Bay Area News – Page 6 – Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

February 1, 2009February 1, 2009

10 Reasons Why I Think the New BART Wi-Fi 20 Year Contract and Plan are a Bad Idea

Rachel Gordon is out with an article over at the San Francisco Chronicle about a new 20 year contract signed by BART with some company called Wi-Fi Rail Inc. to offer wifi on the service. Rachel interviewed me for the article and I’m quoted in it about my thoughts about the service. I thought I’d take a second though to elaborate on BART’s new plan for wifi service.

1. $9 a day?!?!?! You’ve got to be f$%$^ing kidding me. That’s more than it already costs to ride BART a day. Similarly, $30 a month? Not thanks. I like my wifi as much as the next cat, but that’s just too expensive. I’m in a higher than average income range for BART riders and there’s no way in hell I’d pay that much money. Between paying to park at BART parking lots, increased BART ticket charges, and now super expensive wifi, it just won’t fly. Who does BART think they are in charging those high wifi connection rates? Holiday Inn or something. You expect to get fleeced when you pay for wifi at the hotel, but not on BART.

2. A 20 year contract seems like an incredibly stupid thing to commit to for any technology services period. Why not a 2 year or 5 year or if they must 7 year contract. Locking BART into a 20 year plan when technology is bound to improve in that time seems like a bad idea. Who’s negotiating these contracts anyways, government bureaucrats and politicians?

3. “BART riders in the future will be able take advantage of free Internet access – but with a catch. Access will be cut off after 3 1/2 minutes and the users will have to endure 30 seconds of ads before being able to surf the Internet.” Are you kidding me? At least in the beta program that I tested out on the system it took 3 1/2 minutes just to log on to their system (you had to relog on every time you used it — hello BART, there are these things called internet cookies, they’re yummy and can allow people not to have to resign on over and over and over again every single time). A lot of the time the system wouldn’t log on for me at all. Now, granted that was beta, but there is no way I’m going to go through a tedious sign on program and then 30 seconds of ads to surf the web for 3.5 minutes.

4. the 3G on my iPhone works in the above ground areas of BART as well as the underground areas near downtown. Tell me again why I’d pay that much money for just a wee bit faster connection.

5. Why am I going to pay $30 per month for BART wifi when most of the time I can’t even get a seat? Have you ever tried surfing the web with a laptop while standing up BART. Well… have you? Seats are next to impossible to get during commute hours unless you happen to start your commute out at the end of the Pittsburg Baypoint line in Antioch or wherever the hell it starts.

6. Why am I going to pay $30 per month for BART wifi when I’m already starting to take BART less because I can get a ride to and from work using casual carpool for free? BART’s getting more and more expensive which is driving people away from it. My iPhone works the entire trip while on casual carpool by the way.

7. “The company reported seamless service between the stations, even as the trains ran at high speeds,” says the article. Well, not if you count going from the Powell Street Station to the Embarcadero Station in my own experience using the service.

8. Why not try to at least in part work with one of the major telco providers here? I get free wifi at Starbucks because I use AT&T. Let the carriers subsidize some of the cost by letting their users have free or reduced fee service on the system. Didn’t Google want to put free wifi in all of San Francisco before our idiot SF politicians chased them away? Did anybody talk to Google before hatching this plan?

9. It sounds like, at least initially, the service will only serve downtown SF, the tube and downtown Oakland. These are the shorter commutes and the people less likely to pay up. The people more likely to pay are the ones with the longer commutes who are more likely to both get a seat and have longer time on the train to enjoy that free wifi service.

and finally…..

10. What good is free wifi on the BART system if the BART cops are just going to shoot you anyways. (ok, that was a really cheap shot and has nothing to do with this wifi service but I couldn’t think of another good reason why I don’t like the service and a 9 reason list isn’t nearly as cool as a 10 reason list.)

To check out my photos of BART click through here.

January 15, 2009February 27, 2009

Mostly Peaceful Protest in Oakland Turns Violent

Earlier this evening I attended a peaceful protest over the death of Oscar Grant. The protest was large, with almost 1,500 participants and seemed very organized. Speakers advocated protesting against the killing of Oscar Grant but urged protesters to do this peacefully. The protest ran from 4pm to 7pm.

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums spoke at the protest as did hip hop star Too Short. The protest, which started at Oakland City Hall, marched from City Hall down to the Alameda County Court House where protesters demanded the resignation of Oakland District Attorney Tom Orloff. Several more speeches were given down at the Courthouse, including one by Oscar Grant’s football coach.

After the speeches at the Courthouse, the protest again marched back to City Hall where the protest continued for about another hour.

