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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Travel Thursday: Montreal

The Walk icon is so much more jaunty than our own.
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Typical street in Old Montreal.


Retro-Moderne hotel bar in the Hyatt.


Ghost of a stone house, now a parking lot.


Montreal is lousy with murals.

I Was Looking at the Black and White World

One view of the London Eye Ferris wheel.

Leaf on Snow

In Westborough, Massachusetts.

Sunrise

This is what it looked like on the bay about a half hour after I got to work this morning...

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SFO is just a couple miles south, so I get to see jets landing and taking off at all hours. The sunrise is usually pretty nice here, but this morning's was exceptionally good.

Culvert Section

Kern River Preserve, east of Lake Isabella. This is one that I liked okay in color, but I think it works much better in black and white.

In My Neighborhood

On Larkin Street between Bush and Pine.

Purple Winter

Wings

Another shot from the roof of the Sutter Street parking structure.

This One's for Generik

Because I feel confident he can identify the location. (No clicking through to the Flickr page, though.)

Travel Thursday: Yangshuo, China

Yangshuo is a resort area in southern China, near the larger and better-known town of Guilin, famous for its abrupt limestone and dolomite topography (called "karst") and cormorant fishing on the Lijiang River. For many years, the area was mainly for vacationing Chinese nationals, but more recently it has become very popular with Westerners attracted to the beautiful scenery, the climbing and spelunking and other activities that Yangshuo and its environs offer.

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Sally purchases a garland of flowers from a local entrepreneur along the Jade Dragon River.



Bamboo rafts are the way to travel down the gentle Jade Dragon River.



A cormorant fisherman on the Lijiang River. Check out some video of the ancient practice on YouTube.



Dramatic hills cast dramatic reflections.



Besides tourism and fishing, much of the area is used for growing rice.



Fish heads and other goodies are available on West Street, the main shopping drag in Yangshuo. There is quite the nightlife on West Street, with lots of cafes, restaurants, shops and bars open fairly late. And though you can find cuisine from all over the world there -- pizza, burritos, sushi, you name it -- we saw no McDonalds or KFCs or Pizza Huts, which we considered a very good thing.



These are the officially-sanctioned tour boats, and visitors -- especially Westerners -- are forbidden by law from taking river tours on unlicensed boats...



...However, Sam, who was our guide, chauffeur and hotel-procurer in Yangshuo, arranged for us to take a private river tour on a much smaller boat. When some of the local authorities appeared in a boat of their own, we had to get inside the cabin and duck down below the windows, lest the owners get fined for giving an unauthorized tour.



This little pavilion, where you could sit and drink tea and watch the river, was just outside the front door of our hotel. I wish I was there right now.

Uncolored

Inspired by Generik's great black-and-white shots, I've been playing around with creating black and white versions of some of my color shots. This is the Bethesda statue in Central Park (featured prominently in Angels in America, and appearing in countless other movies); the original version is here.

Tiny City

Model in the Complex Desjardins, Montreal, Quebec.

Plumage

I just thought something colorful and non-wintry would help brighten the place up a bit. This is from the SF Carnaval parade last May.

Abstract

Winter at Clear Lake

Even though I hadn't seen it when I took this picture, I'm posting this after being inspired by ahab's elm picture. I'm just a little embarrassed to admit, however, that I don't know what these trees are. Maybe one of my blogmates or a reader can enlighten me.

Subway

Outside the station at 81st & Central Park West, Manhattan.

Quaint Vermont

Trapper's Grille in Ludlow, Vermont.

Dance

American Elm #7

In My Neighborhood

The Leland Hotel at Polk and Bush Streets, reflected in a puddle in Frank Norris Alley.