jtotheizzoe: Through the lens, let’s journey through time. Another entry for Friday’s Amazing Journeys. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was shaken by a massive and legendary earthquake. The quake and resulting fire decimated the city, killing as many as 3,000. A few weeks after the quake, George Lawrence took the iconic photograph pictured above (top). The aerial panorama shows the true extent of the damage, and it’s darkly fascinating. Click here (do it) to find an embiggened version, to explore down to the pixel, almost to the individual face. Of course, airplanes weren’t even three years old by this time, so aerial photography techniques were quite different than they are today. Airships were expensive and hard to control, so how did Lawrence do it? Kites. That’s quite the setup. Cameras weren’t exactly available off the shelf, either, so Lawrence had to build his own! A century later, a group of photographers and tinkerers led by Ron Klein wanted to recreate the picture, using modern San Francisco as a backdrop. They built a modern version of Lawrence’s camera, attached it to a helicopter, and the result is the bottom version up there. And of course, this journey wouldn’t be complete without an equally embiggened version of Klein’s feat, too. Who says you need a time machine? (images via Ron Klein Photography and USGS, hi-res photo 1 and photo 2) jtotheizzoe: Through the lens, let’s journey through time. Another entry for Friday’s Amazing Journeys. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was shaken by a massive and legendary earthquake. The quake and resulting fire decimated the city, killing as many as 3,000. A few weeks after the quake, George Lawrence took the iconic photograph pictured above (top). The aerial panorama shows the true extent of the damage, and it’s darkly fascinating. Click here (do it) to find an embiggened version, to explore down to the pixel, almost to the individual face. Of course, airplanes weren’t even three years old by this time, so aerial photography techniques were quite different than they are today. Airships were expensive and hard to control, so how did Lawrence do it? Kites. That’s quite the setup. Cameras weren’t exactly available off the shelf, either, so Lawrence had to build his own! A century later, a group of photographers and tinkerers led by Ron Klein wanted to recreate the picture, using modern San Francisco as a backdrop. They built a modern version of Lawrence’s camera, attached it to a helicopter, and the result is the bottom version up there. And of course, this journey wouldn’t be complete without an equally embiggened version of Klein’s feat, too. Who says you need a time machine? (images via Ron Klein Photography and USGS, hi-res photo 1 and photo 2)

jtotheizzoe:

Through the lens, let’s journey through time.

Another entry for Friday’s Amazing Journeys. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was shaken by a massive and legendary earthquake. The quake and resulting fire decimated the city, killing as many as 3,000.

A few weeks after the quake, George Lawrence took the iconic photograph pictured above (top). The aerial panorama shows the true extent of the damage, and it’s darkly fascinating. Click here (do it) to find an embiggened version, to explore down to the pixel, almost to the individual face.

Of course, airplanes weren’t even three years old by this time, so aerial photography techniques were quite different than they are today. Airships were expensive and hard to control, so how did Lawrence do it?

Kites.

That’s quite the setup. Cameras weren’t exactly available off the shelf, either, so Lawrence had to build his own!

A century later, a group of photographers and tinkerers led by Ron Klein wanted to recreate the picture, using modern San Francisco as a backdrop. They built a modern version of Lawrence’s camera, attached it to a helicopter, and the result is the bottom version up there.

And of course, this journey wouldn’t be complete without an equally embiggened version of Klein’s feat, too.

Who says you need a time machine?

(images via Ron Klein Photography and USGS, hi-res photo 1 and photo 2)

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http://www.sfmade.org/

SFMade’s mission isto build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco,  that sustains companies producing locally-made products, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, and creates employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.

