View Full Version : Introduce your home town
We come from all over the world, but we see our homes through a viewfinder with a focus patch and framelines.
I live in St Albans in the UK which goes back to before Roman times, is the site of a great Cathedral and many lovely old tudor buildings. I am never short of things to photograph.
You can see some pictures of St Albans on my website.
We come from all over the world, but we see our homes through a viewfinder with a focus patch and framelines.
I live in St Albans in the UK which goes back to before Roman times, is the site of a great Cathedral and many lovely old tudor buildings. I am never short of things to photograph.
I live with my family in Pensacola (Florida, USA). It is a rather quiet city/town with sugar white sand at the beach. It is the first Settlement in the USA, but all people died/vanished after threemonths of settling here, so now St. Augustine (Florida) is marketed as the first USA city.
We have a university here (where I work), and we a symphony orchestra.
Real estate prices were very low for about twenty years, and about a year before Hurricane Ivan, prices started to rise. Within 18 months, cost of a house nearly doubled.
It is home to the US Navy Blue Angels acrobatic flying team,and it has the Naval Air Station in it, with its amazIng museum on old airplanes.
Fish is fresh and relatively inexpensive at the fish markets.
Oh well; this was a briefing on Pensacola.
Regards,
Raid
P.S. Here are some photos of the historic district:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=550788
P.S.: I should have mentioned that I was born in Baghdad (Iraq), went to elementary and middle school in Germany (Bonn) then went back to Baghdad and then left to the States where I now live.
My town is dramatically changing culturally. Everyday I find myself speaking Spanish where 50 years ago I was the only kid in my school that spoke it. People are buying homes in my neighborhood and ripping out the useless green lawns to grow corn, tomatoes and chilies. I love it. JIm
I live in Boston, Massachusetts which goes back to about 1958 I think. Nice place; by the sea, Cape Cod nearby, skiing to the north and the Berkshires to the west. They have a good baseball team here called the Red Sox and an excellent gridiron football team called the Patriots. Bit expensive to live here though; housing is among the most expensive in the United States.
Pic is with a 28mm Hexanon-M lens at f2.8. Taken on a Boston street.
Uncle Bill
07-01-2006, 15:08
I was born in Montreal, Quebec and moved with my family to Greater Toronto when I was 12. I have lived off and on in Oakville for 26 years.
Oakville is a bedroom suburb of Toronto situated about 26km west. The main industries are pharmaceutical, head offices for engineering firms, Ford of Canada has their head office and plant by the highway.
The place is great to raise a family but duller than dishwater if you are single.
Bill
After 31 years, I guess that Austin is home. Austin is a mix of old and new. There's a laid back smugness, which is giving way to the norms of hussle and bussle Texas-style commercialism.
My home town, which needs no introduction, is still Miami, Florida.
Laurence
07-01-2006, 17:01
I've never left western Washington State. Born in Aberdeen, currently live across Puget Sound from Seattle. The temperate rain forests, mountains, and beautiful ocean beaches make this a paradise for me. My favorite haunt for hiking is the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park, where I have been hiking for almost 60 years. The best thing about it is that I can visit the off-trail areas and not see anyone at all for many days at a time. My current folding non-coupled rangefinder medium format camera is extremely handy for lightweight imagery, with the luxury of 6x6 transparencies. I have bought into "modern day convenience" with a clip-on VC-Meter from Steven Gandy...it's a joy, though I have certainly been fairly close with the Sunny 16 rules before. (Wow, look how I rambled way off the subject!). I've been to many areas and some beautiful national parks in our great country, but I'll always be satisfied here.
Home town is Port Orchard.
jpbob100
07-01-2006, 18:15
My home town is Richmond, Virginia. It started as a trading post at the falls of the James River sometime in the early 1600's. The state government moved here from Williamsburg during the Revolutionary War. It also became the Capitol of The Confederate States of America during the Civil War (The late unpleasantness or War of Nawthen Aggression). We are home to The University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Union University. Also the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Confederate Museum, The White House of the Confederacy and Hollywood Cemetery(final resting place of James Monroe, John Tyler, Jefferson Davis, and J.E.B. Stuart) just to mention a few other things. As you might guess, Civil War history is rather big here. We have a street, Monument Ave., with statues of southern generals and officials plus one of Arthur Ashe. Our mayor is L. Douglas Wilder, who was also the first black Governor of any state. Except for my military service, I have lived here all my life as did my father and I believe his father also.
