Rainy Monday

I went to FedEx Office (I still want to call it Kinko's) to print out a few documents, as my computer all of a sudden won't recognize my printer via Wi-Fi, but for whatever reason, none of the machines' interfaces would recognize the flash drive. So, I came home and hooked up the printer with a cable (I know... why didn't I do this earlier?!?) and printed them off.

It had been lightly raining off and on and I was hoping to make it to the post office to post the documents, and to Photoworks to drop off a roll of film before the rain got either hard or steady, but I planned to take an umbrella just in case. You know... the one that I couldn't find.

So, along the way, I had to drop fifteen bucks for a new one. I left the post office and headed up (literally up) 18th Street as a change of pace, and stopped to take a photograph with my Rolleicord, which I had taken along more for the weight that it added to my virtually empty backpack than for taking photographs. It was this scene of a row of houses, with Sutro Tower rising up in the hillside beyond. With the exception of Sutro (built in 1973), it looked like something someone would have seen sixty years ago or more. And except for a few cars towards the crest of the hill, the scene was surprisingly devoid of parked cars.

These are the scenes I love to come across with the Rolleicord. It's not always possible, but I like to make photographs that have a timeless quality about them, something that is ruined by the presence of modern automobiles.

I continued on my way up 18th Street, crossed Market, up to Corbett, then up a flight of stairs to 17th Street, making my way home via Lower Haight. As I was walking on Scott Street, I passed a trio of young men who seemed to be talking about the houses across the way, a few of which were beautiful Victorian-style homes. One referred to the "castle-type thingy" of the houses... the towers/turrets. Because I'm the curious type, I researched "Victorian features" when I got home and discovered that the pointy top of many Victorian turrets is called a witch's cap.

The more you know.