* DPT *

Posted by Stephen Phillips (San Francisco, United States) on 5 August 2008 in Abstract & Conceptual and Portfolio.

DPT - The Department of Parking & Traffic - a proud bureaucracy in San Francisco.

Warning to all who would tread here - leave your car somewhere else. The department has a magnet for any tourist's car - and a large parking facility with a bullet proof cage wherein to empty your wallet. No non-native can interpret the signs with conditions under which they'll tow. Tow trucks seem to materialize out of thin air upon a signal from the DPT commandos. You have been warned.

© copyright 2009 by Stephen Phillips Photography / San Francisco / www.joyoflight.com
please respect these rights - do not copy or use these images without permission

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Comments (14)

dj.tigersprout from San Bruno, United States

awesome! i love how you see these small local details! beautifully shot! and yes -- the department is wicked and evil... vampires i tell you! :)

5 Aug 2008 5:37am

@dj.tigersprout: ...twenty-four / seven vampires with tow trucks.

Anthony from Bielefeld, Germany

Nice abstract,good textures.

5 Aug 2008 8:24am

Mirko Herzner from Mühlheim am Main, Germany

As you know I like shots of urban details. This is one of them! Great catch. Does this writing mean that I am not allowed to park in this position? Is it the only sign showing this fact?

5 Aug 2008 8:49am

@Mirko Herzner: The metal pole here is the base of a parking meter. California uses curb colors as designators - yellow/black is a truck loading area, which is a tow-away zone all day for non-trucks. The meter would have warning decals saying the whole block is a tow-away zone from 3 PM to 7 PM.

kerfendal from Paris, France

with reality you give us a strong abstract picture, I see a Miro figure

5 Aug 2008 8:54am

Lorraine from Canada

Would that stand for DESPOT? love the photo my gosh it screams what you wrote, I like that ;)

5 Aug 2008 11:20am

@Lorraine: I love the little pockets of moss growing in the depressions of the broken concrete. A beautiful example of 'life's longing for itself'.

Eric Fry from Houston, TX, United States

Great vignette of daily life in SF. I didn't have to worry about that when I visited. I flew out, stayed with a friend in Concord, and had fun riding around on the BART.

5 Aug 2008 11:23am

@Eric Fry: ...that's the idea - this image was taken a half-block from an Embarcadero BART Station entrance.

hugo poon from hong kong, Hong Kong

Like Mirko, I'm also a fan of urban details. Thanks for looking at your familiar environment so intensely to get this interesting image!

5 Aug 2008 12:26pm

sherri from Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

Wonderful design and and color saturation.

5 Aug 2008 2:18pm

Marcie from United States

Fanastic detail. Love the graphic simplicity..colors..textures. Really nice.

5 Aug 2008 2:39pm

Thomas Griffioen from Bocas del Toro, Panama

I love the composition as well! Btw, those departments sucks, everywhere...

5 Aug 2008 10:18pm

Ron from Saint Louis, United States

There is sort of a Nazi-like graphic resemblance in their stamp ... I like your composition ... terrific patterns and textures ...

5 Aug 2008 11:01pm

djedfre from schaumburg, United States

great shot! yes, chicago has a number of mind-numbing 'permit parking' signs that are nearly indecipherable - i think most allow parking between 3.35 and 4.15 pm provided it's tuesday, raining and there's at least a partial lunar eclipse. mostly, i just try to do my business as quick as possible and run back to the car before the inevitable seizure... (or i just take the train!)

6 Aug 2008 6:48am

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

No non-native can interpret the signs with conditions under which they'll tow.

That's sort of the essence of tyranny isn't it? Incomprehensible rules arbitrarily enforced?

7 Aug 2008 6:27pm

@Twelvebit: ...yet the fact is there is generally no tyrannical monster at work behind all of this. One finds: inept bureaucrats whose clarity exists principally between their ears and no where else, well-paid dropouts in Cushman's enforcing conflicting rules, officials under pressure to produce what the tax-strapped city sees as revenue; all answerable to an entity whose sole concern is raising enormous sums of money for their next re-election.

Francesc B. from région parisienne, France

I like these different textures and details, after the rain... and... your eye... behind the camera.

8 Aug 2008 10:00pm

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