Alamo Square Park in the Western Addition.

On Dolores near 17th.

Russian Hill, San Francisco

As seen in the Tenderloin district.

Spotted this Leprechaun while lurking around the St. Paddy’s Day festivities on Front Street last Wednesday. Wish I could have hung out longer, but daddy duties called.  Photo ops were through the roof.

Each week we select one image from the Caliber Flickr Group to highlight on the site.  It was my turn this week to make the selection.  I know I always say this, but selecting just one image is never an easy task as there are so many exceptional images in the pool to choose from.  It’s like that scene in “Karate Kid” when Mr. Miyagi let’s Daniel Son pick one vintage car from his collection to have as his own.  I mean, that’s not an easy decision to make.

Anyway, I went through every single image in the pool and picked out a handful of my personal favorites.  In the end, I decided to run with Benjamin Heath’s fantastic portrait of local shoe shiner Larry Moore.  Not only do I feel this is a strong portrait by all aspects, but this man’s story is rather interesting.  Larry is always dressed quite dapperly — I’m talking outrageous Benny Blanco from the Bronx type suits that most would look ridiculous wearing, but Larry pulls off just fine.  Looking at Larry, you would have no idea that he was homeless, once living underneath the Bay Bridge.  He currently rents a hotel room for $600 a month.  I find this rather ironic considering this portrait for me screams high power exec making high power business moves in the boardroom.  I mean, check the full windsor knot and double-dimple in his tie!  It’s perfect.  Only in San Francisco…

You can read more about Larry HERE and HERE.

Keep those fantastic submissions coming!  I felt very inspired last night as I was checking out the slideshow of the group’s images.

Happy Friday!

Travis

Detail on one of the few surviving San Francisco movie palaces, the Clay Theater on Fillmore.

As seen at the Glen Park Bart station.

Give me some good rooftop access and I’m such a happy person. Taken today from a rooftop on Dolores.

This is my buddy Danny Fuenzalida.  He’s pro for San Francisco-based Think Skateboards.  Danny and I first met here in The City a little over 13 years ago. I was 18.  He was only 14 or 15.  Deluxe Distribution flew him out here from Chile to skate and hang out for the summer.  I believe he was staying with original Sick Boy Mic-E Reyes in the Mission or something, which must have been quite an interesting experience for a teenager from Chile.

Danny and I skated and hung out alot that summer he was out here, then we just sort of lost contact after he returned to Chile.  I only see Danny once every couple of years now, but still keep up with him in the skate mags and videos.  Danny is revered as being one of the most talented yet underrated skaters in the game.  I knew early on that he was going to do great things with skateboarding.  Some people just have “it.”

Over the years, Danny has lived in a handful of different cities and countries around the world, including Perth, Brisbane and Groote Eylandt in Australia, Port Hardy and Mill Bay on Vancouver Island in Canada, as well as San Francisco, San Jose and Miami here in the States.  He currently resides in San Francisco’s TenderNob neighborhood.

I shot this photo of Danny the other day after running into him and some other local rippers on Bush and Stockton streets.  They were on a filming Mission.  That was the first time I’ve seen Danny in probably three years.  It’s always nice running in to old friends that are doing well and living their dreams, especially in these trying times.

Cheers, old friend, and congrats on getting 8th place at this year’s Tampa Pro contest.  That’s huge!

Interesting fact: Danny has been riding for Think Skateboards since ’99, making him the company’s longest running pro.  Riding for the same company for 11+ years is almost unheard of, especially these days when skaters are jumping ship left and right.

16th & Mission Streets, this past Sunday morning at 11:10:11 am.

The other day, I was walking along the Embarcadero shooting photos with a friend when I spotted Adrian and his buddy skating Cupid’s Span (a large bow and arrow sculpture on the Embarcadero waterfront that sits roughly halfway between the Ferry Building and AT&T Park). 

Camera already in hand, I fired off this shot of him executing a buttery kickflip to fakie.  This sculpture is by no means easy to skate, as there is no runway and you land in gravel, so you literally have to get a running start right onto the sculpture. 

I shot this pic from approximately 40-50 yards away.  Surprisingly, it came out alright.  I would have liked to get the whole sculpture in the frame, but then Adrian would have looked like a spec of dust on the lens.

Not a fan of poaching skate shots, I approached Adrian afterwards, introduced myself, told him I also skated and let him see the pic I shot of him on the camera’s display screen. 

“Damn, that’s sick!” He exclaimed.

Turns out, Adrian was visiting San Francisco from New Jersey for the first time, so he was uber stoked just to be in The City, taking in the vibe and skating all the legendary spots…or what’s left of them anyway. 

“Have a good trip,” I said before parting ways, then watched as Adrian and his buddy skated off down The Embarcadero, weaving in and out of the pedestrians and other obstacles along the way.

This year they’re in LA at Molly Malone’s for St. Patrick’s Day, so if you live in LA, check ‘em out tonight.

Barry McGee (born 1966 in San Francisco, California) is a painter and graffiti artist. He is also known by monikers  such as Ray Fong, Twist and further variations of Twist, such as Twister, Twisty, Twisto.

McGee graduated from El Camino High School in South San Francisco, California. He later graduated from the SFAI in 1991 with a concentration in painting and printmaking.

McGee rose out of the Mission School art movement and graffiti boom in the San Francisco Bay Area during the early nineties. His work draws heavily from a pessimistic view of the urban experience, which he describes as, “urban ills, overstimulations, frustrations, addictions & trying to maintain a level head under the constant bombardment of advertising”.

McGee’s paintings are very iconic, with central figures dominating abstracted backgrounds of drips, patterns and color fields. He has also painted portraits of street characters on their own empty bottles of liquor, painted flattened spray cans picked up at train yards and painted wrecked vehicles for art shows.

McGee has had numerous shows in many kinds of galleries and was also an artist in residence at inner-city McClymonds High School in Oakland, California in the early 1990s.

He was married to the artist Margaret Kilgallen, who died of cancer in 2001. The couple has a daughter named Asha.

The market value of his work rose considerably after 2001 as a result of his being included in several major exhibitions. As a result, much of his San Francisco street art has been scavenged or stolen.

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” - Ralph Ellison

As seen yesterday on the fringes of Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, San Francisco.

I never saw the movie Sin City, but I sure have a lot of fun with the Lightroom preset of the same name. As seen on Polk Street yesterday.

One of my favorite “ghost signs,” on Larkin Street.

As seen on Mission Street near 14th.

Shot with my Canon AE-1 Program and Kodak BW400CN film.  I only have one lens for this camera: 50mm f/1.8.  She seems to hold her own.  Said this before, but I like this camera just as much as my DSLR.  Funny, it was less than one-fifth of the price.