Author Archives: studiodeb333

BANG! Happy Birthday Ol’ Gal.

Last night I witnessed the culmination of the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th birthday celebration from the deck of a tugboat, bobbing on the undulating bay.  Life is sweet.

I didn’t participate in any of the month-long or day-intensive events leading up to the evening’s pyrotechnics show, but I was inspired to not miss the grand finalé by the email blast of a friend, quoting another friend who was actually on the pyro crew for the event.

His words encapsulate the sheer awesomeness of the display far better than mine could…

I am working on the pyro crew for the event and we are putting on the largest display I have ever worked on or seen. The entire 4000 feet of the Bridge will be covered with pyro positions.  Numerous barges will be on the bay loaded to the gunnels with huge, beautiful and expensive shells that make me weep to handle…

Wow, I can not say enough about this one.
Except. You would be F—ed to miss it.

And so I went.

Here are a couple pics… not my best work, but I’m a bit out of practice and feeling quite rusty.  Maybe I need some International Orange slapped on this ol’ girl’s joints.

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Some great pics & history on the bridge for others, like myself, who may have missed out on the bulk of the festivities: The Color, Romance, and Impact of the Golden Gate at 75 (The Atlantic).

the wild wild west…

I’ve said it before… the thing I love about West Oakland is that you never know what you are going to find. On a recent sunny stretch down the Mandela Parkway, I came across this muraled building on an empty lot (determined to be an environmental clean up site upon closer inspection of the posted sign and related fine print), next to what appeared to be a small chicken farm… beautiful birds with their own fancy red house and a huge yard in which to strut their stuff.

west oakland, environmental clean up site, mandela parkway

For those too young to “get” the reference in the mural above… see the original photograph and a brief description in my post Diversity is the one thing we all have in common.

rooster in the hen house, red hen house, west oakland chicken farm

west oakland rooster, cockadoodle doo, west oakland chicken farm

west oakland art, mandela parkway mural,

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Sweater Weather

yarnbomb, streetcolor, yarnbomb install at OMCA

streetcolor, OMCA, yarnbomb, yarnbombing, oakland museum yarnbomb

I’ve been meaning to post these images for a bit now… ever since the weather turned cold, the sandals and summer shirts got sequestered to the back of my closet, and the warm, soft, comforting sweaters I love donning so much each fall were brought forth to their rightful place, front & center.

The pictures above and below are by the same artist, Streetcolor. I shot her a few weeks ago for Oakland Magazine while she was installing her yarn bomb pieces in various locations throughout the grounds of the Oakland Museum of California.  Oakland Magazine will be featuring her in their January/February issue so keep your eyes out for that… In the meantime, you can read all about Streetcolor and her installation, both on OMCA’s blog (Yarn Bombing OMCA) and Streetcolor’s personal blog:

You can also go visit the installation in person, which of course is the best way to experience these incredibly tactile pieces. The installations will be up until December 15th.

The photo below is of an earlier piece she installed at Lake Merritt. There’s a third one just out of frame to the right, but I love this shot so much with its shadows and perspective, that you’ll  have to head to the lake if you want to see the full set…

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Obey in Oakland.

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So above is one of the first photos I snapped after putting my blog on hold. I took it in August. I was on my way to a work meeting and was running late, so I just snapped this one first pic, which was unfortunate because by the time I went back to take a few more shots (a couple weeks later, see below) the large wheatpaste installation by Shepard Fairey had already been tagged.

sheppard fairey installation oakland, downtown oakland obey giant

sheppard fairy installation, wheat paste obey giant

wheatpaste mural 15th street, obey giant mural oakland

Ultimately, some local folks involved in a street beautification project painted over the damaged lower portions and it now looks like this… I shot this last one on the day of the initial raid of the Occupy Oakland  encampment.  Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling the Oaktown love that day…

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