521 - Mechanic’s Institute
Today’s adventure is sponsored by rotini. Not because I’d eaten it recently. Or even thought about it lately, for that matter.
It was 2:03PM. I looked up from my phone out the windshield of my Prius, which was now covered in glistening spots of rain. The weather felt like one of those mist machines at a waterpark, except it was freezing cold out and there were no waterslides in sight.
I’d just spent 15 minutes reading up on the origins of “duck face.” You know, that face chicks make into a camera where they press their lips together and suck in their cheeks? For some reason my brain suddenly wanted to know the history behind it.
Turns out, usage dates all the way back to the 1600s. A famous Dutch painter named Rembrandt made it the premier facial expression on countless pieces of his art, securing it a solid origin story. However, the term duck face originated from the 1996 film “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” where lead character Henrietta was nicknamed “Duckface” because of her pouty expressions. It slowly began to rise in popularity, kicking into full force after Ben Stiller mocked its usage during the movie “Zoolander.”
By the 2010s, it became a mainstream expression for women on social media. Researchers have concluded that it’s most often used as an attempt to appear alluring, as a similar face is made in female monkeys during the courting phase of mating.
Yeah. It was time for me to do something else.
My mind jumped back to waterslides. Then it jumped to staircases. Then it jumped to spirals. Oooo… now we're on to something.
Let’s go hunt for spirals in San Francisco, I thought. It was the perfect day out for it too. Cloudy overcast, lil’ bit of rain to keep pedestrians out of the way, shiny reflections…
I’m in.
I threw my Prius into drive and skidded out of the parking lot towards the city. The first destination I had in mind was a library called the Mechanic’s Institute. Strange name for a library since mechanics aren’t exactly known for their intellectual capabilities.
I’d heard whispers of this place across the innerwebs. It was rumored to have a spiral staircase so spiral that it could make a man’s heart stop. I snagged a parking spot right out front, and walked up to its heavy metal door. I grabbed the handle, and pulled with all my might. I was met with cold resistance. Locked.
Fuck.
I looked at the hours. “Closed Sunday.” It was Sunday. Double fuck.
Well, now what? Back to the drawing board. I purged my mind for other things that spiral. Hmm… Parking garages can spiral. I suddenly flashed back to a shoot I did back in Denver a few years ago. Wasn’t there a famous spiral garage out here somewhere though? Or was that Hong Kong?
I did a quick Google Search for “photography parking garage san francisco” and came across a place called the Hearst Parking Garage. Turns out, it was literally right across the street.
Blind luck. I’ll take it. I walked over to the garage and was greeted by a suspicious security guard. Seeing as car break-ins are a dime a dozen in this town, I wasn’t at all surprised.
Honestly, it’s a dumb idea for me to even be in this city with my car. San Francisco has some of the highest break-in rates for cars out of any city in the nation. And my entire life is in that car.
Let’s make this quick, I decided. I took a rickety elevator one story down and stepped out at the bottom of the garage. I looked up. Wow…
“The Light of the Dark”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6
[ISO 500 ~ 10mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/13s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Looks like a portal to another world. I took that with a 10mm lens, essentially as wide as I could possibly get. The hard part was making sure I was perfectly centered in the spiral. The proportions had to be perfect.
As I walked out, the security guard was gone. Maybe I am in a new world now.
I hurried back to my car, half expecting it to be broken into, but it was perfectly fine. Crazy how the mind can create false scenarios in your head so fast.
I got in and took my damp jacket off. Now what?
I typed “architectural phenomenons of San Francisco” into my search bar. The Mechanic’s Institute had me feeling particularly intellectual today.
20 minutes later, I was on my way to Nordstrom.
Who would’ve thought that the luxury department store chain would be home to one of the most head-spinning architectural wonders in all of the Bay Area?
I strutted into the crowded lobby with my wide angle lens, eager to look up. And that I did:
“Microchip Mall”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6
[ISO 2000 ~ 10mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/80s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Wowzers.
Imagine walking into the mall on a Sunday afternoon with your family. Coffee in one hand, your son jumping all over the benches, your daughter pulling your arm to look at ice cream, and your husband asking you why you’re here again.
Then suddenly among the crowd you see some guy sprawled out on the ground, camera in hand, worming around like an eel to get the perfect angle of the roof. That was me.
You’re welcome.
Editing that shot was doozy. I ended up switching the colors to blue/white to give it a futuristic vibe, removing the orange glow that was actually present in this scene. I also replaced a few lightbulbs, removed some ugly people, and got rid of the Nordstrom logo. Boom. Money.
And with that, I decided to call it a day. Two sweet shots. But as I crawled into bed, my mind began to drift back to the Mechanic’s Institute. It was calling my name… “Intricate…. Save me… You’re my only hope…” And that’s the last thing I remember as I drifted off to sleep.
My alarm buzzed at 9:00AM, and I sat up straight and smashed my head on the roof of my Prius. Fuck.
I grabbed my phone and began to browse the internet. But the Mechanic’s Institute slowly weaved its way back into my thoughts. It was calling me... I have to go back for some reason.
I arrived back at that cold metal door an hour later, and again tugged with all my might. This time it opened, almost like some kind of lost gate to Atlantis. I stepped inside to a cold rush of AC.
There was nowhere else to go but forward. The entrance hall was a dimly lit path that led straight to a wooden staircase. I walked up to it and looked up. “By God…” I exclaimed under my breath, as I took it all in. It was a master level staircase, gifted straight from the Gods of Architecture.
I took my time walking to the top, examining its intricate details. The staircase flexed its curves to me, showing itself off like it’d been waiting all night. Once I got up, I looked down:
“Apricot Spiral”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 1600 ~ 17mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/40s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Pure beauty.
I realized this was the missing piece of my three part spiral sequence- warmth. It balanced out the cool futuristic spiral of Nordstrom and the black/white spiral of the Hearst parking garage.
Now my shoot was officially complete.
I walked down the stairs and wiped off my sweaty palms. I’d spent about 10 minutes trying to hold my camera perfectly centered at the top of those stairs to get the alignment right. One little slip and my camera would have dropped into the staircase’s sweet abyss.
What a shoot.
Well, that’s all I got for you guys. I’m gonna go eat some rotini.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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