Weekend Photos: The Good Word
Photo by khardy
Photo by All City
Photo by Wayne
Photo by y2bd
Photo by Lorcan Keating
Photo by Michelle Chandra
Author: eugenia
Eugenia Chien has been eavesdropping on the 47, 49, or 1 lines since the mid-90's. She lives by the adage, "Anything can happen on Muni" (and also, "That's not water.")
KNSFW: NYC Train Pole Dance
This just in from the other coast: public transit is a turn-on. This skilled dancer was videotaped performing an impromptu pole dance on the L in New York. I’m not sure why this video had an age verification warning on YouTube, though. His shorts covered all the essentials.
Was this a underground transit pole dancing flash mob? The local CBS affiliate seems to think so.
It reminds me of the spontaneous pole dance performance that Sonia spotted on the T-Third. Good times were had by (almost) all.
* Kinda Not Safe For Work. Tee hee.
Introducing Our Twitter Masters
What could possibly happen on Caltrain (left) and BART (right)? Ask our new Twitter masters.
What shenanigans are happening right now on public transit in the Bay Area? If you follow us on Twitter, you’ll know. In addition to @munidiaries, we have two excellent people at the mic of @CaltrainDiaries and @BARTDiaries: Laura and Ed! They’re curating the best slices of life on Caltrain and BART, minute by minute.
Laura has been at the helm of @CaltrainDiaries since 2009, when she approached us at Muni Diaries Live with an awesome Caltrain story. As you might guess, that is the quickest way to our hearts.
More about Laura:
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Laura’s first public transportations experiences were with the VTA (that’s Valley Transit Authority in the Peninsula) and Caltrain. Little did she know she’s end up taking Caltrain from San Francisco to Palo Alto, from Palo Alto to San Francisco, over and over again as a adult. Luckily the latter trips came with a smart phone and the know-how to always tag off.
Mr. Ed Casey is the newest addition to the Diaries team. We found Ed through his blog, BART Don’t Lie, and his hilarious tweets only meant one thing: We have to assimilate this dude as soon as possible.
More about Ed:
A survivor of five years of the daily Concord to San Francisco BART run, Ed has witnessed all of the finer points of BARTing up to and including occupying multiple seats with bags of smelly, drippy take-out, nail clipping (fingers and toes), passed-out drunks, terrifyingly conscious and talkative drunks, and overall societal breakdowns that made him question the very existence of human decency. Ed is tired.
So if you’re on Caltrain and BART, remember to follow and tweet @CaltrainDiaries and @BARTDiaries. Laura and Ed could make you internet-famous for at least 15 seconds! And you’ll never be bored on your commute again.
Winner of Endanger Bus Photo Contest
Photo by J. Fred Decker
We’re honored to announce the winner of the Endanger Bus photo contest: J. Fred Decker, whose winning photo is featured in this post! The competition was judged by Cheryl Haines of Haines Gallery; the winning photograph will be printed in the summer issue of Bay Nature magazine. Congratulations!
A little more information about the photo from the photographer:
I’m excessively enthusiastic about geolocation apps on my trusty iPhone and the real time mapping of endangered bus locations (and tracking paths) spoke great coolness into my fevered brains.
I noticed the Mission Blue bus just had to be the wonderfully-routed 44 O’Shaughnessy and would therefore pass through two of my most favorite places: Golden Gate Park and Glen Canyon, each replete with gobs of urbanized nature in various states.
Even better, I had just been up atop Glen Canyon volunteering to remove invasive plants in a CNPS (Cal. Native Plant Soc.-Yerba Buena Chapter) Wednesday Work Party.
Coincidences? You be the judge.
So I lay in wait first in the park and then along O’Shaughnessy below the area where, just days before, I was roaming about removing invasive plants and making new floral acquaintances…
So, the “44 Mission Blue” was captured in habitat that might someday host the original Mission Blue’s!
The second place winner is Karen Schneeman, who will receive a pair of tickets to the San Francisco Zoo and two $10 Clipper cards. Four random winners were also chosen to receive a $10 Clipper card. The lucky four: Kristen Hopper, Robert Goins, Mike Collins, and Andrew Sawadisavi.
We received many great submissions for this contest. It was exciting to see the results of chasing after a bus that looks like a Mission Blue butterfly, a brown pelican, or a school of salmon swimming past your bus stop. Congratulations again to the winners.
Testing Handcuffs on BART
We found this photo on Matt Mullenweg’s blog — he’s the founder of Automattic, which runs WordPress. We’re huge fans of WordPress here at Muni Diaries. So, thanks, Matt!
Shooting Muni In My Neighborhood
I’ve been really fond of the harsh early evening light on Clement when I’ve been over here lately. It brings out some really fun shadows, but isn’t the easiest to shoot in. Seems black and whites come out a bit better so far, but I’ve had a little luck with both. This was taken by the New May Cheung market (home of the Y&Y Vietnamese Deli [home of fantastic Bánh mì]) Always an interesting mix of people out in the neighborhood. I’ve had fun shooting here.
This photo is a bit more processed than most of what I post. Usually I like to keep things pretty simple, but the lighting here gave me some difficulties with balancing the exposures, so in the end, I applied a few exposure gradients and some spot enhancements in lightroom to get dark shadows while still keeping some detail. I feel like black and whites are a bit more forgiving with the processing, or at least to my eyes, they are. I can usually do a lot more with these before they start to look over-processed to me than I can with a color shot.
What’s your favorite neighborhood to photograph?