Here they are, the last set of images from my trip to San Francisco! These were all taken with my iPhone, the only other camera I was equipped with while there.

Getting ready to board the tiny plane.

I loved how calm the water could be. So peaceful.

Every city has dark alleys.

A few more from Alcatraz.

Last week, you saw the world of San Francisco in color. Today, you’ll see it in black and white.

Now, I may not have extensive experience as a film photographer, but I did pay close attention to when I felt I should be using color and when I shouldn’t. Hopefully my photography will convey this, but I wasn’t switching haphazardly.

Here we go!

Street performance away from the tourists.

The last moments of this crab were spent watching a curious child.

Ok, so I don’t care how much of a tourist I am for seeing Alcatraz, but I knew I wanted to from the start.

And then, on the day before last, I decided to go up to Twin Peaks and admire the view…

And as I looked up to the peak I was headed for, I noticed a small group of people. My instant thought was “Really? Tourists? Up here? In a group like that?”

The view got more breathtaking with every step. But as I got closer to the peak, I realized… I just walked into a wedding. I managed to get there just in time for the handsome couple to say “I do”. How sweet is that?!

And I couldn’t help but take some pictures. What a wonderful place to get married. The ceremony was tiny, with only about twenty people attending, the weather was perfect and the couple seemed profoundly happy.

iPhone photos coming soon…

So last week, I finally put my Holga through its paces with extensive shooting in San Francisco, and it being a Holga, it decides to break, so a good portion of my prints are in bad shape from the negatives being damaged…

Oh wait…

Did I forget to mention a week-long trip to San Francisco?

I can’t say exactly why I’ve kept it such a secret from everyone, but I really went out of my way to do exactly that. Just needed a little privacy I guess. Sometimes, I like the idea of disappearing into oblivion without anyone knowing my whereabouts. Nobody but a handful of my closest friends and family had a clue until the news of my being there finally spilled out on my facebook page the day I was coming home.

If you’ve read my last post about San Francisco, you’ll know there was a reason I chose San Francisco as a destination. While there, I knew I wanted a distinctly non-touristic approach to my visit. As much so as I could manage.

So I spent most of my time wandering. Getting to know the public transit system, the locals (including the “weirdos”), the food, the beach, the piers, the micro-climates, the views, the architecture, the quiet spots, the busy ones, and on and on. I had no plan when I headed that way. My plan was to come up with one on the fly and feel the city rather than just visit it.

This is very different for me. I generally feel much more comfortable with a plan whenever I’m doing something new.

But as with anything in life, force yourself outside of your comfort zone and wonderful things happen.

So now that I’ve experienced it, would I live in San Francisco?

Yes.

In a heartbeat.

Am I going to?

Probably not. I’ll explain later.

Here’s some of the Holga shots I liked. They’re not necessarily in chronological order. I arranged them in the way that I felt would flow the best from one image to the next.

More to come soon, including iPhone photos.

A nice family-oriented neighborhood on my way to the beach. I took a really long walk along the Golden Gate Park to get to the beach and noticed block after block of this beautiful maze of wires.

Ahhhhh, the beach… One of the most relaxing times during my stay. Watching people write, dance, practicing karate moves, listening to music, cuddling with a significant other, doing Tai Chi, or, like me, wandering aimlessly.

The Golden Gate Park. Watching someone photograph the cherry blossoms.

Haight Ashbury, where all the hippies hang out. There was a distinctly different vibe there than anywhere else in the city. Like many other places in San Francisco, Haight Ashbury is a world all its own.

It was also the only place where I was offered drugs by five separate people in the space of, and I’m not exaggerating, 90 seconds! That made me laugh. I kept turning them down but they just kept popping out at me!

There was nothing particularly exciting to me about the “Crookedest Street in the World”. Except that view to North Beach. I only wished I had a zoom lens so I could do it justice.

Like it or not, there are two things you simply can’t ignore about San Francisco. Hippies as mentioned above, and gays. Ignoring either would be like ignoring the film industry in Hollywood. It’s just not reasonable.

And I’m sorry, but gay people are for the most part, extremely nice. That or in the gay community, I’m extremely handsome! I didn’t need to be gay to enjoy this part of town.

Oh and hey, I figured out why the Holga kept giving me such blurry images!! Turns out, the switch from “Normal” to “Bulb” (Bulb is for long exposures – you would need a tripod for it to look right), which of course is at the bottom of the camera (because where else would you put a critical switch to operating a camera?!), kept sliding over to Bulb without my doing anything. So every time I would prepare to take a shot, I learned to check and make sure it was still set to “Normal” since I wasn’t carrying a tripod with me.