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Album art

Local SF musician Tycho with his beautiful ambient, IDM song Coastal Brake.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

85911 Plays

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You’re one gorgeous city, San Francisco. And I’m not just saying that because I live in your beautiful 7x7 miles. In San Francisco, I have met some of the most open-hearted and open-minded people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. That’s one of my favorite things about my city: its people. And the other beauties… Walking the streets downtown, majestic buildings born of the early 1900s tower over streetcars, buses, and the famed SF cable cars with their cables tick-tick-ticking below their tracks. Cherry-headed Conures, the wild parrots of San Francisco, chatter and fly between fruiting trees in one neighborhood, then across the city to spend time playing in the tall trees around Coit Tower. Ships pass to and fro under our famous red suspension bridge, through the Golden Gate; the regal headlands to the north and the green, green Presidio to the south. Here and there, some city corners are dog-eared, but like any person with imperfections, get to know them well and you’ll love them anyhow. In the end, if you stand back a ways, you can’t beat that view. - I moved to SF exactly four years ago, today. As we say around here, it’s my Sanfranniversary! I came to San Francisco from Rochester, New York; a small city best known for its industry—Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch & Lomb were all founded there—and for its prime spot on Lake Ontario where the Genesee River flows north over the Allegheny Plateau to meet the lake waters. Though the hot and lush northeastern summers of Western New York are not to be missed, should a dreaded nor’easter blow through in wintertime, a person might find themselves snowed in for a week. The six to seven months of dull gray every year really got to me after awhile. It wasn’t the harsh winters or precipitation that drove me away though. Actually, there was no strong push to speak of; instead, a pull. I felt the magnetism of the West Coast. It was 1997. I was in my junior year of high school when I first started rallying a posse of friends to head west. Destination: San Francisco. We read our Dharma Bums (Jack Kerouac). We read our Travels with Charley (John Steinbeck). The world beyond the small-town and the small-city and the parochial thinking that often accompanies them began to look mighty enticing. Fast-forward ten years from the time my wanderlust first kicked in, I was still living in Rochester, partially convinced that a small-town life was it for me. But I was a web designer who participated heavily in the new booming realm of social software. There was Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and all the endless possibilities of getting to know the people I met through other websites that, for the most part, were created, built, and maintained in the Bay Area. Interesting then, that in May of 2007, the world seemed to come to me. A friend from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a NY-based site called iminlikewithyou.com, suddenly and without warning introduced me to a Canadian who would become my husband. And he just so happened to live in SF. So, four years later, we live in my dear city and walk the streets I always wished I could. Flowers bloom here year-round. There are so many new species of flora and fauna to learn. Friends and family come from back east to visit and I greatly enjoy taking them on a tour of the city. And still, after my years of learning and showing my city to others, I find myself moseying through neighborhoods and discovering gems that not only was I unaware existed, but many SF friends haven’t heard of either—even in these times of Foursquare and Yelp! (I know there are places and things worth seeking out in any city that Yelp will never quite capture.) Something must be done about this! There must be a better way to digest and possibly share my findings. I decided a few months ago to start WalkingSF. And so on this, my four-year Sanfranniversary, I’m setting out to begin the walking and documenting of San Francisco’s hidden beauties. Under the aromatic eucalyptus trees of the foggy Sunset and Richmond District, and with the smiling faces of The Castro, through the dusty Mission, Haight, and SOMA, up and down the shady lanes of Hayes Valley, Pacific Heights, and North Beach, I’ll plot routes and walk as many San Francisco streets as my feet can handle. San Francisco amigos! Join me for a walk. Let us get to know this city even better than we knew we could!! And if you don’t happen to live here, layer up (even in summer!), and do come for a visit. Or please just continue to read along. See San Francisco through these eyes and find out all there is to love. -Coley Cheng

You’re one gorgeous city, San Francisco. And I’m not just saying that because I live in your beautiful 7x7 miles.

In San Francisco, I have met some of the most open-hearted and open-minded people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. That’s one of my favorite things about my city: its people. And the other beauties… Walking the streets downtown, majestic buildings born of the early 1900s tower over streetcars, buses, and the famed SF cable cars with their cables tick-tick-ticking below their tracks. Cherry-headed Conures, the wild parrots of San Francisco, chatter and fly between fruiting trees in one neighborhood, then across the city to spend time playing in the tall trees around Coit Tower. Ships pass to and fro under our famous red suspension bridge, through the Golden Gate; the regal headlands to the north and the green, green Presidio to the south. Here and there, some city corners are dog-eared, but like any person with imperfections, get to know them well and you’ll love them anyhow. In the end, if you stand back a ways, you can’t beat that view.

