Postcard from San Francisco

San Francisco was my first home town. I was born and raised there and spent most of my childhood in and around The City. I lived first in the famous Haight-Ashbury District…long before the hippies took over. It was near the old Kezar Stadium where my beloved 49ers played their games, long before the NFL was popular and players had to take jobs in the off-season to make ends meet.

I was there in ‘58 when the Giants moved from New York. Before them, there was the San Francisco Seals who played in the long-gone Seals Stadium. Then there was the Cow Palace on the southern edge of The City where I spent many nights watching hockey.

But, of course, there is more to San Francisco than sports. I spent many hours walking up and down Market Street. I took cable cars from downtown on Powell Street all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf. And I’ve walked the Embarcadero all the way from Fisherman’s Wharf to the Ferry Building at the end of market street. In the 50’s I took many a ferry ride from there over to Oakland and back.

And I’ve walked most of the hills. From Nob Hill down California Street and more. I’ve explored Chinatown many times and frequented the jazz clubs at North Beach where I saw many of the jazz legends of bygone days.

Yes San Francisco was and is my home…if not in body, definitely in my heart. It is one of the great cities of the world and I am privileged to have spent part of my life there.

I tell you this because I am on my way back there, beginning tomorrow. No, I am not moving, I am just going there for a nice vacation. What better area to cool off after the hot muggy summers we experience in Tucson. And the good news is that I have close friends and family who live in and around San Francisco. I look forward to seeing all of them.

So, that is to say, you probably won’t hear much from me for a while…perhaps the occasional photograph and quick blurb. I am taking the long way to northern California, going up Highway 1 along the ocean, beginning at San Luis Obispo, with a stop along the coast here and there to photograph. I also plan to stop at Hearst Castle to see what all the fuss is about.

But I will be back in August full time with a whole new arsenal of photographs and stories to share with you. So, until then, Ciao for now.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

If you subscribe to this blog by e-mail and wish to purchase a print or send a free e-mail greeting card using this image, click this link to the main Postcard Blog Site.

Postcard from Oakland

This is another one of my architectural photos done in downtown Oakland last year. I really got lucky with the light, and, especially the clouds. The horizontal and vertical lines really add a couple of interesting elements to the photo…but the real story is the cloud reflections. It is like an impressionist painting…and to be honest, I did nothing to the cloud reflections to give them that look.

What I did do, thanks to the magic of Lightroom, was change the horizontal and vertical alignments. It appears as if I was up high photographing this image across the street. In reality, I was on the ground shooting upwards. A little manipulation and it appears I am on the same level as the windows. Pretty neat trick, eh?

I love shooting in large cities and on my next photo expedition (which starts at the end of this week) I hope to spend more time with my camera in some of my favorite cities. Plus, I hope to do a little shooting on the Pacific Ocean coastline, something I haven’t done in a long while. The ocean shores seem very attractive to me right now, as sit in 105-110 temperatures every day.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

If you subscribe to this blog by e-mail and wish to purchase a print or send a free e-mail greeting card using this image, click this link to the main Postcard Blog Site