Sit for a Spell

Shot this on Market Street -- liked the lines.

The Tip of the Iceberg

My sister lives in Puerto Rico (she's stationed in the coast guard there), and my family all decided to visit her for Christmas. Following that, B & I took off for St. Thomas for a lazy few days on the beach.

Yesterday I took a snorkel tour off the coast, and brought my little SD-10 with me (Canon's underwater P&S). Lots of pictures of fish and turtles which frankly were super boring to me. Shot this one as our guide was delivering a lecture, and I instantly liked it.
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Serravision

One of my Christmas gifts from Betsy last year was a membership at SF Moma. Since it's due to expire at the end of the month, I decided I would get the most out of it with one last quick trip through the place. I'd seen signs for the Richard Serra exhibit all over town (even in local cafes in Mountain View!), so I decided I'd hit that first.

I've seen Serra's massive metal sculptures in a lot of places -- the De Young, on top of MOMA, etc. This exhibit was more about drawing as a theme, which made it a little interesting. Some of it was stuff that felt more like a visual study to me -- kind of answering the question 'What does it mean to draw at scale?' Other stuff appeared to be pointed more towards abstracting away everything but the essentials of a three dimensional shape (e.g., reducing it to lines or solid blocks), or musings on repetition, like this one.

This scene was immediately recognizable as a photo to me -- took out my phone and had the shot on the first take. It came out a little overexposed, and I helped matters more in that way in post, since that's clearly where the image needed to be headed.

Hell is a Caltrain Stop

Up in the city yesterday for my last photo walk in SF of the year, and Caltrain came through for another lengthy delay. :)

Snapped this with my phone as the mood started to head south.

Julie

This is a PSA.

Julie Michelle, the photographer behind "I Live Here: SF", is going through some rough times.

 Here are the relevant details from All City:

There is a fundraiser this Sunday (12/18) at the San Francisco Motorcycle Club to help All City friend and fellow photographer Julie Michelle and her partner Lee.

As some of you know, Lee recently suffered a massive stroke mid-November, leaving a lot of uncertainty in the couple’s lives. As you can imagine, the medical expenses are through the roof, even with insurance. Julie and Lee are currently in the midst of trying to relocate to a new home that will better fit Lee’s needs. 

In addition to trying to run Lee’s companies, Julie is currently staying with friends and working on packing up their life belongings in preparation for the move. Julie has done a lot of great things for the San Francisco photography community and beyond, and chances are that many of you reading this either know Julie personally or are familiar with her work, so I’m hoping some of our local readers are able to attend Sunday’s fundraiser. If you cannot attend, you can still help out here: 

http://julieandlee.chipin.com/julie-and-lee.

Your support is great appreciated! 

San Francisco Motorcycle Club

2194 Folsom Street (at 16th Street)

San Francisco, CA 94110 

3:00-7:00p.m.

If you're not familiar with the "I Live Here" project, Julie started it by posting an invitation on the internet to take portraits of people. She asks people to pick the place in San Francisco that means the most to them, and then will meet them there. Total strangers, sometimes in some totally strange places.

The result has been not only some interesting portraits, but also people doing the same thing in other cities.

Julie needs our help if she wants to continue her project -- if you'd like to chip in, just follow the link above and donate whatever you can.

Cleft

Flew back from Alabama by way of New Orleans, which meant a day with B and the French Quarter. While she was working on a paper, I went for a walk, and saw a man entering a shelter for some building work. I chased after him so I'd get this shot just as he stepped into the light.

The Last Jam

The night after my grandmother's funeral, my uncle Scott and my cousin Jacob got together and started jamming. Every came to the room to the listen, and my great-aunt Janet got to listen up close.

I've heard Scott play the guitar his whole life, and he's always been really good, but that night was singular.

Absolutely brilliant -- he and Jacob were on fire.

When I heard them playing, I walked into the doorway, and I instantly knew I had my shot.