Posts tagged "sanfrancisco"
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Gulls at Alcatraz
Nikon D810, 200-500mm lens. Alcatraz Island, just off San Francisco In the early days of Covid-19, a friend said 'we're getting old let's do old people things', so we picked 'birding'. Looks like it stuck. Here, a photo of some baby Western gulls on Alcatraz island, which has many types of birds, including falcons, and…
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A Whale of a Time
Nikon D810, 200-500mm lens, somewhere near the Farallon Islands Once or twice a year I try to get on a boat out to the Farallon Islands with birders in the Bay Area. Pelagic birding is my absolute favorite type of birding: being able to get out in the ocean and see a huge amount of sea life of all types is a treat. In…
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Mission Street Photowalk
I love the Mission. Specifically, I love the less gentrified parts of it. There's still so much life and culture; DJs spinning records on the street, bands playing live Latin jazz, record stores where you can explore cumbria, and Indigenous dance groups that perform at the many plazas. Despite its many problems, the…
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The One About Scallion Pancakes
I have a weird story about scallion pancakes. It goes like this. Around this time last year, I was walking down my street in San Francisco when a woman waved something at me. I thought she needed help with something, so I went closer. Instead, she clicked something (she was waving a torch, the kind you ignite gas…
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Bawling at Birdsong
From a late night Mastodon thread about homesickness. Two years before I moved to the United States, I wrote something called ‘things I will miss when I have to leave Southeast Asia (because I am queer)’. I predicted that I would be deeply homesick, not for Singapore specifically, but for the entire region. Even though…
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City Hall, Doubled
Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, Kodak T-Max 400, Xtol stock @ 12:45, scanned on Noritsu LS-600) An accidental double exposure of City Hall, San Francisco.
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Octupus vs Bike
Olympus XA2, Kodak T-Max 400, Xtol 1:1, scanned on Plustek 8200i Seen at Crane Cove Park, San Francisco.
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Waiting for dimsum
Whenever I can, I make the 45 minute walk to Chinatown in San Francisco to Dim Sum Bistro, my favorite 'cheap dimsum' spot. Sometimes, I take photos too. I say this every chance I get: dimsum isn't always 'cheap' food. Dimsum can be fancy, and should be fancy, because to make large amounts of high quality dimsum you…
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Chasing the Light
As a person from the literal equator, I struggle a lot with winter. Not the cold, since it's not really that cold here in northern California, but with the increasingly shorter days. The best way I can describe it is that I feel as though my brain, happiness, and overall health is powered by the sun. The sun is my…
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Slide Film Tourism
A few firsts: I went to a super touristy part of San Francisco for the first time I shot slide film for the first time I saw a very old friend from my Dubai days, for the first time in a decade Ticket to ride. Carousel. Boats. I probably won't go there for another ten years. Other than wanting to spend time with my…
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Chinatown Comforts
I find myself spending more and more time in SF and Oakland Chinatowns. I love Chinese bakeries, so those are obviously the best places for me to get my fix. In SF Chinatown, check out Yummy Bakery and Stockton Bakery. In Oakland Chinatown I am partial to Napoleon Super Bakery. In all of those spots, pork floss bun,…
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SF, Union Town?
One of the more surprising things about living in San Francisco is that I'm now a part of a union. Never in my lifetime of working in tech did I imagine that would happen. However, now that I work in the public sector, union life is bustling. I'm very proud to be part of a union. I see its positive impacts everyday,…
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Motion Picture Film, Mistakes, Fun
Like so many film photographers outraged by the cost of color film these days, I've thrown myself headlong into the world of shooting stills on motion picture film. Kodak Vision 3 films can be purchased in bulk, spooled into lengths that bulk rollers can use, and then self-rolled into canisters at your own leisure.…
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Ugly / Beautiful
Last Friday, I had the unfortunate honor of experiencing (yet another) race-related incident in San Francisco. A mentally unwell person pointed a kitchen blow torch at me, with the flame out, and threatened to 'burn me' because I was an 'ugly Chinese ho'. I laughed it off, but I guess she was serious, and then she…
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Medium Format, Developed Medium Well
I'm not actually a very handy person. It's amazing that I am able to load film at all in a change bag, into a reel, into a tank, and then get pictures out of it. Anyway, this was the first ever medium format color film that I developed myself at home: clearly, I put too little chemistry. I still like the pictures, and…
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Saying Goodbye to Fuji Superia 400
Fuji Superia 400 has been my stock color film for a long time. I have 10 rolls left, and when that's gone it doesn't look like I'll be able to find it easily anymore. It was my favorite 'buy it at a drugstore' film, but now that I can't buy it easily, I don't think I will put in the effort to source it. For color, I…
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Tenderloin Tessie
Almost 50 years ago, a drag queen named Tessie started feeding the homeless in the Tenderloin and so many decades later the tradition continues. I was grateful to be able to volunteer this past Easter at one of the Tenderloin Tessie events. Every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, the organization puts out a massive…
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Drag Up, Fight Back
I had a drag-filled weekend that was full of trans joy. For that, I am grateful. On Saturday, I went to the Drag Up, Fight Back march for drag and trans rights. Unless you've been living under a rock, trans people are under attack all over the world including in many parts of the US. California is not immune. It would…
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The Cool Blues of San Francisco
Recently, I had an opportunity to purchase a few rolls of Kodak Vision 3 500T Film (5219). I was warned that it would be almost too 'cool', that it had tones of blue in most photos unless I used a warming filter, or fixed it in post. While my style of color photography tends to be vibrant and warm (Portra and Ektar are…
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One Night in the Mission
I used to be a creature of the night, but no longer. I used to be out all the time, but rarely now. Partly, it's that San Francisco is so chilly at night, but also that it's pretty dead at night compared to the much bigger cities I've lived in. I don't quite enjoy walking around, cold, in areas where there just sijmply…
43 posts tagged "sanfrancisco"