Can you bear it

Carnival last year, I'm hoping it's as sunny and warm this year, too. Homemade hats? check. BBQed oysters? oh yeah.

Summer Sun Arrives

Ahh, I miss the warm sun on my face, that sweet summer smell in the air, and the plans for bbqs at the beach or picnics at the park. I think they're here again! The weekend was warm in Monterey and I'm so glad I got out of the city to enjoy it.

Rooster Fever

Taken with my iphone on Alemany Boulevard near Onondaga... the man had four of them, two roosters and two hens. He was SO proud and when he saw me looking, he took one out and let it hang out on the sidewalk. It started dancing and singing and basically showing off, which made the man very proud.

Air and Sky

Going home to visit in PA is such a treat. I get to escape the city, gain perspective, visit with my loving family and catch up on things I've been missing. It's getting a dose of something I need but wasn't quite aware that I really needed it. I still think of PA as my home even though San Francisco has earned that title, too. So much of me is here and always will be and I seem to get a better understanding of that each time I visit. I also deepen my love and appreciation for where I'm at now and all the things I've gained and accomplished. The notion is kinda corny, but we often take for granted or at least fail to regularly acknowledge the many great parts of our life that are simply just there for us. Home! More than just free meals and free haircuts!

Front Page News!

Sammy Hagar plays a show in Cabo San Lucas: front cover news!

US fires missiles and begins air-strikes in Libya: page five, of course.

Our Youth are Waiting

The Mission is a neighborhood that is easy to appreciate and fall deeply in love with. It's real and doesn't attempt to present itself as something it isn't. The love it has to give is deep and can't really be explained but instead must be observed, witnessed and experienced in order to develop an admiration and understanding of it.  The diversity of this neighborhood is vast. The people are all over the spectrum and seem to fit together in various ways, supporting one another either unconsciously or consciously to make a Mission version of the "circle of life".

Crime is on the forefront of most of our minds recently. More specifically, gang-related crime has been vividly and vigorously depicted in the media and has a lot of families and neighbors feeling fearful, uncomfortable and worried. I wanted to post this photo and say these words to remind us of the most important members of our society: the youth. They are waiting for us to do something, to say something, and to make some sense out of this for them.

Is this a Dream?!

Japan Town mall.

Making the Bike

pre-painting, pre-everything...

photo by Sam Prest

finished!

Yellow

Love the color, the subjects, the composition. The building is in China town. Brick structures are all over the east coast, bricks of every color, but more rare here. The bird on the top chased the bird on the bottom away, but it didn't go far.

Music, Sun and GGP

Three things that are so lovely together. With the weather having broke, people are out and about in the city. Love this time of year! I've missed being able to hop on my bike and be anywhere soon. This is a shot taken on the wiggle. I got myself a new bike so I rode it to the beach and back with my trusty point and shoot by my side.

Dedicated to Fresh Prince

Love, love street art. I always pay attention to the writing the walls, the buses, the ground I walk on, and any other sweet space someone has found to be the perfect place for their message, their paint, their craft, their bridge to whatever sense of sanity they manage to find through the medium. Fresh Prince caught my eye, mostly because I adore the show and thought it a funny moniker for an artist to use. Took a photo of one sighting, then to my surprise kept seeing them all over the city. If you notice something, even just one time, your eyes are now wide open. While not on purpose, not intentionally/consciously looking, you are now seeing whether you like it or not. This is a funfresh example of the phenomenon, but wow, how many more out there, the not-so-fresh examples, have done something to you forever.

Cali Poppies

My good friend recently got herself a fancy camera, so we took a trip to the conservatory for some experimentation and lessons. What a gorgeous place! Simple and small, but so much to appreciate and experience. She got the hang of things quickly and really took some great shots. This shot is taken with my point and shoot outside of the conservatory. I like the lines in it. I like the depth of field, poppies in the foreground, background, and people even further back, blurry, looking like poppies themselves.

Stop to see the birds

Stop! We sometimes move so fast we forget to look around, listen up and see what else is happening. I was walking to bart and at the corner of 24th and Van Ness I heard these birds chattering so loud. This other guy noticed too and the two of us enjoyed the moment before we continued with our day.

Sweet Kesl

This is my sweet Kesl who passed away on Friday. We went on a road trip the summer of 2008 up highway 1 to meet some friends at Cape Lookout in Oregon. The trip up there was amazing, just me and her. We stopped at a couple spots along the way: the Oregon dunes, Redwood National Park, plus a bunch of other stops that just made sense. This photo is in Oregon. We hiked up a mountain through gorgeous redwoods for about four hours. Rest in peace, sweet Kesl, you will be missed!

Through a Wall

At Fort Point. I like that there is so much on the other side, an ocean of things beyond what's currently got our attention. We miss a lot most of the time because we're so focused on worrying about the right here/right now. Look further, ahead, through... know that there is something beyond whatever has got you.

Beach Pebbles and Maple

Leaves are gorgeous. Artistically, they are so appealing with their many colors, textures and other sense-attracting qualities. Scientifically they are unique, fulfilling life cycles for many organisms, not just the tree/bush/plant that they fell from. Symbolically one can say a lot. Leaves change colors, cycling through their life and eventually falling away from that which brought about its existence. Full of life on its own, the leaf continues to meet the needs of the earth, squashing beneath our feet in the rain, being raked in piles (hopefully for someone to jump in), and continually breaking down to begin building up into something new again. And ahh, that smell: so comforting, isn't it? Like the entire meaning of fall is completely told and understood in that scent.

Homes and Rainbows

Taken with my cell phone on Valencia Street at 23rd, facing east. The buildings in this city consistently catch my eye and put me in moments of awe. Their size, their stature, the co-exisitng colors, the many shapes coming together or pushing apart, the angles, the similarities and differences of the places next door letting some places blend in while making others seem so much more striking. It all easily leads to some contemplation about the city and its neighborhoods. The history of these homes is so rich. Families, friends, strangers coming together for the long term or the short term. The present conditions and the lack or abundance of love that one can easily spot or miss. The curiosity of the future of some of these gorgeous places that aren't getting enough attention. Sometimes the homes and the communities/neighborhoods blend into one. How do we differentiate between the two?

Cycling Sunsets

This is an older shot, taken in March of 2007, but I remembered it when I posted the other GGB shot. After hunting for it for a couple hours, I found it and figured I should post it after all that trouble and excitement. It's an awe-striking bridge with an amazing view from both the east and west sides. I wanted to bike it after taking this shot, but didn't get around to actually doing it for a couple years.

Enjoying the Bridge

I like this shot, the sun is so bright and colors so bold and all the angles so crisp. Each person seems so content and a real part of the scene. 

Introduction!

Photography has been a passion of mine for quite some time. I've always wanted to share and now I finally have a free means to do it. Enjoy and please offer feed back; I'm new at this and really look forward to hearing from folks!