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Take the Hint
6 August 2024
Escaping the wet wind yesterday, we hiked over the hill. It was still foggy but it wasn't windy. We had no destination in mind and we didn't bring a camera either. It was strictly what we like to think of as scouting.
The Wall. We took the hint.
Scouting is what we do when we're looking for something to shoot but want to take some time to think about it. Which camera, which lens, whether it's worth a series or a simple shot.
We bring along what we consider our photographic sketchbook, which is our smartphone. It's often been dragged into duty as more than that, though. So we never feel like we're completely without means.
But on a jaunt like this, we just want to make a note of one thing or another, not get too wound up about it. Unless, of course, we get wound up about something (which we did, as you'll see in Friday's slide show).
As it happened, we thought we might do a couple of series of things we found on the other side of the hill.
This shot was a reminder of one of them.
The stairways of San Francisco, like its hills, are much written about and well traveled. But with stairways come retaining walls. And our retaining walls are often rather ancient (good thing, too).
In fact, we have come to think of them as something like Rome's Forum. They are our ancient ruins (although in good repair still).
This one even looks like a Roman wall, complete with cracks in the facade. So we took a shot to remember what we were thinking as we looked at it.
But it had a little advice for us. A big arrow pointing north under a street sign that promised "Grand View."
We took the hint and continued on.