After 7pm about 100 or so of the original protesters were still hanging around 14th and Broadway and there are reports of trash can fires and broken windows in that area. Bart was also briefly closed while the rioting was going on. According to KTVU, 18 people were arrested including 2 for possession of molatov cocktails. I suspect the violence may still be going on in downtown Oakland as I still hear helicopters hovering over head.

Most all of the retail stores down in the protest area had supportive Oscar Grant signs in their windows. Several were boarded up in anticipation of tonight’s violence.

Yesterday former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle was arrested for the New Year’s Day shooting of Oscar Grant.

If you’d like to see my set of images from tonight’s protest you can see them all here.

January 13, 2009January 18, 2009

Last Night’s San Francisco Oscar Grant Protest

About 100 demonstrators protested in the streets of San Francisco last night in San Francisco’s first major Oscar Grant protest. Oscar Grant was the 22-year old man who was killed and shot in the back by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle early New Year’s day at the Fruitvale BART station with the shooting heavily seen afterwards in videos around the internet.

The protest was mostly peaceful in contrast to last week’s more violent protest that took place in Oakland.

The protesters began protesting at around 5:45pm at the Civic Center BART station and then marched from there down to the Powell Street BART station and then downtown around near the Sutter and Montgomery intersection. About 50 or so San Francisco Police Officers monitored the protest and accompanied the march down Market Street. The local news crews were out as well with cameras and microphones in the protest.

Except for a very small amount of graffiti that I saw spray painted downtown and a reported trash can fire, there were no other incidents of violence accompanying this protest. The speakers at the protest kept encouraging violence in their speeches though telling people that they needed to “tear s*** up,” but the crowd seemed to lack the momentum that turned Oakland violent last week. No one was arrested in this protest.

The protest was promoted earlier in the day on Indy Bay with the tagline, “The kids in Oakland know how to party. Let’s show them they are not alone.”

The protest did not seem very well organized and except for a small battery powered bull horn which kept losing power, there did not seem to be anyone really in charge.

A few of the comic moments for me came as the protesters passed the bull horn around to each other sort of randomly. In one case I think one of the guys who got a turn on the bullhorn wasn’t even part of the original protest. Before the protest had even started he seemed to be just hanging around Civic Center telling anyone who would listen about problems with his wife. When he got the bull horn I’m not even sure he knew what the protest was about, but he did get an opportunity to rant a bit about his wife.

Another comic moment for me came when the protesters seemed to get into some sort of an argument with each other over the fact that some of the protesters were wearing bandanas over their face to mask their faces. One of the protesters challenged the protesters wearing bandanas to remove them from their faces while a protester with a bandana on tried to explain why she had hers on handing out a leaflet explaining it.

It seemed early on that some of the protesters were trying to make the protest about other things complaining about Palestinian occupation and homelessness in San Francisco. At one point a protester shouted into the bull horn. “How many of you are homeless and living in Golden Gate Park?” No one raised their hand and so he said, “ok, well a lot of people are,” and went on with his speech.

A few of the protesters said that they knew Oscar Grant. Another gave a speech saying that his best friend had been killed by the cops. Mostly though they just shouted and chanted “f*** the police,” “we are all Oscar Grant,” and “no justice, no peace.”

The protest seemed to gain the most momentum down around Market and Sansome Street when the protesters took a turn into downtown and the police on motorcycles couldn’t easily follow them down a one-way street. The protesters then headed up Bush Street where the SFPD sort of cut the protesters in half completely blocking off the intersection of Sutter and Montgomery in riot gear for about 15 minutes. After that the protest just seemed to dissolve into thin air. A few folks headed back up Market Street but mostly people just went on their way.

I put together a set of 50 photos from last night’s protest that you can see here.

January 9, 2009January 18, 2009

One Blogger’s Perspective of the Oakland Riots

fem.men.ist: Reportback From The Oscar Grant Protests/Riots.

I’ve been pretty carefully following various news reports and blog reports following the Oakland protest and riots this week. I thought this post by Richard at fem.men.ist was a particularly well written heartfelt first hand report of the scene on Wednesday night.

“So yeah, at this point I think i’m about ready to head back home now. I see friends Bea and Inez, and tell them that I have seen enough for tonight, and that i’m going home. A young sista overhears me, and says with a half joking voice “you should give me your candle then.” I turn and look at her.
“Do you really want my candle?” I can see that she has been crying all night.
“Yeah.”
“Blessings.” I reach out and give it to her, and she looks into my eyes and smiles in a way that warmed my whole soul.”

