Annalog

A few weeks ago I photographed the Treasure Island Music Festival. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros played early in the afternoon of the second day and got the crowd still stiff from dancing the day before up off their butts. The ensemble band oozed fun with an energetic, shirts-off performance. What better place to play hookie (while working) than Treasure Island. I felt like a pirate.

After several weeks of forgetting to look up their music, I heard one of their songs entitled “Home” yesterday. It transported me right back to Treasure Island. Check it out:

The barrel rooms at Robert Mondavi Vineyards are cool and dim. Beautiful French wood barrels harvested from forests owned by the French government — each store around 30 gallons of wine. New barrels cost about $1000. After they’ve been used, the barrels go for about $5 each.

Oh, how I enjoy summer. I took a long time waking up and getting ready this morning before heading to San Francisco on the BART. I’m still new to Muni, but I managed to get onto N Judah heading toward Golden Gate Park without too many hiccups. My initial mission was to get a photo near the UCSF campus, but that ended up falling through, and so I walked all the back to the Civic Center BART, stopping to look into small shops along the way.

Outside the Kaufhaus des Westens in the center of West Berlin, people rush to get on and off the U-Bahn, the main part of the subway in the city. Our group popped our heads inside the department just long enough to glimpse the incredible food section. Just a moment to catch the sights and sounds before we were off to Frankfurt again. Too short of a visit for a city as immense as Berlin.

Just a little over two weeks ago, my classmates and I set out for the former concentration camp Dachau just outside the city of Munich. The camp has been preserved and turned into a memorial—wooden bunks still stand inside the old barracks and simple, looming monuments to the dead spot the gravel yard. The museum is appropriately kept to the first barracks, and the grounds are quiet save for the occasional guide’s voice or rustling of feet. (more…)

The highway spreads before us and the day turns to night as we speed back toward Los Angeles from sunny San Diego. 

On Friday, I took a cab to a car rental place off Main Road in Cape Town. I picked up an old, junky manual transmission car and drove with Alicia into City Centre. We had planned all week to go driving around the countryside. Instead of the clear day we had hoped for, fog rolled in and it rained on and off throughout the day.

I left my flat in the morning and Alicia and I took a cab that cost far too much out to the car rental place. I sat in the driver’s seat and slowly got used to the feeling of sitting on the right side and driving on the left side of the road. Surprisingly, it didn’t take too long to get used to it. (more…)

In just two short days I will travel abroad to work as a photojournalist for two months. I will be taking my own gear: camera bodies, lenses, etc. Most of my gear lives in one bag, but, unfortunately, it is easy enough to forget to pack the other essentials that make life easier in the field.

What gear can I bring to make sure that I am as prepared as possible? Are there any accessories I could leave out? And what is absolutely essential?

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I arrived in New York City earlier than expected this morning and took my time getting up to Columbia, where the journalism workshop will be held. The day was, once again, absolutely beautiful—sunny, warm, with a light breeze. 

I managed, after quite some time wandering around Penn Station, to find the 1 train headed uptown. And before I knew it I was up at 116th and Broadway. 

I have yet to find the dorm I will be staying in and check in. I wanted to take just a moment to appreciate the summer that I will all too soon leave behind.

My flight arrived early this morning. It was beautiful; everything was lush and green in our garden. The air is filled with the sound of birds singing. It’s so different from what I’m used to now. Back in Berkeley it’s rare to hear anything but cars driving up and down the streets.

Tomorrow I’ll be off again. I am going to New York City for a journalism workshop at Columbia University for this week and then, before I know it, I’ll be in South Africa.