“Renowned Bay Area wildlife photographer robbed of camera at gunpoint outside of Oakland park.” That was the headline of a story in the June 5th edition of The San Francisco Chronicle. I was initially made aware of this story while watching the local television news (link here). Stories of photographers getting relieved of their prized, …
Anne, of Slow Shutter Speed may have been reading my mind when she came up with this week’s topic for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. For months I’ve been rat holing my photos of buildings, all the while meaning to incorporate them into a Monthly Monochrome post. This week, Anne chose the topic — Buildings. Maybe …
This week John, of Journeys with Johnbo, leads the Lens Artists Photo Challenge with his topic, The Road Most Often Taken. John is speaking metaphorically. He writes, “I want you to think of your favorite type or style of photography as the road you’ve chosen to take most often.” Quite honestly I’ve been all over …
Cora posed the question sometime during Thanksgiving weekend. It was the never before posed query that put normalcy into doubt. “Are we getting a tree this year?” She might just as well have asked if we planned on breathing. I’d actually been asking myself the same question since the holiday season began, sometime back in …
It’s been a minute since I last posted and the plan was for a longer hiatus until I happened upon Tina’s Lens-Artists Challenge, the final one for 2022. This challenge is to post photos from 2022 that have not been previously published. Couldn’t resist. *** It’s a hard thing to plumb the passage of time. …
This week’s Lens-Artists challenge is hosted by Donna, who’s site is Wind Kisses. The challenge? Over The Hill. What’s our take? My take starts across the bay, about a half hour away, in San Francisco. Tony Bennet immortalized the hills of The City. To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars …
This week’s Lens Artists Challenge, selected by Sofia is Urban Environments (click on the link for Sofia’s take and other takes on Urban Environments). Urban environments? Well you’ve got your New York; your Boston; your Montreal; your Las Vegas; and your Los Angeles. All swell towns in their own right, and I’ve been to ‘em …
“Sign, sign Everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery Breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that Can’t you read the sign?” Songwriter: Les Emmerson Released in 1970 by The Five Man Electrical Band. The Monthly Monochrome for August celebrates the sign, one of the most excellent of photo subjects. Why such high praise for …
Banner photo. The Downtown skyline taken from The Embarcadero. If you ever have the opportunity to ramble the city sidewalks (assuming you have a city that’s handy ), look around you. No, not for muggers. Okay, yeah always keep an eye out for sketchy fellow citizens, but also keep your eyes open for the varied …
Anne Sandler hosts this week’s Lens Artists Challenge and has chosen the topic, Local Vistas. I live in Hercules, California, between a range of hills (and the rest of America) to the east and San Francisco to the west. Hercules is what you might call bland suburbia. Strip malls, tract housing and a city council’s …
Monthly Monochrome: Reviving a once a month short venture into the world of monochrome photography. (Tragic events in mid-May superseded publication of this piece) When we think of monochrome, what first comes to mind? Black and white – of course. Stands to reason since that’s what we usually see represented as monochrome. Monochrome can actually …
I was browsing some interesting photo blog posts and, while I wasn’t particularly lost I did find a provocative challenge – lost. Debbye Smythe hosts the the Sunday One Word Challenge and one could get lost in all the possibilities. And so….. I hear the word lost quite often in our house. One of my …
The COVID Chronicles is a series of posts relating my experiences and observations during the pandemic. I hope that this will be the final post in the series. March 12, 2022. My wife Cora and I are having lunch at Caffe Sport in San Francisco’s North Beach, the City’s Little Italy. Caffe Sport is a …
Fort Point is one of San Francisco’s often overlooked jewels. Built between 1853 and 1861 to guard the inlet to San Francisco Bay, the fort, surrounded by water on three sides, rests on the southern shore of the Golden Gate. While it is a historic fort, one doesn’t have to be a history buff to …
February wanes; the Year of the Rat is done. A foul rodent of a year, leering through sharp filthy teeth has passed and given way to the ox. In ordinary healthy times San Francisco’s Chinatown would now be winding down from the February festivities. February is when Chinatown typically dresses up in it’s finest, brightest …
Anyone who’s visited San Francisco, since 1972 has seen the Transamerica Pyramid, one of The City’s most iconic structures. I was in my teens when the building design was unveiled and quickly met with derision from the media and from public officials. It was criticized as something that would be more appropriate on the Las …
The Bay Area awoke to a New Year that was bright, beautiful, crisp and clean. We took a walk at Crissy Field where the Golden Gate Bridge is in full view. During our walk we came upon a beached boat with no apparent owner besides nature to do it’s inevitable work. I took a few …
I’d originally planned to post this after a final edit on January 6th. The events of that day compelled me to focus on a more pressing topic (see posts January 6th 2021. Insurrection in America and Cut by the Knife of Corruption. ) “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going …
“A year like no other.” That term became overdone sometime around April and now we find ourselves at the 2020 finish line. What a slog. They say that you hit the wall in a marathon at around mile 21 of the 26. If 2020 was a marathon, and it certainly seems that it was, we …
In our house we recycle and that includes Christmas bags and Christmas wrap and in that spirit (and laziness) some of the anecdotes in this piece are recycled from previous years. It’s upon us once again. The season of gifts, of Santa, of menorahs, stockings, twinkling lights and a blogosphere decorated with memoirs of holidays …