Bay Area

Skyline Sunset

I've wanted this shot, and this angle, for awhile now but every time I've come to Treasure Island, I've never had the time to get down here. I finally asked some friends how to get here, and with their generous help, made my way here under the bridge. Not surprisingly, there were a few other people here, but we all had our spots and no one got pushed into the drink.

Perspective on Pier 14

This is a 3 panel, 3 shots per panel, panoramic image of downtown San Francisco from Pier 14, right on The Embarcadero. I love the leading lines of the pier, drawing you back into The City by The Bay.

Golden Gate Bridge - Overlook

My trusty photo buddy wasn't with me on this trip, so I made a solo excursion out to The City to find a place to shoot. I ended up in the Golden Gate Rec Area, looking for a way down to a spot on the beach that I'd seen online. Turns out, that spot wasn't accessible by car, and would have been a several hour walk down, and I hadn't planned on that. So, I wandered in the bushes for awhile, found some cool graffiti covered buildings, and then made my way back to this vantage point and setup shop with a dozen other shooters. Lots of shots still to process, but here's the very last frame I took that night.

Battery Park

One of the many benefits to working for SmugMug is occasional trips to the Bay Area, and going shooting after work. We tried another location first, but the impending storm snuffed out any hope of sunset, so we hightailed it over here and shot around the Golden Gate Bridge for a few hours. I think it was a good backup plan.

IMG_2221-Edit

Bay Bridge

I've wanted to capture this iconic angle of the Bay Bridge for quite some time. Finally, during a trip out to work HQ, I was able to take some time and zip over to The Embarcadero to make this one work.

Misty Night

Lombard Street, San Francisco during a wet, rainy night. A friend of mine, and I, were in town on a business trip. We had plans to go shooting on the Twin Peaks, but with the rain and fog, there was nothing to be had. We decided to head over here, to Lombard Street, and see what we could make of it. We were here at about 10p at night, but even then, we met a lot of tourists. A whole bus load of Asian tourists were dropped off at the top as we were leaving and we had walked up the hill talking to some French tourists as well. I've wanted to practice with longer exposure and tail lights for awhile, the wet of the brick road made this scene shimmer a little as we shot. I'm actually standing on top of the concrete fence, at the top, with my tripod precariously perched on a few square inches of pillar, and the center column raised up as high as it will go.

The City by The Bay

Bay Bridge and San Francisco skyline, seen from Treasure Island. This was the first time I tried HDR and stitching a panoramic on the same shot. This ended up being 3 panels, 5 shots per panel.

Under the Bridge With a Box of Denim

The other day we were hanging out under the bridge, we found a box of denim, and I'm like "these look like good jeans in here," and Frank's like "Wanna split them with me 50/50?" That's a nice thing to do. - Charlie Kelly, King of The Rats As you can see from other shots in this gallery, I've been shooting on Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island before, several times in fact, but I've never been down to this spot. I've looked for a way down several times, each time studying google maps and trying to find a way down from a decent parking spot. Finally, I broke down and asked some friends who are locals, how to get here. They explained it to me, and under the guise of hunting for pokémon, I made it here and found some great vantage points. And some magikarp.

Stay On Target

Looks a little like a trench run to me, what do you think? The weather was not very cooperative for pictures down on the beach; the wind and rain were enough to drive me up to higher ground. Fortunately, this spot was (mostly) sheltered from the elements by giant eucalyptus trees and, so long as your not afraid of raccoons biting your face off, you can get some terrific shots over looking the Bay Bridge, towards San Francisco.

Nobody Runs These Streets Like Me

Hanging over the edge of Pier 7, in downtown San Francisco, shooting back towards the Port of San Francisco sign and Pier 1. The sodium halogen lights on this pier can throw wicked lens flare, but shooting off to the side really helped minimize that.

