September 10, 2014

if it is flat, it was probably once part of the Bay


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

San Francisco isn't all that old that we can't sometimes figure out where nature stopped, and modern "progress" took over.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Columbus Avenue is a bit askew to the other streets it intersects, but I like to follow its gentle slope to the shore, where the imposing Transamerica Pyramid now sits.

During excavation for the Pyramid's massive foundation, wooden ships were unearthed from the muck of the original shoreline of San Francisco Bay.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This is the old Transamerica Building built in 1909. It is now a church of Scientology. The new pyramid shaped Transamerica Building across the intersection to the south was built in 1972.

originally appeared on AphotoAday, November 10, 2012

2 comments:

Zoomie said...

Okay, these are marvelous, but I also have some questions. What is the first picture? Looks like the waist of a wedding dress, but I have never known you to photograph weddings. I love your shot of the Transamerica - the best I have seen of that icon! Wonderful other photos, too.

AphotoAday said...

Yes, indeed ZOOMIE--not much explanation on that particular blog post, but yes indeed, I love shooting wedding dresses, usually though storefront windows. I have shot one wedding, however, for a dear photographer friend of mine. She makes part of her living shooting weddings, so it was quite an honor and a large bit of trust that she asked me to capture the event at SF City Hall. I did managed to pull it off, but don't think that doing weddings is really my "thing". Anyway, I am a completely "straight" fellow, but have always admired the beauty of wedding dresses and storefront displays of clothing. There is a wig shop her in San Rafael that I never can pass by without snapping up a storm. Of course, I have to do my shooting on the sly--otherwise I risk being run-off by shop-owners. Anyway, if you type "wedding" into the Blogger search box, at the top left corner of the blog page, you will see four or five photos I've taken of wedding dresses. Curtains is another thing I can rarely pass by. Their folds and texture can be amazingly photogenic at times. Anyway, there's your answer, ZOOMIE. When I see any sort of beauty I try my best to shoot it. (((AND, since I used the word "shoot" here in this post 5 times, I now theoretically owe Ruth Bernhard (a very famous photographer from the 50's and 60's who strongly objected to the term "shoot") $1.25 for using the word "shoot". So the story goes, she used to carry around a mason jar full of quarters that she had collected from fellow photographers who used that rather violent sounding term.

 
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