First picture is a view of Richmond from Belle Isle in the middle of the James. Second picture is the State Capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson. The third picture is at the Boat Lake at Byrd Park.
BJ Bignell
07-01-2006, 18:28
I'm currently homeless... :(
This is a great idea! I'm currently in the middle of a move, after an extended vacation in Europe. As soon as my girlfriend and I find a new place to live, I'll be able to contribute. And, when I go back to my real hometown(s), I'll get to photograph them as a tourist of sorts. I've subscribed to this thread, so I'll remember to contribute (eventually).
To everyone who has already posted: Great stuff! I look forward to more.
I am in the Austin, Tx area. Austin is a city that is growing by leaps and bounds. I live in Smithville, which is far enough away from Austin so that I do not have any negative effects from the big city, but close enough to get to work. Smithville is the only affordable city close to Austin that is not affected by new development. I live in the old downtown section and my house is considered the "new" house even though it was built in 1950. Best of both worlds for me....small town living with a big city job. I live in an old house and have been collecting (cheap) antiques since 1990. That's how I got into rangefinder cameras. I have been in central Tx area since 1981, but my family is from Puerto Rico.
Hi,
my hometown is a small town 50 km east of Frankfurt/Germany. Has a long history as a toll station of the major "Salt Road" from Franfurt to Leipzig. But I only lived there for half of my life. I guess it is still home.
Now I am living in Cambridge, MA which though much bigger has that small town feeling.
Ciao
Joerg
VictorM.
07-01-2006, 19:44
After more than thirty-five years, Toronto feels like my hometown. Toronto, most cosmologists agree, is the Centre of the Known Universe.
I was born in Texarkana, Texas just down the street from Arkansas but live in Fort Worth, Texas at the moment.
I'll be retiring soon and plan to move to Hot Springs, Arkansas.
After more than thirty-five years, Toronto feels like my hometown. Toronto, most cosmologists agree, is the Centre of the Known Universe.
What a coincidence; nearby Pensacola Beach is the town of Gulf Breeze, which holds on record most UFO sightings in the world!
Raid
shutterflower
07-01-2006, 21:03
Born in Tarzana, CA. I think it is officially considered Los Angeles. Grew up in Thousand Oaks, England, and Seattle.
pics from home in LA, England, Seattle area.
I've lived in New York state my entire life. I grew up in Baldwin, a 15 to 60 minute drive from the beach (Long Island traffic is fun :eek: ). I now live in Pleasantville, which unlike the movie does contain the full spectrum of colors. These towns in the hills north of NYC can give Boston a run for its money in terms of cost of living, I'm sure.
I live in Tucson,Arizona. That's pronounced "To-sahn". Not "Tuckson". Although Father Franciso Kino established the Mission San Xavier del Bac in 1699 southwest of what would become the city it wasn't untill 1775 that the city of Tucson officially came into being.
My family arrived in 1957 when my father was transferred while on active duty with the Airforce to Davis-Monthan AFB located in Tucson.. The photo attached is of downtown Tucson and is of a landmark building in the area. The Fox Tucson theater opened the the early 30's and remained open until the mid 70's. I watched many a movie at this wonderful old theater and was sad to see it shut down. It sat complete but unused until 1999 when a combination of private and city money was invested in the restoration of the building. I was downtown trying to shoot some bulb exposures of carlights and noticed that the theater was having it's re-opening festivities. I posted a south view of this shot some months ago but as I was perusing my images today I saw something in this north view that I did not see at the time. I think it was the better shot of the two and I ignored it for months.
Shot with a Rolleicord 1V using Ektachrome ASA 100 w/80A filter. f-16@30 seconds.
I'm a born and raised Amsterdammer. I've seen a lot of the world and I've come to the conclusion that Amsterdam is a village. A great village! As with any other place, you have to live here to understand its (deeper) appeal. :)
My second home town is Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A wonderful place, at least last time I left it. :)
I guess I could live nearly everywhere for some time, but these two places are where I settle down, pick up the local pace of life, and can be myself. Both places are small towns compared to Beijing, Hyderabad or NYC, and big compared to many rural villages. They suit me as I need to feel in control where I'm going, need to have a (mental) overview of a place to feel comfortable. Otherwise I only learn to live and appreciate a small section of a place, missing out on the greater sense of it.
