Monday, March 10, 2014

Snapshots Abound!



Nikki and I often marvel at the fact that we can go to San Francisco simply because we're bored.  Nothing to do?  Let's drive to San Francisco and hang out, see if we can find anything that looks cool.  We start off with one thing like, "Let's go to Delfina's and eat and move out from there".  So far, that well hasn't run dry.  We've been here 15 years and we're still constantly finding new things to see and do.   This time I brought my new toy, the fuji x100s along to see what it could do in the "street" environment. 

 I bought it primarily for this type of scenario because it fits in my front pocket and isn't a gigantic burden to walk around with, or use.  In fact, I'm finding that I pull it out way more than I would carrying around the other larger, more burdensome cameras.   At some point you realize what a jackass you are for carrying around a bag that weighs 5 pounds for endless hours, with little to no benefit in the end.  Plus, this thing is so small that I can set it at the edge of the table and take snapshots of the scene in front of me and nobody notices.  These aren't necessarily "artistic" shots, but they definitely paint a picture of what was going on around us while we were there. Many of my shots with the larger cameras tended to be portraits with no context in regards to the surrounding area.  This camera is definitely something I would take with me on a long vacation.  It functions well in a lot of scenarios.  Below are some of them.


This is St. Dominic's cathedral just off of Fillmore Street, built in 1873.  We had never been inside.



A few years back I took a similar shot of Nikki's mom in a church so I thought it would be appropriate to take this one.  Fun fact:  There are two people in this shot.  A lady is genuflecting behind Nikki after the last row of pews.  I had to time it right to make sure she wasn't in the shot.  She seemed like she would be there for quite a while, she had a lot to speak to the big man about.


This is one of those "scene" shots.  I sat down in a pew with the camera on my lap and got this.


Delfina's pizzeria on California street, our #1 pizza place in N. California.  The kid seemed pretty happy about being there as well.  As we were nearing the end of our meal, the dude in the doorway sat right next to Nikki at the counter and had an argument with his mother because she was late.  He was definitely a queen and pretty amusing, once we got past the violation of our space problem.  There were 3 stools between Nikki and the next guy and he sat elbow to elbow with her.  Anybody who uses the urinals knows that is a major violation.


Our bartender, Connor (left), at Betelnut on Union Street.  I went out of character and had Mai-Tai's as it was actually warm in SF.  Straight bourbon might have killed me.  I refused the orange garnish, though, so I think my manhood is still intact.


Random interesting guy as we walked out of Betelnut.  He looks like a Mafia Don from the 40's. I can hold the camera at my side, unnoticed and get these type of shots.



"Jane" coffee shop on Fillmore.  We found a coffee shop that is more expensive than Starbuck's.


Overhead lines for the "Muni" bus.  These things are everywhere.


Booze.  Always get a taxi.


SF is incredibly dog friendly.  We ran into this 5 month old on Union Street.

 

Alta Plaza Park.


This is the view from a bench at Alta Plaza Park.  The fuji has a built in "panorama" mode which I'm quickly becoming a fan of.  Doing good Panorama's in photoshop is an art and requires a lot of patience.  These look pretty good and it only take about 7 seconds to do.


This dog walked up right in front of me on the bench and started rolling.  This is one of those "right place, right time" shots.

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