Shades Of Blade Runner

For a compilation of the morning walk images, click here.

I'd eat here, if such a restaurant existed.

"...Sushi...and noodles". 
Since we all started sheltering at home in March, I must have watched Blade Runner (the real one) at least six times. I was surprised to learn that it was not well received initially, but rose to achieve a cult status within a variety of genres. For me, it's always been a favorite, although I find it  hard to reconcile this vision of the year 2019 AD with what has actually come to be.

In one sequence, Deckard analyzes one of Leon's photos, and through computer enhancement, is able to produce a grainy image of Zhora, one of the replicants he's been sent to retire. I believe the process and the result can be attributed to creative license on the writer's part, and the resulting image far from providing a definitive identification. 

Screen captures of the photo analysis made in Blade Runner. Photo source here.

Computer enhanced image of Zhora.

I was surprised to find that some legal-geek types submitted a post on whether this image could be admitted as evidence in a court of law, and from what I can tell, it's a well researched argument in favor of the technology. 

Be that as it may, recovering that much information from a grainy 4" X 6" drugstore photograph seems far fetched, and I'm sure that the technology may actually exist to conjure a miracle such as this. 

Artifact, Seventeenth Street In San Francisco. June 20, 2020. 25mm 1.8 lens.

On June 20, I found this strip of color print negatives on a street near my  home. It probably escaped from some trash bin on garbage day, and I noticed it when a gust of wind sent it flying. Introduced in 1982, this strip of Kodak Gold 200 negatives could potentially be almost 40 years old. I made a photo of the negative by holding it slightly above the horizon to show some of the inverse detail. I considered this photo a document of a technology made irrelevant by the digital age, from a time when their were no alternatives to analog technology, as we now call it.

Rudimentary negative reversal via Elements

Prompted by the spirit of Rick Deckard and a passing familiarity with Elements, I inverted the color of the image just to see what this unknown photographer saw through their viewfinder.  It appears to be a performance by an orchestra in a plaza venue that resembles something one might find in Foster City. I'm afraid I won't get much more information than that, seeing that it's 2020, not 2019 from a science fiction film.

Maybe I'll be interested enough to attempt a more detailed reversal of a color negative under more controlled circumstances. In the mean time, I think I'll call Chewbacca and see if the Cantina in Mos Eislie has outdoor seating.