1906 - A crude post office - reorganizing the mail service after the earthquake. San Francisco, Cal.

You ever wonder how things that seem so obvious simply don't occur to you sometimes? That's what I felt when I created this animation.  Originally the girl was blurry because I wanted to keep the writing on the signs clear. Then I started masking out some areas to make the image more consistent, and poof, it occurred to me - desaturate everything but the girl. This isn't the perfect animation for this effect. When a subject is considerably closer or farther from the lens, you gain a huge wiggle in either the background or foreground, which is the case with this image.   But I'm looking forward to seeing what this effect can bring the right animation.

It seems poetic considering the circumstances. She kind of reminds me of the girl in the red coat in the movie Schindler's List. Amidst the mess that this young child must have seen, she still gets excited about getting her picture taken. She looks happy. The devastation of the SF earthquake was truly horrific. According to wiki, the death toll was estimated at above 3,000. Check out some of the panoramic images here. Towards the bottom there are some broader views that give us an idea of the scope of destruction.

View the original image from the Library of Congress here.

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