Mobilelene

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Nowhere In Particular (boat tram)

Collage of open-topped streetcar on SF streets

One of the conductors pretended to row… I ran my errands in style today!

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Reddest Bathroom

White counter with sinks in a very red room

SFMoMA is a rare place where I am glad to use the bathrooms, because they are visually so satisfying.

Art: Possibly Watersheds (5 July 2025)

I like the arrows and topographical forms! This is a detail from one of several panels on (South) Van Ness between Market and Mission Streets.

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Out and about on Independence Day (4 July 2025)

Collage: a sunny downtown plaza; highrise reflections on a granite and glass building; a cylindrical building on stilts over a triangular atrium; a bubbling fountain; a complex shadow.

The sky was clear and the light was great by the time I got downtown on our national holiday... I had two types of expired film to use, and so visited downtown to continue my architectural details series in Lomochrome purple, and the botanical garden for expired color slide film.

The fact that it is expired makes for low expectations and the opportunity for the pleasant surprise of my expectations being exceeded.

Collage including hydrangeas and a range of other plants.

I shot the slide film with a portrait lens, and realized that my golden era of plant photography involved the special recipe of a single lens reflex camera, a fast (f1.4) lens, and various cheap close-up lenses which provided soft backgrounds of high quality. I've been trying to get the same results with other equipment (including my newest digital camera), and hope to be pleased with yesterday's experiment, but must admit that my old approach gave me unusually good results... I understand how special they were more now that I struggle to achieve similar looks. (I can't easily go back: work I had done on the camera created new problems...)

So let me say: I appreciate phone photos very much: they give me very satisfying results.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

June Highlights: Arms Alone (26 June 2025)

There was no reason for these to be here, on a utility box, and yet there they were...

June Highlights: Nightclub

Collage of nightclub lighting enhanced by a smoke machine

I have just one friend who enjoys dancing, and I don't know how this is possible, but she joined me, and we had a great time!

June Highlights: Near Pier 70 (20 June 2025)

Entrance labeled Building 12 with glass and rusty steel supports and corrugated metal all around

I have a rust fetish that exceeds normal ranges, and had a great time with wonderful light at and around Pier 70.

June Highlights: Sunset (18 June 2025)

Collage with near-sunset views of Baker Beach, Golden Gate Bridge, and mouth of the Bay with container ship

I rushed across town after work in hopes of seeing the cliffs lit by the setting sun, and made it just in time.

June Highlights: Asian Art Museum (15 June 2025)

Three interior museum displays: bamboo sculpture, weathered Buddha legs, white and gray moon jars

I dropped by the Asian on a hot afternoon, and refreshed myself with gorgeous art.

Three Views: exterior steel ribbon lantern shapes; chandelier from below; Japanese teahouse interior

June Highlights: Yerba Buena (15 June 2025)

Three colorful sculptures based on mythical creatures

These are festive - and VERY large!

June Highlights: Mission Festivals

Collage of four dancers in Brazilian Carnaval costumes

Carnaval returned during a local street festival, when the dancers who had worked so hard for the parade were able to share the spirit with locals by dancing again and posing for photos.

June Highlights: Presidio Flora

Collage of flowers of various colors and textures

I went for a walk on an overcast day with friends in the Presidio: the lighting was just fine for flower portraits.

May Highlights: Expired Polaroid Originals SX-70 Photos (31 May 2025)

Collage of Polaroid prints (faded atop more faded images of buildings); the SX-70 Camera; and the camera with film packaging

As part of my 'refrigerator project,' I am consuming all of the expired film I've been hoarding in my refrigerator. This Polaroid Originals film was manufactured and expired in the same year, just over 7 years ago. While shooting it, it remained completely blank... So I fired off wildly, figuring that nothing would come out, only adjusting the exposure toward the very end. I put the photos in a bag, and later that day realized that some of them actually developed out fully! Faintly, but fully.

So: use your film while it's fresh, people.