I was born and grew up with my family in San Diego, and I suppose I felt somewhat as if it was home as a pre-adolescent youngster (during the 1950's), and during the early sixties I ran the beaches as a surfer...but other than that I never really had the emotional sensation of "home" in San Diego. San Diego had somewhat of an inferiority complex--a parochial second city to Los Angeles (they actually put up signs everywhere stating, "San Diego, Americas Finest City"). As I grew older, the obvious corruption that no one would admit, and the lousy path of San Diego gentrification and the downtown redevelopment started to bug me. And there is an underlying pervasive moral conservatism that seems to infect even the counterculture...the hippies, the punk rockers, etc. Over the years I'd lived in most of the San Diego neighborhoods, with my final five years in an interesting downtown hotel...but with downtown San Diego redevelopment underway, I started to realize that my next move would probably be a big one, most likely to Tijuana. There was nowhere cool left in San Diego, and after 38 years it was clear that the city did not like me, and I did not like it. Since moving, I sometimes explain it as being popped out of San Diego like a pimple...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had a large record collection, and was realizing that ALL my favorite music was from New Orleans. A jealous former boyfriend of my new serious girlfriend was the catalyst, and the two of us crazily moved to New Orleans with a few posessions in a driveaway car. Neither of us had been anywhere in the south prior to the move (I'd never been further east than Arizona) so we had no idea what New Orleans would be like other than what we'd read in a few guidebooks in the San Diego library. To our surprise, we arrived just days before Mardi Gras, so we had the most festive of introductions to our new city. And New Orleans is just so damn beautiful, and such a joyous city, and I just loved it from the very beginning. It is old, and historic, and authentic, and poignant. And it has a spirit, a shared identity and a sense of community that goes deeper than any racial or religious or cultural divisions. We don't tolerate eccentricity here in New Orleans--we celebrate eccentricity...perhaps to a fault. Outsiders do not understand why New Orleanians seem to have such a profound connection to their city, and I'm just trying to explain it in a few quick sentences. There is a shared "state of mind" that comes from living here. Once, after a necessary visit to San Diego for family business, the plane landed at the New Orleans airport, and the door opened to a giant mid-August sweat-ball of heat and humidity...and to me it felt like a big wet kiss.
Photographically, it changed me to be here. I had primarily photographed people in the San Diego counterculture. I'd get an unusual and valued photo every now and then at a party...but there were no actual events (other than Halloween) in which we could participate. Compare that to the rich photographic opportunites on Mardi Gras day (and thats just the big one...there are numerous festivities in New Orleans all year long...parades and other events that outsiders never hear about). How do I resolve the ease of finding great subject matter with the work I'd already done...is a photographer just the guy who has access? Or is there some underlying art to it regardless of the subject matter?
When asked, I try to explain and resolve the fact that my birthplace is San Diego...and I sometimes say, "the stork made a mistake...I was REALLY born in New Orleans".
Dale Cook
07-02-2006, 02:41
...is the place I now call home. I moved here from Buffalo, NY about 8 years ago. Winston-Salem is nice small, southern town. You have to work some to find photographical opportunities, but that's part of the challenge. A couple of pics from downtown Winston-Salem...
http://dalecook.smugmug.com/photos/70668146-L.jpg
http://dalecook.smugmug.com/photos/24632290-L.jpg
Jefferson, MD (http://www.jeffersonmd.net) in the late 18th century was known as "Trap town" just east of Harpers Ferry on the route from the Cumberland gap to points east and south. There were toll booths at both ends of town and a tavern in between. The town incorporated as Jefferson in the 19th century and later decided that the local government was not needed and un-incorporated.
All of the shots in my gallery (except two) were taken within a 1.5K of my home in Jefferson.
I live in a small city, pop 13k or so, in the eastern 2/3 of Washington, separated from the western side by the Cascade Mountains, a more conservative culture, and a dryer climate. I moved here from Seattle 30 years ago, and a year later married my long-time best girl. She was not at all sure she wanted to be so far from the city and its shopping, but we both have come to prefer the small-town atmosphere. Here you encounter the same people in different contexts, and socially you cannot afford to be too offensive, so we practice courtesy and tolerance together. There is a culture-gap between the college and the ranching/farming communities, but this is a great place to settle down and join in.
