Postcard from San Francisco

Sometimes I’m fascinated with my fascination of walking through my past. I don’t do it often, but when I do, I want to understand why.

So here I was again in one of my favorite cities in the world, San Francisco…which also happens to be my hometown. I was born and raised here.

My father was born and raised here.

My grandmother was born and raised here.

My grandfather was born in Walla Walla, WA…but he had the good sense to move here, then marry my grandmother. The City took him to its bosom.

Oh, and lest I forget my own mother…she moved to San Francisco right off an Oregon farm…so The City adopted her also, even before she married a native.

So you see, I have every right to call The City my hometown. PS: It’s called “The City” by everyone who lives in and around San Francisco…and that means millions of folks. Wanderers like me who leave San Francisco still call it The City because it is THE CITY. There is no other.

And if a native ever hears you refer to it as San Fran or, God forbid, Frisco, be prepared to have your throat cut. It’s THE CITY. Get used to it.

Back in the late 40’s and 50’s, when my mother had a hankering to visit her family back on the farm, we needed to get from San Francisco to Oakland to catch Southern Pacific’s Shasta Daylight train (now that was a great ride).

The best way then, if you wanted to leave your car at home, was to take a ferry boat across San Francisco Bay. This trip began at the Ferry Building at the water’s edge on what is known as the Embarcadero. As a young boy, it was the only time I ever sailed on a ship (OK it’s a boat). 

My father would take me by the hand through the Ferry Building, purchase our tickets, then lead me out to the docks and on to the ferry boat. How well I remember, standing outside on the bow feeling the wind as I watched The City shrink from view. Seeing The City from The Bay…now that was a sight!

Over the years, I’ve been around the Embarcadero and the Ferry Building many times, but this was the first time since I was a child that I ventured inside. It was nothing like I remembered…probably because it was renovated in 2003. Probably a good thing since it has been there since 1898 and has survived numerous earthquakes.    

The lower floor, once a baggage area, is now an upscale gourmet marketplace, while the upper floors were adapted for offices. Too bad it wasn’t like that when I was a kid…would have loved to board the ferry with a Peet’s coffee in hand.

The ferries still run, although not the same ones from my childhood. Much more modern ones now. I know, because this time I did get a Peet’s coffee and sat out on the docks, resting my weary legs and watching the commuters make their way on to their respective ships (sorry, boats).

So, what did I get from visiting this part of my past? Not much, really. Most of the memories of those days are listed above. Did I feel the ghosts of my parents walking with me? Nope, sorry. It was just another place from my past. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy to be there. I do love most all things San Francisco. Did I mention it is my hometown?

 

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Postcard from Monterey

Monterey is an acquaintance. It’s not a friend, like San Francisco, or Chicago or Tucson. It’s just an acquaintance…and maybe just a passing one at that. I doubt we could ever be friends, but I like it all the same…just not that much.

Its been many years since my last visit. Much has changed, much has stayed the same, with just perhaps a hint of change.  It seems to me that the downtown wharf used to have more fishing boats in harbor. Now, it’s a haven for toys-for-the-rich (or for those folks who hang out with the rich, but are, in reality, up to their derriere in debt). But, it made for a nice walk for me and my camera.

At one time, Monterey wanted to become a big city with nice new shiny brick buildings. They wanted to tear out all those old buildings along the harbor. But, then they found that tourists like those old buildings. So where once Japanese women beat abalone steaks to make them tender, there are cutesy chain restaurants with even cuter names like Bubba Gump's.  

So, yes, Monterey is a big-time tourist town…and I guess at my advanced age, I’ve seen all the tourist traps in all the towns and they all look alike to me…none offer anything of value. Been there…done that.

But, lest you think I am an old curmudgeon and didn’t find anything good in Monterey, there were a few saving graces. The aquarium was wonderful and well worth a visit (but it may be awhile before I go to another aquarium again…I am fished out).

My hotel room had a gas-fired fireplace. Now, I don’t see many fireplaces down here in the Sonoran desert. So, it was enjoyable to fire it up when the fog came in. Too bad it was in the back corner of the room where one could not really enjoy it. Still…

I also found a wonderful large Starbucks downtown near the wharf that had a delightful patio just perfect for sitting in the sun, drinking coffee, reading, and watching the world go by. There aren’t many Starbucks that can say that.

