Exporing the Surface of San Francisco

San Francisco

     I looked forward to my visit in San Francisco – the storied city of the exciting hectic gold rush days, raucous wild west saloons and cancan girls, morphing into a vibrant cultural center in the gay nineties, and  the horrific devastation and fire that followed the 1906 earthquake!  Somehow, San Francisco had survived and been rebuilt and was, once again, at the beginning of the sixties,  California’s ”The Beautiful City on the Bay” -  replete with fabled cable cars, the Fisherman’s Wharf, The Golden Gate Bridge and magnificent historic landmarks.  Among these was the glamorous and elegant Sir Francis Drake Hotel, home to visiting dignitaries, celebrities, socialites and Royalty from around the world.

     During my European travels, I usually stayed in quaint little inns or ‘bed and breakfasts’ in small villages on the outskirts of town.  But occasionally I would splurge to stay in one of the famous, historic hotels.  There was no way I could resist the lure of “The Frances Drake” and surprisingly, it was not terribly expensive!  Even with my limited budget, I could easily afford to stay there!  And stay there I did!  Equally surprising, although the accommodations must have been luxurious, the towels soft, the toiletries deluxe, and the service impeccable, I have absolutely no memory of my time there.  

     I explored the city, rode the cable cars, sampled delicacies as I wandered around fisherman’s wharf and had a drink at sundown at the ”Top of the Mark”.  San Francisco lived up to all expectations, but it was standing in the presence of those towering, giant redwoods in Muir Woods that left me with my most vivid memory.  I don’t know whether it was the massive girth or height of the trees, the realization that they had withstood the vicissitudes of eons of existence, or the tight canopy of leaves so far above me that was so overpowering, but never before, or since, have I felt so utterly insignificant and inconsequential!  

     I fell asleep quickly.  I was ready for tomorrow.

A Seat With A View

The week before I left was really hectic!  At work, I edited and signed off on all my reports, wrote notes re “hot spots” and unfinished activities in the schools where I had worked for the psychologists who would take over in my absence, said goodbye to the secretaries, deposited my last check, waved to the banker who would follow my finances and finally headed home.   I had cancelled the telephone, dealt with the mail, dumped the trash, emptied the refrigerator, etc. etc. etc.  My landlord had made four little horses to jack up my car to protect the tires as soon as I left.  I had carefully packed my luggage. My to-do list was blank.  I watched TV for a while, took my shower and laid out my clothes for the morrow.   I was ready to go.

I awoke before the alarm went off and idled time until it was time to call a cab.   I made the millionth check of my passport, tickets and miscellany of documents, then trundled my bags out to the curb to the waiting cab and a champagne send off at the airport.  There, I was dismayed when friends and co-workers began arriving with little “departure” gifts in hand - a second lipstick, a small tube of hand cream, body lotion, an atomizer of deodorant for a time when I ran into an unwelcome stench, towelettes, etc.  They were all well thought out, useful gifts.  But I already had my 30 kilos of baggage!  I stuffed as many as possible into my pockets and purse until there was no more room.  Then, sadly, I had to refuse the rest.

The champagne came and we toasted each other, the trip, our supervisors, the world, the future, and ourselves once again. Then came departure time.  I gathered together my cameras, the binoculars, my coat and purse and struggled like a loaded (in more ways than one) coat rack up the steps onto the plane and into my seat!   As I felt the air under the wings, I heaved a big sigh of relief!  I was free! 

I still had a few bridges to cross!    There was a change of planes in Chicago—no problem.  My  plane was on time and I checked in promptly to avoid any last minute crowds.  As I did so, I noticed a large mock-up of the plane beside the ticket counter.  It had little red tags on each seat number.  No one said anything to me about removing my tag, and naturally, I wouldn’t have considered defacing an airport display on my own!  Who would have thought that such a decision would be my undoing - that leaving the tag indicated that that seat was unccupied! 

I didn’t hurry to be first on the plane, and when I got to my seat—there sat a US sailor!  I turned to the stewardess who told me to return to the counter to resolve the issue, but I refused, saying that I had checked in on time, was assigned the seat and that she would have to find me a place to sit. (I hesitated to move a serviceman.) I wasn’t getting off of that plane!