Photographic opportunities are different than in a large city, and as with entertainment, one needs to be more self-reliant.
I grew up about 10 miles from Laurence (in message #8), near Bremerton across Puget Sound from Seattle. Our house was on the waterfront, and the extensive protected bays and channels of Puget Sound made for a very rich boating experience that I miss over here in the interior. As a teen, I was charmed by the idea that I could get in my home-made boat and theoretically have access to the Pacific Ocean, maybe make it to Alaska...
I'll attach a couple of shots: The first along the river on a winter day, the second on a misty spring morning as the audiologist turns the corner to her office in the next block. I was just snapping the ugly green place behind and shot her quickly as she appeared and I recognized her. She is screaming "Oh, you finally got me!" as she has resisted being shot before. :D But it's pleasantly typical of this community that we recognize many other residents and see them in different places and contexts.
Hi,
my hometown is a small town 50 km east of Frankfurt/Germany. Has a long history as a toll station of the major "Salt Road" from Franfurt to Leipzig. But I only lived there for half of my life. I guess it is still home.
Now I am living in Cambridge, MA which though much bigger has that small town feeling.
Ciao
Joerg
Joerg I love your German town pictures. It could only be one country and it looks idyllic. If they have a tourist office, they need your pictures!
Sean Moran
07-03-2006, 09:53
I live in Belfast.
Cheers,
Seán.
PS This was taken with a Fed 1 and the collapsible 50mm f/3.5 Elmarski.
Joerg I love your German town pictures. It could only be one country and it looks idyllic. If they have a tourist office, they need your pictures!
Donald,
thanks for the kind words.
Yes Waechtersbach is quite idyllic, a lot of forrest etc. but as a teen I sure did not appreciate...:D
Ciao
joerg
For the past 15 years, I've lived in Washington, DC (District of Columbia), a medium-sized U.S. city that happens to be the nation's capital. I consider it my home town because I grew up in the Maryland suburbs outside the city. DC has always existed in the shadow of larger East Coast cities like NY, Philadelphia, & even, until relatively recently, Baltimore, & for good reason. In addition to a smaller, less concentrated, population, DC has fewer tightly-knit neighborhoods, probably because many of the residents are very transient (albeit highly educated), even by U.S. standards. Also, like most (North) American cities, the majority of the population (including myself as a child) lives in the surrounding automobile-friendly suburbs, not in the city. I take most of my photographs within DC, w/an eye to depicting aspects of daily life here that aren't part of the "marble city," i.e., that aren't directly related to the workings of the federal government or the monuments that the tourists visit. To paraphrase Daniel Webster's description of Dartmouth College: Washington, DC is a small city. And, yet there are those who love it.
http://static.flickr.com/75/160518394_886fac4073_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/48/143819838_bcd13dd252_o.jpg
traveller
07-03-2006, 12:01
After living 20+ years in Augsburg/Germany I call this my hometown. It's a medium sized town that had it's part in history being 2000+ years old, home of the Fugger and Welser, once (~14th to 16th century) the world's richest merchants who financed king's and popes, decided wars, got their own favorite elected to emperor, founded colonies in South and Middle America and traded with the most parts of the world. In this town the treaty ending the 30 years war was signed because it was the only town where protestants and catholics lived together in peace.
Today the town is kind of sleepy, looking graceful at upstarts like Munich :D . A lot of the town got destroyed by bombs in WWII (Messerschmidt-Fighters were developed and build here) but there are still a lot of nice places.
If anyone plans to visit southern Germany, don't miss it. I dare too say that even the beer is better than in Munich duckandcover
I have two hometowns. I live in St Albans now but I was born in Dublin, Ireland. Here's a picture taken with my Seagull 203 of the park in Dun Laoghaire.
Rock? Luxury! You're lucky to have a rock. I have to sleep under a grain of sand which I share with my wife and 25 children. And the dog.
