Street View (Random Acts of Photography -- from Powell & Hyde Cable Car); San Francisco, April 2017
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Clusters of would-be riders, hoping to board a crowded cable car as it climbs Powell, focus on the conductor and brakeman, assessing their chances of acceptance. On a sunny Saturday morning when the line at the turntable is 90 minutes long, the wait a few blocks up Powell will be long. Their stoic yearning invites random acts of photography.
Here is how it starts: waiting in the long line gives plenty of opportunities to watch the crew de-couple each car from the cable and turn it on the turntable.
The brakeman at work approaching the Fisherman's Wharf terminus. Slowing and stopping the car on steep descents shared with unpredictable drivers, pedestrians (including people taking selfies of the on-coming car), and riders hanging off the car's sides require skill and firm control. The brakeman's other essential control, the pull to the brass warning bell, hangs in the upper right corner.
Even atop Lombard's curves, expectant riders await.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.