another post with a sunset

The process for these posts is mostly what’s next in the queue, but sometimes, there’s not enough to hang together as a story. I used to care about that, but I don’t think I do any more. These aren’t picture stories; they’re just blog posts.

On one level, that seems diminutive and silly. But on another it’s relatively freeing; I can do whatever I want with this. If I wanted to talk about my new watch plans, there’s nothing stopping me. I don’t know why I ever separated that stuff, except that I assumed different groups of people would be interested in different aspects of what I was into, and domain names seemed easier than post categories. Oh well. Maybe I’ll fold what’s over on midnight.computer into this blog. just merge ‘em all together.

These photos are in reverse order, because they seem to flow better day into night. Also, they don’t bear any real relation to each other (the last three are on San Pablo, but that’s it). Just sort of shooting where I was when I was there.

one shot: laguna beach at night

middle of the trip, maybe thursday, we tried to get away from Irvine for a minute, ended up going to Laguna Beach, this sleepy little beach town maybe 20 traffic-free minutes from where we were staying. A moment to take a breath in a week otherwise jam-packed with work.

beach hike to tide pools

So this was actually the day before the last post, but last friday I just wanted to look at something pretty for the weekend. Anyway, this was a long time coming; to see the tide pools you have to go at low tide, and we had to shoot for a weekend day. So, after I missed the last time, we decided to shoot for a weekend, and this was the next available one. Low tide at something like 2:30 in the afternoon. I’m sure I could look it up, but it doesn’t super matter.

Walking a mile on sand is not the same as walking a mile on a dirt track or asphalt. If you’ve never hiked on a beach, maybe remember that when you’re planning.

I’m behind on my “two posts a day” pledge; I’m a lot closer to one, as it happens. I might not get to the end of the photos by the end of the month. Then, there’s also what I’m shooting now; I saw some nan goldin at SFMOMA and it reminded me of what I used to do with my pictures, even when I shot film. Anyway, I’ll try for two tomorrow; I’m out of effort for today.

flying through a sunrise

This was the start of the last Super Sprint, which is what my company calls bringing our mostly-remote team into the office every quarter or so to work in a focused environment, with all the engineers and stakeholders in a room. It’s pretty intense.

But, in planning for this, I decided I didn’t want to spend any more time in hotels and eating at crappy chains in Irvine (where the company is located for some reason). So, instead of flying in on sunday and sleeping there, I flew in on monday morning ass-early. My friend Mike says, whenever the subject comes up, “They have a 6AM?” as in, that time exists? I’m here to tell you it does, and it’s just as bad as you think. I had to be at the airport at 6 for a 7am flight; I think I got up at 4. So, by the time I’m on the plane, I’m all hyped up on caffiene and can’t even nap properly.

It’s a morning flight, and I’d chosen my seat so that I could look out to the east, flying south. I always try to do that; imagine what side of the plane will have a better view and sit on that side. Sometimes I don’t get the seats I want, but sometimes that works out in my favor anyway. This time I guessed right, facing away from the rising sun was just the ticket. I couldn’t believe the color that came through in the photos. It was just as unbelieveable in person, the whole world bathed in pink light. You wouldn’t believe so much of any color could exist, but there we were, right in the middle of it.

I say we, but I might have been the only person looking; the flight, being ass-early on a monday, was pretty empty. I know at one point I looked up and I was the only person with an open window. I’ve heard there’s a direct flight, 16 hours, from Charles de Gaulle to SFO, that is this, the whole way (assuming you catch it at the right time of year, I suppose). I’d love to do that some day.