Where's all the autumn colors?

This past weekend I wandered out in search o the fall colors I am so amazed and fascinated with, especially while living in Eugene. The colors then were everywhere, but here, it seems I need to drive elsewhere. So I packed up all my gear and that new camera and went driving north to Stinson Beach, then the long lost route to San Rafael, then cut over to Vallejo in time to see the sun was setting. Being in a low area, I hurriedly went searching for a high spot in order to see and photograph the setting sun. I was finally lucky enough to find a small populated hill......

In the morning I continued my depressing search ~ it seems the few colors seen were in the cities and towns I drove through. In the countryside, everything seems so evergreen! What a surprise!!! I even went down to Alamo where on the freeway I saw color, so turned off but that color was in the backyards of homes!! I accidentally found a park, so parked the car and went walking and after 20mins of seeing just a few reds and yellows, I gave up. Everything - again - was green.In Lafayette I passed by - in another chance encounter - the Crosses of Lafayette, in which a small slope o a hill in front of a BART station is covered with crosses representing each american military death during the long continuing war. It's a sad sight but a part of our american history now.5302 is a lot of crosses, and today four more crosses will be added... :-(

New Years Blues

The last setting observed was from Bernal Heights ~ was amazing to see the glow looking west toward the Pacific, above the fog approaching over homes on San Franciscan hills. On the other side of the bay, Mt Diablo was gorgeous surrounded by the glow of the sunset, as windows of homes in the East Bay reflected the sun, lighting up the windows like sparkling little tree lights.

So today it’s a bright cloudy day in the City, and I’ve been running around on the third day of this new year with so many things to do and capture with camera before I leave. I took pictures recently at Twin Peaks, a place I’ve never been to as a teen or an adult, but amazingly haven’t had the time to see the first sunset of the year.

Many sunsets prior, I started a personal routine of photographing the last and first sunset of the year. Last year – just a few days ago – I wasn’t able to see the sunset due to a thick fog that came in and even thought it was wreck havoc on the fireworks, and the next day was the same. I hate missing my routine habits that help me to exist from one year to another – when one is alone, these things keep things sane and tolerable.

I went with a photo buddy to take pictures of the fireworks, and that almost didn’t happen due the fog and my friend’s work schedule. Luckily he was able to join me and we got to the
Embarcadero near the Ferry Building two hours prior to stake out a good spot. Things changed and we walked around snapping pixs and changing locations till the last half-hour, when we parked tripods and cameras in front of the Ferry Building. As it was with this huge crowd, one must think of the mass of moving people, plus where to set up a tripod where it won’t interfere with people passing, yet still be safe enough for us to work.

After the final countdown, the fireworks actually started about 200 feet to the right – south – of where we stood!! Shocked and surprised that the exploding spirals was closer to the bridge, we both folded up the tripod in one sweep of the arms, and ran at break-neck speed toward the bridge and into a loud, noisy and full-motion crowd where one would normally have difficulty walking slow!! I found a spot about 150 feet from where I stood just minutes before, and of course, inside the sardine can there was NO space to set up the tripod. I instead kept the legs extended but together, and used it as a monopod. I also had to change my camera settings, configured for a tripod-still relaxed shoot but now in the mist of a jumping crowd and walkers. It was still pretty amazing and I did get good shots, though not as many as I thought
I would have liked. Looking at a map predicting where the fireworks would be, I see I had confused the location of the Ferry Building and then of course set up wrong.

That aside, after the fireworks we started walking down the empty streets, previously closed off due to the special event and the mass of walkers. The sight wasn’t pretty: drunk adults teetering on high heels or even being carried by their men-friends. The sight of many men and women puking their old year’s stomach contents and being held by friends…. This is one of the many reasons why normally I quit going out at night in the many places I’ve lived around the world. Otherwise, it was a nice walk at night with the great architecture of the City lit up in all its eerie glory, and I
stopped often to snap a pix. Luckily I parked far enough away and avoid most of the traffic that bottle-necked immediately after the fireworks.

The next day I went around the City to get some 2009 pixs, this being the HOW of how I ended up in the Twin Peaks area…. I had no idea there was even a lookout point up there!!! I also went to another spot not much farther from there, and discovered a San Franciscan spot that overlooks the Market Street and Castro area, but seems it could be out in the boonies in rocky, mountain terrain. I love little discoveries like this and is one of the few reasons that San Francisco is so unique to me…. more picture are displayed at my foto site if you care to see them.

