Blue hour at Ghirardelli
Who wants some chocolate?
Ok, now that I have your attention, I have to admit that I don't have any chocolate to share with you today. Sorry about that! But, I do have some wonderful photos from Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, so hopefully you enjoy that just as much. Well, maybe not as much as some of that tasty goodness, but close.
Anyways, I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and had some spare time one evening to get out and shoot. It's a town that's wonderful just to wander in, but I had a few things in mind that I wanted to shoot. The problem was, the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate. It had been raining most of the day.
I got out at about 6pm, and walked over to the Ferry Building, which is one of my favorite places in San Fran. It was the ideal place to start, because of the rain, but after a short while the tripod police had other ideas and I was done inside. Luckily, the rain had stopped.
I crossed my fingers and started walking down the Embarcadero.
I spent the next two hours shooting all the way down the Embarcadero, pointing my camera at this and that and in lots of nooks and crannies, until I reached Ghirardelli Square. It was fabulous. Time well spent. Plus I got some exercise. :-)
By the time I got to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, sunset was waning and the blue hour was coming on strong. Sometimes you can tell it's just going to be one of those nights. This one definitely was. The light was fabulous.
I was in full-on photo-robot mode. Scan the scene, decide on a shot, set it up, fire the brackets, and move on. All done in quick succession. All done with a big smile on my face.
So by the time I got to Ghirardelli Square, it was deep into blue hour and darkness was falling. I had to hurry. I fired away and grabbed all the shots you see here today, and then I was done. Spent. Exhausted. And it started to rain again.
I opened my umbrella and strolled casually back over to Boudin Bakery, ate a sourdough bread bowl full of clam chowder, and called it a night.
20 Minutes in the Ferry Building
When in San Francisco, be sure and see the Ferry Building!
The Ferry Building is one of my favorite spots in San Francisco, a town which is full of awesome spots. But I do just love this thing. It's a beautiful building, and being a fan of architecture, I just love all the lines. It's a great subject for us photo-addicted types.
The funny thing is that even though I shoot there on many of my San Francisco trips, I never really tire of it. It's just one of those places that has captured me in some way. It's sort of like The Temple Bar in Dublin, Ireland. I could shoot it every day and never really get bored.
So on my most recent trip to San Francisco, which was a couple of weeks ago, I got out to shoot at about 6pm one day. The trouble was that it was raining, and raining hard. So I figured if I could brave the 10 minute walk from my hotel, I would be fine, since I was going to be inside the thing.
So I walked down Market Street and made my way inside. By the way, the choice of 6pm was on purpose. I tend to try and shoot places like this when there are likely to be fewer tourists around. I have shot the Ferry Building at 7am before and found it mostly empty, and I was satisfied with the thin crowds at 6pm on this day as well.
However, I was not satisfied with the Security Guards. Like I said, I have shot here several times over the years, and never been hassled at all. That is, on the ground floor I have never been hassled. I have also ventured upstairs before and was immediately told by Security that I could only shoot handheld there.
But down on the ground floor, I have never once had an issue, until this visit. Literally as soon as I set up the tripod and started framing my first shot, I was approached by 2 security guards, coming at me from both directions. I knew how this was going to end.
They informed me that it was "dangerous" to have a tripod there, but it was ok to shoot without one. I asked if they were concerned about someone tripping over the tripod leg, and they said yes. I made a show of looking around for people, but only saw them, me, and a couple of folks further away. Seemed pretty low risk.
I played nice though, and told them I was from out of town, and would really enjoy shooting this place because it is so beautiful. I guess my charms worked, because they actually said I could take a few photos, as long as I was quick and was careful with the tripod.
So of course I fired that first one, moved on, fired again, moved on and fired again...until I got towards the other end of the grand hallway. At that point, they both circled back towards me and I knew it was time to leave. I told them I was packing up (while my last shot fired, LOL) and heading out.
