San Francisco

Catalonia...

I wonder if this place, Catalonia, is the canary in the coalmine. What I mean by this is the following ... I've noticed of late that a lot of small regions are striving to get away from their bigger brethren. Scotland and Ireland for example. Or the Donbas in Ukraine. Or what happened to Yugoslavia. One can point to literally hundreds of places where the people are very unhappy with the powers that be and are agitating for their independence. I don't have a really firm opinion on this one way or the other but it certainly runs contrary to all the elite attempts to cobble together one big entity that rules them all. Suddenly trade agreements are falling apart and the EU looks a bit shaky given Greece and the Brits. Even the US is starting to see some ominous cracks. It certainly seems plausible that America could fracture into several large autonomous countries ... don't you think? The south certainly, then the West excluding the left coast, then the industrial northeast and maybe Texas on it's own. That would leave Alaska and Hawaii as odd men out with no where really to go. Maybe Alaska joins with the south or the mountain west region and Hawaii jumps in with California. I think many on both sides would agree that maybe Lincoln was wrong to force the south back into the union. Look what an unhappy lot they've been ever since. They just don't seem to fit in very well. Same with the mountain west with their libertarian tendencies and their big emphasis on state's rights. It's a very unstable time we live in. So many counteracting forces all pushing and pulling in different directions. Not the big, happy family one would expect. I don't know where this is going but it certainly looks like we're in for a big upheaval. Hold onto your hit ... it's going to get very rocky.

National Park fees...

I see where the Trump administration wants to significantly increase the entrance fees for many of the most popular national parks. I have a senior pass so I'm safe but these new fees, up to $70/car are really steep. A lot of families couldn't afford rates like that. The justification is the increased crowds that are, surely, overwhelming these parks. I can attest to this first hand but I think the solution is not the correct one. What is overwhelming the parks is all the foreign tourists and their big buses. I've been in a venue when a couple of these monsters roll in and it's a huge circus. Especially when they are Chinese. I'm not against Chinese tourists but they are the majority of these big waves that wash over the parks. I was in Yellowstone in late May and saw this issue big time. One morning I was in the midway geyser basin when 2 big buses rolled in. Suddenly there were 150 Chinese, all doing their best to get in each other's way and the noise was impossible. They have no appreciation for the amazing place they are visiting and you literally can't set up to take a picture with them around. I've had them walk in front of my camera and stand (or vamp) while I'm trying to get a shot. There is no respect for others. They all want to vamp for the camera and take a million selfies. For about 30 minutes the place is bedlam. Then they get on their buses and move on down the line. But all too soon another group arrives and the mess repeats. So, why not charge these tour groups big fees to enter the park. Let them pay $100 each for the privilege of visiting our parks. That would raise a lot of money and maybe keep the citizen's fees down to a reasonable level. And maybe cut down significantly on the numbers in the parks. I think it's worth a try.

San Francisco

I love this town. I went to graduate school down the peninsula in Palo Alto and my wife and I would ride the train up just to spend the day wandering around town. I know the overstuffed coders from Google and Facebook have overrun the place but it's still not all that bad. That said I find myself only spending a few days at a time there as the craziness gets to me and I have to chill for a while. This last trip I was only there for 3 days and then moved on. It's hard to find a place to sleep (I don't stay in hotels for a lot of reasons) so I have to drive out of town. This time I spent 2 nights in a rest area on I280 near Hillsboro which was very interesting. But there are so many wonderful places to shoot and that's what keeps me coming back.

This image was taken from the foothills in Golden Gate Recreational Area. I was in the last overlook just before turning north and couldn't pass up taking this image. You can see most of the bay area including the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island (just behind the north tower of the bridge) and just a bit of Alcatraz. It truly is an amazing place.

This is a single image, run through Lightroom. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

San Francisco - 35mm,f/16,30 sec, ISO 200,license CC BY-NC 4.0

The Road Less Traveled

I'm a photographer. It's in my blood. Not in a professional sense, at least not until now, but always there, an itch that I had to scratch. Throughout my life I've always had a camera ... sometimes a simple point-and-shoot, other times a serious instrument like a Mamiya twin lens reflex in high school or an Olympus OM-10 during my world travels in the 80s. Always a camera, always an image to capture or a memory to preserve. And always so much joy behind the lens.

But 'being' a photographer never happened. Life got in the way ... raising kids, working for the cash flow, chasing the ever elusive brass ring ... always something 'more important' interfering with what my heart really wanted. Year after year with my face pressed to the grindstone and that gnawing fear that time would run out for the dream. At times the idea seemed impossibly far away.

But life is always about second (or third or forth) chances. Circumstances change, opportunity knocks and, if you're listening, a new tune plays. And I am listening. Suddenly the obligations are gone, the impediments are pushed aside and I'm free to change direction. And what a change. You see, I've got a new passion in my life ... I'm going on the road.

The idea is simple and yet, maddeningly twisted. I'm buying an old truck (oh, not so old but not new either) and I'll put a cap on and get all the needed gear and flesh out the camera stock and computers and ... and then start drifting. I'll start in Albuquerque (I have family there) and follow the warmth as it moves north. By summer I'll be in Canada, maybe Banff, and then start working west and south as the winds blow cold. By fall I'll hit Washington state and follow the coast down to the Mexican border and finally back toward home base by late winter. Then wash, rinse and repeat, each time taking different routes and visiting new places. Always drifting, always taking pictures, always finding new experiences.

What's different is I'm inviting you to come along ... vicariously or in fact. I'll post my itinerary on this blog so everyone knows where I'll be. Look for the red flags on the Google map to the right. Click on the flag to see the date(s) I'm planning to occupy that location. Where I'm currently at shows in yellow and past locations in green. If my route passes near you ... you're invited to hook up and we can shoot together. Simply e-mail me and propose a time and place. We'll trade techniques and 'war stories' and learn together. My (our) images can appear here ... hopefully at least one per day ... along with occasional videos as I shoot, process and breakdown how I got to the final result. I encourage you to comment on the images (no flames please) and maybe more. I'm considering making the raw, source images available for download and you can play with them and post back your take on my stuff. The idea is to advance all our skills by sharing ideas. Does that sound like a workable plan?

Oh Man ... Don't You Just Want To Crack Them Open

I'm a few weeks away from getting all this started but I wanted to put up my first image. I shot these lobsters a few years ago while visiting San Francisco. These beauties had just come out of the huge steaming pot on Fisherman's Wharf and looked so damn good. The sky was salty blue but I let it blow out so the background didn't interfere with the main subject. This was a single shot, hand held. In post I pushed the reds to extreme and the sky to full white. My mouth waters just thinking about how good they must taste. Now ... where's the drawn butter?

Ready to eat ... 17 mm 1.6 crop, f/7.1, 1/13 sec, 640 ISO (License CC BY-NC 4.0)