Today I finally went out and got a little remote controller for my camera so that I can finally snap away in a night-time situation and not worry about touching the camera itself to release the shutter. I originally wanted to get it later after returning from Spain but oh well…. I’ll now take it to Spain with me! I now just discovered that when used for long exposures, the camera displays the time of the duration by counting UP the seconds the shutter has been open!! How cool is that? While in the Marina District to buy the remote at the photo store, I walked on the street without my jacket and as I've been wearing men's suspenders for some months, I noticed a lot of interesting looks from women, and stares & giggles from men. I actually like wearing the suspenders, helping keep my pants up without the binding restraint of belts. But I usually use a belt-held lens holder when traveling and wonder how I'll be able to "carry" that now without wearing a belt. hahahaaa

My two suitcases are packed and just within ounces of being over the weight allowances for my flight. One suitcase has been opened twice now to pack yet more things within, and amazingly enough with the assistance of a friend, was even able to shut it!

Just two and a half days more and I am on that plane, and it’s going to be a very difficult decision for me to return in February…..

shoot!!! shoot!! shoot!

After talking to an East Bay model for many months and in the meanwhile many things happening on my side and with her life, today finally got a chance to meet and actually shoot with her!! Does this mean my bad luck in finding SF models to photograph is now done and dead? I don't think so - I've been in contact with another East Bay model whom I also finally met last week at the photography club meeting; she always previously sounded so excited to meet and possibly shoot together.... I met her at the meeting and though she spoke to me there, I haven't heard a word from her since. So much for sincerity and interest!!

So, I drove over the bay bridge where the traffic was slow; I could see the slow traffic crawl along as I drove on the Embarcadero and seeing this, had my camera on the car seat beside me to grab on the off-chance of a pix of the City from that evelated bridge. Traffic was slow due to a stopped car near the Yerba Buena Island exit, and by time I got up on the bridge it was moving better so didn't get a chance to use the camera to snap a picture - the view from the bridge is sooooo fabulous!!

Thanks to GPS, I found her place very easily and we quickly started shooting. When I am in the home of a model, I hate to be demanding, so I stayed where the light was good ~ it was ~ and where she was most comfortable.
This young model has the most lovely eyes and a very luscious form, and wish we had worked together sooner when the outdoors in the warm sun would have been great, but that has now left us.... After starting in color, I soon switched to shooting in monotone and really like the results.

I then left to get downtown where a fellow flickrite was having a photo exhibit but the place was closed. As I was in the East Bay and downtown, I decided to walk around and snapped the interesting buildings and more. At one point, I again spotted the zeppelin this time flying the Oakland skies, and could easily hear its engines and propellers working.
Nobody even noticed it flying and it seemed I was the only one even excited to see the zeppelin. I continued shooting the downtown Oakland buildings and found a lot with interesting ornamental details, even one that looked like a pig or a boar's head on a building!!! I was also surprised to see a new building with lots of lovely reflective glass with the logo of ASK.com at the top ~ I didn't realize ASK.com was in Oakland!!

So, covering a small area of about five to seven blocks, I wandered lost but content with camera in hand. Granted, my other heavy camera was in the shop being repaired for the same problem twice, but I was happy having a backup to use! Stumbling around wondering about the homeless I saw on the downtown streets, I wondered about my personal safety... they didn't seem as friendly in SF so I wondered..... but I didn't have anything to worry about... and continued snapping away. At one tall modern glass-enclosed building, a security guard came out asking me to depart the area and not take any pictures - wow, maybe I can send some carrier pigeons over there, all with cameras....

I drove off then to Central Avenue to gas up before driving across the bay bridge to return home. I also stopped at the little lookout point there taking some pixs of the gorgeous clouds out today!!!!
I couldn't believe how fabulous these clouds were, and wondered if I should shoot the sunset again.... but after arriving home and downloading the pixs, I kept a close eye out the window and as sundown approached, the low clouds and fog came in and I didn't even see a bit of orange.... sigh. A good sign: the other day I found a folded five-dollar bill on the street ~ others had even passed in both directions by the same spot before I did... the last time I found money on the street was in Spain and it was pouring down wet! Now if only the California lottery would help me too!!

Enjoy the pictures!!!!

a running fool's life

... imagine seeing someone running through the streets... obviously not dressed to be a jogger since he's wearing street clothes. Another indication he's not a jogger could be he's holding in his hand a very big camera with a long lens.

Not a jogger!!!

Well, if you thought that scene to be out of a flick, think not! That would be me, running about two miles Tuesday night as this idiot wanted to catch the almost full moon rising over the East Bay hills.... then after waiting 20mins realized that the moon's angle is wrong and want it "lower" in the sky, so now I decided to run from about Union Street and Vallejo to the Embarcadero and Pier 14. Gasping for air, snaps a bunch of the Bay Bridge with the moon above, then decides to run back toward Broadway and ~ seeing the Transamerica Building ~ stop to capture that in the darkening night sky, then on a sidestep, spies that green Sentinel Building and now distracted, spend twenty minutes snapping that too..... after all, it's not often this lad with a camera gets out at night to discover the night! And all this without a tripod!!