January 9, 2009January 18, 2009

Quieter Night in Oakland Last Night

I spent a bit of yesterday afternoon shooting around Downtown Oakland and stayed down there until about 6pm or so. Things seemed much more peaceful, but there was still a lot of tension in the air. The above photo was taken from a group of peaceful protesters near the corner of Broadway and 14th Street.

A lot of police where still out and stores were boarding up their storefronts with plywood in anticipation of another night of violence when I left downtown. KTVU reports that later another smaller protest was out with people throwing some trash cans into Broadway and more arrests were made, but that last night was not near as violent as the night before.

From KTVU on last night:

“Police in riot gear shut down Broadway and other surrounding streets for a time after about 50 protesters tried to stop cars, threw trash cans into the street and lit several small fires while protesting the fatal New Year’s Day shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant by transit officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale BART station.

Officers in riot gear moved in to disperse the crowd and detained or arrested several people.

But the protests were calmer than the previous night when some 120 people were arrested following a rampage that damaged about 300 businesses and numerous cars.”

I suspect things may quiet down a bit for a while on the streets of Oakland, but I do worry that once former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle is brought to trial for the killing of Oscar Grant, that far more violent riots will erupt if he is acquitted of murder. I think the verdict of a trial like that will be watched very closely like the Rodney King verdict was, with people ready to take to the streets again if they don’t get the outcome that they want. I also think convicting an on duty cop of murder will be a very difficult thing for prosecutors to do.

January 7, 2009February 27, 2009

Oakland Riots

Oakland protester holds bottle. Many bottles were thrown at the police tonight.

I just came back from a few hours walking around downtown Oakland and taking photographs of the riots tonight. The rioting started after a planned protest earlier today over the recent shooting of Oscar Grant by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.

Most of the rioting activity took place around downtown Oakland, near 14th and Broadway. I was also out back in 1992 during the Rodney King riots in San Francisco and these riots felt a lot like those but with what seemed like less looting. Mostly the rioters were vandalizing automobiles and storefronts. There were quite a few cars burned out. The Oakland PD was trying to get the burnt out cars off the streets as soon as they could. Many retail stores also had their windows broken and smashed. Many of the stores in downtown Oakland have metal bars on the windows and I didn’t see anyone going into stores and looting.

After assembling around 14th Street and Jackson Street, the rioters headed back towards Broadway and City Hall. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums came out and the rioters gathered around him on the City Hall steps as he pleaded for people not to be violent and tried to assure the crowd that he would do everything he could to ensure that justice would prevail in the case of the shooting. After speaking to the crowd for a while Dellums went back into City Hall and the rioters moved up towards Broadway. Police were in force surrounding the rioters in riot gear. When the crowd started throwing bottles at the police, some from balconies overhead, the police fired tear gas into the crowd. My eyes are still burning a bit from the tear gas, but it definitely dispersed that crowd.

Man posing in front of a burnt out car who wanted me to take a photograph of him.

But from there the crowd would seem to just keep moving down one street, up another. Smashing things as they went on their way. There were also smaller groups of 5 or 10 people at a time apart from the main crowd vandalizing things.

Photograph of police helicopter shining spotlight on rioters over the City of Oakland, photo by my brother.

The people in the crowd were very angry. They were definitely taunting the police. Using expletives with them. Yelling at them. Calling them pigs.

Police helicopters are still and have been flying over the City of Oakland all night. I suspect that the rioting will continue on into the night and that these riots are not over yet.

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums Tries to Calm the Crowd.

BART suspended service at many of the BART stations as the crowd moved around Oakland.

I spent about two hours shooting the riots tonight downtown with my brother. Stupidly I parked my car near downtown. I thought I was far enough away from the riots, but the crowd was moving a lot and when I came back to my car I found that the car parked immediately behind mine had been burned out. Fortunately my car wasn’t damaged, but I feel bad for all of the people who had their property damaged or destroyed in tonight’s riots.

I fear that this is only the beginning of the rioting we may have in store for Oakland. Eventually this officer will be brought to trial and it may be very difficult to get a murder conviction for an on duty shooting. Anything short of a murder conviction however may result in even more devastating violence in Oakland.

I took my 10D out shooting tonight instead of my new 5D Mark II so the photos I took are a bit grainy, but I have a set up here on Flickr if you’d like to see them. My brother also has the set of photos he took tonight uploaded here.

Update: poppimple got a pretty good video showing the rioting here.

Update 2: The SF Chronicle has a pretty good wrap up on the rioting.

February 28, 2008June 22, 2012

Top 10 Places for Photography in San Francisco

One of the most common emails I get from readers is an email letting me know that they are coming to visit San Francisco and asking what I’d recommend that a visitor shoot while here on their trip.

