Dept. of Homeland Paparazzi: Shadow Shot Sunday

Louis Vuitton store in Hollywood, CA.




Explained here; last week's set here.

The Shadow of Joseph Strauss (Shadow Shot Sunday)

Taken at the vista point at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Shadow Shot Sunday meme explained here; this week's edition is here.

Wall

Near the head of Rodeo Lagoon in the Marin Headlands.

Travel Thursday: Pomona, California

30 miles due east of Los Angeles, where LA County meets San Bernardino County in the heart of what's known as the Inland Empire, Pomona is the town where I grew up. Route 66 runs through the northern part of town, and the San Bernardino Freeway (Interstate 10) runs east and west through the heart of it, bisecting the town into north and south divisions. Many years ago, Pomona was filled with orange groves; today, it's mostly strip malls and tract housing and some industry. When I was young, parents of kids who lived in nearby Claremont or Upland or Alta Loma warned their children not to go to Pomona, because it was "dangerous." I don't think that's changed. The LA County Fair is in Pomona ("the biggest county fair in the world!"), and another admonishment I heard from adults while I was growing up was, "Don't go in the Fun Zone, or you'll get knifed!"

Despite all the danger, I managed to get out alive, and still make a point of visiting every time I'm in Southern California. My good friend Walt still lives there, in a loft in the building which used to house the local newspaper (a paper that we both worked for at one time). There are some great antique shops there, and plenty of SoCal history, but it's the Fair that really draws me. When I was growing up, all the kids in Pomona public schools would get free tickets to the Fair each year, and I always went. I continued that tradition as an adult, and even after I moved away, I made a point of trying to get down there every September for a day or two at the Fair.



More...



Long defunct, the Mayfair was a once-elegant hotel that later housed transients and had a dive bar that was a very interesting place to be at about 6 AM.



When I was 15, I lied about my age and got a job at this drive-through dairy. Beer sales went through the roof as we supplied most of the parties for local high schoolers.



This trailer park is on Foothill Blvd., old Route 66.



Also on Route 66.



Pomona has lots of great neon, though lately a lot of it has fallen into disrepair.



For a few years, I lived in a house just a block up from this old motel. Even then, it was a pretty seedy place.



The San Gabriel mountains dominate the skyline to the north, but when I was young, the air pollution was often so bad you couldn't see them.

In My Neighborhood

On Sutter Street between Polk and Van Ness, there is a well-attended mosque that was once a Christian mission. When I first moved into the neighborhood twenty-mumble-something years ago, this sign read "JESUS is the LIGHT of the WORLD!" Now I see dozens of dark, bearded men in kaffiyahs and Arab dress going in and out of there at all hours of the day and night. On Sundays, I see women in burqas with their children in tow going in to worship. I imagine what someone from another part of the country who is perhaps not used to seeing Muslims in everyday life might think.

I Was Looking at the Black and White World

I just now discovered that this shot was SFist's Photo du Jour yesterday (2/23). Not that I had a minute yesterday to go looking, but...

Anyway, I'm glad they like my work!

Grain Elevators

Along the waterfront in Montreal.

Golden Bay

Another early-morning view from my office building.

Wearing a Face that She Keeps in a Pot by the Door

This week's new favorite.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Shadow Shot Sunday.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Grillwork in an old army tunnel on Hawk Hill, Marin Headlands.

Shadow Shot Sunday explained here; this week's edition is here.

Gutter

We are all of us in the gutter; some of us are looking at the stars.

I Saw the Sky Come Apart at the Seams

Edgewood County Park, San Mateo County.

Village Motel

Village Motel, Bishop, CA. This is yet another black-and-white version of a color shot. This time out the black-and-white seems hugely different to me--much more atmospheric, and kind of Bates-y.

Travel Thursday: Florence, Italy

Just one today because I'm very busy. This is an old door handle in Florence, Italy, caught in the midday sun.

Butterfly Hinge

Less than a block away from the red umbrella hanging on the nail, I found this outstanding hinge and had to shoot it as well.

Japanese Mural

In the Hotel Tomo, San Francisco.

Windshield

Red Umbrella

My new favorite shot. For today, anyway.

Spring Tide Moon

Over Winter Harbor, Maine

Shadow Shot Sunday: Light Mosaic

Joining in on the Shadow Shot Sunday fun with one I took a couple months back. If you didn't read Tom's post, the explanation is here.

Still Life with Rosemary (Shadow Shot Sunday)

Our dining room catching the late afternoon sun.

Shadow Shot Sunday meme explained here; this week's edition is here.

Reflections on Valentine's Day

Happy V-Day, all!

Romance

Couple having wedding photos taken on the bluffs south of Stinson Beach. Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.

Erosion

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park. This is another black and white version of a color photo; I think I like the color version better, but black and white works (and is even more of an homage to Adams).

Flush

Starlings

Travel Thursday: Summer Palace, Beijing

On our first full day in China, our guide took us to the Summer Palace, a complex of buildings alongside a huge lake. This is where the emperor would go in the summer to try to beat the heat in Beijing. The pollution in that city is unbelievably bad, which resulted in most all the pictures we took there looking somewhat hazy.

More...

Travel Thursday: Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. This is the second capital of Guatemala; the first, Ciudad Vieja, is about 5 km away at the base of a volcano. What could go wrong? A mudflow that wiped out the city, is what. They moved the capital to Antigua Guatemala, which was devastated by earthquakes in 1773. So they moved it again, to Guatemala City, which in 1976 was hit by an earthquake that killed 20,000+ people.

Lest this seem like a series of bad choices, consider the alternatives available to the Spanish colonizers: the highlands, with their unpredictable and infrequent seismic events, or the lowlands, with the absolute certainty of malaria and other diseases.

Striped

Smoking Hearts

Perhaps my favorite people shot ever. Maybe my favorite overall shot ever.