I went to San Francisco in June for the Databricks Data+AI Summit, and brought my SLR 680 along. Around the conference I made time for two stops: the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park, and Lands End. A pack of 600 film is eight frames, so I had to be choosy with my shots.
Flowers at the Botanical Garden
I rented a bike and rode out to the Botanical Garden, where I spent a couple of hours wandering the paths and looking for blooms to photograph. The garden is a series of themed areas, with plants from different parts of the world.
Out in the open beds, the rock purslane impressed me: it looks like a succulent but blooms like a wildflower, colorful cups held tall on wiry stems, still mostly buds that day. There were plenty of poppies nearby; I chose one and spent a frame on it.
Polaroid SLR 680
In the shadier beds the Polaroid palette shows best, with colorful blooms floating on near-black greens. Two frames picked up chemistry marbling along the bottom edge on their way out of the rollers.
Surf at Lands End
The other stop was Lands End, where the mouth of the Golden Gate meets open ocean. It was starting to drizzle, and the marine layer flattened sky and water into one blue. I started shooting from the top of the cliff and then walked down a path to the rocky shore, with the tide on its way in.
Gulls flew in formation above the silhouette of the Cliff House, and perched on the wave-beaten rock.
The best frame of the day isn’t here. It was a closeup of yellow wildflowers at the edge of the cliff, against that same blue of waves breaking on the rocks below. I dropped it into the surf and never got it back.