SF Photo Walks April 2014

Ferry Building Fog

Sf Photo Walks is a new series of photos based upon my walks in San Francisco. I tend to do my best Don Draper impressions while walking through the beautiful city by the bay, rather than napping. I was on my way to meet my Catalan (I was reprimanded for calling her a Spaniard) friend for drinks and tapas at Coqueta, when I saw this convergence of light and fog. I had just been at the wonderful Intimate Impressionism exhibit at The Legion of Honor, and I was inspired to work backwards to a sketch on this image. I adore the Transamerica building in downtown SF, and I enjoy how it looks so at home with black and white palm trees. The darkness in this shot represents the difficulty inherent to selling art. The plight of the Ferry plaza art merchant is challenging. I love walking through their work, as I am always inspired to work harder on my images. (Captured with the Olympus Stylus 1 - edited with Snapseed - Glaze - Waterlogued - and Image Blender)

The iconic Sutro Tower is becoming more and more an overlord of a changing city. I shot this walking to the new Sightglass Coffee in the Mission district.  Near the MUNI bus depot, and through a bare patch of sky, I saw Sutro looking down on me from Twin Peaks. This blue house was recently remodeled and I would imagine costs were well over 2 million dollars, considering its size. So beautiful, so inaccessible. (Olympus Stylus 1 edited with Snapseed)

Inspired again by the Impressionists, I edited this image I took at the wonderful Central Kitchen brunch 2 Sundays ago. Oysters by Manet (1862) blew me away at the gallery on Wednesday. I knew I had something that I could convey my love of the oyster while not losing sight of the feeling they deliver at a convivial brunch. Still life bored me silly when I was a kid, now I have so many memories, and so much passion for food and wine, that I get dreamy just considering it all. This one is going to be on our new kitchen wall soon. (Edited with Snapseed, Glaze, Old Photo Pro, and Image Blender)

On my photo walks, I typically start them at a coffee shop, and often finish them in one as well. Who does not love the beautiful chemistry of siphon coffee? Blue Bottle Coffee, in Mint Plaza, does these beautiful small-batch brews with this wicked cool, hipster included, chemistry set. I snapped away while enjoying a lever-pulled espresso, and watching this very skilled and fetching barista work her magic with the siphon. I love that you can see the reflection of the flask in her eye (no that is not red-eye). I adore this shop, and while I typically eschew waiting in line, for this quality, I will make an exception. (Olympus Stylus - Snapseed)

The columns at The Legion of Honor always fascinate my eye. I was playing with the diorama setting on the Olympus Stylus 1, and I think it worked. I want to one day have a piece on the walls here. I believe I can do it. (Olympus Stylus - Snapseed)

My walks typically take me through the grungy parts of SF. This day was no exception. At the same time, I could see it changing, the poor being squeezed more tightly in the Python grip of tech cash. There is enough money in SF to right so many wrongs, heal so many wounds, and frankly make it the most livable city on earth. Tech companies are quick to claim how they are changing the world, all while ignoring their own city. (Olympus Stylus - Snapseed - Glaze - Image Blender - Old Photo Pro - Photo Toaster)

Thanks for going on this SF Photo Walk with me.

The Housewrighter

Post-Process Evolution

Stage 4 of the Process

Post-Process Evolution is a short photo essay documenting the process by which I transform an image into my creative vision. The first image above is Stage 4 of the process and I displayed it here first because few people would have opened the post had I used the Stage 1 image as my lead photo :-) In essence, I am offering a little insight into the magic I use to mess up my images. Feel free to experiment messing up your images and there is a world of discovery good, bad, funky, and unique waiting for you. (Messing up images I borrowed directly from the teachings of Sam Krisch)

I begin the discussion by saying all work was captured and processed here directly on my iPhone 5 and that no animals were harmed in the making of this post.

The shot above was taken in the early afternoon inside the Cafe Venetia at the Palo Alto Cal-Train Station. This bank of glass brick receives little light with a noon-ish sun and so this plant which appears to me as an ancient semi-petrified grapevine has only a bit of light illuminating its craggy branches. (Hipstamatic Jane Lens Pistil Film)

Here in stage 2 I load the image into Snapseed, the magical photo editing app now owned by Google and a whopping 3 bucks from the app store. Snapseed is my favorite club in my bag and it has allowed me to transform my work into my dreams.

With Snapseed I increase the ambient light buried in the digits of code and immediately the window appears to be illuminated as well as the vine. I crop out the Hipstamatic border here because I have further plans for this image and the border would not function in those plans. All of this is done with finger strokes along the touch screen of the iPhone through Snapseed.

In stage 3 I take the processed image from Snapseed and run it through an app called Old Photo Pro I think the intention of this is app is rather self-explanatory and the wonder of it is it allows one to tune the degree of age, edges, and intensity of the program. Here I wanted to give the entire image an antique look as if from silent movies. The light from the windows is now ethereal and the dreaminess along the wood on the bottom left draws the eye pleasingly to the vine which now seems to have a bit of face in the twisted section midway up the stalk.

Stage 4 of the Post-Process Evolution is really a final point if I wanted to keep the image somewhat in the realm of realism. I took the image from Old Photo Pro and re-processed it in Snapseed to lift the window to afternoon direct light and wash out a bit of the saturation. I added a frame back to the image (which I really do not like) to show what kind of finished product is possible in Snapseed.

I saw something in the image from Stage 1 though that I really wanted to explore. The final 2 stages are the results of this experimental vision.