The best discovery of all was the Crown and Anchor, a downtown British pub that actually seemed like a British pub (Sorry, but so-called British pubs in strip malls don’t count). A great selection of British beers and some excellent pub fare food.

After a couple of beers (the knowledgeable barman let me taste them before my selections), I ordered Nelson’s Cottage Pie…ground beef, vegetables, and onions cooked in a rich spicy sauce, topped with mashed potatoes and baked in the oven until golden brown. Wonderful. Now that was a great evening. Finding the Crown and Anchor was like going to a party filled with acquaintances and discovering one true friend.  

 

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

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Postcard from Tucson

I showed this photo nearly two years ago…but back then it was in color and pretty much how it came out of the camera. The other day, I was again fooling around with filters and plug-ins in Photoshop and for reasons still unclear to me, was playing with this photo.

As happens, sometime you hit on something magic (or so it seems to me) and your say to yourself, “That’s it!!”. So it was with the photo you see before you. I titled the photo, “Almost a Cartoon,” as that was my immediate impression. It has a surrealistic effect, especially with the people. Maybe that is why I like it.

The picture was taken at our semi-annual 4th Ave. Street Fair. I say semi-annual as it happens in the fall and in the spring. It is a very popular event as thousands of people wander up and down the street gazing at the merchant’s wares. And there are between 400-500 exhibiters there for each show.

The festival is going to be interesting from here on in. Right now part of 4th Ave is completely torn up as they are installing steel rails for our new light rail system. Part of 4th Ave. is already completed (as a matter of fact, many streets are ripped up right now including the downtown area and the UofA). I am not sure how the festival will be set up as there are rails going up each side of the street.  So it should be interesting. However, I have no idea how the trolleys will run with all the people roaming the streets. But they say the show will go on. Good for them.

Postcard from San Francisco

This photo shows the front entrance to the Federal Reserve Bank on Market Street, near the Embarcadero. In fact, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is for the twelfth district in the United States and represents 9 western states and some American held islands in the Pacific.

The building was designed by George W. Kelham,. This entrance is is described as being an Ionic colonnade that is pure Beaux-Arts. The upper part of the building is in the new “Moderne” fashion of 1924. Whatever you call it, it makes for an interesting photographic composition.

I gave it an almost-but-not-quite black and white treatment. It was fun experimenting with different filters before settling on this final image. The figures inside give you a feeling for its size and depth. I used a longer lens that compressed the distance between the columns just enough to make it interesting.

I would have liked to explore this building a little longer, but I was walking to AT&T Park to see a Giants game, and was running a little behind schedule. Vacations can be so demanding on one’s time.

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

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Postcard from Silicon Valley

There is always at least one surprise when I take one of my trips. On this last adventure, one of the big surprises was finding the The Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Of course, it makes perfect sense that such a museum would exist in the heart of Silicon Valley, but that fact does not make the surprise any less fun.

Located in a new, modern building next to Moffat Field Air Base, the museum was obviously built with a plan in mind. By that, I mean the layout of the museum was carefully created as a walk through history. After watching a short introductory film, you follow a winding path through various rooms beginning with the earliest form of computers. As you follow the arrows on the floor, you move forward in time, eventually coming to today…and the future. As the sign says when you enter, this museum celebrates the first 2,000 years of computing.

In the first room, you find the earliest tools used for computing including the abacus. There is a short film there showing how to use one (I still don’t get it). In every room there are TV’s showing films about the various computing devices on display.

In the room that shows artifacts from World War II, there is an authentic German Enigma machine. This machine encoded messages from the German High Command to commanders in the field. The Germans thought the codes unbreakable, but the Allies broke the codes early in the war.

In other rooms you see the giant IBM 360 machines, the first optical drive, the first Cray Supercomputer and more…far too much to describe here. As you move forward in time, one eventually comes upon the first personal computers, which is where I stepped into the computing world. They had almost all of the earliest personal computers there, from the Apple 1 to the PET, the TSR, Commodore 64 and many more.

From here on was familiar territory as each room showed hardware and software from the 80’s until now. There was a room set aside for hand held devices (including phones), the history of games (Pong, anyone?), software, and later, the history of networking and the Internet. The last room is set aside for a film about the future, featuring some of the giants of the industry and their predictions.

The photo here is a semi-arch formed by replicas of software boxes. I thought it made a good photograph and was representative of the museum. Obviously it was from the Software section of the museum.