The plane was full!  Again the stewardess suggested I get off, and again I refused.  She had to do something with me, so she led me up through the first class cabin to a small lounge area next to the galley. The seat was not designed for comfort and there was no seat belt. but I sat down gratefully. (Today, of course, such a procedure would be off limits.)

The seat was a narrow, “L” shaped board around a small table,  but it had an unexpected positive.  Along side was a large, expanded, picture window!  I have failed to mention that although I had driven, alone, throughout Europe and travelled extensively around South America, this was the first time I had ever been west of the Mississippi!  It was a beautiful day and this window provided me with a “first class” view of the western USA.  I don’t think planes flew as high in those days, because I had a marvelously close view of the mountains all the way across to the Pacific, and down along the coast to San Francisco!   After all my travels, I was spellbound by my own country!                                                                                 

60’s Photography Meets The Electronic Age

It is almost incomprehensible how much digital photography and electronic media have changed picture taking for even the most experienced photographers! I had been taking pictures for years and lived in Rochester, New York, the main headquarters of “Kodak”, the patriarch of the industry. Kodak regularly had seminars to help nonprofessionals improve not only their skills at organization, exposure, etc. but also their ability to convey ideas and emotional toning in presentations.

For the uninitiated, there were many types of film with different qualitative strengths, and choosing the type best suited to one’s needs was very important. Fortunately, I had friends in high places at Kodak to help me make such decisions. They recommended that since I might want to compare paintings from child to child or country to country, all of my film should come from the same processing run, and as I would be away for such a long time, the film should come from the latest run available to avoid its becoming “out dated”.
Kodak processed all its own film. When you bought a roll of film, you also received a return “mailer” with a removable tab for verification. After processing, slides were returned to the return address noted on the mailer. Normally this posed no problems, but for me it was a huge one! I would be gone for months and out of touch. There was no way I could check my photos! I just had to trust to luck. I also realized that even if I took only ten pictures each day for the 15 months, I would have about 4500 unidentified slides when got home! Unlike today’s photos, a photo carried no date or GPS notation to clue one in about where or when it had been taken! The removable tab on the mailer was my savior! Each time I sent off a roll of film, I recorded the time and place I had taken the pictures and the camera I had used on the tab! When I arrived home, there was only one picture that I could not immediately identify! Then I remembered! One day, I was in a place that seemed to have nothing to classify it as being in any specific place in the world and I had taken a picture. The photo I could not identify was that picture! It could have been taken anywhere!
35mm film is perishable and fades with time - especially under conditions of improper light, heat and moisture. Since my pictures were such an integral part of my research and notes, verifying the venues where I worked and the reaction of the children and villagers, it was imperative that they be preserved as effectively as possible. Each slide was labeled, numbered and dated, then remounted in sterile glass, placed in cassettes that fit into the cartridges that went into my projector, and stored in a dark, air conditioned closet.

Fast forward to 2011! The pictures, despite their age, are in remarkably good condition, but in today’s electronic world are useless without being digitized. This has proved to be an almost insurmountable task! I located a company with a great website on the internet, Discount Digital Art, that agreed to test scan ten of my slides. After they were returned, with information re cost of doing future slides, I called the owner, who said he would have to “bring the photos up on his computer” and would call me back. He did not. Nor did he return a second phone call or e-mails. He obviously did not want my business.I returned to the internet and contacted other businesses. Some w(c)ould not process slides in glass mounts. Others could not assure me that the slides would be processed in the US., (I did not want to risk the possibility of loss.) Still others did not return my phone calls at all!. I was distraught! At last, after at least two more months of struggle, I found “Fred” at “Affordable Scanning” in Wisconsin, who not only listened to my problem and treated me with respect, but offered to test scan do ten slides “pro bono”. The scans were returned in good time, and the quality was of the digitized pictures was excellent. “Affordable” will have my business from now on! And I can proceed with my research!

Why did I wait so long to begin to work on my research? That’s a great question and the response is worthy of a later blog!