Pooped to hell and back, he rests till today when he spies a great cloudy sky as sunset nears, and decides on a whim to get the sunset from a different spot, so he runs up Greenwich Street to Telegraph Hill, where ~ out of breath again ~ encounters a tourist couple whose boyfriend is busying "watering" the green bushes by the walkway leading to the top of the hill... I detected a spanish-sounding accent and in Spain it's commonplace for males to look for any place to urinate.... I was going to ask if he was from Spain but thought better of it as I was in a hurry to get the sunset which was minutes away.... gasp, pant, gasp....

Near to the top, I see a spot not blocked by tree limbs or bushes. I stood there for about ten minutes while not even two feet away a man dressed in dark clothing burned a small stove in the bushes, crouched below the bush-level. As I started to capture the setting sun, he started banging a spoon on metal chant-style, and I wondered if what he was doing was a spell to shoo me away from his camp location for the night. I left in a few minutes, running again to the top of the hill, only to see trees and even taller bushes blocking any possible view, but I did see the statue of Columbus there backlit by the setting sun's golden glow upon the clouds.

I looked skyward; a BIG mistake and decided (I'm really crazy when I go snapping away and I've had an otherwise boring few days standing for hours for four days shooting the roaring jets) to go DOWN the backside of Telegraph Hill to the Embarcadero (ooooh no, not again!) and snap Coit Tower against the red flaming clouds above...... so I ran down the 300+ steps and was shocked I didn't fall not once - usually I fall when I have camera in hand) and started snapping away yet again at street level....
....then I see a lighted water fountain and those glimmering lights and that dark and shiny reflections of light caught my eye...... if you're a technie type, the data on the fountain pix is about a four-second exposure without a tripod, the camera on the ground, me lying next to it and keys and whatever else I had in my pockets to level the camera and angle the lense down to my subject.... wot fun!!

An hour and a half later I got home..... I think I'll stay away from my camera for a few days. Maybe if I moved everything around again, I'll lose my camera and I won't have to run anytime soon.....

yea right!
This is a picture captured with my cell phone camera, showing my camera on the ground (without me) as I snapped away at the fountain to get the picture above.... neatoooo tripod, huh? hahahahaaa

I saw an interesting scene during that chase for the full moon: I am walking ~ slow for once ~ down the street and notice a man loudly talking in chinese but holding at shoulder-height a square object in his hands. As I near, I can see that object is a laptop, and instantly, I know what he is doing... I've done it myself! He is holding the laptop equipped with a webcam toward Russian Hill and the dying golden glow of that night's sunset. Through this modern technology that we so take for granted these days, this man is probably talking to friends or family in China and using his wireless net access, walk outside with his laptop and share that sunset with his friends a world away.....

Then, on the other hand, why can't people direct their thoughts in one precise direction? Why does someone have to talk using this same technology but act in such a confusing matter that it's a headache foir both that individual and myself? To make matters worst, this individual acts as if they are talking to someone else. Nooooo, this person doesn't say my name, but refers to other named persons. Not only is this insulting that they cannot say my name, but it's confusing.

I don't get headaches often.... maybe once every two years, and this is the first one in probably that period.... and I don't like having a headache caused by someone's tactlessness.

grrrrrrrr

.... and still, as in every country I've lived in... why am I still watching sunsets alone? I hate being in this place and wish I were elsewhere. Anywhere but here.....

the party's over.....

at least, it is for me! I've recorded and created about 3,762 in the past few days, and probably deleted about 3,761 of all of those images!!! hahahahaaa I almost feel as if I were at a tennis match, watching the ball tossed from one side to the other... at least I don't have to look at aircraft any longer, till next year perhaps! I've been standing an average of 4-5 hours per day, except for Saturday where my volunteer-time had me standing in the biting cold from 9am till 4:30pm... guess I am not the young man I have always been and my bones were really hurting! I could barely bend and just to sit in the car and drive home was painful enough....

For this final performance day, I had decided to sacrifice detail for distance. I walked onto the Golden Gate Bridge to take some of these most recent pixs of the Blue Angels to share with my good European and other friends, who aren't from this area {or never seen this area xcept in fotos/film} so they could "see" a bit more than just some tiny jets and even smaller propeller planes flying against a blue sky. Puting the City skyline in the background creates a terrible picture for me as it's too busy and hard to see the low-flying aircraft, but this does put into perspective the vast area being used by the planes during the performances, plus also gives them an idea of the size of the aircraft flying in comparsion to the city.
This last pix below are of some seals who were playing in their backyard below me on the bridge. I also saw what I thought was a dolphin who never reappeared again, but these seals stayed around for some hours. I also saw some huge jellyfish thinking it was strange that those would appear in the water at this late time of the year, but oh well. enjoy the fotos!!