Photo diary: Stand back, please
Photo by Flickr user __mikey
“They say to stand behind the yellow line. I was on it.”
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Category: Photos
Photographer Kristen Holden: Love Stories on Muni
Photographer, poet, and model Kristen Holden‘s pictures of Muni riders have caught our eye for a while. We found her on Flickr as “SFLoveStory” and tracked her down to find out what makes Muni such a great subject. Holden grew up in Chicago and has lived in San Francisco for almost seven years. She lives in Russian Hill with her musician boyfriend and their “talentless dog.”
What is it about Muni that inspires you to take photos there?
This simple answer is: I ride a lot and I shoot my surroundings more than I do anything else. But what makes Muni rife for photographic capture is that the exterior environment is always changing around the same structure or, like, bones of the scene. There are endless characters to make up stories about.
What’s it like taking pictures on Muni?
I think people generally assume I’m a tourist. Once in a while someone will ask me about my camera and why I shoot film (I’m currently shooting with a second-hand Canon EOS Elan II SLR with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.)
Got a favorite Muni line?
I ride the 45 and 30 to get from Russian Hill, where I live, to downtown and vice versa. I take the 47 and 49 quite a bit. Oh, and I’m one of those weird people who actually rides the 19…it gets the closest to the film-processing center I go to in SoMa. I love the cable cars and streetcars too. The mint-green colored streetcar from Brooklyn (Car 1059?) is my favorite.
You can see more of Holden’s photographs on her website, Kristen-Holden.com.
Weekend Photos: See you tonight
Photo by Flickr user kimchidonut
This week was particularly rollercoastery in the Muni news department. Some highlights:
– Over the weekend: Muni bus operator sent to hospital following attack (CBS 5)
– Value of stolen copper wire from Sunset Tunnel: $60-66. (SF Weekly)
– MTC report shows dismal future for transit operators (Streetsblog SF)
– Muni operator becomes second female ‘gripman’ in cable car history (Examiner)
– SFMTA board approves two-year budget by 4-3 vote; Muni cuts extended (Streetsblog SF)
– Pedestrian Dies Following Muni Accident at Mission and Beale (SF Appeal)
– Wall Street Journal asks: What grade would you give NextBus?
– Muni service cuts (see fifth item, above) could be pared back (City Insider)
– Man killed by Muni light-rail vehicle at Castro Station (SF Appeal)
Whew! What a weird, shitty, wonderful week it was. It’ll be capped off by Eugenia and The Poetry Store‘s Silvi on Pirate Cat Radio today at 5, and of course, Muni Diaries Live! Breaking It Down at the Make-Out Room at 7:30. See you there!
Photo by Flickr user Generik11
Photo by Flickr user Whole Wheat Toast
Photo by Flickr user B4YK1D5
Muni Cute Overload
Rider Joey sent in this picture taken on the 45 the other day. Yeah yeah yeah, say what you will about muzzles and stuff, but I am such a sucker for little furry animals. I mean, look at that face!
iPhoneography: BART busking
Photo courtesy iPhoneography. One in a series by Flickr user zphone.
BART busking fascinates hell out of me. Since I was a kid and visited big cities, I was always enthralled with musicians, etc., who did their thing for the throes, the passersby. Most of them are really good, if you give them more than a passing listen. Do that sometime, eh?
File under: Projects I’d love to undertake, in some alternative life where I have time to undertake more projects.
Three guesses on this ‘Day in the Life’
Three guesses on how the above picture represents a “day in the life on Muni.”
Ok, go!
A closeup of the sweater on the passenger next to you?
Nope.
A piece of fuzz found hanging from the fare box?
Still no.
Nothing?
Head over to Burrito Justice to find out how the fantastic Eric Fischer created these maps from NextBus data. This makes the frequent long waits for Muni almost … poetic, no?