anywhereSF

Day 8: January 8, 2014: 16th Street, Mission

Really not much excting on this day. I don’t have much to say about it. This was a quick shot taken while walking down 16th Street. It’s underexposed and not all that satisfying, but it’s what I have for the day. Moving on.

(Canon EOS 650 at 50mm using 2007 expired Kodak 400 film)

Day 7: January 7, 2014: Upper Market

Today, It’s red berries from my neighborhood. This wasn’t my original choice for the day: I was originally set on using a different photo, even going so far as to write a caption for it. Somehow, looking at it this morning, this one grew on me, though. It has a weird swirliness to the background that I don’t understand. I have no idea what causes it, but it intrigues me.

Things I don’t understand seem to get a disproportionate amount of my attention. I suppose that’s normal though, and probably a good thing. After all, what fun is a world without questions and curiousities? Sometimes I feel like the proportion of answers I have found is frighteningly small in comparison to the number of questions, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. After all, what fun is left when you know all the answers?

What curiousities have you discovered this week?

(Expired Fuji Velvia 50 slide film in one of the snow leopard Canon Sureshot A1s. Now dubbed SLC27: a name I noticed etched into the body the other day)

Day 6: January 6, 2014: SUTRO!!

This day was one of those frustrating ones.  I was off work early enough to catch some daylight, and those high clouds looked promising for great sunset, so I made a run up Twin Peaks to see what I could see.  I snapped this one as I made my way up, then continued to the top to survey the scene.

Once at the top, I was discouraged to see low clouds all the way to the ocean.  These would surely block the sun and squash my hopes of some nice cloud colors.  So I gave up.  Some previous rolls of film were ready at Photoworks, so I wrote this day off and headed down the hill.  Then, while I was walking to the shop, the entire sky turned a brilliant canvas of pinks and purples.  Of course, I had left my camera in the car.  Can’t win them all, I suppose.  Also, never leave the camera behind. :p

(Taken with one of the Snow Leopard cameras on Fuji Superia 200 I found on the shelf at Walgreens.  I’m suspecting that these cameras are scratching my film.  They have lived through a lot though, so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising.)

On this morning, I found myself making my way to North Beach for a haircut.  Yes, I’ve moved up in the world from getting my hair cut in a truck that shows up at my work.  Well, sort of.  Actually, I was heading to Public Barber Salon to see Marina, who I met when she used to cut my hair in the truck that came to my work… She’s far too good at what she does to keep working in a truck forever, though.  So, I found myself heading to North Beach.

I found myself heading to North Beach on Muni.  I should make that distinction.  I rarely make it over to North Beach.  When I do, I almost never ride Muni:  There are just far too many transfers involved from my house.   On this day, though, I opted for the bus.  Leaving the Montgomery Station, I headed over to Kearny to catch the 8BX bus.

While I waited, I was treated to some Muni-tainment when the 30-Stockton (or maybe it was the 45, I’m not certain) showed up first.  This bus was already packed, and there were at least 20-30 people at the stop waiting.  As soon as the doors opened, the rush began, with passengers pushing on until there was no space left and then pushing some more.  As the bus filled up to the point that people were hanging out of the back door, they kept trying, with some hanging on with just one foot on the lowest step.  Eventually, the driver had to get out of the bus and walk to the back to start pulling people out of the bus until there was room for the doors to close.  As soon as they were removed, a couple individuals started to head to the front door.  The exasperated driver gave chase, yelling something along the lines of, “No! No! No! You can’t get on this bus!  There’s another one a minute behind me!”.  And as he ran back to the front, more people tried to get in the back… This cycle was truly fascinating to watch, but I had to go when my 8BX showed up.  After being shoved out of the way by a very small woman, I managed to get some space on board, thankful that the 8 is a larger vehicle.

I suppose no one wants to wait a minute for the next bus.

(shot with another waterproof Canon Sureshot A1 Himalayan snow leopard camera, on some Fuji 200 film from Walgreens)

Day 2: January 2, 2014: Ocean Beach, SF, CA

Another beautiful sunset on Ocean Beach.  This is just how the new year starts in San Francisco, ya know?

When I’m losing my mind, full of anxiety, and nothing seems to make sense in the world, it’s time for a run.  That’s where I found myself at the start of this year.  I still can’t put a finger on exactly why, but to say I felt overwhelmed upon returning to SF would be a massive understatement.  And so, I hit the road, January 2, starting off 2014.

I used to hate running.  With a passion.  So monotonous, so boring, so slow, so painful.  While stopped gasping for breath on a trail, I was once passed by a small child riding his tricycle, his mother walking alongside.  I still remember that moment, for all of it’s discouragement.  This was not an instant love. Over time, though, I began to notice the clarity that would wash over me as I ran.  It soon ceased to be exercise so much as a form of therapy.  This monotony provided the perfect moment to dive into my own head, tune out the distractions, and leave all of the don’ts and won’ts and can’ts behind.

A persistent as my negatives can be, it turns out that they’re also in horrible shape.  It only takes a few steps down the street before they start to give up and chase head home for a nap.  The more I run, the more of those anxieties and stressors and doubts I leave behind, and the world becomes more and more manageable.

On this day, the negatives tried hard to keep up (maybe they made a new year’s resolution to get in shape?), and I nearly reached Ocean Beach by the time they all washed away.  Lucky for me, I happened upon the beginning of an amazing sunset to remind me how amazing this city and the world can be.

…Then I realized that I still had to run home in the dark, wet and covered in sand.

Always an adventure. 🙂

(Taken with another of the Canon Sureshot A1 Himalayan snow leopard cameras, possibly on expired Fuji Velvia 50 slide film, but I’d have to check on that…)

As predicted, things are running a bit out of order here, while I wait for film to be finished and developed.

Day 4: January 4, 2014: Monk’s Kettle, San Francisco, CA

I found this woman meticulously duplicating the sign over old town Portland from an image on her phone onto the chalk board at Monk’s Kettle. After watching for a bit while we had a couple beers, the light came up nice for a minute as the sun passed. Unfortunately, the photo came out pretty messy still…

I thought I was using a roll of 6 to 7-year expired Kodak 400 film, but it turned out to be a roll of expired Kodak 800 film. Sounds like a small difference, but the 400 has given me some interesting effects, while 800 really doesn’t seem to hold up well with age. I have a dozen or so more rolls of it, though, so I suppose I’ll need to experiment a bit more to figure out how to use it.  Experiments in expired film: Some experiments are bound to fail… Learn from them for the future.  No giving up.