With that in mind, I thought I’d put together a post today of what I feel are the top 10 not to be missed photographic sites to shoot while you visit.

To dig deeper into some of the things to shoot in the San Francisco Bay Area I’ve set up two collections on Flickr.

The first collection is called Bay Area Photographic Destinations and includes 74 different shooting sites that you might want to consider on your visit.

The second collection is called The Micro Neighborhoods of the San Francisco Bay Area and covers 40 neighborhoods in the Bay Area that you might want to explore further.

I’ve highlighted different views of the points of interest with links so that you can get a better idea what I’m talking about. Most images are geotagged so you should be able to find them pretty easily. If you can’t find a site for whatever reason, shoot me an email or comment and I’ll try to point you in the right direction.

So on with the list.

#1 The Golden Gate Bridge. This probably goes without saying, but the Golden Gate Bridge is probably the most photographed tourist spot in San Francico. That said, even as a local, I am constantly amazed at the shots I am able to get of the Bridge with each subsequent visit. There are four primary places that you should consider shooting the bridge from. The first one is simply to shoot on the bridge itself. I’d recommend both walking and having someone else drive while you shoot across the bridge. The three other spots I’d recommend shooting the bridge from are Fort Point (just under the bridge to the East), Baker Beach (a great beach West of the Bridge), and the Marin Headlines (many vista points just northwest of the bridge). There is also a spot just south of the bridge where you can get out of your car and shoot straight on at the bridge.

#2 Alcatraz. Not many things are more fun to shoot than abandoned old prisons. The best tip here is to reserve your ferry trip out to Alcatraz *early*. You will not be able to reserve a ride if you try and make your reservation when you are already here for your visit. Also I’d recommend making a reservation for a mid to late afternoon visit. This will give you an opportunity to shoot the prison during the day and after dark. The prison feels even spookier after dark and you can also get some great vista shots of San Francisco from the island (bring a tripod).

#3 Twin Peaks. At the top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco is one of the greatest vistas to shoot in the world. You can see the entire city of San Francisco as well as the Bay Bridge and Oakland. I find that this view is best shot at night. In addition to views of the City, City Hall, the Transamerica Building, downtown etc., there is an excellent far away view of the Golden Gate Bridge from this point as well as a great opportunity to shoot Sutro Tower.

#4 The Museums. The SF MOMA doesn’t allow photography in their galleries (shame on them) but you can still sneak photos here and there. The crown jewel for photographers in San Francisco though is the de Young. Although the de Young doesn’t allow tripods or backpacks (wear a photo vest), they do have an open policy towards photography. The other museum that you may want to visit is the Oakland Museum of California (currently under renovation so not 100% what it should be at present). You can take the BART over to the 12th Street BART station in Oakland and walk over to shoot the Oakland Museum of California. The Asian Art Museum allows photography as well and is a great shoot. There is also a great vintage arcade game musuem called Musee Mecanique in Fisherman’s Wharf.

#5 The Hotels. There are a number of hotels where you can get *great* overhead shots of San Francisco. Because hotels are fairly unrestrictive about who goes in and out, even if you are not a guest at a given hotel you can still gain access pretty easily to shoot.

The first hotel shot I recommend is from the catwalk atop the Mandarin Hotel. The Mandarin Hotel is the tallest hotel in San Francisco and there is the most amazing catwalk connecting it’s two towers on the top floor. You will catch a fantastic view of North Beach and the Transamerica Building from up there, especially at dusk.

The second hotel I’d recommend shooting from is the Financial District Hilton on Kearny. You’ll need to slip into the elevator with someone with a elevator key, but the views from the stairwell on the north side of the hotel are the best views of Coit Tower in the city.

The third hotel I’d recommend shooting from is the Fairmont Hotel which sits atop San Francisco’s Nob Hill. Take the elevator on the north west side of the hotel to the second floor from the top (the elevator won’t let you up to the Penthouse which is the Crown Room). Get off at the second from the top floor and make your way into the stairwell and use the employee service elevator to get to the top of the Crown Room (ignore the no trespassing signs). Usually it’s empty and you’ll have an amazing view atop the world all to yourself. I recommend shooting this pre and post sunrise.

The last hotel I’d recommend visiting is the Hyatt Grand Regency. Not only does this hotel have one of the most amazing modern interiors in the world of architecture, if you take the modernistic elevators up to as high a floor as you can you can sneak out the fire staircase on the east side of the hotel to get a spectacular view of the Bay and the Ferry Building. Make sure you prop this door open behind you as it locks and you’ll be stuck climbing down all the stairs if you don’t.