TransAmerican Noire

I really liked how the Transamerica Pyramid lined up perfectly down Pier 7, in San Francisco, but the lights that run the length of this pier are brutal when it comes to lens flare and hot spots. Fortunately, I was able to compile several exposures together and convert it to monochrome to get rid of the nasty orange colorcast from all the lights.

Tout Droit

I had an idea about taking this picture since my last trip out here. I wanted to get a wider perspective, but I knew that a wide-angle would cause some crazy distortion if I didn't plan it right. I took this with my Rokinon 14mm and then pieced the image together in Autopano Giga, and finished it in LR5. It turned out to be the Pier 7 Fish-eye Panoramic I was hoping for.

The City Comes Alive at Night

Taken from Twin Peaks at twilight, overlooking San Francisco. The main road is Market St, with the Transamerica Building on the left, the Bay Bridge on the right, and Alameda visible in the distance.

Bathed in twilight

Sutro Baths, Golden Gate Park, looking towards the Cliff House. The wind was incredibly strong up on this point. I don't know if it is always that bad, but I had to hide behind some rocks and shield the camera for a few seconds to get this without a lot of camera shake. I came here, hoping for a brilliant coastal sunset, but the blue hour / twilight shot didn't disappoint. I hear the Cliff House has killer garlic fries, if you go to the bar in the lower levels. Maybe I'll try them next time...

I am a Rock

When I took this shot, the scene before me wasn't nearly this dramatic. It was the end of sunset, it was drab and dreary, and there wasn't much going on. However, I knew that I wanted to use this scene to see how some different editing techniques would work, and I'm very happy with the result. I like the solitary rock out there, even if I had to use some digital magic to make the scene turn out how I wanted it. I suppose that's my artistic license at work.

Sunset Spray

Sunset at the Sutro Baths, Northern California. To get this shot, you walk through the tunnel under the cliff, but then the path ends at a chain, with signs saying it's dangerous to go beyond this point. So, of course I went beyond that point! Clambering over salt sprayed rocks, camera on a tripod, hoping that my shoes keep some traction, I found a precarious vantage point for this shot. I really wanted to get the waves crashing, as well as a hint of sun flare and for one brief, glorious instant, I found what I wanted.

100 Years in the Making

Some buddies and I were walking around Stanford University and came upon this scene. It's the Centennial Fountain and Bing Wing of the Cecil H. Green Library. This was taken at blue hour, but I didn't like the contrast of the deep blue sky and the green trees, so this got a black and white treatment, which I absolutely love. Fear the Tree, y'all

We Are Our Choices

This was taken up on the campus of Stanford University, down the hall to the left is the President's office. I loved the look and feel of this particular hallway, but trying to capture what I loved about it was hard. I shot down both hallways, both up high and down low to the ground, trying to find an angle I liked before I found this one. I shot this with a black and white conversion in mind and love how it turned out. If these walls could talk, what stories would they tell? “We are our choices.” - Sartre

Hoover Memorial Exhibit Pavilion

Yet another from my trip, wandering around the campus of Stanford University. Came across this building, which is the Hoover Memorial Exhibit Pavilion, when trying to find an interesting angle of Hoover Tower, which is behind me at this point and which I never actually shot. I loved the angles and lines of this building, and the soft, warm light on the pillars really brought out the wood and played up the shadows.

Complementary Styles

I couldn't believe my luck, given the night I had had up to this point, at having such a beautifully complementary color scene play out before me. It might have looked dreary to the eye, but a long exposure really brought out the colors I was seeing in my mind's eye. The orange and blue are wonderfully soothing, complementing warm and cool tones at the end of the day.

The Dark of Night

It seems that every time I come here, there's always a new view to be had, or a new scene that unfolds. This trip was certainly no different, and I was looking for something that was a little more gloomy, and a little more foreboding. Waiting until the very end of blue hour, when it was almost completely dark, with the high fog rolling in, was perfect. The color version of this is nice, but the monochrome is better.

IMG_1470-Edit-Edit