Luckily, it only took that 20 or so minutes to get all the shots I wanted, and when I walked outside the rain had stopped. I spent the next two hours walking down the Embarcadero, all the way to Ghirardelli, firing away happily the whole time. And, I got lucky with some great skies and an amazing sunset and blue hour. I'll share those when they are ready!
Thank you for stopping by today!
Sunrise at the Ferry terminal
Catching the first ferry of the day in San Francisco!
San Francisco is a wonderfully beautiful town, whether you bring a camera along to document it or not (though I obviously recommend you do). When I am there I try to shoot as much as possible, which is hard because I am always there on business. But somehow, I find a way. :-)
Actually, "the way" is that I normally get up early and wander the streets before I get busy with work. That's ok with me. Though I like my sleep as much as the next person, I like photography better, so I make sacrifices. Isn't that why caffeine was invented anyways??
On the morning of this photo, I was wandering around the Ferry Building area (which in addition to being close to my normal hotel, is also my favorite building in SFO) and shooting away. It's a great area because in addition to the Ferry Building, just a few steps away is a great spot to shoot the Bay Bridge from. It's all good. In fact, that's the Bay Bridge off to the right there.
So I fired away inside the Ferry Building way before anyone else showed up, and then as sunrise was coming together I popped out back for some of that nice morning light that I alway seem to find out West. I saw this Ferry terminal and decided it would look cool to snap it with the great color and light...and then a guy walked up to buy a ticket. I decided to take the shot anyways, and am glad that I did. I feel like having him there gives it a little different feel. What do you think?
Exploring Chinatown with my iPhone
Do you ever take a trip and use ONLY your iPhone?
I have done that at times, but not because I don't want to lug my full-frame NIkon around. I've done it when I think there is absolutely no time for me to shoot on a trip, so I leave my big ole boy at home. It sucks, but it happens.
Last week is a perfect example of this. I work for a company based in San Francisco, and we had our annual kickoff last week, which is another way of saying that my days and night were all full. But being who I am (and needing a little break one day!!) I slipped out for a little walk late one afternoon, and since we were in Union Square, I decided to head over to Chinatown for a little while.
If you haven't been, Chinatown is very interesting and a great place to walk around. I have shot there once before, early one morning a year or so ago, and found it to be quite beautiful and interesting. I hope to get back with my Nikon on a future trip. So I wandered around the back streets and alleys, which I highly recommend doing, and also along the main drag, and took quite a few iPhone shots.
These are all single exposure iPhone pics (as opposed to shooting with ProHDR, which takes two exposures and combines them), and all are adjusted with Snapseed. Snapseed is by far my favorite iPhoneography app, and you can see my quick review of it here. I plan to write more about that later. :-)
So, enjoy the pics and let me know if you have any questions!
Baker Beach
I went here for a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge...and saw lots of fog.
Haha, that happens in San Fran. What can I do about it? Just shoot away, fog or no fog, right?
My plan when I arrived here was to stick around and get some nice light around sunset, but with the fog dropping in so heavily, it never happened. So instead I hung out, climbed some rocks, took some photos, and watched some of the tourists walking around...and enjoyed the heck out of it.
It's really a beautiful spot, whether it's foggy or not. Someday I hope to get back there with the camera and try again, though I must admit the location isn't very convenient for my travels to San Fran, as I am usually stationed on the far other side of town, near the Bay Bridge (that other bridge in SFO). And of course, that's why I usually end up with a lot of photos of the Bay Bridge. I shoot what I can get to, in other words.
So, I will cross my fingers that someday I can get back here to Baker Beach and shoot sunset on the Golden Gate Bridge, because this is definitely a great place to be to see it!
Prowling around the Ferry Building
The Ferry Building is my favorite building in San Francisco! What's yours?
I just love the Ferry Building, and try to visit each time I go to San Francisco (though sadly, I fail in this effort at times). It's just such a compelling place, architecturally speaking. The interior hallway (which you see here) is just rich in details, and the exterior has that big red neon sign out back, staring out over the Bay. It's beautiful. I wish I was there shooting it right now!
