San Anselmo Flood Photo

Photographer’s Note

It saddens me that the first photo I post with a new camera taken on the first sunny day since the camera arrived two weeks ago, is of the much beloved Seawood Photo store in downtown San Anselmo the morning after a flood that devastated local businesses.

The small central business district is built along a creek that drains the north slope of the Mount Tamalpais watershed, emptying eventually into San Francisco Bay near San Quentin prison. I've posted a number of photos taken from the shore of that creek. Last night after a week of extremely heavy rainfall the creek overflowed and four and a half feet of water rushed down the main street of our small town flooding all of the businesses in its path. A friend and I spent some time this afternoon helping a business person we don't know salvage some clothing that would likely have mildewed. The water in her store was about three foot deep during the height of the event. The interior of the store was much like photos I've seen from New Orleans after the hurricane Katrina struck in September. In fact, the person who sold me this camera lives south of New Orleans and shared with me photos he'd taken with this very camera showing the devastation. Mud covered every surface touched by the water.

This isn't a great photo but it does convey the extent of the damage. Staff of the camera store that I visit quite regularly, were hauling stuff out of the store. It was inventoried, photographed and then tossed into the dumpster you see at the right edge of the photo. The workshop shows a number of teens helping with the cleanup by shoveling mud left by the flood.

No one was injured but my sweet little town that I've so enjoyed sharing with members of TE will recover slowly from this event. Wish us well. As a footnote, I'll say simply that working with a professional camera is a great treat even though it is years older than my 20D and has only half the pixels. I didn't know what the term professional camera meant until I had one in my hand. Hopefully, I'll have some decent weather before long so I can actually take some photos... ;-)

Happy New Year everyone!

snuggleaphagus, rahul__rahul__, kikvel, peter1892, Galeota, wilkinsonsg, Rinie_Hoff has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

snuggleaphagus (4138) 2005-12-31 19:56

that totally sucks.

As I heard the news of the north bya i thought of you, I hope your have not sustained any damage.

The photo does illustrate the flood damage and its toll. However it does show the community spirit that is found over and over in the beautiful area where we both live.

The photo is full of sadness in a bit of dark humor the business of the year sing is eye catching.

Your photo along with another photo posted here from Mill Valley are serving as strong deterrents to me going to the north bay tomorrow.

Stay dry and I wish you a 2006 full of blessings and photographic opportunities.

rahul__rahul__ (2250) 2005-12-31 20:11

Hi Curtis,
nice picture and great note explaining it all. It is quite sad...your picture shows how the people are helping one another and acting as a community. Thanks for sharing and happy new year,
Regards,
Rahul

kikvel (4772) 2005-12-31 20:12

Hi Curtis

a good photojournalist approach covering this event,

you did well conveying the feelings here,
good notes as always,

and finally my best wishes for the new year!

K.
Ps. I hope you are ok, and so your community

peter1892 (3201) 2005-12-31 21:23

Hi Curtis,

First of all, may I wish you a happy new year & congratulations on your new camera!

I think this is a great shot, despite the obvious pain that was inflicted upon those of you who frequented the store, and of course those who work there. As you point out in the note, it'll take a long time for your town to recover but it's good that no-one was injured. Property can always be restored.

Anyway, good colours & sharpness in this one suggest that your 1D is going to be a good investment & something that'll give you a lot of pleasure as well as giving us a lot of interesting things to look at in 2006. I'm looking forward to it :)

spence (1679) 2005-12-31 23:20

Nice to see another post from you Curtis - and it's an interesting one which documents well the effects of the flood and the rallying human reaction to it. At least it happened LAST year, better than starting 2006 this way). All the best to you and your town for a happier 2006.

fool (19) 2005-12-31 23:35

Excellent photojournalism! Quite a lot of story happening here and in your WS. Thank you for sharing your experiences at this event and with your new camera.

Galeota (10329) 2006-01-01 3:36

Hello Curtis. I wish you a Happy New Year, even though your image is one of desolation that, in a different dimension of course, brings me back to the disaster ocurred last year in Asia at this same period. Long time no see, Curtis. I hope you're doing well and enjoying your extraordinary collection of Canon equipment. That new camera of yours is definitely a pro camera even if it starts to date a bit. I'm focusing myself in printers right now, and that's even more confusing than lenses. Do you print at home, by the way? If so, what kind of printer do you use? My best wishes. Hope to come across your photos more frequently in this new year.

wilkinsonsg (8644) 2006-01-01 4:28

Sorry to hear about the flood, I hope your town recovers, based on your photo's I think you have nothing to fear in that respect.
On lighter note, congratulations on the camera and have a happy new year :)

Rinie_Hoff (9332) 2006-01-01 19:04

Hi Curtis, Happy New Year to you too. It’s very nice to see a picture of you on TE again, but the story is really sad as people see there business go down in just a short period of time. You already told me that there was so much rain, but I guess this wasn’t expected. It’s a good documentary shot of the mess that stays behind after such a flood. I have been thinking about the 2004 Tsunami a lot, and this of course reminds me of that again. Indeed, I wish you well, and I hope the damage will be limited. And I hope for dry days to come.
I think I recognize your camera shop’s hero Pat.