-

I moved to SF exactly four years ago, today. As we say around here, it’s my Sanfranniversary! I came to San Francisco from Rochester, New York; a small city best known for its industry—Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch & Lomb were all founded there—and for its prime spot on Lake Ontario where the Genesee River flows north over the Allegheny Plateau to meet the lake waters. Though the hot and lush northeastern summers of Western New York are not to be missed, should a dreaded nor’easter blow through in wintertime, a person might find themselves snowed in for a week. The six to seven months of dull gray every year really got to me after awhile. It wasn’t the harsh winters or precipitation that drove me away though. Actually, there was no strong push to speak of; instead, a pull. I felt the magnetism of the West Coast.

It was 1997. I was in my junior year of high school when I first started rallying a posse of friends to head west. Destination: San Francisco. We read our Dharma Bums (Jack Kerouac). We read our Travels with Charley (John Steinbeck). The world beyond the small-town and the small-city and the parochial thinking that often accompanies them began to look mighty enticing.

Fast-forward ten years from the time my wanderlust first kicked in, I was still living in Rochester, partially convinced that a small-town life was it for me. But I was a web designer who participated heavily in the new booming realm of social software. There was Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and all the endless possibilities of getting to know the people I met through other websites that, for the most part, were created, built, and maintained in the Bay Area. Interesting then, that in May of 2007, the world seemed to come to me. A friend from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a NY-based site called iminlikewithyou.com, suddenly and without warning introduced me to a Canadian who would become my husband. And he just so happened to live in SF.

So, four years later, we live in my dear city and walk the streets I always wished I could. Flowers bloom here year-round. There are so many new species of flora and fauna to learn. Friends and family come from back east to visit and I greatly enjoy taking them on a tour of the city. And still, after my years of learning and showing my city to others, I find myself moseying through neighborhoods and discovering gems that not only was I unaware existed, but many SF friends haven’t heard of either—even in these times of Foursquare and Yelp! (I know there are places and things worth seeking out in any city that Yelp will never quite capture.)

Something must be done about this! There must be a better way to digest and possibly share my findings. I decided a few months ago to start WalkingSF. And so on this, my four-year Sanfranniversary, I’m setting out to begin the walking and documenting of San Francisco’s hidden beauties. Under the aromatic eucalyptus trees of the foggy Sunset and Richmond District, and with the smiling faces of The Castro, through the dusty Mission, Haight, and SOMA, up and down the shady lanes of Hayes Valley, Pacific Heights, and North Beach, I’ll plot routes and walk as many San Francisco streets as my feet can handle.

San Francisco amigos! Join me for a walk. Let us get to know this city even better than we knew we could!!

And if you don’t happen to live here, layer up (even in summer!), and do come for a visit. Or please just continue to read along. See San Francisco through these eyes and find out all there is to love.

-Coley Cheng

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The Golden Gate Bridge and I—September 25, 2010 Flash Bullet Photography

The Golden Gate Bridge and I—September 25, 2010

Flash Bullet Photography

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The Good Gray City

“San Francisco! Is there a land where the magic of that name has not been felt? Bohemian San Francisco! Pleasure-loving San Francisco! Care-free San Francisco! Yet withal the city where liberty never means license and where Bohemianism is not synonymous with Boorishness.

It was in Paris that a world traveler said to us:
‘San Francisco! That wonderful city where you get the best there is to eat, served in a manner that enhances its flavor and establishes it forever in your memory.’”

—Clarence E. Edwords

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Large quote
I don’t know of any other city where you can walk through so many culturally diverse neighborhoods, and you’re never out of sight of the wild hills. Nature is very close here.

Gary Snyder, poet laureate of Deep Ecology [“a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs”]

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