San Francisco, ahoy!
I recently hopped to the left coast for a quick nip and stayed with an old friend who recently transplanted there. I still have not gotten off my duff to replace my point-and-shoot so actually my trip is a bit lacking in photo documentation.
I arrived very late, and even later for an East Coaster. However my lovely friend Anya -- ever since we were roommates in college -- never really thought that sleep was a good enough reason to stop living life. On the way in from Oakland she stopped me by Treasure Island to a pretty nice gawking spot. There were a bunch of youngsters like us already there, one guy even with a big nasty lens (70-200L) pointing it at the skyline and the Bay Bridge. Whenever I’m out in the wild and see someone with good equipment it makes me a little nervous at first – I feel like two predators that don’t know if we’re going to ruffle our feathers and muscle for territory or if we’re going to get along and geek out. In this situation we ended up geeking out: he asked me about my tripod and I ended up making a sales pitch for Bogen/Manfrotto (which is kind of funny because I was planning on upgrading it to a Gitzo or a Slik this week). It made sense, I guess, since I had noticed He With the Nicer Lens was using a newspaper box as his tripod!
Even though it was well after midnight PST I got a quick tour of the areas of San Francisco as we continued to drive in. My favorite was the gay bar in the Castro with binoculars on the top deck – binoculars that point right at the Gold’s Gym across the street. I didn’t get to sleep until 3 AM, which was 6 AM my time. Whoops. I always have trouble with time changes, and I was up by 7 AM PST (translates to 4 hours of rest). Whoops x2.
Since I was up so early I took random useless photos around the apartment, like this. Here is a plush Che Guevera that someone had given her as a present:
This delicious and tart Polish candy that I must find somewhere around here because it was so good. I learned at this point that Polish and Russian are very similar phonetically, except one is written in cyrillic and one is not.
Anya is a great cook for someone who doesn’t cook. We had delicious fruit and yogurt for breakfast and then headed out for the day.
I can’t stop talking about the weather and how wonderful it was. I love needing a coat in August! That’s unheard of in Maryland, where you just want to die in the months between March and November. We drove around several neighborhoods, Anya giving me a tour. I loved the architecture, the hills, the clear blue sky, the uniqueness of each house, the beautiful Mediterranean flowers. Then we swung through the Presidio (where I wanted to stare at the trees but there’s only so many hours in a day) and stopped to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. A necessity! I marveled at the waves and how green the water was, the strength of the wind, the number of other tourists and of course the tempting, decaying hulk of Alcatraz. I wished for fog because it was almost too clear and beautiful. The sailboats in the water were almost capsizing which made me nervous, but I guess that’s just something you have to stomach to sail in SF Bay.
Like reaching arms, the GG bridge says COME TO ME AND HELLO!
... but don't jump before calling the crisis hotlines on one of the courtesy phones provided by the management, thank you.
I thought these sailboats were going to capsize, but they seemed pretty nonchalant (from up where I was)
Of course there is no such thing is great weather without a Muench star:
There is some story about this sign and and the junk that is left chained to it, but I don't remember it now. But it seems a little bit sad, IMO so I took the picture:
Afterwards we drove up the shore a bit and stopped by a marina close to the Palace of Fine Arts. There were so many people out doing sporty things with their dogs in the park – again so different from where I’m from and I loved it. We walked along the water to a spot where she’d discovered that extends like a jetty into the bay. At the end there are these tubular periscope things that stretch under the water and if you put your ears to them you can hear the water sloshing underneath you. It made me a bit nervous (hydrophobe) but it was very neat. It was low tide at the time so they were mostly silent, but I can imagine in the evening it’s quite lovely and sounds… louder.
Parking for doggies? This guy had his own spot, that's for sure.
I lose points for forgetting to experiment with long exposures when there are waves present!
Here you can see the periscope things. You can listen at each one and supposedly they each sound different. I bet the view here is beautiful at night.
Then it was a walk to the Palace of Fine Arts. Who doesn't have a shot like this? But I didn't have one of my own and I felt like Kim Novak in Vertigo.