#5 Chinatown / North Beach. Chinatown and North Beach are comfortably close to each other by way of walking distances. Try walking up and down a few of the North to South streets in Chinatown (Grant, Stockton, Powell) to get some of the great neighborhood culture. After shooting Chinatown, make your way North to North Beach. There are some great night shots of the neon of the strip clubs on Broadway as well as great views in Washington Square Park of St. Peter and Paul church as well as beautiful views up at the top of Coit Tower.

#6 Haight Ashbury / Mission District. Not necessarily within walking distance, Haight Ashbury and The Mission are two of the best neighborhoods to shoot to see some of the best cultural sites in San Francisco. Both neighborhoods are rich with street art, graffiti and street murals and have lots of funky stores and art galleries where you can shoot the windows from the street. You’ll do best in the Haight sticking close to upper Haight Street itself. With regards to the Mission District I’d recommend shooting around Mission and 24th Streets. Especially pay attention to all of the little alleys shooting off of 24th Street and Mission itself. This is where you will find some of the best street art in San Francisco.

#7 City Hall. City Hall is one of the architectural high points of San Francisco. With unrestricted access to most of the floors of the building you can get several great vantage points to shoot the interior of the building. Bring a wide angle lens with you if you can. These shots work especially well there.

#8 The Ferry Building. Once a decrepited old rats maze of endless coridors of offices (if only I’d had more foresight back then to shoot them!), the San Francisco Ferry Building has transformed itself into a mecca for foodies. In it’s restoration it was also rebuilt to showcase the architectural beauty that it really is. Be sure and try to make your way up to the second floor and take the stairs just to the left of the grand staircase as you go up them. If you can act naturally enough like you work in the building you can squeak past the security guard and make your way up to a stunning interior walking bridge where you will get the best wide angled shots of the building of all. Try to visit the Ferry Building on one of the days (Tuesday and Saturday) where the farmer’s market is going on to get even more great shots.

#9 The Palace of Fine Arts / Exploratorium. The Palace of Fine Arts is a building in San Francisco originally built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. It’s especially stunning at night. Be sure to try to shoot a bit under the dome of the building to get a shot that looks like this.

The Exploratorium is a science museum inside the Palace of Fine Arts building. Although especially great for kids, the museum also has lots of fun things for adults to shoot as well.

#10 The cemeteries. There are two cemeteries that I’d especially recommend shooting in San Francisco. Neither are particularly easy to get to, but if you like shooting dramatic cemeteries both are worth a visit.

The first is the San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio. This is a large military cemetery with rows and rows and rows of identical grave markers. In addition to the stones themselves, there are dramatic views of the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Presidio from the top of this cemetery.

The second cemetery I’d recommend visiting is Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. You’ll probably want to rent a car to get to this location as it’s not so convenient, but this cemetery has the most spectacular cemetery sculpture in the entire Bay Area. This cemetery is where the wealthiest in San Francisco’s days gone by were buried and has dramatic sculptures of angels especially. Don’t miss Crocker’s angel.

There are lots of other great places to shoot in and around San Francisco. Browse some of my collections for some other great spots and feel free to comment if you have questions on other spots to shoot.

Bonus links:

Best Chinese Food in San Francisco: Henry’s Hunan (Downtown/Chinatown)

Best Mexican Food in San Francisco: La Taqueria (Mission District)

Best Reasonably Priced Sushi: Godzilla Sushi (Pacific Heights)

Best Expensive Sushi: Sushi Ran (Sausalito)

Best Breakfast Spot in San Francisco: Sears Fine Food (Union Square)

Best Used CD Store in San Francisco: Amoeba (Haight)

Best Wine Store: K&L; Wines (South of Market)

Best Wine Bar: Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant (Ferry Building)

Best Camera/Photo Store: None. They all are pretty much overpriced. Save yourself some money and make sure to buy from B&H; ahead of your trip.

February 12, 2007November 8, 2010

Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, California

Chopsticks Hosted on Zooomr

I shot Piedmont Avenue in Oakland for the “Street Detail” section of the current issue of San Francisco Magazine.

Here’s a set of all of the shots for the magazine as well a few others I’ve taken of Piedmont Avenue over the past few years.

Two of my favorite places on Piedmont Avenue are probably Fenton’s Creamery (which has some of the best ice cream you’ll ever taste — be sure to try the toasted almond) and Cesar, a new restaurant that is pretty packed all the time.

Of course my very favorite place near Piedmont Ave. is not exactly on Piedmont Ave., but at the end of it, Mountain View Cemetery. Mountain View Cemetery is my favorite cemetery in the Bay Area for taking photos. Here’s my set of images from Mountain View Cemetery.