In My Neighborhood

I live in the Polk Gulch area of San Francisco -- also known as the "TenderNob -- where the Tenderloin meets Nob Hill." It's gritty, urban, densely populated and "colorful" here. For years I've been taking pictures of this neighborhood -- documenting, chronicling, recording the sights I see every day. This seems like the perfect place to start a running series of images from the blocks that surround me. This is what my neighborhood looks like; if either or both of my blogmates would like to share this idea and record their respective surroundings, I'd encourage that.

This building is going up just across the alley from our apartment. The rear view here is Hemlock Alley; the front of the building is on Sutter Street.

Miramar Court

In Pismo Beach, California, where Bugs Bunny goes to vacation.

God is in the Details

South Penobscot, Maine

Travel Thursday: Prague

Tom mentioned something the other day about setting up some continuing themes for this blog. Yesterday I started what I expect will be a recurring black and white theme; today, I'd like to introduce Travel Thursdays, where I will feature one spot in the world that I've visited in the past (or perhaps I'll link to and/or post images from another photographer whose work I like).

To start this off today, here are some shots from what I think is the most beautiful city I've ever been lucky enough to spend time in: Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

The Charles Bridge reflected in the Vltava River.

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Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral at sunset.



Public art is huge in Prague.



The crowd on the Charles Bridge.



Public art is huge -- and dangerous! -- in Prague.



Prague Square and Our Lady before Tyn church.

I Was Looking at the Black and White World

I've always loved black and white photography. I love its starkness, its emphasis on form and angle, its simplicity. Not that there's anything wrong with color; you can do a million things with color's warmth and textures, but in a way, I've always considered black and white "real" photography. For a period of a couple years, that was almost all I was interested in shooting. If you look at my Flickr site, you can see that the first 15+ pages of pictures that I uploaded there were all monochromatic. There's something about the loneliness and empty space of black and white that will always appeal to me. With this new blog, I plan on posting some examples of my b&w work each week in a continuing series. Here's the first of what I hope will be many such posts.




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Election Pr0n

I'm not sure what motivated me to take pictures of the TV screen on election night, and I felt a little sheepish doing it (perhaps it was Jody's dubious look that made me feel that way). Turns out I wasn't the only one who had that idea. There's something about the television that makes the moment, ironically, more real in an image like this. Photos by people who were actually at Grant Park, for example, don't grab me the way images of the television screen do; that was their experience, and the television was mine.

And Jody? Turns out she burned excerpts of the election night coverage to DVD. She's as hopeless as I am, after all.

Sign of the Times

In The 'No

I took a quick trip to Fresno this past weekend, and while I was there, I snapped a few shots. Like I do pretty much everywhere I go these days.



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Starline Grill

Cleopatra

Looming Pyramid

Test Post

Checking the colors of stuff like title, text, links, etc.