In the Mission District, SF.

Goodness, but the light here is to die for.

On Mondays many of the stores lining 24th Street in San Francisco’s Mission District are closed after the weekend’s revelries, meaning that relatively few cars are parked on the street. This makes for great picture taking opportunities.

Nikon D3x, Sigma 35mm/1.4.

If the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 has any failings, other than its great bulk and weight which are tough to avoid given the laws of physics, it’s a tendency to flare pretty readily into the sun, as the halo in the first snap here illustrates. But the lens is of such stellar optical quality that this shortcoming is easily forgiven.

Speaking English in the store in the second picture will not get you anywhere …. such is the tragedy of biculturalism, which damns its proponents to secondary economic status. But who could deny the beauty of the setting?