Food Day and Farmers Market...

The smells, sounds, people, food.....  Tuesday and Thursday at the SF World Trade Center.

Hello Dali....

Fall....

"...  now the days grow short, I'm in the autumn of the year...."

Madness...

People lined up even a block away with no chance of seeing anything came and stayed anyway.

These girls really were having fun.  Right after Montgomery Street was closed, these girls did a full out sprint up Montgomery Street screaming away and just high as a kite.

Says it all.

When are they going to design implants....

Three in a row.  Evenly spaced.... each one on a cellphone.  The telecom industry should just design implants and get it over with it.   And you thought the "Borg" from Star Trek was fiction??  It's coming.

Design....

A good design is clean.  Combines elements of shapes, textures, colors, curves, lines, etc....  Although this car drives like an SUV and is about the size of an Aircraft Carrier.... there are some design elements I really like.  Those of you who know me well understand where this design element comes from.

It's in here somewhere.....

This image can be repeated a million times a day.... not just with the ladies.  I find that I am carrying a messenger style bag more and more.  Just too much stuff.

Happy Halloween...

The Press at Work...

The television news at work.  Giants now just 2 games to go....  BTW....still love my Nikon.

I want to be a statue.....

This guy actually stood there for a little bit in the pose.  Aspiring statue perhaps?

Makes you wonder...

One of my favorite photographers is a guy by the name of Chris Weeks.  He has a video and written material about Street Photography which he calls "Documenting the Human Condition".

There's a human condition story here.... this is where I really wished that I was a journalist.

I look at this photo and there's a lot of emotions here.  This chair looks awfully familiar too....

Beware of the Tree

You never know what you'll find walking The Streets of San Francisco !

Final Days of Summer 2010 part 2...

JPEG files don't do photos justice.  The RAW file is far better.  This was shot with my former Leica X1 - which I do miss.  OK...enough technical stuff.  As much as I will miss the summer days, the winter months provide some nice lighting and clear sky.

Final Days of Summer 2010...

Might be the last image I'll have of nice weather for a while.  Where did this summer go?  Why is it that the older we get.... time moves so fast?  My thanks to everyone who made this summer so nice.

What is Street Photography??

A common question that people who are into photography is, "what kind of pictures / photos do you take?" or something along those lines.  There's Landscape, Portrait, Wildlife, Sports, Wedding / Event, etc...

The one for me is Street Photography / Photojournalism.

"Street" is a form of photography made famous by many people but most notably, Henri Cartier-Bresson.  He captured life around the world but mainly around France in the early 20th Century.

Some called "Street" the hardest form of photography because you are given only a fraction of a second to capture "the decisive moment" when something eventful or mundane will occur around you.  The goal of the "Street" photographer is to capture that moment.

Something happens that will never happen 100% exactly ever again.  It's here and in a fraction of a second.... it's gone.  Lost forever.

In that brief moment, you have to not only be technically ready but also be able to compose and communicate what has occurred with your camera.

"Street" photography IS NOT just snapping pictures of strangers.  Taking shots of people from great distances (super zoom telephoto lenses).  Taking stalking photos - that's for the Paparazzi.

You are NOT taking pictures.  You are capturing moments and trying to communicate with that image a message, theme, feelings, etc....

The essence of this art form is to document human activity around you that the "Street" photographer experienced.

"There's a million stories in the naked city"  That famous tag line is true.  For me, "Street" photography is that.  With a camera in hand, capture a story visually is what I am after.

The ideal "Street" photographer would be either a ghost or having the ability to become invisible.

A "Street" photographer is there to capture life with the lens.  Not to be part of the story or stage the event.  That's where photojournalism and "Street" share the goals.

Images in Life Magazine or National Geographic are prime examples of this art form.

The photo below contained many elements of "Street" photography.

I would normally spend time editing the images.

But to help explain let's look at the photo....

The woman to the left talking on her cellphone.
She was talking to someone about what happened at work and was giving her opinion on what to do.
(you couldn't get that info from shooting with a super telephoto lens).

The man and woman crossing the street and having a conversation.
They were talking about a restaurant.

The woman in white pants looking at her smartphone.
Reading either a text message or email.

The cab driver having to stop for the pedestrians.
Getting angry about having to stop.

Nothing really interesting here....just another moment in time.

Just that consider this....
25, 50 or 100 years from now.... should this image survive, someone is going to look at this and see and hopefully get a taste of what life was like when it was taken.

That person would be amazed by the clothes we wore, the cars of the day, the gadgets we used, etc...

Should this image make it and someone spends more than a second looking at it, it would have served the purpose that yours truly did that day.

To me, that's the essence of "Street Photography" and the genre I've chosen.

Who let the inmates out...

Tourism is a big deal in San Francisco.  Visitors from all over the world gather here.  With any tourist place, there's a whole bunch of vendors selling stuff.

These visitors must have really went nuts over Alcatraz.  I give this entire group a lot of credit for having just the sheer nerve of walking around in the Alcatraz garb.

