Driving in San Francisco

It's always the same, but it's always different. Usually when I drive into San Francisco I'm going to the same place to a meeting with the same people. I take the same route. I'm afraid to vary it too much, since I have a tendency to get lost...And I always take my camera.

The weather may be different--sunny and warm or gray and foggy, maybe rainy. There may be tons of traffic. It may be clear sailing. But my route never varies. So what I find so interesting is that when I get home and upload my photos, I always see something that I didn't see the last trip. As I sift through the hundreds of photos that are blurred or of blue sky, I'll stumble upon an angle of a beam or the shine of the sun off a glass building that is so completely different then what I've seen before, even if I've shot the same section of the bridge or same building dozens of times before.

Driving Lost in LA...Again

Driving lost...well if you read my blog or follow me on Facebook at all, you'll know that it's nothing new for me. I am in a constant state of being lost, somewhere...san francisco, nashville, los angeles, burbank, westlake village..

my last trip though was the most time i've spent in a car in la and it was a combination of lots of ground to cover, lots of traffic and driving lost...day one--lax to burbank, studio city, sherman oaks, hollywood, venice...in the car at 11:30. in venice by 7:30. friday afternoon. oh, and there was that unexpected tour of encino...

sure i had mapquest for the first place i was going and then BB Navigator, but i couldn't get it to work. it was a very LONG afternoon. BUT, i found lots of drive-throughs and I had a sun roof, my iPOD and lots of time.


which was good, except for when i started to get a little hungry and cranky when i couldn't find hollywood and saw signs for encino. i still don't know where encino is. it has no relation to anything i am familiar with. but i was told that it's a long way from hollywood. in fact, it's the opposite way. so turn around and try again. thanks to a friend of mine who texted me back after my desperate plea for help.

Day 2: Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu, Westlake Village, Los Angeles and back to Venice. Easy!! no, not easy...Sure, venice, santa monica, malibu--beautiful, easy...westlake village--no problem. and i knew that downtown LA would be no problem because the guy at the golf shop told me if i just stayed on 101 and took the figueroa exit, i'd be where i needed to be. easy. except i never saw a figueroa exit, but i did see downtown la fading in the background in my rear view mirror. hours and hours later i made it back to venice.

but i did learn something--when in doubt, don't use mapquest, don't use BB navigator. ask your friends on FB! Day 3: Burbank, Hollywood, Venice. I wasn't sure about what street to take to get back to venice and within seconds after posting on FB, i was home free!!

But here's the thing about driving lost...it gives me lots of opportunity to shoot. shoot things that otherwise i wouldn't see. early morning fog, evening sunsets...good parts of town and parts of town i shouldn't be lost in. but then i look at the images that i got by sticking my arm out the window and i'm amazed. what luck to drive lost and be able to see such beauty...

i'm actually pretty fortunate to have this opportunity and i'm especially lucky to have people following me enough to be able to help me out of a jam and get me going in the right direction...

Shooting While Flying

So if you know me at all, you know I am terrified of flying! I can't figure out if it's worse to have no stress and get to the airport in plenty of time to park and get through security but then have to wait in the terminal and stress out about flying, or to run late, just make it through security and run for the gate, not knowing if i'll actually make my flight and stressing out about that.

A friend of mine recommends getting there early, so less stress. BUT, what about all my anxiety that happens while I sit at the gate waiting for my flight. Don't think about it, he says. Easier said then done...

So my new way of trying to fly with less stress (without the benefits of drugs or alcohol) is to shoot out the window while flying. Now I sit over the wing (where someone told me there was less turbulence--NO, not true...), turn my iPOD as high as possible so i can't hear anything the flight attendants or pilots are saying about bad weather and start shooting. It's actually kind of cool, but some windows are definitely better to shoot out of then others. How do they get so scratched up? And then try using a polarizing filter while shooting...quite a challenge for me...

Shooting while flying has been a lot of fun--usually. Except that now i get really good close-up views of the wings shaking when we hit turbulence. That's when i squeeze my eyes shut and tighten my seat belt (which i NEVER undo while in the air). And there was that time flying into LA when i was getting these great shots of all these homes when I suddenly realized that i was looking straight down, which meant that the plane's wing was pointed straight down. I slowly backed away from the window, put my camera down and tightened my seat belt...

Buildings

While i'm driving i pass lots of buildings. i usually never know what's inside. i can never find the building i'm looking for. But the tall ones...the really tall ones...at stop lights i turn my head and peer through my open car window trying to see the top. i stick my camera out and point straight up and start shooting. my favorite buildings are the ones with all glass. the sunlight reflects off of them and can blind you completely. but you also get to see the building across the street mirrored in the glass...i guess i should stop looking up and start looking forward and drive...

Bridges

The most fascinating thing for me about bridges is usually the body of water that i'm going over. It's almost always the San Francisco Bay. And it's one of three bridges--the San Rafael-Richmond, Bay Bridge or the Dumbarton. I love seeing the Bay--the sail boats, the ships, the wind surfers, the water--it's amazing how the water can be so many different colors.

But now as I travel over the bridges, it's not always the water i'm looking at, but rather the actual structure of the bridge itself. Have you ever really looked at the different components of bridges? It's amazing and totally cool! As I stick my arm out the window in hopes of getting a close up of a particularly interesting metal angle, my biggest hope is that i don't drop my camera...