Besides the museum, I saw several home offices of some the major technology companies headquartered in Silicon Valley…including Apple, Yahoo, IBM, Cisco, Oracle and many others. I also got to see the new 49er football stadium under construction in the heart of Silicon Valley. It was quite a journey. 

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

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Postcard from San Jose

Isn’t it ironic that during this year’s Olympics I went to visit my Alma Mater, San Jose State University, and came across this sculpture. It shows, of course, that famous moment at the 1968 Olympics when Tommy Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists in the Black Power salute on the medal stand while the National Anthem was playing. That brought back a few memories.

You see, both Smith and Carlos were at San Jose State the same time as me. In fact, I knew Tommy Smith (only slightly) as he lived in the same dorm as me. I have no memory of ever meeting Carlos.  At the time, both athletes took a lot of heat for what they did. I remember being disturbed when it happened…I was torn because they were San Jose State students and I was rooting hard for their success…but was not happy that they chose the Olympic games for their protest. I am OK with it now, not that it matters.

But, time heals all wounds and both athletes have been praised in these later years for their act of courage.  In 2008, they jointly accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for their salute, at the 2008 ESPY Awards. By the way, in 1966, Smith set the world record for 200 meter sprint…a record that stood for 44 years until 2010.

This sculpture, done by political artist Rigo 23, dates back to 2005. The third athlete on the stand with them that day, Peter Norman, is not part of the sculpture. The space where he was is empty. The building in the background is the School of Journalism where I spend countless hours learning the journalism craft. Talk about memories…

It was fun to visit the old campus again and see all the changes. Of course, there are several buildings from my time there still in existence, but I estimate that 70% of the campus has changed for the better since I left.

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

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Postcard from Morro Bay

You are looking at my one and only decent photo of a beach sunset on this last vacation. I spent four nights on the California Coast, from Morro Bay to Monterey. And this was the only night (and day for that matter) that the ocean wasn’t shrouded in fog.

After two nights in Morro Bay, I drove all the way to Monterey along California’s beautiful Highway One and never saw the ocean. It was fog, fog, fog, the whole way. I eventually got out of the fog around Big Sur, but only when I was inland from the ocean. As soon as the road led me back to the coast, there was the fog again. Oh well…sometimes that is just how it is.

But back to this photo. I spent part of this day scouting locations for a great sunset shot, only to discover that the beaches around Morro Bay were not photographer friendly. Oh, they are lovely and beachcombers do love them, but it is miles and miles of endless beach with no other elements to make a great shot at sunset.

I take that back…I did find a few elements that might make an interesting photo, but those locations were blocked off any kind of access. I also found a good location to photograph the famous Morro Rock with some rolling sand dunes in front, but as sunset approached, I realized the light was all wrong and the giant rock was not going to get any sunset light.

Still I persevered and wandered along the beach looking for something interesting. Finally, I saw some surfers walking along the beach, heading home after a day riding the waves. I got lucky and managed to get this one shot that included them and the setting sun. On this day, I took whatever I could get…and I think it turned out OK.

If there is a lesson here, it is never give up when looking for that one good photograph. Sometimes it just comes out of the blue and you grab it while you can. Oh wait, there is another lesson…try to avoid photo expeditions to the Central California beaches in the summer months.

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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 Monterey

Hey…I’m back. After a fantastic month-long vacation, mostly in Northern California, I’m back in Tucson, just in time to enjoy the monsoons and all the hot and humid weather. But it is my home now and I love it.

I got lucky on my trip as I spent the majority of my time in fantastic weather. I did a lot, visiting friends and family, seeing sites, both familiar and new…and met some interesting new people along the way.  The only disappointment was the drive up the California Coast along Highway One. Sadly, the ocean was covered in fog the entire trip, so no photo ops there. But, I did get some new photos which I will share with you over time, along with some interesting (I hope) stories.

Today, we begin with a photo from my visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Located right next to the famous Cannery Row, this aquarium offers some interesting and spectacular displays. But, my favorite section by far, was the jellyfish section. Called, “The Jellies Experience”, it features many different kinds of jellyfish, from the small to the large, and from the harmless to the deadly. It alone is worth the price of admission.

As you might guess, these jellyfish are of the smaller variety. But their colors and movement are captivating. One could spent some time here just watching and enjoying their gentle movements. You will see more jellyfish photos in the future as well as other photos from the aquarium. If you get the chance to visit Monterey, be sure and add this place to your itinerary.

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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.