A San Francisco storefront, post September 11

Clement Street storefront, San Francisco, October 23, 2001. I was contacted the other day by a professor at a medium-sized university in the midwestern United States, who was interested in purchasing the above photo from me. (I believe this is the first time anyone has ever offered to pay for a photo of mine). He wanted to display the photo at his office at the university. As he wrote,

You see, things here are a bit jingoistic, and your photo captures quite clearly that there is diversity within patriotism– A fact which seems to be escaping many these days.

I was a bit taken aback that someone is actually looking at these photos from days gone by, and a bit embarrased that they apparently are. But I do have to say I’ve always enjoyed this particular photo, in part because it seems to capture San Francisco for me, the reflection of Green Apple bookstore can be seen, where I spent many an hour (and dollar!), although I actually despised that store and its obnoxious staff; the archetypal bay windows; the Chinese produce stores; even the light of the photo, and the color of the sky, oozes San Francisco for me. Hmmn, I feel a San Francisco photo series coming on….

(Just for the record, I sent a printable Photoshop file of the photo to the professor, gratis).