empty spaces

A while ago I saw a collection of photos of Hong Kong where the photographer had taken photos of the city in such a way that it did indeed look not only deserted, but abandoned. His technique was simple, but rewarding - he just used a telephoto lens, picked a spot and just waited and waited until everyone cleared off from the desired shot, sort of like inverse bird-watching. I wish I could remember where I saw the photos, as it was a really great set.

It's not an unexplored theme though - this gentleman took photos of an oddly abandoned looking London by scooting around on a bike on Christmas morning. There's a whole group on flickr that I've just discovered devoted to the topic of normal towns looking like ghost towns.

One bloke who has done well out of the idea is Christopher Thomas. His formula was to get around New York in the predawn light with a larger format camera and he gets eerie, luminous images of New York (book link here).

Caliber SF Halloween Photowalk

The excellent folks at caliber SF organised a Halloween photowalk across SF yesterday; it was a riot.

Full set here, even more from the other photogs here :)

Blue Angels at San Francisco Fleet Week, 2009

Slideshow here.

Why I ride a bike

Route 1: Getting the 22 MUNI bus back home from work


Distance: 6.7km
Time: 45 mins (not including time to walk to the bus stop!)
Average speed: 9km/h (!!)
Pros: Not driving, can read a book
Cons: Getting stabbed in the pancreas, the malefic odour of a San Francisco transient as they sit right next to you

Route 2: Riding my bike


Distance: 11.0km
Time: 37 minutes
Average speed: 18 km/h
Pros: Exercise, the view along the waterfront, not being tied to a bus schedule
Cons: Headphone-wearing pedestrians walking out in front of you, splashback from the giant octopus that occasionally tries to destroy the Golden Gate Bridge