Donald, that bike appears long unused... sad lack of transport and exercise? :)
I am led to believe it is the original bicycle that featured in the "The Third Policeman" by Flann O' Brien now living out a peaceful retirement as a flowerbed:
The gross and net result of it is that people who spend most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Policeman
Center of town - home of the Art Fair on the Square, Cows on the Concourse, many many protest's, and of course the annual Harvest Festival (no, not corn...:p ) my understanding is that the only dome taller is in DC - by about a foot.
29470
The rock I crawl out from under every morning.
Bwahahahahahaha
At fisrt I thought it might be a hailstone :)
Doctor Zero
07-05-2006, 17:23
Sigh... I'm jealous!
Utterly-butterly confused about the definition of home. I've lived in (ie. at least about a year): Laren & Duivendrecht (near Amsterdam, born there), Brasschaat (just north of Antwerp), Maracay (Venezuela), London, Woodbury (outside St. Paul, MN), Oxford and Cambridge. About to move again, to London, and maybe move again in a year's time. And I'm only 31! I've liked and loathed all of them, can recommend all of them for a visit. Home? Hmmmm....... Maybe just a true European?
Doctor Zero
Doctor Zero, it can be tough... and I think the definition of "home" must be left to each of us. It may be where you are now, and it may be where your heart is. I lived in military barracks for a few years and I didn't really consider any of those quarters "home", though they provided shelter and a place to keep my stuff. Maybe they were home at the time... I have fonder memory of my first rental apartment, and the several places I called home subsequently, but don't now think of those places as "home." Yet I'll still take the opportunity to pass by them from time to time to see how they fare. The place I bought 30 years ago where I still live is definitely home. And perhaps my childhood home, where there's a lot of emotional nostalgic connection; I thought of that place as home, where my parents lived until recently, the place I could always return to. But no longer, and it fills me with sadness that I can no longer call it home.
kshapero
07-05-2006, 21:18
I live in Southern Florida, usually make it to the ocean about 5 times a week. I have lived in California, Ohio, New York, Ct, Maine, but mostly Virginia. I have been all over the world. Sometimes by car, sometimes by plane, sometimes by train, sometimes by bus, but mostly by the thumb (In some countries you use the finger, no not the middle one.):eek:
P C Headland
07-05-2006, 22:13
Born in the UK (Midlands), but lived most of my life in NZ in or near Wellington. Also lived in London then Genoa in my early '20s. Spent the past 8 years living in London then Amsterdam, then just recently moved back to Wellington. Who knows how long we'll be here before heading off somewhere else?!
So, Wellington is what I'd call home. For now.
Here it is on a nice day (today, nice it is NOT!), shot with a Zeiss Ikonta 524/2
http://images.fotopic.net/yhiop7.jpg
Parkes Owen
07-05-2006, 23:43
Lived in Sydney all my life, about 30mins drive north. I`ve travelled quite a bit and am always reminded how lucky I am to live in such a nice place when I return home.
Not too many tourists see this side of Sydney as they mostly only make it as far north as Manly beach. It`s a great place to be, but soooo expensive to buy real etate, maybe thats why so many sydneysiders are moving to Queensland! A lot of my gallery pics are just down the road from my place, which means I havn`t been travelling too much lately, must be the big mortgage and full time job(doh!)
pcfranchina
07-06-2006, 08:24
Lived my whole life in NYC. Work in tourist central, Rockefeller Center. Doesn't seem to be much of an RF community here.
So, Wellington is what I'd call home. For now.
Here it is on a nice day (today, nice it is NOT!), shot with a Zeiss Ikonta 524/2
I thought bit of state highway looked familiar!
I live on the northern end of that road, Auckland. There a few photos left in my RFF gallery.
Auckland is unique as we have something in the order of 150 dormant volcanoes in the area, and if you stand on some taller ones you can see TWO different oceans/seas. Not many cities can claim that. It's also where we successfully defended the America's Cup for the first time in 100 odd years.
We also suffer from the Four Seasons in One Day curse.
Stu :)
I also lived in London for many years. This is St Pancras Cemetery.
I was born and raised in Spokane, Washington and moved to Seattle after graduating from Gonzaga University (also in Spokane). I'm still not entirely sure why, but I let myself be talked into moving to Cleveland, Ohio where I've been living for the last six years. I don't have any pictures from Spokane floating around to post because I wasn't really "into" photography at the time. Maybe I'll get some when I go home this fall.
