I’ve been having a hell of a time finding cute guys on the BART to grace my pages here. There are signs that it could improve soon (I’ve noticed the original BART boy still rides the next-to-last car every morning, but that he’s switched which end of the car he sits in, making it really hard for me to snap pictures of him from the old spot), but it’s been a long dry spell.
Not only are a lot of guys bundled up to the point that it’s next to impossible to tell what they look like, but I seem to be having a little trouble with my timing. Even when I do spot someone worth capturing on my SD card, I seem to always catch him just as he’s turning around, or as the train bounces, or when a very large woman has just placed her enormous ass between my lens and my subject’s face.
In short, every picture I’ve taken lately has been total crap. Take the one to the left, for example. He was tall, blonde, gorgeous, and lined up right in my sites as I waited in line for a triple venti no-whip mocha at the Starbuck’s across the street. This particular Strabuck’s is the slowest I’ve ever encountered. There are people in line that have been there since the store first opened, still waiting for a latte. I figure I have all the time in the world. I line up my shot, wait until blondie’s looking particularly adorable… Then, just as I’m getting ready to snap, the line moves. I turn the camera just a bit to follow him, and I end up with a horribly backlit shot that does the guy no justice at all.
Other shots have been coming out badly for no discernible reason, like this one (which was the last one I shot with the old Treo 650 before replacing it with the iPaq). Tall, Dark and Handsome was just sitting there waiting for his train, with no clue that I was zooming in on his well-groomed, completely doable self. I had all the time in the world to maneuver myself into just the right spot and get a nice up-close-and-personal. I managed to snap a couple before his train pulled in, and as he boarded I took a look at how my pictures turned out (I rarely check them on-the-fly, as that might be just a bit too obvious… I force myself to wait until I’m out of “I’ll kill you you little stalker freak!” range). Garbage! This guy was amazing, but the pictures came out like the ol’ Treo was wearing 2:00am beer goggles.
I’ve got a ton of them like this, unfortunately. It’s not that I’m slacking here; I’m just being thwarted by photographic forces beyong my control.
Go ahead and laugh if you want. I realize BFS tilts a bit toward the pop end of the 
Kris watched the announcement of the 
I’m also hoping that the end of the holiday season will also mark an end to the serious dearth of cute BART riders the last couple months. There was one promising omen today, though: the original BART Boy and the sleeping cuddler were both on my morning train, though a little too far away for me to get any good pictures. If it happens again tomorrow, though, I’m ready. I just picked up a new phone today (an 
