Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

SF MOMA

Here's yet another picture from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It's a study in body language, showing a bunch of kidz exhibiting unbridled enthusiasm for the museum tour they will soon embark on. Yes, I know, the picture could be a little sharper.

 

Permanent Collection

Visitors admiring new Permanent Collection acquisitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. As photographed a couple of days ago.

 

Dew on Cobweb

It's pure magic when dewdrops form on a very tightly-knit cobweb. This along the Bear Valley Trail in Point Reyes very early this morning.

 

Stairs

Stairs at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (this morning).

 

Aquarium of the Bay

Shhh ~ please don't tell anyone that, now I'm volunteering at the California Academy Of Sciences, I paid a visit to the San Francisco Aquarium of the Bay last Thursday!

 

My picture shows a gigantic school of anchovies dashing over the walkway through the tunnel. Large schools of fish and flocks of swarming birds fill me with admiration and wonder. How do they do it? Who gives the signal? How do they avoid bumping into each other? How do they move as one body? What we do know, is that both the fish and the birds stay together for protection from larger predators. "There's safety in numbers"

 

Chihuly again

Risking redundancy, here's one more Chihuly. It shows the glass sculpture, which stood in front of the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, having been partially dismantled. To me it looked like a beautiful new sculpture, inadvertently created by the workmen that were taking the Chihuly down.

 

Early Morning

The sun was just rising over the Corte Madera Creek yesterday, as this gaggle of Canada Geese approached the Bon Air Bridge.

 

Portrait

I never said that my portrait photography was limited to gorgeous women. So here is a picture of Tom, a very handsome tomcat. And if you are allergic to felines, don't worry. This is digital photography! Almost organic!

 

Fall Colors

Fall colors!

 

Foggy Morning

It was a beautiful, foggy, morning at the Ponds!

 

Another one from the Albany Bulb. This Mona Lisa was probably done with a stencil, since I saw her in several places. Leonardo da Vinci's painting, also known as "La Gioconda", has been the inspiration for many artists, notably of the Dada and Surrealist schools.

 

Here's another one from the Albany Bulb, and there'll be more. I just love that place and am thrilled by the creativity of its artists. It's my kinda art, where found objects are used to come up with something totally new. As was the case with this ram. And for you younger readers, a ram is a male sheep. Random Access Memory came much later.

 

Paranoia

I think I'm suffering from a serious, advanced, case of paranoia. Often, when hiking on Mount Tamalpais, I have the distinct feeling that I'm being watched. I think I'll go and see a shrink. I just hope that he/she won't show me any Rorschach inkblots. There's no telling what emotions these might trigger.

 

I have always been very fond of amber. Necklaces, pendants, earrings, rings, you name it.

 

Amber is fossil tree resin, which is appreciated for its color and beauty. Good quality amber is used for the manufacture of ornamental objects and jewelry. Although not mineralized, it is often classified as a gemstone. A common misconception is that it is made of tree sap; it is not. Sap is the fluid that circulates through a plant's vascular system, while resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant. Most of the world's amber is in the range of 30–90 million years old.

 

There are a few trees behind my apartment building, and on one of them I saw this beautiful teardrop of tree sap glistening in the sun. The rest, as you can guess, is history.

 

Which proves again, that at times, beauty is right before your eyes. You just need to open them.

 

Bay Trees

This trail is called the Matt Davis Extension, though my friend, Peter Eisenberg, used to call it the Matt Davis Distension. It starts at the Pan Toll Ranger Station, and runs to, what we call, The Knolls, a spot of great significance, though I will not divulge the reason. The picture shows Bay Laurel Trees, bowed by the weather, but still very much alive. The trademark of these amazing trees is, that new branches will grow from horizontal trunks, even when these appear to be dead. The new branches grow straight up, seeking the sunlight. You will notice this when you take a closer look at my picture.

 

Waiting for a Handout

"I wish they'd hurry up and throw me something to munch on!"

 

As seen on the Sausalito waterfront.

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Them were the Days

Last Sunday I was taking pictures at the Sausalito Classic Car Show. Though I'm not a car buff, the beautiful hood ornaments really caught my eye. I especially fancied the pure Art Deco one on the 1934 Oldsmobile Touring Sedan. They sure don't make 'em like they used to!

