Human Nature

I've been alone in San Francisco for over a week now. My camera and I have visted all the tourist areas, plus beaches and lighthouses. We've explored country and city, with no commentary. Until yesterday when I met up with Gale for a one day photo workshop at the conservancy in Golden Gate park. Shooting in manual mode, we set up tripods around the dahlia gardens at 7:00 am. There was just enough light and no direct sun, so we all had perfect shots of perfect flowers (which is really boring). Then Gale brought out the mylar which we wrapped around our lens, got close to the petals, and shot abstract images reflecting in the mylar. Cool! Lunch on a park bench, then we went inside the building where there are water gardens and all sorts of interesting tropicals, plus a butterfly exhibit. After that, three people went home, which left four and we all piled in one car and relocated to a different area of the park. Best part of the whole experience (which was delightful), was that I had people to talk to all day! The sharing process is a low-impact and highly effective way to learn new things.

I had one "must shoot" location left on my list, the "painted ladies" Victorian homes on Alamo Square, so I drove over there and got the requisite shots. As an added bonus there was a funky flea market going on!

By the time I drove over the Bay Bridge for the second time that day, I was worn out. I thought about driving over to the Berkeley marina at sunset to grab a few photos of the boats in the harbor, but it was too cold and I couldn't drag myself back out of the house, so it was an early evening for me.