Uploads from underthewaves, tagged 32, with geodata

To Carthage then I came.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:22:02 -0800

A quote from The Waste Land, sure. A part of that project, hardly. The title jumped up in my head and stuck and there was nothing I could do to rid myself of it.

I dig old signs, you know, and power poles, and crazy skies, and the desert, and weird scenes, so this kind of works for me. There's something about it a bit off, but lots I like. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to upload next, but I don't want to jinx away the possibility of SF snow by posting those pics... and the film won't be back for a bit yet...

In this image, I can escape from our coming rain. And, for now, that will be enough.

Walk into the jaws of hell.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:19:04 -0800

underthewaves posted a photo:

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I went on a roadtrip over the weekend. Sorry for flooding your timeline.

This is the first image I've processed from the trip - which we collectively called #FelizMojavedad - but I'm not sure how I'm going to name it for myself on my website. (Please note that the #hoboroadtrip's full name is the Tumblin' Tumbleweed Hobo Thanksgiving Roadtrip Adventure. I like naming things.) It was shot on the way to the Kelso Depot - which I was so pleased to have finally seen in person.

I wanted so badly to figure out an appropriate cinematic crop or to letterbox it, but in the end I left it alone. There was no sense in cropping this image. For one, I'm trying something where I avoid cropping in my digital work - this isn't some HCB thing (as I've stated any number of times, I have tremendously conflicting feelings about the man and his work, but we'll let that otherwise alone for now), I'm not trying to proselytize or start a discussion about cropping, this isn't forever... it's just something I need to try out for a while. For my sake, for my work's sake. But please please please for the love of god take a look at it in the light box. It needs a dark background and it needs to be big.

It's so funny to me about the power lines. I felt like I was the only one on the trip who wasn't kvetching about them. I have a thing for them. There's a certain darkness that comes from all things cruciform - for me at least. I'm constantly recalling Golgotha. An odd thing, I suppose, for an atheist to think, but it's not like I didn't live in a tremendously Catholic country and grow up with plenty of very Catholic relatives. I couldn't have been more pleased about the brightness of the patch of clouds directly behind the front power pole. I knew I wanted the bright road in the frame and the power poles for perspective. It's certainly an image that's been done before. But I've never done it myself. So there.

You may have noticed by now that I have a thing for apocalyptic scenes. I almost titled this "The Abomination of Desolation," but it wasn't quite right. That may, however, be the name for the series of photographs from the California-portions of the trip. Because, yes, we hella dipped into Arizona and Nevada. The Arizona stuff couldn't be further from this. Too Christmasy and I think to include those shots would diminish the story as a whole. So it goes. I'm having trouble telling the story regardless as I shot many rolls of 35mm that now need to be processed.

This was shot at 28mm. What I wouldn't have given for something wider. (My current fascination right now is with anamorphic lenses. I am sorely tempted to buy an old one and jerry-rig it to work with an EF mount.) I borrowed Ben's 16-35 a couple times over the course of the trip and I'm currently reconsidering my position on that lens. While I love that I could still use the 17-40 for portraiture (I'm really not crazy about anything wider than 40mm or so for portraits. Just a matter of personal preference.), there's something to be said for f/2.8. And nothing to be said for f/4. Anyway, enough about lenses. This was shot at f/9. I think that was about right, but I have some doubts.

And the title is, of course, from "Sit Down, Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.)," wholly appropriate for the image and the moment.

Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:22:14 -0800

underthewaves posted a photo:

Leave it to Townes Van Zandt to come up with a remarkable explanation of what the D&S is.

There's a lot wrong with this photo - for starters, I think the composition could be better - but my eye keeps getting drawn back to it. I love the tones. I mean, my whole Delta 400 at 1600 during the day thing was nice and all, but it looks so much prettier at night.

I love the idea of a scene within a scene that mirrors present. These photographs sometimes work out fantastically and sometimes terribly, but it gives you a lot to look at regardless. So, yes, this one is one for the light box - because bigger is often better.

$13 Bulleit? NOT better. Especially when it can be had on 6th for $8. I heart Sixth Street.

In completely unrelated news, 恭喜發財! Happy new year, especially to my fellow Rabbits!

I gasped on land, and I became me.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:03:07 -0800

underthewaves posted a photo:

I am afraid to try new Portra. I love old Portra so much (NC more than VC, but that happens), but - more importantly - I hate that digital correction ability is the reason that Kodak decided to make but one Portra. What if I don't want to perform digital corrections on my analog scans? Sigh.

