Off to breakfast and back to quickly open the living room curtains, take a leak and head out again to drive downtown and park by the BART entrance on 12th, the first San Francisco train of the morning leaving at 8:20. The train was crowded, but I got a seat and headed over to the city feeling pretty good after yesterday's somewhat prolonged outing. Off the train to walk up and down, up and down Market where the Dykes on Bikes form up, searching out photographs for two hours, after which I was, well, tired. More than tired, but satisfied with what I may have gotten with the outing.

I've focused on the Dykes on Bikes contingent of the parade now since I first started shooting, although the bulk of the parade, forming up on the side streets feeding Market, contain most of the more colorful action. I had the feeling there were more spectators present this year, more marchers in costume with more energy around. The Dykes seemed more, well, sedate. One or two running around topless, one riding stark naked, but nothing really out of the ordinary given some of the heights they've hit in years past.

Sometimes there's been a kind of extra electricity in the parade that I suspect has to do with the current political struggle of the moment (another opinion based on parochial experience), the marriage battle being the most recent, and it seemed present in the wider parade today, but just not to the same degree in the Dykes.

People were greeting one another, talking, having a good time; to some degree smiling for the cameras, the street monitors being their usual “watch out for the bikes” pain in the ass. Then again, I didn't stray off Market, and maybe this is just babbling of someone not really paying enough attention. Still, things seemed mellow and the photography was both easy and productive.

Home on BART feeling reasonably good about the pictures, I assume I'll have four full sections to add to artandlife, much better (from my taste and standpoint) than the photographs I was able to get at yesterday's march and demonstration.

You're still bitching about yesterday's photographs?

Yeah, but we'll see. I mentioned I didn't like the color and may have screwed it up by the way I handled it in Lightroom, trying to compensate for the bright sun contrast problems you need to deal with. I may have gone too far, adjusting the highs and lows more than they can be adjusted. Just a matter of going back and experimenting, making some changes, the original photographs remaining intact.

Do them over?

Depressing thought. I spent a number of hours working on them yesterday, all that time may be down the drain. I would have been better off taking a nap. But onward, there are today's photographs to be dealt with, this sunny June day, home now and ready to head out for lunch before I get started.

Later. Back from lunch feeling pretty good for all my yapping about running around. Actually, whatever muscles acted up yesterday were pretty calm by the evening and my two hours of running around this morning seem to have settled in, leaving the body on its own. Or something like that.

Now: work on the photographs and catch up on the guitar. (Yes sir!) That's what the rest of this day and most of tomorrow will be about.

Evening. The first run through the Dykes on Bikes photographs is done, again, enough for four sections, some eighty or ninety photographs. And they're alright, I'm happy with them. Now for the guitar. I was light on practice yesterday, we'll let the preparation for the web go until tomorrow, post them by the end of the day, but right now catch up on the rest of my obligations.

Catch up on your life?

Much too ambitious to catch up on this life. We'll have to do some kind of reincarnation thing if it turns out to be necessary to do something as potentially awful as that.