 

Waterfowl

I can take one teenie picture of a Canada Goose and still be a Maverick, can't I? Though, perhaps it's actually a duck, gosh-darn! Back home we don't take pictures of 'em whatever they are. We just bags 'em and eats 'em. And downs 'em with a brewskie.

 

Mount Tam

Mount Tamalpais means to me what Yosemite must have meant to Anselm Adams. So here again, is my favorite mountain, from a new perspective. I took this picture yesterday, on a walk around the McInnis Park Wetland Preserve in San Rafael. Note Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin County Civic Center in the background.

 

Competition

Competition for tasty morsels was fierce at the Ponds yesterday. There were so many spider-webs, that bugs, bent on suicide, actually had a choice.

 

Test your eye-q. How many spider-webs do you see? Now look again.

 

Dew

It was a magic morning at the Ponds today. A thick fog blanketed everything. Literally hundreds of spider webs, laden with dew, sparkled like pearl necklaces. Not a spider in sight. They were probably hiding, waiting for unwary insects to get caught in their webs. But I didn't see any insects either. Once again I was awed by nature's wonders and full of questions. Where did the spiders come from? Where were they the rest of the year? How successful were they trapping insects? Why do they come out when everything is wet? Do they know Charlotte and Wilbur?

 

mahjong

Yes, I know that the picture is tilted, but thanx for mentioning it. Marti and I visited the UC Berkeley Art Museum to see "mahjong" the Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition from the Sigg Collection. There were more Security Guards than visitors, and I, with my camera, was being watched as if I was about to abscond with the crown jewels. As a result, I was forced to "shoot from the hip", and that's why the tilt.

 

My picture shows some of the painted polyester figures by Yue Minjun, created in 2000. There are more of these guys hanging out at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (also from the Sigg Collection), and I really like them. The direction Chinese art has taken is simply unbelievable. And this, under a totalitarian regime. I urge all of you to get off your duffs and visit one or both shows.

 

Ye Minjun was born in 1962. He resides in Beijing. His favorite motif is his own laughing face.

 

Uli Sigg, a native of Switzerland and its former ambassador to Beijing, is the most influential collector of Chinese art. His collection is comprised of more than 1,200 paintings and sculptures. Sigg is now considering donating his collection to the Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) government.

 

Doggie-Heaven

The Albany Bulb is a veritable Doggie-Heaven and a great place for dog-walkers. I'm always amazed at how they manage to keep their mutts in tow. And the dogs love to fetch in the water! Note the UC Berkeley Campanile in the background. If you must know ~ it stands 307 feet (94 meters) high, built in 1914 it was inspired by the clock-tower in Venice.

 

Vigil for Peace

It is hard to imagine that forty-four years have passed since student Mario Savio led the Free Speech Movement on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. Thousands of students battled police in an effort to force the administration to lift the ban on on-campus political activities.

 

Yesterday I saw these three lone Peaceniks (I consider myself one), sitting motionless on the University lawn, while children played in the background. (From their posture I assume that they may be Buddhists.) Have Americans moved from the Frontlines to the Mall?

 

And, once again, while involved, as my words indicate, I ask you to view this picture primarily as an artistic attempt, rather than a political message.

 

Albany Bulb

After a lengthy hiatus, I was back at the Albany Bulb in the East Bay. This time in the company of Marti Albion. Sadly, many of the sculptures and paintings, exposed to the elements, have deteriorated. Yet much beauty can still be found on this strange, isolated peninsula. My picture shows the large, mostly wooden, figure of a woman reaching skyward. This is the sculpture that greets the visitor as he/she descends to the main scrap-art area.

 

Forgive me for fiddling around a little with picture, but I just couldn't help myself.

 

Pelicans & Pintails

Today's picture shows five Pelicans proudly swimming past a group of Northern Pintails at the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District Ponds. I always marvel at how  birds, belonging to different species, do not budge when their space is being encroached upon by other birds. I wonder whether the knowledge of whom to trust, and whom to fear, is hardwired or learnt. Unless domesticated, most birds high-tail it when humans approach.

 

Warning! Never, ever, rely on my identification of ducks. This despite five, supposedly reputable, bird books.

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Envy

Somehow, my neighbor's trailer-stand got wind of my bike-rack portrait and, yellow with envy, insisted that I take her/his picture. Soft touch that I am, I acquiesced.