I’d never seen so many pro photogs in one place! If it wasn’t for a wedding, then it was some kind of fashion shoot. I caught sunbursts and swans (blown out in the bright sun, though) and the inside of the dome, and stopped taking photos long enough to listen to the huge sound experiment thingy inside one of the columns. Volunteers strike a xylophone-thing and you hear the reverb in the air inside the tower as you change your elevation.
One of the many, many photographers with an assistant and a grumpy-looking model:
One of the millions of shots I took here. I actually have at least 5 with Muench stars but I'll spare you all.
Although we were getting hungry for lunch, first I got a tour of some of the mega-amazing houses that overlooked the bay and the palace. I don’t remember the name of the neighborhood but I’ve rarely seen communities like that. We walked up and down the stairs of Lyon Street and admired the views and the people doing tai chi.
More traditional view. Wow it looks like Greece or Italy.
Coming from the land of planned communities and townhomes, the unique doorways and gardens of all of these houses was really refreshing. Plus, I was impressed with how tidy it was kept – even the corners of the green squares of grass on the sidewalk could have been shaved with a protractor.
Maybe it's normal for you Californians but out here we rarely have architecture like this:
This one house was funny: Anya told me the story of how the corner office had an old CRT monitor for the longest time and only very recently did they upgrade it to a flat panel. Funny how you can have one of the most expensive houses in the city and not shell out for your technology!
Next was lunch. We hopped over to Frjtz and rested with great food and frites and beer.
Leffe in the garden, anyone?
The Basquiat was beautiful:
We sat in the patio out back, where this incredibly jolly Irish dude shared a table with his woman right next to us. He was a trip and she reminded me of Dolores O’Riordan in her blonde days – friendly but a bit more reserved than her SO, though maybe she was just embarrassed! They had apparently spent the whole afternoon shopping for shoes on Hayes, and now after lunch they opened a bottle of wine. A little old lady had come in and sat at a nearby table to finish her coffee and the Irish Dude, having found no fun in my conversation (AKA attempts to not get cornered and roped into his joviality) zeroed in on her. He gave her a glass of their wine and tried to set her up with a friend of his who was just looking for “companionship.” Anya and I hardly said a word to each other the whole time we were there because the free entertainment was more than enough to handle. The food was good… I think? Hard to say when your attention is derailed like that.
That evening was spent on Haight St. We first met Anya’s friend at one of the coffeeshops (macchiato addiction much?) and then hit up Ceiba where it was burners galore. Great stuff, but I’m pretty sure the entire street is going to be shut down all next week while everyone is on the playa!
But the day wasn’t over yet. After we left Haight-Ashbury it was a night tour of several more scenic areas of the city as we wound our way downtown. Our next destination was a speakeasy bar that was packed! Not only were they crowded, but I noticed something was definitely up because all the men were wearing button-down shirts with ties, suspenders and fedoras and the women had bobs, beads, and slip dresses. It turns out there was an engagement party with a 1920s theme that night. Wow! Two girls were even doing the Charleston – obviously without drinks in their hands. It was… amazing. I only had one martini because the crowd around the bar was at least 6 people deep, but it was a truly impressive place. Noted for return visit.
Last stop of the night was some street on some hill that had a great view. That’s all I can say. The wind was strong and the lights were bright. I live for cityscapes, even though sometimes I’m so tired I can’t be bothered to perfect the image in the camera.
Early the next morning we were off to meet Sam (sizam) to go shooting. We spent the morning prowling around town and having a few adventures (and coffees) before actually getting a chance to take some shots. Soon all of us were suffering from crippling hunger so it was sushi for lunch at an inexpensive little place we stumbled upon that boasted “Sushi like mom used to make” and “Cocktails like mom used to mix.” Hmm. Even though the two Frisco kids with me claimed the sushi was only “eh,” it was better than most sushi I’ve had in Baltimore. Maybe that’s not saying so much, though.
The rest of the day lives only in memory as I was too lazy to dig my 30D out like I had the day before. Why would I ever have thought it was worth putting off getting that replacement point-and-shoot? Hindsight is 20/20.