It also has a fabulous Farmer's Market a couple of days each week, filled with artisanal baked goods, cheeses, chocolates...and more! It's all very yummy.
As far as photography goes, I try and get there in the morning before the crowds show up, since I like my shots essentially devoid of humans (though you can see one way in the distance in this shot). In addition to the numerous stores in the building, there are also some business offices which are up on the second floor.
I've been up there to shoot as well, and you get a great view down on this lower hallway. But note they don't allow tripods on the 2nd floor, and there is a guard there as well. Down below, I've never had an issue.
So if you visit SFO, be sure and swing by here early one morning and fire away!
San Francisco cityscape
It’s been a long time since I have posted a photo from the lovely city of San Francisco. I’m not really sure why - I have a bunch of them still to share. Then again, I have a lot of photos from other places to share. While I enjoy having a lot of unprocessed photos to get to at some point, that’s also a challenge in that I completely skip places for long periods of time. I just get tied up sharing photos from somewhere else.
But as I said, San Francisco is an incredibly beautiful city. If I had enough money, I could totally live there. It’s fabulous. There are so many different little nooks and crannies, all with their own personality. It’s very diverse, and that makes it interesting to me.
Here’s a perfect example of that. This photo is of the Hotel Triton and the adjacent cafe, and it all has a reasonably modern look to it. But the cool thing is that right behind my back while shooting this photo is the entrance to Chinatown, with a huge Chinese gate and large sculpture Foo dogs standing guard. It’s just cool.
I grabbed this HDR one morning while out on a solo photowalk there. I love cityscapes, and to me there’s nothing quite like capturing a city in the early morning, just before everyone is up and about and it gets all busy. There’s a little peace to be found in moments like that, even in a city like San Francisco.
Bay Bridge blues
I generally shoot 7 frames for my HDR’s, and depending on the outcome generally use all of them. However, I find that sometimes I get all I need out of a single exposure. This was just what happened with this shot.
It was blue hour early one morning in San Francisco, and I had my Nikon pointed at the Bay Bridge, which is pretty common for me when I visit that town. I fired all 7 like normal, but when it came time to process, I really just liked this single exposure all by itself. In this case, HDR didn’t really help me any.
That doesn’t happen a lot, and it depends on what look you are trying to achieve with the shot, but when it does happen it sure makes the processing a little quicker!
The Golden Gate Bridge
While I am in a California state of mind (my post yesterday was from CA as well) I thought I would share this pair of photos that I took recently out in San Francisco. On my first trip to San Fran a few years back, I made sure to get out and shoot the Golden Gate Bridge...and I got some good ones on that trip.
But, I had never been back despite visiting San Fran multiple times over the last couple of years. My work keeps me on the other side of town, near the Bay Bridge (which I shoot a lot!). So on this trip, I made a point to get over there and visit this monster...and I am glad that I did. It’s a beautiful thing.
Bay Bridge blues
As you have seen here before, and probably read here before, I have a million pictures of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. I love this bridge, and I try and shoot it on every trip I take out there. It’s so photogenic.
I believe that taking photos of the same thing, but in different ways and different conditions, can help you improve your photography. In fact, I did a recent blog post about that, which you can read here (and the post happens to focus on this bridge):
http://www.nomadicpursuits.com/blog/2013/1/29/using-monotony-to-spark-creativity.html
I took this one early one morning, which I tend to do a lot when I travel. It’s great to be out shooting when the rest of the world seems to be asleep. It’s like you're the only one out there, shooting and enjoying the morning serenity.
Staking out Baker Beach
Baker Beach is just awesome. Let me start with that. It’s a great place to go shoot the Golden Gate Bridge, if you don’t mind a long walk in unstable sand, while toting a backpack full of camera gear and a tripod. I didn’t know that in advance, but having now been there and shot at said bridge - I didn’t mind.