Doug,
I am an Ex-Clevelander. And although I am lucky enough to be out of there, there is nothing quite like University Circle in the spring and fall.
Matt...
One more from me - the former elephant house at London Zoo. I've spent a lot of time in this Zoo with my children.
Doug,
I am an Ex-Clevelander. And although I am lucky enough to be out of there, there is nothing quite like University Circle in the spring and fall.
Matt...
True, but I still miss seeing mountains.
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Razno/mytown/lutanja-199.jpg
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Razno/mytown/lutanja-151.jpg
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Razno/mytown/lutanja-139.jpg
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Razno/mytown/lutanja-157.jpg
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Razno/mytown/lutanja-158.jpg
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Razno/mytown/lutanja-182.jpg
few quick and random files from disk... sorry not rf nor quality.... just to demonstrate the beuty of my home town (first 5 are taken by my girlfriend) :D
few quick and random files from disk... sorry not rf nor quality.... just to demonstrate the beuty of my home town :)
Lovely town - thanks for sharing!
thanks :)
I have few rolls waiting till i find some money to develop/scan them... that will take some time :D
1912
http://almissa.com/1912-06-20-omis-066zri.jpg
(photo from: almissa.com)
John Robertson
07-10-2006, 17:35
Dundee One by me last year, the other by my father in the 1950's on Kodachrome using the Ilford Advocate camera I still have.
I retired from the US Navy in 1989 after 23 yrs.of calling the world my home.Alotta been there -done that.Picked up my first camera in Viet Nam to show my family what war was,sad.Moved all over,liked most of it,settled in Pensacola,Fl.A nice slower paced town with great weather most of the time.Low cost of living still,but rising.Beaches to die for,great fishing and hunting,close to some cities large enough so you can get some culture when needed.Alot to photograph around here it's a very old town with tons of history.A good place to raise a kid.My favorite subject is my daughter Claire and my wife Richelle(who can't keep her eyes open when I shoot).Thats about all,I know this place is home,I start missing it before I leave. Robin
I love that 1950s Dundee shot!
John Robertson
07-11-2006, 05:13
Thanks Donald, the buildings are still there but not the trams, now pedestrianised wilderness!!
this is the town that I live in now... 25km from Omis (few posts up)
You can see more pictures of Omis and Split here (http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/index.php?fpp=10&did=1-2)
Fed3b + J8 + Superia xtra 400 =
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Fed/20A_0094.jpg
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Fed/21A_0095.jpg
http://adria.fesb.hr/~nibalic/Fotografije/Fed/16A_0090.jpg
Wow....what a thread. I've at least visited many of the places shown &/or mentioned & feel VERY fortunate for that.
Dale Cook! Welcome to NC! I was born here & likely will die here. I love it & wouldn't trade it for anywhere I've visited so far. Actually the Camel City is where I was born....where's the picture of the penis building?
Enough of that...I live in central NC, USAhttp://images1.snapfish.com/34758%3A%3A%3C2%7Ffp345%3Enu%3D327%3A%3E387%3E9%3C 3%3EWSNRCG%3D323392%3C4%3B5%3A7%3Bnu0mrjhttp://images1.snapfish.com/34758%3A%3A%3C2%7Ffp345%3Enu%3D327%3A%3E387%3E9%3C 3%3EWSNRCG%3D323392%3C4%3B5%3A7%3Cnu0mrjhttp://images1.snapfish.com/34758%3A%3A%3C2%7Ffp343%3Enu%3D327%3A%3E387%3E9%3C 3%3EWSNRCG%3D323392%3C4%3B5%3A86nu0mrjhttp://images1.snapfish.com/34758%3A%3A%3C2%7Ffp339%3Enu%3D327%3A%3E387%3E9%3C 3%3EWSNRCG%3D323392%3C4%3B5%3A89nu0mrjhttp://images1.snapfish.com/34758%3A%3B52%7Ffp343%3Enu%3D3233%3E83%3B%3E462%3E 232483%3B5533%3C8ot1lsi. A town called Statesville. Here's a few shots for my part.
I was born in Liverpool, UK. But my wife is Thai and we consider Bangkok to be home really (and anyway, I don't have any pics of Liverpool). Here's a few Bangkok shots (I'm slowly scanning my large collection of trannies)...
http://homepage.mac.com/oscroft/photo/thailand/bangkok1/bangkok1.html
Alan
I have lived near Howell, Michigan for 35 years. The township was founded in 1807 on the Grand River Trail, an old Indian trail.