So, quickly: Anya continued her tour of the weird sights as we exchanged Sam for a friend of hers from the East Coast. This tour included the murals of the Mission District, more coffee, a building downtown that had furniture coming out of the windows, and City Hall. Ian ( :wave ) tracked us down and met up with us in time to have dinner at a decent tapas place, Andalu, and I was hugged by a one-eyed homeless lady wearing a velvet dress before heading back to crash for the night. Plans to go shooting with Ian at the Marin Headlands to catch some fog over the GG Bridge at sunset got bagged because the fog was too thick, we’d spent too much time sampling the sangria and I was beat.
My flight home was beautiful, giving me the opportunity to see southern Utah from the air (buttes! Wah!) as well as god beams from above over Kansas and a lightning show over Maryland.
I will be returning to northern California again, that is for sure. Two days is not enough to spend anywhere - especially someplace that has such great weather, food, and friends. :lust
I arrived very late, and even later for an East Coaster. However my lovely friend Anya -- ever since we were roommates in college -- never really thought that sleep was a good enough reason to stop living life. On the way in from Oakland she stopped me by Treasure Island to a pretty nice gawking spot. There were a bunch of youngsters like us already there, one guy even with a big nasty lens (70-200L) pointing it at the skyline and the Bay Bridge. Whenever I’m out in the wild and see someone with good equipment it makes me a little nervous at first – I feel like two predators that don’t know if we’re going to ruffle our feathers and muscle for territory or if we’re going to get along and geek out. In this situation we ended up geeking out: he asked me about my tripod and I ended up making a sales pitch for Bogen/Manfrotto (which is kind of funny because I was planning on upgrading it to a Gitzo or a Slik this week). It made sense, I guess, since I had noticed He With the Nicer Lens was using a newspaper box as his tripod!
Even though it was well after midnight PST I got a quick tour of the areas of San Francisco as we continued to drive in. My favorite was the gay bar in the Castro with binoculars on the top deck – binoculars that point right at the Gold’s Gym across the street. I didn’t get to sleep until 3 AM, which was 6 AM my time. Whoops. I always have trouble with time changes, and I was up by 7 AM PST (translates to 4 hours of rest). Whoops x2.
Since I was up so early I took random useless photos around the apartment, like this. Here is a plush Che Guevera that someone had given her as a present:
This delicious and tart Polish candy that I must find somewhere around here because it was so good. I learned at this point that Polish and Russian are very similar phonetically, except one is written in cyrillic and one is not.
Anya is a great cook for someone who doesn’t cook. We had delicious fruit and yogurt for breakfast and then headed out for the day.
I can’t stop talking about the weather and how wonderful it was. I love needing a coat in August! That’s unheard of in Maryland, where you just want to die in the months between March and November. We drove around several neighborhoods, Anya giving me a tour. I loved the architecture, the hills, the clear blue sky, the uniqueness of each house, the beautiful Mediterranean flowers. Then we swung through the Presidio (where I wanted to stare at the trees but there’s only so many hours in a day) and stopped to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. A necessity! I marveled at the waves and how green the water was, the strength of the wind, the number of other tourists and of course the tempting, decaying hulk of Alcatraz. I wished for fog because it was almost too clear and beautiful. The sailboats in the water were almost capsizing which made me nervous, but I guess that’s just something you have to stomach to sail in SF Bay.
Like reaching arms, the GG bridge says COME TO ME AND HELLO!
... but don't jump before calling the crisis hotlines on one of the courtesy phones provided by the management, thank you.
I thought these sailboats were going to capsize, but they seemed pretty nonchalant (from up where I was)
Of course there is no such thing is great weather without a Muench star:
There is some story about this sign and and the junk that is left chained to it, but I don't remember it now. But it seems a little bit sad, IMO so I took the picture:
Afterwards we drove up the shore a bit and stopped by a marina close to the Palace of Fine Arts. There were so many people out doing sporty things with their dogs in the park – again so different from where I’m from and I loved it. We walked along the water to a spot where she’d discovered that extends like a jetty into the bay. At the end there are these tubular periscope things that stretch under the water and if you put your ears to them you can hear the water sloshing underneath you. It made me a bit nervous (hydrophobe) but it was very neat. It was low tide at the time so they were mostly silent, but I can imagine in the evening it’s quite lovely and sounds… louder.
