Scenes from Another Lifetime

"San Francisco is my home. I love The City and The City loves me back." This was a personal affirmation—my mantra if you will—for the first couple years I lived there because as much as I'd like to think I took to the city like fish to water, my ex is always quick to point out the transition was not painless…

Flashback Friday

Not me this time, but my late friend Steve Golden, spinning at Hotbods in Phoenix, spring 1983:

And in a more relaxed state of mind…

He always thought me silly because of the number of photos I shot of him at work in the booth, but now, some 39 years (!) later, I'm so glad I did. Yeah, I was new to 35mm photography, never did really get the exposure right, and a lot of the shots are out of focus, but I'm so glad I took them. But that last one? Chef's kiss…

He would've been 64 last year.

GPOY

Some days the best I can muster when I'm out in public and dealing with the hordes of unmasked animals, is a selfie-smirk.

Ben takes much better pictures of me than I do of myself. Maybe it's because he elicits a smile in me when I look at him, such that it is.

Las Noches De Las Luminarias

Otherwise known as, "Date Night!"

Las Noches De Las Luminarias is something the Desert Botanical Garden does every year, although Ben and I hadn't been since 2009. This year we decided to eschew exchanging gifts (we both have everything we want or need materially at the moment), but decided to make Luminarias a shared gift. (We're also returning in March to capture the ongoing Chihuly exhibition at "golden hour.")

I just got a new phone, and figured this would be an excellent opportunity to put its camera to the test. It didn't disappoint.

(This is the best of literally a dozen shots we attempted of the two of us together.)

From the Analog Archives: Around the Hood (and Beyond)

We'll call this "Hell on Fell" and leave it at that.
Hickory & Laguna (the green space to the right has been replaced with…you guessed it! CONDOS!
388 Market, my favorite building in The City
The Shaklee Building – If Walls Could Talk
"Tweezer Towers" aka The Manarin Hotel
My View From "Hell on Fell"
Hermann Street, Across from the US Mint
Page & Buchanan, Northeast Corner
Lily & Buchanan, Northeast Corner
Haight & Buchanan, Northeast Corner (Google tells me the building is much more colorful now.)
Duboce & Church Looking Northwest

San Francisco, September 1993

Scenes From A Road Trip, Day 4

I didn't do it. I swear!

I'm glad we didn't dally in Los Angeles. Apparently a couple trucks decided to mix it up just east of the California/Arizona border. We luckily got past it right before they shut down one lane of traffic and created a 4 mile backup.

We had a great time on our little getaway, but at the same time I'm glad to be home.