Photography

Trippy Clouds and Empathy for the Vassals of La Lengua

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

Bernalwood Norrhwest

I took this photo with my iPhone last weekend while waiting for the traffic light on Valencia Street at Cesar Chavez. In the flash of an instant, I had two distinct thoughts:

1) Wow, doesn’t Bernal Hill look lovely against that freaky-streaky sky?!

2) No wonder those uppity La Lenguans resent us, the Overlords of Bernal Heights. It must feel so frustrating for them, to live down in the flats, having always to look up at our glamorous hill that towers majestically over their homes and drinking establishments. Poor poor La Lenguans.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Fresh Paint and Fine Fashion in Bernalwood Last Weekend

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Bernal Open Studio 005

New Neighbor Adrian Mendoza did the Open Studios art walk last weekend, and along the way he captured a quintessential Bernalwood moment:

A woman paints the outside of a residence in Bernal Heights, oblivious to a fashion shoot next door.

Adrian also snapped this shot of photographer Kingmonde Young framing a picture in his Cortland studio:

Bernal Open Studio 002

And he took a nice portrait of Bernal comic book artist Michael Scagliotti:

Bernal Open Studio 001

PHOTOS: Adrian Mendoza

Small Camera Captures Big Scene from Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Check out this very simple, very lovely photo @isaach took yesterday from atop Bernal Hill… with his iPhone.

Really, it never ceases to amaze me that our phones have become powerful creative tools. Think about it: If you had walked up to Henri Cartier-Bresson sixty years ago and said “Yo! Henri! In 2011 you’ll be doing some of your most interesting photography with a telephone!” he would have looked at you like you were insane. But now that’s simply routine — although it certainly helps to start out with such a naturally spectacular setting.

PHOTO: @isaach

All Clear on Bernal Hill Last Night

/ Todd_Lappin / 13 Comments

Ephemeral Summer

Ephemeral Summer

Ephemeral Summer

There are many clear nights on Bernal Hill, but nights that are both clear and warm are a rare treat. We hit the meteorological jackpot last night, so after eating dinner with a friend on my patio (another rare treat), I headed up to Bernal Hill to take a few snapshots.

No clouds. No wind. No chill. No noise. Just a sparkling city below, Sutro Tower blinking lazily from Twin Peaks, and an orange half-moon rising over Oakland.

Ephemeral Summer

Here’s another one from the same vantage point, with a passing car tracing the route along Bernal Heights Boulevard:

Ephemeral Summer

Let’s enjoy this while it lasts, people.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Alemany Farmer’s Market Report: New Neighbor Edition

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

SF Farmers Market 028

SF Farmers Market 006

SF Farmers Market 020

SF Farmers Market 008Our new neighbor, photojournalist Adrian Mendoza, explored the Alemany Farmer’s Market last weekend:

Made my first walk down to the farmers market – which was easy – the walk back up was the hard part (haha, I’d better get used to it).

Yeah, that walk back up the hill is a beast. But because Adrian is a newbie in our neighborhood, I’m glad he brought his camera during his trip to Alemany, since its always great to see familiar sights through fresh eyes. That helps explain how you get amazing photos like this:

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Or like this:

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Or like this:

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Oh, and by the way, the 2011 peppers have come in:

SF Farmers Market 003

PHOTOS: All photos by Adrian Mendoza

Bernal Hill, As Seen from McLaren Park, As Seen from San Bruno Mountain

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Bernal Cityscape

Reader Esther Reyes shared this terrific photo of Bernal Hill rakishly showing off against a backdrop of the downtown Financial District. She took the photograph from McLaren Park, to the south.

Now let’s pull back a little farther. Here’s a photo I took a few weeks ago of The Financial District, and Bernal Hill, and McLaren Park, as seen from high atop Mount San Bruno, even farther to the south:

Atop Mount San Bruno

Now let’s zoom in and enhance it for a closer look:

Stay tuned: Next time I’ll bring a lens with even more zoom.

PHOTOS: Top, Esther Reyes. Below, Telstar Logistics

Jane Underwood Sees the Lovely in Bernalwood’s Details

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

Pointed

Red Steps

Neighbor Jane Underwood recently submitted a nice batch of photos to the Bernalwood Flickr group, and though each one is different, they are all clearly of a kind. Jane has an eye for the small details; the lovely juxtapositions of color and shape that are so much a part of like in Bernal Heights — if you bother to look.

Billboard Overlooking Allemany Flea Market

As she explained in the caption for the above image:

This billboard overlooks my neighborhood’s weekend flea market. It’s the kind of eccentric scenery that, I think, city dwellers become so accustomed to that they often don’t even notice it after a while. I try never to take my San Francisco environment for granted, and that includes the obscure parts as well as the obvious ones.

PHOTOS: by Jane Underwood

He Liked the View from Bernal Hill So Much, He Moved Here

/ Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

Remember that old TV commercial about the guy who liked his electric shaver so much, he bought the company? Well, in a similar way, photographer Adrian Mendoza visited Bernal Heights for the first time recently, and he liked it so much he decided to move here:

Hello, I am a Vernal Birgin – oops, I mean, Bernal Virgin…

Attached is a panoramic photo taken on July 23rd – the first time I EVER set foot on the hill. It is comprised of five separate photos.

Loved it so much, I just moved in on Labor Day (just off Cortland Avenue).

I spent a total of 23 years as a photojournalist in the Central Valley. Most of the photos at this link are mine, including the aerial photos of the California Delta and the portrait of jazz legend Dave Brubeck.

I’m ecstatic to be living here now with my partner, a newly hired editor in the S.F. office of the Huffington Post.

Cheers!

Here’s his panorama (click to embiggen):

Welcome to Bernalwood, New Neighbor Adrian, and thanks for sharing your photos. Keep ’em coming, please.

PHOTOS: Adrian Mendoza

The Thin Line Between Fog and Not-Fog

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

There Is No San Francisco Without The Fog. It Defines Us.

Last night, photostar Bob Horowitz snapped the amazing photo you see above. It was a clear night in Bernal, but when Bob looked downtown from Bernal Heights Boulevard, he saw that the skyscrapers were shrouded in a thin layer of spooky fog that covered the ground like a whispy blanket.

I know this because I happened to drive down Bernal Heights Boulevard just a few hours later, and the spectacle impressed me so much that I also stopped to take a few photos of my own:

Fogliner

DSC_0658.jpg

But the funny thing is… I didn’t know that Bob had captured a similar shot; it was only after I got home and took a peek inside the Bernalwood Flickr group that I noticed we’d both been beguiled by the same phenomenon. Great minds, blah blah blah…

PHOTOS: Top, Bob Horowitz. Below, Telstar Logistics

This Glorious Bernal Hill Photo Made My Jaw Drop

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

I really can’t tell you how much I love love love this photo taken by Enzo Christopher Njoo and submitted to the Daily Secret. Over on Facebook, a viewer named Melinda cracked the code on the photograph’s subtle-but-clever color-coding:

Love the color contrasts…. red for the living , green for the one that sustains that life, and gray for the inanimate objects.

Click it to enlarge, then join me in a round of “Ooooooh! Aaaaaaaahhh!”

PHOTO: Enzo Christopher Njoo