Twenty years ago in the Bay Area

 I've been digging through a mountain load of old negatives. I can't scan them all, it would take a year or more, but I've been scanning a roll here and there. These are black and white negatives I found from a roll that must have been from the year 2000. Yes, that is twenty years ago when I was still living in northern California. I was completing my program back then, and photography, then as now, was a respite and relief from the stress of work, of life, etc.

These negatives must have been taking with a Holga. I recall that I printed a few of them in the darkroom on campus, and that they were from that camera. I shot in 645 format, and it was, once again, a matter of having very little control of exposure. It was f8 and 1/100th of a second, and I had to choose bright scenes because otherwise, I could do nothing in shadow.

I remember showing these to a friend. I was also using a Lomo camera, so that is why the doubt lingers as to the camera I was using. I think it was a Holga. They were developed at a photo shop in Berkeley called the Looking Glass. It was a great place to buy supplies, and one could also rent time there in their darkroom, but they had a manager or employee (I think he was a manager) who had a big handlebar mustouche and was very grating and bossy. I didn't like going there because of him, so I mostly bought my supplies and paid shipping fees through Freestyle in Los Angeles, CA.

I think this was the Legionaires' Palace. It is close to the Golden Gate bridge, which connects San Francisco to the Marin Headlands, not the Bay bridge which connects the cities of San Francisco and Oakland. I thought I could take a good photo of the architecture.

A statue at the Legionaires' Palace. Nothing much else to say, a figure study of a male figure assuming a pose. The tourists love it.

My campus! That is the Campanile. I think I need to flip this photo horizontally, but will leave it as is. I could have darkened the sky with a red filter, I know. There were spots where one could take beautiful photos of the campus, but my professional training here was not a happy experience so that translated to a feeling of distance from the campus and its environment. I should have gone anywhere but here.

That is it, I'll upload more scans in a little bit. This was, as they say, a "blast from the past", when we had or were about to have another very problematic presidential election, the one which will go down for "hanging chads" as the two sides fought to count Florida votes to win that 2000 election. The Republican presidency of George Bush (fil) was another disaster, but nothing feels as ominous as what we are facing now in 2020, with a shameless and lying president who manipulates a willing public that adores him with a fanaticism that is alarming. Trump's calling out the white militia group "The Proud Boys" is especially outrageous. The timing of his Covid sickness is also very convenient for him. Such a scoundrel, no one was supposed to be worse than Nixon, but this one is off the charts.