Where The Spirits Live!

The beautiful decay of abandoned buildings is what inspired me this Halloween. I was drawn to these amazing images that possess strength and fragility simultaneously.

These seemed like the places that Spirits might inhabit. Each location was clearly full of life at one time, but peaceful and seemingly forgotten now.

In my research I found there is a good part of the internet devoted to abandoned buildings, which tells me there must be lots of Spirits out there.

Happy Halloween!

David Hansen

Photo Credits from top:

1) Abandoned Church Photographer unknown from Opacity.com

2) Black & White Photograph © Brian Cooney

3) Stairwell photograph from The Kingston Lounge

4) Michigan Central Station © Joe Braun

5) Galway image © Mike Searle via Urban Ghosts

6) Photographer unknown from Positive Education blog

7) Photograph via The Kingston Lounge

For The Love of Books!

A little over a month ago, Barbara and I took in the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library’s Annual Book Sale, which takes place yearly at Fort Mason. This is the mother of all book sales and is billed as the “West Coast’s Largest Book Sale”. Needless to say we were in!

We had tickets for the first day member’s preview and upon arrival it was clear that we were the amateurs, although we quickly formulated a plan: First, Design Books then Cookbooks and then everything else. The line of literally hundreds snaked around the adjoining pier and people came prepared with suitcases on wheels along with every type of portable carriage imaginable.

We managed to score a few gems including “Good Taste Costs No More” by Mr. Richard Gump from 1951, and a couple of early works by local favorite Diane Dorrans Saeks.

Here are some of the other treasures we managed to claim:

We plan to report back on all the great content in later posts. We’ll be back for more books next year…until then, happy reading!

David Hansen

* All photos by David J. Hansen and Barbara Ashfield for Ashfield Hansen Design Inc.