I wasn't able to place the accent when they were talking but one thing for certain, they really knew how to enjoy themselves.

Improving Education...

Here's an idea.  Let's get back to basics.
California is near the bottom in terms of education results.  The United States as a whole is well behind other countries in the world.  Throwing money at the problem isn't the only solution.  Someone has to look at what is working elsewhere and perhaps do something that education did teach us long ago..... learn from the past.

I'm entitled...

A cute girl walking in front of the car while the camera is in my hand.... ok, I'm human and I'm entitled since I've kept this blog rated "PG" all this time  ;-)

Start of another morning....

Just something about the early morning light.

Go Giants....

You really have to be a diehard Giants fan to put out all this effort.  If they wanted attention... boy did they get it.  The media jumped all over this truck along with a whole bunch of Giants fans waiting to get in to today's game.

Geometry....

Straight lines.

What Dogs really feel at times........

"This is what I really think about you humans"

Let the world move around us......

A crowded area with a whole bunch of visitors around them, yet these two young people had not a care in the world except for each other.... had to end this week on a happy note!  
By the way, remember to see this and more on my web site  http://stevefoonphotography.blogspot.com.

Mother Nature will one day reclaim it all....

A factoid.  Sacramento is actually built on top of itself in order to raise the street level above the Sacramento River.  This column once was part of a building that is now a small open area park at the original street level.

Goldfinger...

For some reason... looking at this picture, I keep on hearing Shirley Bassey singing the title song "Goldfinger" in my head.

Busted...

The key to successful Street Photography is to capture those moments in time.  To do so not by sneaking around with a "pen camera" or some other spy equipment.  The key to the art is to blend in and take images that appear in view.  By law, anyone out in public automatically surrenders a certain degree of privacy and as a member of the National Press Photographers Association, I am duty bound to adhere to their standards.  Every once in a while, you are outright caught taking a photo.  This young lady caught me and gave me a quick smile.  What can I say... I'm human.

Meet our Senior Policy Advisor......

Considering all the jokers we have making decisions, who's to say this guy can't do any better.

Something soothing for the work week....

Just some plants, water and rocks..... it's a Zen thing.

Being the Boss has it's Privileges

You never know what you'll find walking around.  That's the magic of street photography.
Right outside of Alioto / Lazio Sea Food in the middle of the driveway, he took his chair and decided to camp out.   Yes, he was still breathing.  Must be nice being the boss.

Who's winning?

The Empty Chairs and Empty Table question has been solved.  The question now is... who is winning the game?

To Downtown

There's been too many black and white images lately.....
Just wanted to add some color with this sign in Old Sacramento.

Empty chairs and empty table..........

In the middle of a high traffic area, someone set up two chairs, a fold up table and what appears to be the game of "GO".  The amazing thing is that the people who set this up wasn't around and with all the people traffic in the area, no one disturbed the game.

A Lot on the Mime

I was going to save this image for the book.  Taking time out from performing and deep in thought.

You can also see this very same image on my Gallery page on the Leica Fotografie International site (http://us.leica-camera.com/photography/lfigallery   (Click on "To the LFI Gallery" and search on "Steve Foon Images")

You can always count on me...

There are times where there is no better friend than the unconditional love of our pets.
Sorry for the image quality, this one was really cropped down.

For God's Sake.....

You know the can is full.  Stop and take your damn trash to another can !  There was trash all over.... in the sand and in the water too.  What is more insulting is that not more than 50 feet away were two other garbage cans that were only half full.  Come on!  We're humans..... oooops, maybe that's the problem?

Reality Check

When is this going to stop?  There's something really wrong where scenes like this still exists.

I like what this bird has to say....

The bird has the right attitude !

To all my friends:  If you wish to be removed from my email list, please let me know.  I didn't realize that a copy of the image was sent on each email alert that my blog site sends also sends the images.  The official website is http://stevefoonphotography.blogspot.com   I currently also have a Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_foon_photography/.  Lastly, I will soon have a gallery page on the Leica Fotographie International (LFI) site.

Plants are like the Energizer Bunny

All these trees were planted about 27 years ago.  They now have taken over an entire side and has hidden the fence that is behind this mini forrest.  They keep growing and growing and growing...

Crassula Ovata

This plant is well over 50 years old.  It's original place was destroyed years ago by a relative who didn't appreciate nature.  Luckily it was saved by my mom and to this day it still thrives.  The official name of this plant is Crassula Ovata.... commonly known as a Jade Plant, Friendship Tree, Lucky Plant or Money Plant.

Street Scenes

Goodwill Ambassador - Platinum.

Street Scenes 2

A crowd.  Wonderful sounds.  Applause from the audience...... Kevin Kooyumjian is back.

PLATINUM

There are many performers on the Streets of San Francisco.  Pantomimes are part of our landscape, but when someone is making our visitors smile, laugh and are walking away happy.... there's something going on here.  His name is Platinum.  His moves and the way he interacts with our visitors is a gift.  So the next time you are in Fisherman's Warf and you see a crowd of happy people.... take a minute, take a look and support our local artists !