strobes
back in the case and became natural-light shooters because it was
faster and less work. Joseph never lit as hard as Ken, then he quit
lights altogether. Mike went cheap cheap and never left. He is still
there every day, with a new assistant. Rachel built a team, priced
the day low, and stopped showing up. The boys ask how business is.
She yells that they are trying to steal her books. By Season 4 they
keep seeing her, except it is never her. It is Rachel clones.
Zoe and both Emilys were the first of the newer bunch, and they
brought the phones. Zoe beat both Emilys out. Both Emilys are gone.
Zoe is still there, social media queen, filming the landing on an
iPhone. Jenks, the former lawyer, sells the experience and takes
selfies with the couple. Photos By Emily shows up in the office the
minute paperwork gets weird. She once talked City Hall into a
vendor-approval maze, then threatened to sue if anyone without a
badge got in, and City Hall tore the whole vendor system down. Oscar
drifted up to the fourth floor, sold as the best natural-light spot,
a claim the light does not back up, and then drifted out. Sasha
appears on the mayor's balcony doing private ceremonies, which is
how the boys learn that floor pays more. Alex is not at City Hall as
much. He still shoots full-day weddings outside San Francisco. When
the boys run into him he is nice, gives them a tip, and walks out.
Mike got Ken and Toni into wedding photography. They were the
fine-art pair, always on off-camera flash. Toni and Ken produced the
best quality photographs along with Joseph. Those three were the
best. Like Toni and Ken, Joseph is about the couple. Then the
profits dipped way down, and it became impossible to keep shooting
that way. Joseph hung on after they left, then fell way back and
only shoots there occasionally.
Toni and Ken would run into Joseph at City Hall. During those chats
they made fun of their fellow veteran photographers. They all needed
the laughs. One of the boys overhears a secret hallway, tries it,
and blows it, because they do not have light.
Who is left
Mike is still shooting away. Zoe is still there because the
algorithm got there first. Alex and Sasha drop in for the reserved
weddings. Joseph occasionally is seen shooting. Rachel's team does
the day without Rachel. Oscar is gone. Both Emilys are gone. Toni
and Ken are gone, except they still live on here in Snap City.
The six series
Snap City, San Francisco, California
Wild Port, Wild Port, Oregon
Family Defects, Waldport and Serenity Bay, Oregon
The Daileys, Waldport and Bayshore, Oregon
Family Collusion, From the West Coast of America
to the North Coast of Africa, Oregon and Libya
The Undisputed Sweetieport Dominion, The Realm of
the Land and Sea, Sweetieport
Created by Toni Bailey and Ken Mendoza. SF City Hall photographers,
15+ years.