This next shot, well I forgot to check. But man, look at that street’s angle!! Yes, walking around San Francisco is absolutely exhausting on the steep hills.

The “worst” day, weather-wise, was also my favorite. I had already walked across the Golden Gate Bridge a few days before, but it was raining hard that day and the wind was blowing like crazy, so naturally, I had to go hang out at a pier across from the bridge. Just to be alone and away from any crowds for a little while.

I will never be able to express the intensity of that half hour of my life. The sound of the waves raging beneath my feet, the tiny surfers in the distance taking advantage of the weather, the wind blowing like no other and the utter solitude on the pier with only some seagulls to keep me company…

Spectacular.

Earlier today, I walked into a wedding in the coolest place ever. I’ll post about it this coming week at some point, time permitting.

I don’t shoot as much film as I’d like to have time for, so yeah I’ve got a shot from as far back as when I was in Rome.

Rome’s Amphitheater. I’m starting to think that it’s not how crappy the Holga is supposed to be, it’s the way the film was loaded. I really don’t know what this thing is doing…

Right up by Millcreek Canyon on a beautiful (and rare) rainy day.

A lonely, less trodden path.

This was from a trip to Antelope Island from a while back. I like this first one. It feels like we’re looking up, but I was actually looking down a road back to the mainland.

Managed to get close to a buffalo. I wasn’t that brave, I stayed in my car.

And then he stopped to look at me…

And I can’t help it, I had to caption it haha

I’ve been getting threats to stop teasing and just post the film already. Yikes!

But before you hit the play button below, please… PLEASE read the following…

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch this thing on a laptop with no speakers attached!!!

I worked relentlessly to perfect the soundtrack to the film and it would destroy me to find out that anyone would accept watching this on a system that barely lets you hear anything. You have to experience the rich sound of the violins and the bone-shaking power of the bass. You just do. So yes, turn the volume up!

Another note. The video link you’re about to watch can be seen in HD, so if your internet connection is fast enough, please watch it that way (click on the HD icon, then click on the link to Vimeo’s site to watch it in HD there).

Ok…

Ready?…

Go!!!!

Every Day the Same from Raji Barbir on Vimeo.

And here’s the music all on its own if you want to come back and enjoy it by itself:

Part 1:

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Part 2:

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A little background to the film.

I came up with the idea for the film about a year and a half ago, with the hugely talented Sasha Zoumadakis in mind. I imagined a woman, leaning against the window of a train, hardly looking out, peacefully happy to go home.

But as I suddenly found myself in a position to actually shoot the film, I felt the need to flesh it out beyond just filming a woman going home. And before I knew it, it turned into a film about the crushing and seemingly meaningless repetition of life.

I know… Not exactly the happiest concept…

But for me, “Every Day the Same” now stands almost as a reflection on my personal experience in times like these and hopefully something you, my dear audience, can relate to:

No longer seeing the point, but with no other options, continuing with life in autopilot.

I hope you enjoy it.

Remember? Last year in February, I talked about a film called NURF Wars that I was about to shoot.

For those who don’t wanna bother going back and reading, NURF Wars was an idea that originated from trying to figure out how I could have actors running around with guns in the middle of downtown without getting shot at by the cops. NERF guns were the solution. And I misspelled the title because… Well because I can. It was a combination of NERF Wars and Turf Wars, but there’s not really anything in the film to help you understand that… So I don’t know…

Anyway, so I did shoot it, but then my camera got stolen in March and I got really busy in the summer with weddings. The whole project got put on a perpetual backburner and I couldn’t touch it until I could find some time again.

I found some time again.

Now, although the film has a way to go (a ton of special effects, animated title sequences, sound design, music and all the DVD authoring stuff), here’s my favorite frames coupled with some commentary without giving away any of the story twists.

Walking against the flow.

The beautiful and talented Dani Jae. She apparently lives in a place with unbelievably dramatic lighting.

He didn’t have a clear shot.

One of the prettiest scenes in the movie. But see, if I’d had my new camera, I’d have thrown that distracting background out of focus.

Bad guys looks awesome!

A link to Every Day the Same will be coming soon. Probably next week but I’m not sure. Are you salivating yet? Yes, I’m a giant tease.