I have a very similar shot on Polaroid 600, but my flatbed scanner is in quite the cantankerous mood. It's a shame, because I think overall the 'Roid is better. Oh well. It'll be online one of these days.

Also, please look at how little is lost in shadows. Film makes me so happy.

This photo was shot from the graveyard of one of my favorite churches, Keawalaʻi Congregational Church. It's a beautiful little old building. The interior is nothing fancy, save for fantastic wood pews. If my Hawaiian is correct, "Keawalaʻi" means calm harbor, or something like that. It's a nice idea.

Right now, despite the sunshine here and my general lack of interest in Maui, I would so much rather be there, in that moment, in that photograph. So it goes.

Take what you have gathered from coincidence.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:32:37 -0800

underthewaves posted a photo:

So let's talk about the title. Because I think it says a lot about how my brain works, which is to say hardly at all. I was listening to Beck's "Strange Invitation," which is a variation on his song "Jack-Ass." The latter samples Them's cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," which is a fabulous song. The cover - in as much as it's Van Morrison singing - is pretty darn rad too. The first thing I thought to title it was from another variation of "Jack-Ass," called "Burro." It's a Mariachi version of the song. Beck's pretty cool. However, Y recuerdo tu sonrisa con el viento salvaje doesn't work as well as far as titles go. "Y recuerdo tu sonrisa" is a little cheesy a title for my taste.

It would be better, I know, if I stopped ripping off song lyrics... but at least they're usually pretty subtle.

Back in December, I bought a camera. I haven't been doing much camera-buying lately, which I think is a good thing. And while that money should go to a new lens, it's been going to things like new car tires and insurance. Good times. Anyway, the camera is an EOS-1N. It's a beast and I love love love it. I wasn't going to name it - in as much as it's a Professional camera and my first at that - but the thing's a freaking Tank and I've been calling it that, so named it is.

I wanted to shoot film at the last D&S, but the fastest thing I had was Superia 800 - will not cut it for night shooting, no way no how. I did have a roll of Delta 400 around, so I just used that and had it pushed to ISO 1600. Of course, being a drink & shoot, I only managed to get off maybe 19-20 shots on a roll of 36, so that meant daytime ISO 1600. Not bad, I'd say.

My friend Ben was in town for the long weekend, so we did some Tenderloin photomeandering as one is wont to do when photog guests are in town. This is a shot of him with Sam, whom we met walking around. Sam was fantastic, very friendly and easy-going. And rocking a Giants cap to boot! I understand why people have issues with the Tenderloin, but it is very much one of my two favorite neighborhoods in the city. (The other is of course La Misión.) I love how Loin-y the background turned out. The light's a tad harsh, but that's what it's been like around here lately. Plus I just love Sam's expression.

I've been fiending on 35mm lately, which is an odd turn of events. Why one would want to go to a smaller neg from a bigger one (120, reclaimed FujiRoids) is beyond me. I blame the camera, mostly. Plus it's just so easy. And I don't have to mentally attempt to calculate proper exposure this way, like I do with the Rollei. The tonal quality of the shots I've been getting lately puts the MII to shame.

Hey so speaking of Drink & Shoots, the next one is coming up soon! Aaaaand you can now follow the club on Twitter.

Mustard Gas & Roses

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:52:49 -0800

underthewaves posted a photo:

Adventures in semi-anonymous portraiture.

It is with much hesitation that I post this shot. I might even go back and delete it later today. And I'm posting it because, darnit, I need help.

I always am quick to point out that while I don't always know how to shoot a scene, 997 times out of a thousand I know how to process it. Welcome to one of the three.

The colors, I think, are correct. I wasn't going to be able to get much chromatic variation, as it were, out of the image, no matter what I did. I figured apocalypse was the best route. Although only a truly vengeful god would rain hellfire on Niland. It's bad enough as it is.

I know there's a picture in there that I love (although perhaps I'm the only one, in which case the whole thing is a regrettable foray into the odd), but I'm not sure how to coax it out. I don't know if I like the crop or not. I don't know if my regrettable regression into textures was advisable.

I just don't know. All I know is that it's something I'm not going to be able to sort out on my own. So, Flickr, what do you think?

Granny Smith

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:54:33 -0800

underthewaves posted a photo:

I love the Musée Mécanique. It's one of my San Francisco happy places and has been since I was maybe 13 years old, back when it was still at Ocean Beach. I've been meaning for ages to do a series of Musée "portraits" in black and white. Finally got around to shooting them last March... and of course I didn't get around to processing them until pretty recently.