Our biggest claim to fame is the Howell Melon, which was developed by three farmers in the area. We have a three day Melon Festival in August. We also have a Balloon Festival in June, where balloonists from all over the country come to compete.
During the 35 years the area has changed from agricultural to urban (Farms to Wal-Mart), which is not what I like, but what can you do.
In recent years the town has removed the fake fronts from the great old Midwestern brick buildings, much improving the main street appearance. We also restored our Courthouse, which is a thing of beauty.
Otherwise, we’re just another Midwestern town. For more information see:
http://www.howell.org/
http://www.cityofhowell.org/
I'm a native and life-long Californian, but I've been in a lot of places in that rather large state. Born in Sanger (east of Fresno) in 1937. During and shortly after WWII we lived in Oakland, San Leandro, and Castro Valley.
Then in 1946 my parents and an aunt bought an 18-acre farm (?) in San Martin, which is about 25 miles south of San Jose. Lived there until I went to San Jose State, where I majored in Spanish and got my teaching credential.
As luck would have it, I wound up with a teaching job down south, namely Whittier High School District. After one year there, I joined the lovable L. A. Unified School District and wound up teaching at a jr. high school in East L. A. until I retired in 1995. So I lived in Santa Fe Springs, Van Nuys, Alhambra, then bought a condo in West Covina, where I lived for 27 years.
Not having been raised in the L. A. area, I eventually decided I had had enough of the traffic and congestion. So I sold the condo and bought one in Santa Maria, where I have lived for the past six years.
Santa Maria is a city of some 90,000 that has been an All-American city. It's about 30 miles south of San Luis Obispo and, depending on how you go, either about 60 or 75 miles northwest of Santa Barbara. It's the north end of Santa Barbara County - cross the bridge at the north side of town, and you're in San Luis Obispo County.
Santa Maria is the home of the third-largest Elks lodge in the nation, which I belong to (after 18 years in the West Covina lodge). The lodge sponsors the annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo, which attracts visitors from all over the state and is a 'required' visit for the Elks state president, as the Rose Parade is for the national Grand Exalted Ruler.
Besides photography, my interests are in music (largely classical, please), and I'm a somewhat lapsed organist. I do play as a substitute at the lodge, but it's been a LONG time since I've done church work. I also serve on the Board of Directors for my homeowner association. In fact, we have a Board meeting tonight. So I keep occupied and ornery as usual.
P.S. One thing I forgot to mention: Dorothea Lange's famous picture known as the "Migrant Mother" was taken in Nipomo, CA, which is maybe 6-7 miles north of here, or at least that's where you get off the 101 Freeway. I have no idea where the exact spot is, but there should be some kind of monument put there, after all the fame that picture has garnered.
dll, interesting commentary, thanks! We just passed through Santa Maria last October and stayed overnight there on our vacation trip. I was shocked at the incredible urban growth there since my previous visit in about 1992. At that time it seemed to me a small sleepy agricultural community. My fond memory is of good service at a small makeshift muffler shop operated by some young men. At the time I had a sporty and fairly new red Toyota MR2 with a loose exhaust bracket that caused an embarassing rattle at certain times. So, after staying the night, the next morning I set out to find a muffler shop to fix the rattle. I came across these guys who carefully moved the car over their work pit (no lift) and did a bit of welding. They admired the cute car enough they didn't charge for their work. I've held a fond memory for Santa Maria ever since!
From there, on both trips, I followed Hwy 33 east and caught Lockwood Rd up to Frazier Park where it meets I-5, a fun drive with interesting scenery.
Edit: A couple of shots along Lockwood Road (Bronica RF645)
maljohns
07-19-2006, 12:44
Introducing my home town & myself....... I'm in Abertillery, South Wales, UK - a run-down, ex-coal mining town set in the South Wales valleys. The pics are from the first roll of film (Provia 100) through my new bessa R2A with 35mm summicron, taken from the mountains above Abertillery.
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More pics from around & of my home town can be seen here:-
http://www.pbase.com/maljohns/are_you_local
And here:-
http://www.pbase.com/maljohns/abertillery
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