Mountain View on a Sunday

Yesterday morning I began my day by paying a visit to my favorite bookstore in downtown Mountain View. After stocking up on crossword puzzle books and some bedside reading, I did about a forty-five minute walkabout of a city I am very familiar with but rarely bring my camera to. None of the photographs is particularly interesting on its own, but they serve to give a look at some of the charms and oddities of this place. Speaking of oddities, I found the Odd Fellows Hall as well as the Eagles Aerie, both fraternal organizations that I have never really understood the purpose of. The restaurant above the Odd Fellows Hall caught my eye, first because of the menu in the window, and then because of the poster in the next window advertising a concert by Jon Nakamatsu, a world class pianist and friend of mine I used to teach with until he won the Van Cliburn prize and took off for a career in music. Great piano player and an even nicer guy. I made my way down to the train station and the Sunday farmer's market, stopping to talk to ta lovely French couple who sell "Artisanal Charcuterie." I practiced my French on them for a few minutes and moved on. Mountain View is probably most known for being the home of Google and other hi-tech companies, and for its sky-high rental costs. For me, it's known as a restaurant mecca. Every possible ethnic category is located on Castro Street, the main thoroughfare of town. (maybe not Ethiopian) and since it's such a fickle business, there are new restaurants opening up all the time. It would take at least a year to eat at all the restaurants in this city. 

Justin Currie at the Chapel, San Francisco, October 9th, 2014

The Chapel has to be one of the premier music venues in the Bay Area. It's relatively small capacity, a little over 200, probably hurts it as far as drawing more top tier acts, but that certainly makes it attractive to the fans of the acts it does bring in. There's folding chair seating in the front, and tables along the side and in the back. It really makes no difference where you sit, or stand. The sight lines and sound are first rate. There's even a balcony with a bar and couches and tables. The Chapel is a converted mortuary, not a church as I first thought. Justin Currie doesn't have a legion of fans in the United States, and the Scottish fellow sitting in front of me was surprised that someone like me knew so much about him. What fans he does have here do border on the fanatical. He hasn't toured in the States as a solo before, so this was a great treat for George and me. A wonderful hour and a half of music!

The Chapel and The Vestry, San Francisco

On Thursday night, Margaret and I, along with our friends George and Julie, Dan and Stephen, took in a show by one of George and my favorite singer/songwriters, Justin Currie, formerly the lead singer of the Scottish band Del Amitri. Before the show at the beautiful Chapel Theater in the Mission District, we had dinner at The Vestry, a restaurant connected to the Chapel. It not only serves excellent food, but it's a very welcoming and atmospheric venue. The bottom photograph is of the Chapel before the show. All photographs taken with the Sony RX 100 III at 6400 ISO. Amazing low light performance from such a relatively small sensor.

Saint Louis: Maybe the Best Baseball City in the World!

One of the pleasures of baseball for me is that it's a leisurely game that isn't dictated by time. There's no taking a knee to run out the clock. For real fans, going to a game early and walking around the park and absorbing the atmosphere of a special place like Busch Stadium in Saint Louis is a great experience. The top photograph shows the Giant's radio/TV announcers, John Miller, Mike Krukow, and Duane Kuiper up in the booth. In the third photograph, former All-Star Boston shortstop, Nomar Garciaparra, talks to current Cardinal slugger Matt Holliday on the field during batting practice. Like in many stadiums around the country, former greats are honored with statues outside the park. Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, and announcer Jack Buck are three former Cardinals on display. I remember this particular day quite vividly as earlier that afternoon in the media room I watched, with Nomar Garciaparra, Oscar Pistorious run in the Olympics, both of us marveling at his amazing talent.

It's That Time Of Year Again!

 This photograph of Daniel Descalso was taken two years ago in Saint Louis, but it foreshadows another series between the Cardinals and the Giants as both teams sewed up National League Division championships yesterday and will meet for the right to go to the World Series in a seven game playoff beginning Friday. Daniel pulled out what looked like a champagne water gun in the locker room during the celebration following yesterday's game. 

It's Creepy In Here!

Once inside the prison, we set about jostling for position, setting up tripods, checking our settings, and making sure we had flashlights at the ready. The operating room picture in the middle was especially challenging. I took it while sweeping my flashlight over the table, the floor, and the cabinet. It took a few tries to get something I was halfway satisfied with. The room was otherwise pitch dark. The photograph second from bottom was also in darkness but the magic of Photoshop came to the rescue. Above the operating room I caught our ranger's shadow on the wall before he jumped out of the way. The graffiti on the wall is a remnant of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz years ago. All of these photographs were taken on a tripod at 30 seconds, ISO 100 with an Fstop of about 11. Unlike landscape photography, I didn't need exceptional depth-of-field in the enclosed areas. 

On The Rock

Once ashore, we listened to some caveats from the National Park Service Rangers before being broken up into four groups of ten. Each group was assigned a ranger who kept track of time and wayward photographers, many of whom don't enjoy being herded around like recalcitrant cats. In some places we had too much time and in others, not enough. We were outside for perhaps 45 minutes total of the four hour visit. Four of these photographs were hand-held, the other two on a tripod for 30 second exposures. I would have liked about an hour of at least dusk to wander around, but no such luck. I did learn some interesting history from the rangers that was new to me, as was Alcatraz itself since in my fifty years in the Bay Area I had never had the occasion to visit.