Travel Thursday: Middle O'Nowhere, Sonoma County

Haupt Creek Bridge (originally built 1907, rebuilt 1939), on the Stewarts Point-Skaggs Springs Road running from Highway 1 to the Highway 101 area (sign just off 1: "No services next 47 miles"). It's a great little winding two (sometimes 1.5) lane road through classic north coast forest and river canyons, country so remote it's hard to believe it's within a few hours of San Francisco. Also: wildflowers. Amazing wildflowers.

And then somewhere in the middle of it all I turned a bend and there were rocks in the road I couldn't avoid and when I stopped it looked okay but then the next time I stopped to shoot some flowers and I started up the tire pressure warning was on and I realized I was on the rim. In the middle of nowhere.

So I figured out how to change a tire, put the spare on, and then drove carefully and slowly over to the relative civilization of the Highway 101 corridor, and wound up spending another two hours looking for a place that a) was open on Sunday (Sonoma is not exactly a 7-day county) and b) had my tire (Wal-Mart and Sears did not). Got it fixed eventually, and got home safely and all. So now I can again appreciate the beauty and coolness of the ride.

Reflecting on the Carnaval Parade

I spent this past Sunday morning shooting the staging of the Carnaval parade here in the Mission District. Unlike other parts of the world, where Carnaval is the precursor to Lent, here in San Francisco we celebrate at the end of May, when the warm weather rolls around and the women don't shiver and turn blue in their skimpy costumes. Most years, anyway.

Here's the last shot I took as I was heading up the street, away from the parade and back to my car.

Strata

Fungi growing on a down tree in Mitchell Canyon, Mt. Diablo State Park.

Martini Monday

In Santa Rosa, across the street from where I was getting my tire replaced yesterday afternoon...and the foremost thing on my mind was that big-ass Martini I was going to have as soon as I got home.

Alien Self-Portrait

Holes in the sidewalk cast spots of light on a spot below ground, captured in a shadow of my head while taking the picture. This might work for a Shadow Shot Sunday post, I'm thinking. I'll bet most of these fine people would agree.

Scissors and Comb

Update: because I'm lazy, that's why.

Shadow Shot Sunday: rules and results.

More from the Maker Faire

Per Donna's request, here are some more shots from the Maker Faire in San Mateo last weekend. To see the whole set, go here.

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Sign of the Times

Another one from our Blightwalk the other day.

Oregon Trailers

At Bay to Breakers a couple weeks ago.

Gold is a Good Conductor

From the Maker Faire at San Mateo County fairground this past weekend. Think arts and crafts/DIY meets Burning Man. Lots of robots, fire, Tesla coils, art cars and other eccentricities among the crocheting lessons and silk screening T-shirt booths. I'm just sorry we didn't get down there earlier in the day.

Colors

This is my new favorite shot of mine.

Reflecting on a Very Funny Bicycle

I took this shot of a couple enjoying a humorous moment while on the blightwalk with Tom and friends Saturday, and am very happy with how it turned out.

Sergei's Shot

Playing pool at the bar we all went to after Saturday's Blightwalk.

Shadow Shot Sunday: Dodge Dart Wagon at Station #3

Saw this classic beauty parked in late afternoon at the fire station across the street from my apartment building. Maybe it was there to make a quick getaway to Shadow Shot Sunday. I'll bet you could fit quite a few of these past participants in it when we do.

Shadow Shot Sunday

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge casts an early morning shadow on the Bay.

Want to SSS? Learn how, and then join in the fun!

She Loves the Camera

This is Michela, a young woman I've gotten to know through Flickr and the various photowalks I've been on in the past six or eight months, looking at my Yashica Mat-124. She started the Friday Night Drinking & Shooting Club, and is an enormously talented photographer. This was taken on our last Friday night adventure in the canyons of the Financial District.

She's also no slouch in the modeling department:

Concrete Stairway

Battery Godfrey on the Presidio.

Travel Thursday: Albany Bulb

A couple weeks back, I went to the East Bay to check out the Albany Bulb with my friend Larry, who lives in nearby Richmond. The Bulb is a wild area of landfill and overgrown bushes jutting out into the bay just north of Berkeley, strewn with broken pieces of concrete, metal and other detritus. There is a lot of graffiti and street art and sculpture there; also a fairly sizable population of homeless people. Here are just a few shots from that excursion. As is my wont, I took a few hundred pictures on our walk, and I'm still only about two-thirds of the way through processing them.

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What About Naomi?

Bubbles

Another shot from Bay to Breakers last Sunday.