With the help of an app called Symmetry  I took the image from Old Photo Pro and mirrored it along its Y axis. I liked the dimension now in the window which appears to be a lamp and the vine is now an identical piece of sculpture. Symmetry is a little tough to manage and it can get rolling on you pretty good as you are scrolling so take your time with this one. I was not in love with this image and took it one step further to the effect I was seeking. You can see why I needed to remove the border as it would have thrown off the symmetry and ruined the illusion.

In this final stage of my Post-Process Evolution this grapevine has become  a sinister sculpture or the skeletal remains of some otherworldly creature on display in front of this back-lit glass brick. Antique, macabre, and curious I enjoy looking at this creature and am happy with the results of the process.

One of the most important things to keep in mind with all iPhone photo processing is to make certain all the apps used are set to process and save to the photo roll at the highest possible resolution. Any diminished resolution will create "noise" and other unwanted results in your images.

San Francisco Dogpatch - A Hipstamatic Tour

Abandoned Warehouse Through A Broken Barrier

San Francisco Dogpatch - A Hipstamatic Tour is a portrait of  a neighborhood right along the bay and down from Potrero Hill. The name is theorized to have been derived from either the proliferation of Dog Fennel that once dominated the area (and still grows in pockets) or packs of wild dogs that used to wait outside the slaughterhouses for scraps. Until recently I had spent little time in this hood say for the occasional Muni ride to a baseball game back in 2005. Now I have a good friend who calls the place home. Dogpatch is a "cool" place to be now with flashy new lofts, great restaurants, and many artisan shops. The beauty here lies in the abandoned warehouses along the water which still dominate the acreage of the area and are some of the most starkly beautiful places I have ever seen.

These first two shots are the interior and exterior of the same abandoned warehouse. The exterior shot shows the myriad of broken windows intermingled with those intact. The fence in the foreground was 8 feet high and covered in razor wire which you may see in more detail if you click for the full-size image. On the far left of this shot and down out of the frame was a small crawl space where I was able to sneak through and find a section of iron grating that had been removed giving me access to the inside with my camera lens. The above interior shot would not have been possible with a DSLR cam as the opening was too small for a lens to have fit. The lighting inside and out on this day was spectacular.

(Both images were shot with iPhone 5 - Hipstamtic Jane Lens and Ina 1982 Film - Processed through Phototoaster and again on Snapseed)

As usual my day of shooting begins with a wonderful breakfast. This orange cake and cappuccino fueled my curiosity and so I decided they should be photographed at the stage which I recognized their greatness.

(Image shot with iPhone 5 - Hipstamatic Foxy Lens and Inas 1982 film - edited on Snapseed)

From the rooftop deck of my friend's brand new apartment I am always drawn to this crane. It is dilapidated, covered in graffiti, and appears too far from the water to have ever been much use. In this image I try to restore its glory and bring it back to a time when it was loading and unloading containers of goods and providing income to a local family. I think I did it proud here shooting from iPhone 5 with Hipstamatic Jane Lens and Ina's 82 Film - processed on snapseed and then once again on Old Photo Pro.

Just around the corner from the crane is the finest butcher in San Francisco, Olivier's Butchery. Olivier hails from France and sources only the finest grass-fed cows from local ranches here in California. He then butchers the animals using traditional French methods to create cuts that are wondrous and lesser known here in the US. I chose the 4th hanging steak from the left in the background. This rare piece cut from the shoulder is known as a Merlan because it has the shape of the fish of the same name. The butcher butterflied the entire piece and scored it crosswise. I cooked it in butter and olive oil for less than 4 minutes total and served with an arugula salad and a nice Chinon wine from France's Loire Valley.

Of course after buying steak (and some cheese) for dinner we were starving and headed over to the brilliant Serpentine for lunch. This restaurant was really the first to have the guts to open in Dogpatch and others have followed their lead. This gorgeous rock cod with crisped skin was served with rapini, broccoli romanesco, and this smear of butternut squash. At $13.95 this is one of the most elegant lunches for the money in SF. (Shot with iPhone 5 Hipstamatic - Jane Lens - and Ina's 82 film - minimal processing on snapseed)

After lunch we dove into the warehouse district on our way to a "park". The building above was clearly still in operation and while the signs make a nice symmetrical touch to my image I think they are a little redundant with the 8 foot fence and topping of razor wire. Every building down here was like Shawshank. (iPhone 5 Hipstamatic with Jane Lens and Pistil Film - Edited on Phototoaster and Snapseed)

The signs pointed to "Warm Water Cove Park" upon arriving the signs suggested a cold water shit hole. A few downtrodden men sat along the water's edge and puffed on reefer. Seagulls made futile fecal dives into the mire only to come up empty and fly in unison the hell out. What the hell is happening here in one of the richest cities on the planet? My images are intended to suggest an era long since past but sadly, these are last week. (iPhone 5 Hipstamatic Jane Lens and Pistil Film - edited on Phototoaster and Snapseed)

I do enjoy the texture from the mud and the channels in the sand from the tide. I did my best here to create stark and interesting images from an environmental fiasco. I would love for these images to be the last of this park in this condition. (iPhone 5 Hipstamatic Wonder Lens and W40 film - edited with snapseed)

Walking back along the grittiest section of 3rd street I encountered a bevy of mobile homes/RVs that were clearly occupied and forever in flux. This was just one of the many signs intended to give the casual viewer a sense of the political frustrations of the local "tenants" (iPhone 5 Hipstamatic Jane Lens Pistil Film edited with phototoaster and snapseed)

This was the final shot I captured of our walk. Sitting on a lonesome corner atop a 5 gallon bucket was this CD compilation. You think Jerry was watching? (iPhone 5 Hipstamatic Jane Lens - Pistil Film - edited in Phototoaster and Snapseed)

More images from Dogpatch from other iPhone apps coming soon.

Cheers,

M