San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge – Dedication by the Native Sons of the Golden West
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San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge – Dedication by the Native Sons of the Golden West
Image by wallyg
DEDICATION BY THE NATIVE SONS OF THE GOLDEN WEST
As a tribute to the engineering genius which gate to the State of California the Golden Gate Bridge, the longest bridge span in the world, We the Native Sons of the Golden West make this dedication in recognition of the beauty and the utility of this great structure and the scientific achievement for which it stands.
May 27, 1937
The Golden Gate Bridge spans 8,981 feet across the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean, connecting San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. Designed by engineer Joseph Strauss and architect Irving Morrow, it was the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it opened on May 27, 1937. It has since been surpassed by eight other bridges, but still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York.
Before the bridge was built, the only practical route across the Golden Gate was by boat, which held San Francisco’s growth rate below the national average. However, many experts believed that the 6,700-foot strait could not be bridged. It had strong swirling tides, strong winds, and reached depths of 500-feet at its center.
In 1916, former engineering student James Wilkins wrote an article with a proposed design for a crossing in the San Francisco Bulletin. The City Engineer estimated the cost at an impractical 0 million and challenged bridge engineers to reduce costs. Joseph Strauss, an ambitious but modestly accomplished engineer, responded with a plan for bookend cantilevers connected by a central suspension segment, which he promised could be built for million. Strauss spent the better part of the next decade drumming up support and construction began on January 5, 1933.
As chief engineer in charge, Strauss, with an eye towards self promotion downplayed the contributions of his collaborators who were largely responsible for the bridge’s final form Architect Irving Morrow designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme and Art Deco elements, and used the International Orange color as a sealant. And Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with Leon Moisseiff, was the principal engineer, producing the basic structural design, introducing Moisseiff’s "deflection theory" by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers
In 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge was ranked #5 on the AIA 150 America’s Favorite Architecture list.
California Historical Landmark No. 974, San Francisco Landmark No. 222 (5/21/1999)
Walking in Central Park
Image by Ed Yourdon
This is one of several pictures that were taken on a vintage-2005 Saturday afternoon stroll around Central Park — starting on the west side of the park at approx 86th street, heading south down past Tavern on the Green, and then up the East Side to the 104th cut, and back around…
The temperature was pleasant, but the sky turned from a hazy blue to a hazy gray during the walk, which washed out some of the pictures a bit…
Two young women, strolling along, chattering away about whatever it is that young women chatter about. Nothing particularly unusual about them — they were typical of dozens, if not hundreds, of other young, reasonably athletic young women out for some sunshine and exercise in the park.
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Note: this photo was published in an Oct 6, 2008 blog titled "Warm up to these 2 exercises." It was also published in a March 14, 2009 blog article entitled "Top 8 Exercise Myths." It was also published in a Nov 23, 2009 blog titled "Beauty 101: Get some PMS SOS." And it was published in a Nov 30, 2009 blog titled "Weight Loss Tips and Tricks."
Moving into 2010, the photo was published in a Mar 7, 2010 Slimsix-dot-net blog with the same title as the caption I used on this Flickr page. And it was published in a Jun 11, 2010 blog titled "My Weight Loss Tips" It was also published in an Oct 15, 2010 FeelBetter4Life blog, with the same title as the caption on this Flickr page. And it was published in a Dec 7, 2010 blog titled "Cutting Darren down to size."
Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Jan 3, 2011 blog titled "BMI, calorie intake and being big boned?someone explain!!?" It was also published in an undated (early Jan 2011) blog titled "Healthy Weight Loss Program: Your Personal Exercise Prescription." And it was published in a Jan 16, 2011 blog titled "How Can I Make Any Girl Fall in Love With Me Instantly? Here Are Three Unfailing Tips." It was also published in a Mar 12, 2011 blog titled "Walking in Central Park." And it was published in an undated (late May 2011) blog titled "Live Lean for Life Unveils Exciting Weight Loss Tips and Tricks." It was also published in a Jun 8, 2011 blog titled "I am 37 & want to start a quick weight loss diet & a exercise program to build mass. Any suggestions?" And it was published in a Jul 3, 2011 blog titled "Weight Loss Psychology: Why Your Brain Might be Holding You Back." It was also published in a Jul 11, 2011 Frugal Mom blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in a Jul 19, 2011 blog titled " Veggie Burger & Organic Blue Corn Chips." It was also published in an Oct 25, 2011 blog titled "Nice Exercise Programs And Weight Loss photos," with the same caption and detailed notes I had written on this Flickr page.
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Jul 3, 2012 blog titled "Weight Loss Psychology: Why Your Brain Might be Holding You Back." It was also published in a Sep 8, 2012 blog titled "Walking in Central Park ." And it was published in an Oct 20, 2012 blog titled "Quick weight loss tips for women at home?" It was also published in an Oct 29, 2012 blog titled "Cheryl Keaney: Some quick and easy tips for weight loss." And it was published in a Dec 12, 2012 weight loss workout programs buy blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written in this Flickr page.
Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Jan 28, 2013 blog titled "Bezpieczny detoks – oczyść ciało bez efektów ubocznych."
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Note: on Jan 20, 2010 I replaced the original version of this photo with a slightly edited version. The original, which I took in the summer of 2005, was edited with the Apple-Macintosh "iPhoto" program, and all I did was crop the photo to remove irrelevant scenic elements … and perhaps a little color-saturation to highlight the various colors involved.
I’m now using the Apple-Macintosh "Aperture" program, and I realized that I could edit the dark shadows and nearly-black color of the shorts worn by the two women. The current version has a little more "noise" (aka "graininess," in the pre-digital days) than I would have preferred, but you can see more details of their legs than was visible before…
With or without the detail, they are both still beautiful young women. I have no idea who they were, never spoke to them when I took this photo, and will probably never see them again for the rest of their lives or my life. C’est la vie…
Football: Jets-v-Eagles, Sep 2009 – 07
Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was published in an Oct 13, 2010 blog titled "What You Can Learn From NFL Stars." It was also published in an undated (mid-Nov 2010) blog titled "Online Football Shirt Options." And it was published in a Dec 26, 2010 blog titled "3 Online Dating Tips For Newbies And Beginners."
Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Jan 16, 2011 blog titled "Where can I find a free online dating site?" It was also published in an undated (early Apr 2011) Online Gaming blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Apr 8, 2011 Cool Play Free Football Games Online images blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in an Apr 23, 2011 First Date Conversation blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Oct 13, 2011 blog titled "Best Mobile Sports Tracker?" It was also published in an undated (early Dec 2011) blog titled "Winning Fantasy Football Newsletter."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Feb 28, 2012 "Medical Daily" blog titled "Research: Heat-Related Deaths Triple among Football Players." It was also published in a Mar 14, 2012 blog titled "Ten Step Guide to Catching Action Shots." And it was published as one of several illustrations in an undated (late Apr 2012) Mashpedia article/blog titled "Football." It was also published in an Apr 30, 2012 blog titled "What Is Your Game Plan?" And it was published in a Jun 13, 2012 The Step Exercise Equipment blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in a Sep 30, 2012 blog titled "‘niners: week 3." And it was published in a Nov 27, 2012 blog titled "Can wordpress shut your site down if there are lots of inappropriate comments?"