Anyway, you can check out the whole set here - I'd suggest the slideshow. It's still very much a project in progress, but I'm pretty happy with what I've shot so far... and very happy with the way the processing has turned out. I'd like to get in there with some film at some point in the near future. And maybe a tiny bit of lighting gear, if it wouldn't get me in trouble. Granted, that could be tricky with all the glass!

One thing that I really made a point to do was to clip all the shadows. I wanted them black black black, like the eyes of Felina. (Sorry. I love Marty Robbins too much to avoid dropping that one in there.) I worked up a new B&W preset that didn't require much tweaking from photo to photo to get it to look right. Always a bonus when things end up being translatable, you know? It was important to me for most of the most recent batch of Musée photos to look fairly consistent.

In other news, Drinking & Shooting is next Friday! Nob Hill, so we're meeting at the fountain in the park (across from Grace) at 6:30pm. The only real plan is the Tonga Room... and cable cars... It should be a fun time.

¡Vamos Gigantes!

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:01:45 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

Our beloved San Francisco Giants are headed to the post season for the first time post-Bonds. The outpouring of happiness and excitement was just awesome. It's been a long season and there is plenty of hard work yet to come, but can I just say how pleased I am to have good baseball in China Basin again? Sure, this team is flawed, but hey: OCTOBER BALL! How I've missed it.

So what you're looking at is a guy whose two friends jumped on him after the Giants beat the San Diego Padres 3-0 to take the National League West title. There was a lot of that going on around the ballpark. It's so thrilling.

Sunday was a particularly good day for me in as much as the Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays held on and won the AL East title. (We won't mention the Oakland Raiders. Alas.) My two teams are both in the playoffs for the first time ever and I couldn't be happier about that!

In other news, the next D&S Photowalk is scheduled for this Friday, October 8th. Yes, it conflicts with game two of the NLDS. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, we're headed back to the Mission. I'm excited. Because my walk home is gonna be damn short.

Against golden heavens.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:32:14 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

You're going to want to view this one big. I would think.

Leave it to me to go to the Albany Bulb and end up with a backlit shot of a tree that could, frankly, have come from anywhere.

Photowalk day started a bit inauspiciously for me with the dropping of my beloved Rolleicord. The glass is fine, but it's very inconveniently dented in several places. The camera is certainly one of the low-end Rolleicord lenses, so I'm not devastated devastated. And it still seems to work. (Not like there's much going on there - we're talkin' full manual.) I'm a bit concerned about light leaks though. So it goes. This roll will certainly be interesting. But hey, at least it wasn't a Rolleiflex!

I had an awesome time out at Albany Bulb on a Photowalk with TH and the gang. I was rocking the first generation of the 24mm T/S lens. Final verdict: the newer one is one I would buy. Seems odd to say it, but that lens feels so natural in my hands. And 24mm is definitely a focal length that works for me.

Man I love photowalks.

I could pretend that nothing really meant too much.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:13:31 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

Want to drink and shoot in North Beach on August 6th? Of course you do.

I like how I spam my own photographs. It's AWESOME.

So this is the first post-processing I've done and liked in ages and ages. I somehow fell into a photographic funk in April and haven't been able to shake it.

I used my Pescadero Monocromo & Wintertime Love (betcha didn't see that one coming) Photoshop actions. But I also did lots of other things, so that may be some false advertising on my part. Good ol' dodge and burn.

This shot is super similar to the other one on my stream from Point Reyes, but the mood is so freaking different.

I wish the sky had been a little more dramatic. I don't have any phenomenal cloudy dramatic skies to paste in when needed. Probably ought to work on that.

A tree is a tree is a tree.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:32:12 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

I hope all y'all fellow Americans had a fun and safe Independence Day!

More TS-E-ing. I am so in love with this lens. And I know that I kinda say that every time I rent something, but this one is for real. It's the best lens I've yet shot with and the T/S features are just so cool. I've been doing much more in the way of tilt (and swing), but I finally got the whole shift thing to work out for me yesterday. It definitely would have been more useful if I'd been shooting, say, real estate photography. (Boring!) And also? L glass. Tack sharp. Gosh this was a fun rental.

Manual focus was hardly an issue, but it would be so nice if Canon had an awesomer focusing screen available. (Yes, awesomer. That's the technical term.)

It kind of surprised me that I enjoyed shooting this lens in the East Bay hills as much as I did. Those things are so perfect in urban environments that I didn't think it would translate. But it did. And certainly the overall look was different, but you can play with tree/hill perspectives as much as you can with skyscraper/bridge perspectives. It all works.

