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.

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.

It was exactly ten years ago this year that, at the time completely oblivious to the titanic ramifications, I was about to make the biggest, most profound decision of my life.

Salt Lake City… Or San Francisco…

My best friend chose San Francisco.

And I chose Salt Lake City.

At the time, I honestly felt like it was the place I needed to be.

But what followed were the ten bumpiest years of my life. Had I known this, I would gladly have volunteered to help NASA land a manned spacecraft on Venus, upside down, without any radio communications or even a spacesuit, while juggling seven rabid dogs and a moose with one hand tied behind my back, giving birth to a hedgehog and fighting off Darth Vader with a toothpick.

Really. It’s been a rough ride. Slight exaggeration obviously. I mean who wants to volunteer for NASA?

But I am who I am. And I like who I am.

So I don’t regret having gone through what I did, nor do I regret where I am now. I don’t regret anything or anyone in my life. Without my experiences, without the people I know, good and bad, I’m not me. And as I just said, I like me.

But…

I’ve always wondered where my life would be if I’d gone to San Francisco instead of coming to Utah.

Always.

And if you’ve been reading my blog lately, you’d know that I have vouchers to fly United Airlines.

Three of them.

Now, I already know two cities in this world that I’m madly in love with: Paris and New York City. I have a feeling San Francisco might be joining that very short list.

And the reason THAT’S significant is this:

I’m seriously considering and researching a move to one of those three cities.

Whoa… That sentence is gonna get me a LOT of phone calls!

So although I can’t address everything and everyone with this post, lemme at least say this.

I’m really not sure at this point. It may never even happen. There are so many factors for me to consider, but two of them stand out above the rest; I have two boys here and a growing business that I’d have to practically build from scratch anywhere else.

So yes, this is a huge decision that I’m not taking lightly at all.

But there’s no question that I’m really flirting with all three options.

Well ok. Not Paris. I’d love to live there, but only as a bazillionaire or if I can expand my studio that far. So not very likely either way. At least not right now. Unbelievable city, can’t wait to go back, but hang in there Paris, I’m not getting to you just yet. Maybe someday.

So that leaves me with two options:

San Francisco or New York City. Vastly different cities.

I’ve been to New York a couple of times already. Loved it both times. No. ADORED it. I’m gonna go there again this year before the wedding season hits. Oh and New York makes a lot of career sense too. That’s a big bonus.

But I’ve never been to San Francisco. And so, after ten years of wondering, in the very near future I’ll be going there to begin finding out if moving there might be a good idea.

I’m not expecting my tourist experience to tell me everything I need to know about actually living in the city, but I’m hoping it’ll give me a feel for whether the place suits me.

Soon after that, I’ll be going to New York for my third time to do the same.

And then, after as much research and thought as I can muster for both cities, I’m going to have to ask myself the biggest question of all.

Why move anywhere in the first place?

That’s the one that’s got me stumped right now. Because I like it here. I have a house here with tons of space. I have friends here. Great neighbors. Both my kids are here. My business is doing great.

So why move at all?

I don’t know…

But I do know this:

I don’t want to continue wondering why not.