SFMoMA Colorfully Lit (14 November 2025)

The lighting designers really outdid themselves!  Such wonderful colors... 

Marine Giants: Sculptures along the Embarcadero (13 November 2025)

There are more, but here are the ones I visited with A this week after work!

 

Spectacular Stormy Sunset (13 November 2025)

People are difficult, the U.S. is in a terrible situation, but the planet still dishes out profound beauty on a vast scale. 

Turkey on a Hog (Not a Sandwich) (12 November 2025)

The same neighbor who had the spaceship-beaming-up-a-cow for Halloween has a turkey on a motorcycle for Thanksgiving!  

Botany, Sculpture, and Elves LLC (9 November 2025)

Ideal weather continued, and I felt like the world was especially and unusually beautiful.  Also, despite having had to work on Saturday, I felt like I was on a proper vacation.

It was hot, I worked hard to stay hydrated, and also: it is NOVEMBER.

 

Near Sutro Baths (8 November 2025)

It was a glorious day, and I had more than one medium format camera on my person... which breaks some rules I have (intended to protect my back), but one of them was new and seemed potentially flawed, so... 

Late Halloween-flavored sky (4 November 2025)

I love the colors in the sky this time of year, even though I struggle to render them convincingly in oil pastel... 

Our Giant Lady of Mesh (3 November 2025)

Marco Cochrane's R-evolution sculpture by night remains shiny, and now that the evenings are dark so early, the colored lights have a greater visual impact. 

Classic Pride (1 November 2025)

The classic, six-stripe PRIDE flag, flying high above Castro at Market Street. 

Banksia, Protea, and Friend (1 November 2025)

I'm starting to post photos from the current month!

Protea felt largely finished in the City, but lo and behold, there was some glory left in them upstairs at Salesforce Park even at the beginning of NOVEMBER.  Oh, how I love the Mediterranean climate!

Anthony James 80" Great Rhombicosidodecahedron (October 2025)

 

This amazing, very mathy sculpture deserves its own post.  Anthony James used one-way mirrors to produce this very glorious ball of geometric internal reflections...  It's gorgeous and very much worth seeing in person.  

I enjoyed it upon entering the Palm Springs Art Museum, where I also spent a fortune in the gift shop.  It's a great space with a stimulating collection!

Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs (late October 2025)

 

My friend K moved from SF to LA long before COVID; after moving within LA County, he found a house out in Desert Hot Springs, north of Palm Springs, and has been exchanging happy text messages with me about his succulent collection ever since.  (If there was ever a friend who would ply a man with images of cacti, it would be me.  This is FUN!)

His garden is coming in nicely, and October is finally a time of year when the temperature is below 100 degees Fahrenheit, so I got my overpriced SFO to PSP direct flights going, and spent three nights and four days with my dear friend.

The desert...  The pale sands, the tiny shrubs, the VAST WIND FARMS, the really dramatic and very dry mountains which turn so red at sunset...  It's so different from the coasts.

We enjoyed museums, gardens, lounging around whenever air conditioning was needed to revive us, and even a field trip to a remote western-themed town to check out an old fashioned saloon/barn-style hangout.

We visited the Sunnylands estate, and learned how rich conservatives who hosted presidents and other heads of state lived in winter.  Their vast property and extensive landscaping made the place feel as if no one else exists...  Which is how conservatives act also, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was a very posh, quiet sort of isolation.

We visited botanical gardens, because OF COURSE WE DID.  You know what I'm like!  And K is similar, and now has experience growing many types of plants suited to this landscape, so different from the places he has lived previously.

Just in case you don't see it, the upper right succulent looks like it has little skulls with spikes coming out of the eyes and mouth.  It's so... metal.  It felt timely before Halloween.

I told K I could eat Mexican food every day, and nearly did.  After months of strict portion control, it was confusing to eat cheese at dinner so often!  But our light breakfasts and active exploration balanced it out.

Finally, these are details from K's own front garden.  IT LOOKS GREAT!!  And the desert light strikes everything so brilliantly...

It was great to sit in pajamas, talking to my friend whenever we weren't out exploring.  So comfortable! I am sad he is no longer a weekly dinner companion, but am delighted I was able to spend quality time with him last month, and enjoy the Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs areas.

Rays through the Clouds (22 October 2025)

A little drama is nice.  No, I mean in landscapes -  I could use less of it otherwise! 

One Market Spaces (21 October 2025)

While I am not entirely joking about being a location scout for a friend who is getting into photography, I did scope out this space online, and then go with A & K on a little field trip after work to pass through this on our commute home.  SOM (Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill) designed this interesting space between three buildings, turning it into one of those sheltered private/public spaces that would have THRIVED in the pre-COVID era...

I'll be back when I can get the lighting right, which may require waiting until spring.

Gingko leaf with seasonal vibes (19 October 2025)

 Do I take photos out of bus windows?  Yes.

DJ John Robinson at Madarae (18 October 2025)

My Saturday night was colorful!  A colleague brought me and a friend to Madarae to dance the night away to fun old school music (including music that was only popular in the Philippines, which I was unfamiliar with, but which was fun to hear). 

RESIST! (18 October 2025)

The No Kings protests of October 18, 2025 were massive - and very pleasant.  I've posted photos of the great costumes elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself here.

Puffy Clouds (14 - 15 October 2025)

 We've had some storms, and the clouds that came with them have been impressive.

Recent Polaroids

 

On October 5th, I took the last three packages of Polaroid film for my SX-70 out of the fridge, and went for a long walk through North Beach and out to Fort Mason before the heat got to me, and I returned home.

The heat appears to have gotten to my film as well, as the newer era of integral films seems to change sensitivity in heat.

I went out today, in similar conditions, using the same settings, and had different results - and had to adjust my exposure settings significantly.

Setting the dark wheel to my preferred settings (25% darker) got me... very underexposed images despite well lit subjects.  This was a shock, considering my results on the 5th.  I also had a couple images which had odd streaking...  but the rest came out more like I was hoping.  So I figured it out with the last two in one cartridge, and the entire last cartridge.  Note that the camera tried in that last image for make the details of the building come out despite the dark palm tree shadow - it wants to show the texture on the white wall, and I love it for trying that!

The heat got to me again, but I lasted longer this time, and even got to see some of the (non-US-military) airshow.

International Orange (Bridge and Round House)

 

It still feels funny to call a shade of red orange, but it is a very specific shade of red, so...