Category Archives: About the Snap

Favorites taken by the author

A snap over lunch

by

A picture of a fine man with his first born.

A happy, modern Pietà.

Date: May 11, 2012
Place: Rosamunde on Mission Street
Modus operandi: Looking forward to a cool beer
Weather: Parisian morning sun
Time: 12:39:44
Gear: Nikon D700, 50mm f/1.4 MF Nikkor-S
GPS: Click the image.
Medium: Digital
Me: A lovely man with a divine baby
My age: 60

I was traipsing around San Francisco’s Mission District, enjoying the locals and the murals, when hunger did its thing and directed me to the Rosamunde Sausage Grill on Mission at 24th for a pint and a sausage. After trying mightily to engage the very attractive barmaid in idle banter, and failing miserably, I opted instead for the Ninkasi ‘Spring Reign’ blonde ale, and got to chatting with a fellow diner in the welcoming beer cellar setting. The sausage of choice was a fiery Andouille, with the beer serving as fire extinguisher.

Bruce had a very small baby strapped to his chest and was a delightful companion. Handsome, open, with a straight gaze, a ready laugh and a natural curiosity, we got to chatting. He related that he was selling his restaurant down the road to concentrate fully on bringing up the baby. Spotting the Nikon dangling in that insouciant way from my shoulder, a style that only I can pull off, one thing led to another and he agreed to let me snap a picture of the two of them.

I took a small handful of snaps, composed very tightly, at close to full aperture. I lucked out in keeping both Bruce’s eyes (stolen, clearly, from Cary Grant) and the baby’s head and eyelashes sharp. Natural light from the adjacent window provides gentle modeling.

Bruce with his son, Oliver. D700, 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor-S at f/2. Click the picture.

For those readers who might understandably have questioned my sanity in fine tuning the focus indicator for this lens, the proof of the pudding is above. The eyes and child’s lashes are critically sharp, whereas the father’s chin is already blurred.

A friend with better eyes than mine, not to mention a knowledge of Hindu, relates that the father’s T Shirt is emblazoned with the word ‘Om‘. How apt.

The related large print is in the mail to Bruce as you read this.

Here’s the ‘contact strip’ from Lightroom:

Guard dog

by

Woof!

A man and his dog.

Date: April 1, 2012
Place: On Columbus Avenue in Little Italy.
Modus operandi: Enjoying the sidewalk scene.
Weather: Warm afternoon sun.
Time: 3:51:23
Gear: Nikon D700, 20mm f/3.5 MF Nikkor Ai-S
GPS: Click the image.
Medium: Digital
Me: Seldom have I met a dog I did not like – or one who was slower than me!
My age: 60

Red Light District

by

You wanna piece of me?

Click, you’re on camera.

Date: April 1, 2012
Place: Columbus Avenue, near Broadway, San Francisco.
Modus operandi: Happy to still have all my teeth.
Weather: Warm afternoon sun.
Time: 3:54:27
Gear: Nikon D700, 20mm f/3.5 MF Nikkor Ai-S
GPS: Click the image.
Medium: Digital
Me: “If your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough”.
My age: 60

Jason Statham‘s brother is on the right.

The Bagel

by

Mmmmm ….

A lovely, funny memory of a special place.

Date: April 1, 2012
Place: In the City Lights alleyway between Chinatown and Little Italy, San Francisco.
Modus operandi: Looking forward to a visit to City Lights to find myself.
Weather: Warm afternoon sun.
Time: 2:58:07
Gear: Nikon D700, 20mm f/3.5 MF Nikkor Ai-S
GPS: Click the image.
Medium: Digital
Me: A magic moment, luckily caught in a shaft of sun.
My age: 60

One Magic Second

by

Just divine.

One Magic Second.

Date: July 2, 2011
Place: 24th and Folsom Streets, San Francisco
Modus operandi: Loitering about.
Weather: Fabulous morning light.
Time: 10:10:46 and 10:10:46
Gear: Panasonic G1, kit lens at 86mm FFE
Medium: Digital
Me: Creating an indelible memory
My age: 59

Our boy has been taking cartooning lessons at the Sirron Norris studio on Valencia in the Mission District. Sirron is a marvelously talented cartoonist and his work is to be found on murals all over the Mission District. As he relates it, the only thing he recalls wanting to do as a child was to draw, and his vocation has become his profession. While Winston labors away under Sirron’s watchful eye, I traipse around the area hoping to catch a snap or two of the vibrant street life that is everywhere. Truly, few square blocks of San Francisco so abound with possibilities as do these.

Phil’z Coffee at 24th and Folsom is very much at the center of Mission District culture. On any morning you will find the locals gathered for a cup of joe and some gossip. And, if you get lucky, you will see some beautiful people there.

Phil’z Coffee at 24th and Folsom Streets. G1, kit lens @ 23mm, 1/500, f/4.7, ISO 320.

I was meandering along 24th Street yesterday morning and idly turned the corner onto Folsom where my eye was instantly drawn to this serenly beautiful young woman, posed as if for Titian and his oils. She saw me raise the camera deliberately to my face, gazed back at me untroubled and unthreatened, then looked down, lost in thought, the morning sun outlining her swan-like neck. The magic moment was over so quickly I found myself wondering if it had really happened, yet the processed film suggests it did. This is the sort of thing any street snapper absolutely lives for. Literally, One Magic Second.

Swan Neck. G1, kit lens @ 41mm, 1/320, f/5.6, ISO 320.

So fleeting was this moment that a check of the EXIF data for the two snaps shows both were taken within the same magical second of time – 10:10:46 am, July 2, 2011.

This sort of thing used to be the province of the rangefinder Leica but, frankly, that camera’s antiquated, slow manual focusing could scarcely be a worse choice for the modern street snap genre. Quite why anyone buys these anymore leaves me mystified – too slow for street snaps, no zoom lenses, too limited for anything else and silly-priced. Doctors and dentists, I suppose. Or should that be hedge fund managers?

Update: I shared these snaps with a friend who writes eloquently:

“That look…… the right half shows the shyly flattered contentment …(wild inward pleasure)….at being considered actionably photogenic.”