Now I'm convinced that I need to build my own PC lens. If you haven't seen Bhautik's, you have to go take a look.

Oh, and for you Drinkers & Shooters: I'll post plans tonight. Sorry I've been a slacker in that department. Anyway, loosely, it's this Friday. 6:30pm, as always. More later!

I got the blues from my baby left me by the San Francisco Bay.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:37:44 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

I've titled a photo after this song before, but since I'm going to go see Ramblin' Jack Elliott tomorrow (!!!) it only seemed appropriate. So. Excited.

In other news, I had a rotten June and am determined to have a kick ass July. Part of the ass kicking business is that I'm going to make time for photography one way or another this month. Which means more Flickring.

I know I've been a lousy contact and I do apologize for that!

Alone Again Or

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:24:58 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

Hello, friends! It seems pointless to say it, but my May was very very busy. Here's hoping June is a little more relaxed.

First matter of business: who wants to Drink & Shoot? Friday! Oakland! Would love to see you there.

I was in San Diego a couple weeks ago and went shooting with Ben, whose work I've admired for a while now. Anytime I get to shoot something backlit is a good time for me, photographically, so I was pretty pleased with downtown. San Diego is way prettier than I like my locations to be, but that's how it goes.

I'm kind of addicted to this preset. Which is sad. Sad sad.

This was taken in the park next to PETCO Park - the baseball stadium; it's an okay looking ballpark, but it's no AT&T. Picture is - as always - better big.

A well respected man about town.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:04:37 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

Kind of a random street shot. I was totally digging this guy's style (anyone who can rock all white is impressive in my book) and his swagger. It looks like absolute crap small, but then so do most of my shots. Bigger is better. But I do always say that.

I didn't really feel like uploading anything today - I haven't really felt like uploading anything in general recently. (Except for SF à gogo, of course.) That said, I knew it was about time to make an announcement re: the next D&Sing. So here. An upload.

Next Drinking and Shooting event is a photoshoot of sorts in the FiDi. Let's meet at the Montgomery BART station - southwest corner of Montgomery and Post. 6:30pm. May 7th - which is in a week, dang this month went by fast. If you have off camera flash gear and don't mind sharing, by all means bring it. If you don't, you can bring batteries! AA and AAA. And regardless of gear, bring yourself some booze. I figure we can take random bar runs, but I will be rocking the flask and paper bag. Keepin' it as classy as ever.

And like I said, I would still be interested in doing a May photowalk... nothing big. Maybe we can discuss it next week? Yay team.

My early burglary years.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 06:30:25 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

Which is not at all to suggest that Dave is a burglar. Just, Moz on the brain.

You know what should have happened but didn't? Commandeering a zip car and driving to Mexico. You know what did happen but shouldn't have? Getting yelled at by the parking garage owner like we were all children.

Worth it.

Hey, so we're trying to figure out what to shoot next time we go drinking... right now it's looking like adventures with off camera flash in the FiDi. If you have any sort of ideas about that or interest in coming, head on over to the group!

And apologies for being a bad Flickrer. It's just that baseball has begun again, you see.

Concrete Jungle

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:03:37 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

Big, even though it's a little on the grainy side. ISO 3200 will do that.

I had an awesome time last night hanging out with some of my favorite Flickr folks in the Tendernob. Since it was only a select few that made it into the actual 'Loin. (Geary bars will trap you for hours, I swear to god.) My pictures seemed to have turned out better than the ones from last time, so you can bet your butt they will be all over SF à gogo soon enough.

Tag for this walk? You guessed it: d&spw042010.

There were so many random funny little city moments yesterday that just made me sad to be in the 'burbs today. I think the highlight for me may have been Larry Johnson, but the insane dude at the Brown Jug was also pretty ridiculous. Crabhat was amazing too. And we only got yelled at like, what, three times if even?

And also? Everyone should go wish Nick a happy... what was it again? 38th birthday?

Ma quanto è bello andare in giro!

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:21:25 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

Hey drinkers and shooters - hope to see you tonight! One last time, for the cheap seats in the back, 6:30pm, heart at Geary & Powell. If you get there early and would like to meet up for shooting (Either pictures or whiskey at the Gold Dust. That's how I roll.), hit me up on Twitter or Flickrmail me or text me or something. Let's play!

Combining my love of vintage, transport, and lettering is this awesomely gorgeous Lambretta. I'm not going to pretend like I didn't want to steal it, but as you can see SFPD may have made that a little bit difficult for me to do.

