Workshops: Workshop Thumbnail View

Register

Side-by-Side Top-Bottom
Actual Image

San Anselmo Flood (18)
cgrindahl Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1091 W: 421 N: 2037] (6103)
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!
Altered Image #1

cgrindahl Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1091 W: 421 N: 2037] (6103)
Shoveling Mud!
Edited by:cgrindahl Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1091 W: 421 N: 2037] (6103)
This is San Anselmo Avenue that runs through the small central business district. Check out my portfolio for San Anselmo and you'll see many photos taken along this street. The creek is behind the buildings on the right. In the distance you see a small building housing a store called Paper Ships. The building was pushed off its foundation by the rushing water and will likely be demolished. Sidewalks are littered with stock dragged from the stores. The man dumping the wheelbarrow returned to the INTERIOR of the store to fill it once again. The street was lined with dumpsters being filled with what recently had been goods for sale but now is damaged refuse. There were many who came downtown to check out what was happening but many more who rolled up their shirt sleeves and got to work, including quite a number of teens. It is a sad moment in the town's history, but everyone is responding well.