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I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that, until last night, I had never been to a professional football game in my life. Baseball, basketball, and tennis: yes, of course. High-school and college football games: sure, though that was a long time ago. Indeed, the last college football game I watched (in person) was in the mid-60s, when I was invited to the annual Harvard-Yale game by a Radcliffe student I had begun dating — a development to which my MIT college roommate reacted, in shock, by howling, "Radcliffe? You’re dating a Cliffie? She must be a pig!" After which he pulled out his flute, every time he thought she might be present when he returned to our off-campus apartment, and played "Old McDonald Had a Farm" until he collapsed in gales of laughter on the stairwell. Highly inaccurate, I hasten to note, and totally unfair. But I digress…
Anyway, a freelance writer, Mitch Ligon (whose photo you can see here in one of my Flickr sets), invited me to accompany him last night to the New York Jets – Philadelphia Eagles game out in the New Jersey Meadowlands — another first-time experience. I was given a photographer’s press pass, which gave me access to the locker rooms, press box, various other "inner sanctum" locations … and, most important, the football field itself. I was given a red jersey to wear, told to stay outside the yellow dashed lines that ring the field, and turned loose for the evening. I felt somewhat inadequate, because I knew that the "real" professional photographers would be equipped with high-cameras and monstrous telephoto lenses beyond anything I had ever touched, or could possibly afford; and even though my Nikon D300 and 70-300mm zoom lens is fairly respectable in amateur circles, I had no idea if I would be able to take any decent photos at all…
The other problem is that I know little or nothing about the nuances of football, beyond the obvious fact that the quarterback either passes the ball, or hands off to someone who attempts to run the ball downfield. Punts and field-goal kicks are also a familiar concept, but if you don’t have a good anticipatory sense of who is about to do what to whom, it’s easy to miss the "moment" when the perfect shot might be available. Also, I didn’t really know anything about the players, aside from the respective star quarterbacks: Philadelphia’s controversial Michael Vick, and New York’s newly-named starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez. I had looked at the team rosters on the Internet before the game, so at least I knew their jersey numbers (#6 for Sanchez, and #7 for Vick, as you’ll see in the photos) — but the "action" was often so far away (at the other end of the field) that I couldn’t tell whether the starting quarterback, or one of the substitutes, was making the plays.
Nevertheless, by the beginning of the second quarter I was feeling a little more comfortable — if only because I found it easy to follow along behind the other professional photographers as they marched (or ran) from one end of the field to the other, in order to get their equipment set up for what they expected would be the next great shot. By the end of the game, I had taken 1,100+ photos, including several of Michael Vick in a post-game locker-room interview; and from the sound of the clickety-click-clack of my fellow photographers, I could tell that many of them had taken several thousand. I’ll spare you the technical details of my feeble attempts to get some decent shots; I had picked up some good tips from the sports-photography chapter of Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography, and I did my best within the limitations of my equipment and my lack of familiarity with the situation.
What impressed me most about the whole experience was the scale of modern professional football — the scale of everything. It’s one thing to read that there are 80,000 people in a football stadium; it’s another thing to actually be there and hear the simultaneous roar of those 80,000 people as a quarterback is sacked or a long pass is completed. It’s one thing to read that a professional football player is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 350 pounds; it’s another thing to stand next to several dozen such giants. Heck, I thought there were only 20 or 30 such giants on each team; I had no idea that there were 64 of them (a number which will be pared down as the pre-season comes to an end), or that there might be 20-30 different coaches. And then there are the hundreds of "staff members" scurrying around all over the place, carrying out their various duties and assignments; and there are the security guards and State Police, who spent most of the time scanning the stadium crowd rather than watching the players, presumably watching for scuffles or fights or … well, who knows what. There are cheerleaders too, in this case bearing the official name of New York Jets Flight Crew; I had expected half a dozen, but there were two dozen perky, long-haired beauties, with permanently frozen smiles, who who danced and pranced before the crowd at every conceivable opportunity.
All of this has resulted in the photos you’ll see in this album. I had to delete roughly a hundred of my original images, because they were out of focus, or because a referee decided to walk in front of my camera at the wrong moment; and another 900 were "okay," but not terribly exciting. I’m sure that none of them are as crisp, sharp, and well-composed as those taken by the Sports Illustrated photographer and the other professionals on the field; but I did end up with 72 "keepers" that I hope you’ll enjoy…
… and, yes, I probably will attend another football game or two in the years ahead. Whether I’m lucky enough to get down on the field again is anyone’s guess….