Wanna here an awesomely cheesy Italian pop song about scooters? Because that's definitely where I lifted the title from. Yay Bolognesi. (Song is actually about Vespe, I know, my bad.)

And, on a totally unrelated note, VAMOS GIGANTES! Yay opening day.

[Swamp] Type Thing

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:44:21 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

I try not to bitch about my commute too much (umm... on Flickr at least!), but I do have a pretty gnarly one for what it's worth. It usually makes my life so much worse, but every now and then it makes my life better. Like, today.

So last week traffic was nightmarish on my normal route so I decided to take a different road when switching freeways (I get to drive on 4 - yes 4 - freeways everyday because I am a lucky lucky girl.). Driving along the alternate route and what do I see but, oh yes, evidence of Girafa in the ~~southern East Bay~~ northeastern South Bay (Ugh, really? Really? I feel even more sorry for you now, Milpitas.). I resolved to go shoot it when I got a chance and that chance came yesterday. Found the perfect parking place, a well placed fence hole, good to go, right?

WRONG. Wrong wrong. I got yelled at twice for trespassing - I kind of ignored the first, but anything past the second felt like I was pushing my luck. Okay, time to head out. On the way back to my car, I got ridiculously hollered at from some guy on an overpass. Now, I can deal with shit but I was already cranky at that point in time so he really wasn't helping things. So, no, sir, I'm not your baby and no I don't much feel like taking your photo.

Relayed this story to ma maman and she's all, "but you have to go back and shoot Girafa. It may not be there later!"

Went back today and I'm proud to say that today was the DAY OF FIVE GIRAFAS. In Milpitas. MILPITAS. Holy crap. I definitely texted maman a picture from the spot and she was all, "love it. LOVE IT." Epic, y'all.

You know what else should be epic? Friday Night Drinking and Shooting. Do it.

And here's what's not epic - my knowledge of local artists. Anyone know who did this guy?

I've tried to hide myself from what is wrong for me.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:38:19 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

DRINKING AND SHOOTING ON FRIDAY! Meet at the heart at Geary & Powell at 6:30. If you're running late or whatever, catch me on Twitter. And tell other people, because I sure as heck have not optimized this dissemination of information thing.

Bit of a departure - totally abstract freelensing experiment. There was a spot at the bottom of the frame that was in focus, but the dark might have eaten it up.

I was going to post this for Layne on Monday like I did for Biggie back in March (this was actually shot just a bit before that Biggie shot was), but I kinda forgot. The one fun thing about no one knowing exactly when you died is that I could post it tomorrow and not be that far off. And I do miss Layne. Like all the time. Cobain not so much. You see, for people ten years older than me, grunge died with Kurt. But for me it died with Layne. And Alice in Chains and I have been through a lot together.

That is sooooo dramatic but, hey, it's pretty true. Dirt, anyone?

I find myself endlessly fascinated by this shot. It's about a month old, but it's taken me this long to process it because I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Right here you have the bullshit approximation of a triple exposure - the other two shots were taken on the same day, same street. I like the colors (but man, I always like colors) and the somewhat gloomy gritty, somewhat shiny happy people aesthetic.

Oh, and guess who SF à gogoed her way to 20% of the photos with the calibersfpw013010 tag? Yeah, that's right. I do take way too many pictures.

Strange cargo.

nobody@flickr.com (underthewaves) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:38:36 -0700

underthewaves posted a photo:

To the surprise of no one, I'm pretty into thrift stores and some antique shops. I feel like a jerk shooting in antique shops if I'm not buying, but I do sneak a shot every now and then.

I was in Sacramento yesterday and today for family stuff. I intended to go shoot some graffiti and do a bit of trespassing (been on a kick lately, though it was intensified by a particularly lackluster solo photowalk on Friday), but the place that a relative suggested had recently been painted over. I got pretty fed up with Sacramento's lameness, so I hightailed it to Locke. It was a very Chinese day for me today. More on Locke later.

Anyway, the shop owner was awesome. He noticed my Rolleicord right away and we talked shop for a good while. He himself shoots with a Yashicamat 124, a Leica, and several Canons, so we bonded right away. I think he was impressed that someone my age a. shoots film and b. buys vinyl.

And buy vinyl I did. I finally got Remain in Light. It's in much better condition than my shitty Goodwill stuff. I also got some awesome 60's earrings that I can't wait to wear out all the time. And the vinyl in the window here? Barry White's Can't Get Enough. Didn't buy it, but since the sort of title track is my favorite Barry White song, I was a tiny tiny bit tempted.

No old cameras, unfortunately!