I had heard about Baker Beach - and had seen many pics over the years - and knew it was a place that I just needed to go shoot. So on one of my recent trips to San Francisco, I made it a point to get there and shoot (yes, I am on my 3rd trip there in less than 3 months, but only on this trip did I actually get to go shoot! Well, unless you count my little 1 hour jaunt to Chinatown with my iPhone)!
How was it, you ask? It was incredible.
I am, of course, a big fan of shooting bridges, and you would be hard-pressed to find one more famous or shootable than the Golden Gate Bridge (well, maybe the Bay Bridge on the other side of town - it holds a special place in my heart. Hey, I just realized that San Fran has TWO awesome bridges...no fair!). So I set out to capture the GGB in all it’s glory.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Thick fog rolled in and thwarted that plan. Being the determined type, I shot away like crazy anyways, but my hopes for a stunning sunset here were denied. I left after about an hour, but not before bagging a huge collection of shots. So, come back for more some other time!
And go shoot this bridge next time YOU are there!
iPhone fun in Chinatown
Last week was a very busy week for me, and although I spent the entire week in San Francisco, I did not even bring my Nikon. Nope, just way too busy. I did catch an hour's break one afternoon though, and decided to take a little iPhone stroll in Chinatown, which was a few short blocks away.
If you have never been to San Francisco, then be sure and put Chinatown on your list for when you do get there. It's a very interesting place. Enjoy the tour, and thanks for looking!
This gate sits at the main entrance to Chinatown...
There is a LOT of graffiti to be seen there, if you look in the right places. Here is some that I found:
There are also quite a few Chinese grocery stores. They sell lots of interesting food things.
Do some people actually eat starfish? News to me.
A sign at some store...
In case you haven't noticed...dragons are a big deal here.
And this mural just caught my eye. I guess Chinatown has been here a while!
Well, that's it for this "iPhone fun" installment! I have plenty more planned, so keep checking back!
If you ever get to Chinatown, be sure and bring your camera...or at least your iPhone!
Thanks for looking!
Morning in the Ferry Building
As a follow up to yesterday’s post – where I mentioned that the Ferry Building is my favorite building in San Francisco – I thought I would share an inside view of the place. It’s a very historic building, and serves as both a ferry terminal and a marketplace. There are shops inside featuring lots of good food and drink and they even host a farmer’s market on weekends. It’s all pretty fun and interesting.
But as I tend to do in places like this, this one was shot around 7am. I always like to get out and shoot early, especially when dealing with well-known landmarks or places that are normally busy. It’s a real treat to get a place all to yourself (well almost, you can see a couple of folks way down the hall). A few stores were open as they prep for the morning rush, but mostly I had it to myself, which was great.
I shoot here nearly every time I visit San Francisco. Even though the view doesn’t change, I find the place just incredibly beautiful from an architectural standpoint. So, expect more like this someday.A ferry foggy morning
I was in San Francisco recently, and most people are aware that the city often gets blanketed in thick fog. However, I have never experienced it despite having been there many times over the last few years. But my recent trip was a bit different – I experienced quite a bit of fog, and found that it was great fun to shoot in. It adds an interesting moody element to a shot.
One morning I got up and headed out to shoot along the Embarcadero and around the Ferry Building, which is my favorite building in the city (thus far, at least). Since it is a ferry terminal, it sits on the water and the fog was literally *right there*. It was pretty awesome, actually.
This is right behind the Ferry Building and is one of the ferry landing gates, or whatever you call them. I loved the thick fog of course, as well as the orange lights and the reflections.
Golden Gate fog
I have shot the Golden Gate Bridge in the past - and like my previous pics of it - but I wanted to capture it at sunset this time. So, while in San Francisco last week, I headed out one afternoon so that I could get the sunset shot that I had in mind.
Well it turns out Mother Nature had another idea, and thick fog rolled in over the bridge - almost obscuring it completely. So I just decided I would go for something a little different than I originally planned...and here it is. I rather like it, actually. You have to learn to go with the flow in the field, since you never know what’s going to happen!