Parking for doggies? This guy had his own spot, that's for sure.
I lose points for forgetting to experiment with long exposures when there are waves present!
Here you can see the periscope things. You can listen at each one and supposedly they each sound different. I bet the view here is beautiful at night.
Then it was a walk to the Palace of Fine Arts. Who doesn't have a shot like this? But I didn't have one of my own and I felt like Kim Novak in Vertigo.
I’d never seen so many pro photogs in one place! If it wasn’t for a wedding, then it was some kind of fashion shoot. I caught sunbursts and swans (blown out in the bright sun, though) and the inside of the dome, and stopped taking photos long enough to listen to the huge sound experiment thingy inside one of the columns. Volunteers strike a xylophone-thing and you hear the reverb in the air inside the tower as you change your elevation.
One of the many, many photographers with an assistant and a grumpy-looking model:
One of the millions of shots I took here. I actually have at least 5 with Muench stars but I'll spare you all.
Although we were getting hungry for lunch, first I got a tour of some of the mega-amazing houses that overlooked the bay and the palace. I don’t remember the name of the neighborhood but I’ve rarely seen communities like that. We walked up and down the stairs of Lyon Street and admired the views and the people doing tai chi.
More traditional view. Wow it looks like Greece or Italy.
Coming from the land of planned communities and townhomes, the unique doorways and gardens of all of these houses was really refreshing. Plus, I was impressed with how tidy it was kept – even the corners of the green squares of grass on the sidewalk could have been shaved with a protractor.
Maybe it's normal for you Californians but out here we rarely have architecture like this:
This one house was funny: Anya told me the story of how the corner office had an old CRT monitor for the longest time and only very recently did they upgrade it to a flat panel. Funny how you can have one of the most expensive houses in the city and not shell out for your technology!
Next was lunch. We hopped over to Frjtz and rested with great food and frites and beer.
Leffe in the garden, anyone?
The Basquiat was beautiful:
We sat in the patio out back, where this incredibly jolly Irish dude shared a table with his woman right next to us. He was a trip and she reminded me of Dolores O’Riordan in her blonde days – friendly but a bit more reserved than her SO, though maybe she was just embarrassed! They had apparently spent the whole afternoon shopping for shoes on Hayes, and now after lunch they opened a bottle of wine. A little old lady had come in and sat at a nearby table to finish her coffee and the Irish Dude, having found no fun in my conversation (AKA attempts to not get cornered and roped into his joviality) zeroed in on her. He gave her a glass of their wine and tried to set her up with a friend of his who was just looking for “companionship.” Anya and I hardly said a word to each other the whole time we were there because the free entertainment was more than enough to handle. The food was good… I think? Hard to say when your attention is derailed like that.
That evening was spent on Haight St. We first met Anya’s friend at one of the coffeeshops (macchiato addiction much?) and then hit up Ceiba where it was burners galore. Great stuff, but I’m pretty sure the entire street is going to be shut down all next week while everyone is on the playa!
But the day wasn’t over yet. After we left Haight-Ashbury it was a night tour of several more scenic areas of the city as we wound our way downtown. Our next destination was a speakeasy bar that was packed! Not only were they crowded, but I noticed something was definitely up because all the men were wearing button-down shirts with ties, suspenders and fedoras and the women had bobs, beads, and slip dresses. It turns out there was an engagement party with a 1920s theme that night. Wow! Two girls were even doing the Charleston – obviously without drinks in their hands. It was… amazing. I only had one martini because the crowd around the bar was at least 6 people deep, but it was a truly impressive place. Noted for return visit.
Last stop of the night was some street on some hill that had a great view. That’s all I can say. The wind was strong and the lights were bright. I live for cityscapes, even though sometimes I’m so tired I can’t be bothered to perfect the image in the camera.
Early the next morning we were off to meet Sam (sizam) to go shooting. We spent the morning prowling around town and having a few adventures (and coffees) before actually getting a chance to take some shots. Soon all of us were suffering from crippling hunger so it was sushi for lunch at an inexpensive little place we stumbled upon that boasted “Sushi like mom used to make” and “Cocktails like mom used to mix.” Hmm. Even though the two Frisco kids with me claimed the sushi was only “eh,” it was better than most sushi I’ve had in Baltimore. Maybe that’s not saying so much, though.
