I Was Looking at the Black and White World in My Neighborhood

A two-fer! Near the corner of Hyde and Post Streets, on an abandoned building next door to the spot where another entire building once blew up. True story.

Liquid Gold

Bay Bridge from Embarcadero 3.

Minimal Landscape

Travel Thursday: The Adirondack

Jody and I took the Amtrak Adirondack, a 10-hour ride from NYC to Montreal (plus a couple of hours at the border). This is Westport, NY, along Lake Champlain.

[Update: apologies for breaking the blog earlier; it's fixed now.]
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The southern end of Lake Champlain was frozen over.


Further north, not so much.

Travel Thursday: Rome (If You Want To)

The Colosseum, long-standing icon of the Eternal City.

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A fruit stand about a block away from the Colosseum.



Preserved columns in the Forum.



Trio of musicians in a Roman alley.



Fountain at Piazza Navona.



Inside the Colosseum.

In My Neighborhood

This beauty was parked across the street from my building on Sunday, right next to the fire station. When I was a kid, and Plymouth first started making the Barracuda, I thought it was about the coolest-looking car ever. I liked it even better than the Ford Mustang. I still love the lines on them, especially that big back window.

Glasses

Along 72nd Street west of Amsterdam.

Frosty Crabapples

I reserve the right to reshoot these up to 1,000,000 times, since they're in my front yard.

I Was Looking at the Black and White World

One of my favorite abandoned couch shots, taken in Fresno at the height of my black and white period.

Urban Abstract

Broken-Winged Angel

Steam-Power Printing

The Strand

Once a functioning movie theater on Market Street, The Strand has long been empty and abandoned. That's the new Federal Building directly behind it.

Flag and Roof

In Ludlow, Vermont.

Paneless

A window at one of the abandoned structures on Pier 70, a decaying and decrepit photographer's paradise on the southeastern side of San Francisco.

Cogswell's Cosmic Memorial

Just a few yards from the Spacely Crypt in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland.

The Head in the Mirror

Firecracked

Sometimes I look at a picture two or three or four times (or more) before I really see it. This one didn't hit me until just now; all of a sudden, it's my new favorite shot.

Of course, there's bound to be another new favorite in the next day or so. I'm so fickle!

Travel Thursday: Llandudno, Wales

Llandudno is a sleepy Victorian seaside resort in the north part of Wales, near Holyhead and Conwy. The waterfront is lined with these cute faded old hotels, and there is a long, long promenade for people to stroll up and down in nice weather.

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Nearby Conwy Castle dates back to the 13th Century, and is quite picturesque from all angles.



Back in the days of WWII, it's said that Winston Churchill stayed at the Grand Hotel, but the place is pretty dumpy and run-down today.



I think the Welsh invented their strange and unpronounceable language simply to confound outsiders into leaving them alone.



At the eastern edge of the promenade is the old Victorian pier, with fish and chip shops and other entertainments along its length. Just out of frame to the left is a large gaming arcade, with ancient penny-ante gambling machines alongside newer video games and other diversions.

Martini Shadow

At Home He Feels Like a Tourist

Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point.

Debating Chairs

It may just be me, but this shot really appealed to me when I was going through some of the shots I took today.

This Land is Our Land

Foggy Bottom Noon (Alternate Take)

In My Neighborhood

Seen this morning on a newspaper rack at Post and Polk, just outside my apartment building.

And then half a block up, there's this:

Steeples

Unitarian and Catholic churches in Westborough, Massachusetts.

Black and white version below the fold.
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I think I prefer the color one, slightly, but I do like the way this translates to black and white.

Martini Door

Door to a saloon in Kelseyville, at Clear Lake. Next door to this is a diner with good food and a decidedly '50s vibe. There's a door inside connecting the two as well, and you can get bar drinks in the diner and diner food in the bar. The best of both worlds!

Not Quite Aligned

Urn and shadow in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland.

Sometimes the picture you get is cooler than the one you wanted to get. Case in point: coming home from work yesterday, I was struck by the burst of color in the bus shelter ad, so I set up a timed shot on the Gorillapod (on a conveniently located mailbox) to capture it. At just the wrong moment, a car came racing around the corner. I shot again, this time with no interference; that one is below the fold.
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I like this one too, but I like the accidental surrealism of the 'spoiled' shot a lot more. The violent streaks of light look like graffitti, like they're just superimposed on the shot; just as some elements can hold a picture together, I think the light streaks disassemble this one, making it look more like a collage of disparate elements than a photo. (Or maybe I'm overthinking, or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about. In any case, I think it's cool.)

Big Blue Sphere

Rose Center for Earth & Space at the Museum of Natural History, New York City.

Klee Ice I

Travel Thursday: Lundy, California

Lundy is a tiny dot on the map of the Eastern Sierra, a few miles west of Mono Lake. In the mid- to late 1800s, it was a gold mining town of some size. Today it's not much more than a sleepy fishing spot on Lundy Lake, with a general store, a historical marker and a few ramshackle trailers and cabins scattered on a couple of dirt roads. It's still a pretty spot, though, and there are a lot worse places you could spend an afternoon.

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