The Hunt for Blossoms and Thorns

In the City of Richmond (CA) is a place time has passed when farms and fishing were a way of life. Managed by three Japanese-American families the domestic flower industry has fallen on hard times unable to compete with the cheaper imports. Today the greenhouses stand as shadows of the past while the roses are surreally viable even bursting through the broken panes on the greenhouse roofs.

HDR Basics - Using Photomatix and Removing Ghosts

HDR Basics Using Photomatix -

Playland at the Beach Lives On

Playland at the Beach Lives On, a set on Flickr.

Remember San Francisco's Playland at the Beach? You don't? Oh well, you're probably a lot younger than I and can be forgiven.

While Playland no longer exists, having gone seedy and even scary in the 60's and then got itself replaced with condos and a supermarket when no one thought it worth the face lift, some of it lives on. Like at the Musee Mechanique at San Francisco's Pier 43.5 and Playland Not at the Beach in El Cerrito on the east side of the bay.

Both are worth a visit. The Musee Mechanique is free and fun though you might just drop a few quarters into a machine or two to see how they work and take you to a yesterday when fun was a much simpler and cheaper endeavor.