The rest of the day lives only in memory as I was too lazy to dig my 30D out like I had the day before. Why would I ever have thought it was worth putting off getting that replacement point-and-shoot? Hindsight is 20/20.
So, quickly: Anya continued her tour of the weird sights as we exchanged Sam for a friend of hers from the East Coast. This tour included the murals of the Mission District, more coffee, a building downtown that had furniture coming out of the windows, and City Hall. Ian ( :wave ) tracked us down and met up with us in time to have dinner at a decent tapas place, Andalu, and I was hugged by a one-eyed homeless lady wearing a velvet dress before heading back to crash for the night. Plans to go shooting with Ian at the Marin Headlands to catch some fog over the GG Bridge at sunset got bagged because the fog was too thick, we’d spent too much time sampling the sangria and I was beat.
My flight home was beautiful, giving me the opportunity to see southern Utah from the air (buttes! Wah!) as well as god beams from above over Kansas and a lightning show over Maryland.
I will be returning to northern California again, that is for sure. Two days is not enough to spend anywhere - especially someplace that has such great weather, food, and friends. :lust
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Comments
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
did you see the complex across the street from the palace? yoda lives there.
nice angles on the bridge!
Website
Great photos, and an even better narrative to go along with it.
We've actually had about a week or so of clearish weather and I've been loving it. About another month and a half of fog and we should get to our beautiful warm clear fall weather before the winter storms.
"Winter storms," I love that expression, coming from the east coast originally it's just rain...
And the food, how scrumptious looking! Those fries looked yummy too...
Anyway, enjoyed the tour and the photos!
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
walk past.
The CRT was supposedly one of those big huge ones that take up your whole desk. Even at my office I don't think there's any still left.
Keeping a notebook certainly helps, and supposedly I'm known for that. Anya has been there for about 8 months and enjoys exploring all parts of the city. It's very easy to live somewhere and not know it - I'm guilty of this as well.
I sort of feel bad now for not seeing more Smugmuggers while there. Not like I had the time, but I really, truly enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones and I felt a bit like the bee girl discovering the other bee people.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
GARLIC FRIESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ZOMG ZOMG!@!
If the east coast could learn one thing from SFO it should be how to make garlic fries!
There is no other option. Garlic will find you.
War on oil and war on housing and the war on yuppies... I lost count of the number of protests I saw. Anya told me about the number of protesters to be found in SF and I just looked at her and said, "That says a lot coming from someone who just moved from DC!"
I see you're in Englishtown! I was born and bred not too far from there... Exit 9!
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
So I've been out to san fran twice now and haven't been able to go to "the stinking rose". Lol... six of us did manage to rack up a $400 bill at Blowfish. Sake it to me baby!! :slosh
grand theft auto san andreas
Hah! That's OK: before I went my knowledge of SF extended to episodes of Mythbusters. :ymca
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
gus - 3 weeks? Lucky! I hear you got a chance to see the Marin Headlands, at least (unlike me)
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
idk... thats my perception of the state and I'm not gonna sugar coat it. It is what it is. You could call NJ the garbage dump of NYC and i'm not gonna be offended cause I know every time you pass exit 13 on the turnpike you get that lovely smell
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
I wish my fiancee felt the same... I really like a little hidden tucked away spot I can call my own.
Ahem. MB shoots in South San Francisco, The Industrial City(tm) don't ya
know
Good seeing you and now I understand about the busy bee thing
had a great tour guide too.
:crazy :bs :boid
Moderator of: Location, Location, Location , Mind Your Own Business & Other Cool Shots
I know now! Not that I had any hope of accidentally running into any of them. They're nuts, but in a wonderful way.
I'm still disappointed about missing the Marin headlands but I'm counting down the days to Glacier.... can't wait to see what you catch with your new camera setup!
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
i think running into those dudes would be fun. Can you imagine? Deciding whether you'll wreck some cars, blow something up, shoot something or maybe just fool around with Mentos and Diet Coke?