... presented in no particular order, walk along with me and share some of my impressions of the city and people of san francisco ...
... not sport, in san francisco skateboards are one of the many forms of energy efficient transportation ...
... he stared and stared, at what i could not determine ...
... while this isn't one of them, in san francisco there are all sorts of bikes and scooters parked along the streets for the public to use ...
... the trolly car was stopped because of some sort of mechanical failure in the signal system ... i asked him why he was dancing, "we get paid whether we're movin' or standin' still" ...
... the view from where we enjoyed an excellent lunch ... (i think—no, i know absolutely that they made it ... day after day, during exercise time looking over the wall and seeing this restaurant, i know i would've) ...
... jon needed a quick portrait ... i shot this in the room against the curtains, then did a bit of work in photoshop ...
... we enjoyed a stroll along the edge of the bay ...
... over 10,000 feet long and 200 feet above the surface of the bay, the western spans of the oakland bay bridge are awe inspiring during the day and most spectacular at night when they flash an "until infinity never repeating" display of l.e.d. lights (they did the math wrong, but i'll allow that it's close enough) ...
... thinking, perhaps ...
... everywhere are ad displays that make me want to find a hole to crawl into ...
... i've come to think of those who live on the streets as "open air residents," if for no other reason that doing so allows me to not feel guilty for all the blessings in my life ... this resident was most intensely studying the bible, a few minutes after i snapped the picture i listened as he and a passerby had a most intelligently involved discussion concerning "what jesus really meant" in matthew 5:11-12 ...
... the palace of fine arts is one of the few structures surviving from the 1915 panama-pacific exposition ... it has been restored both to its original architectural glory as well as to modern earthquake-resistant standards ...
... as i was snapping pictures he came over and rather abruptly commented, "you should ask before you take someone's picture" ... i responded that he was going to be in the images from every camera being carried by the many tourists and visitors strolling the waterfront, to which he—well, he wasn't very nice ... i asked, "did you ask permission from the fish you're catching" ... yea, i haven't lost my touch, he called me a rather nasty name ... i relaxed since i knew matt and i could take him in an unfair fight, calmed myself, and made sure to take another set of frames to insure i'd get a really, really good photograph ...
... earlier in the day we visited the other side of the bridge ... warning: if you zoom in on some of these images you might see some men wearing—well, wearing nothing whatsoever ... i watched them as they strolled into the sea ... they may not have been shy about showing their stuff, but all of 'em were pretty much surf wusses ... me, if my shoulder were fully healed, i'd have been out in the deep water ... (and, please, let not any of you bay area residents talk to me of the "cold water" ... middle of the summer i don't think the waters of old orchard beach ever rise to these temperatures—did i tell you, by the way, that i think frank and his buddies survived and made it to shore) ...
... i was conversing with matt about making photographs about humanity ... this picture i like, his was sublime but he might not be able to post it publicly ...
... i stopped into a little photo/electronic equipment store and struck up a wonderful conversation with the owner ... he's a very good photographer, but i've a feeling he wants to be more than that ... we talked about pictures, then i navigated the web to a site displaying the work of henri-cartier bresson ... "me," i said, "i hope that before i finally put down my camera i capture at least one image of which he would approve" ...
... i'd like to think this might be that image ...
... i've a feeling that beneath every single one of the world's great bridges there's someone doing exactly as is he ...
... while matt walked in the mucky water looking for a picture, i turned and snapped this delightful composition ...
... it mattered absolutely nothing to matt and i that the beautiful evening lacked any of the characteristically dramatic golden gate lighting ... we, and a very small handful of others, enjoyed a peaceful moment that served to remind us of the great experiences we have and and all wonderful people with whom we share our lives ...
"San Francisco has only one drawback – ’tis hard to leave."
RUDYARD KIPLING