I spent last week in San Francisco, and it was great!

This is the Bay Bridge, which I love to shoot!

I go to San Francisco several times per year (I work for a company that is based there), and I always enjoy the visit - even if I don't bring the camera. In fact, I have been there many times without the camera, and just shoot with the iPhone, assuming I have time. Even that is fun, although of course I prefer to have my camera with me!

And although last week was very busy with work (and I knew in advance that my shooting time would be very limited), I did find some time to get out and shoot. I brought along my trusty sidekick on this trip, my Olympus OMD EM-1 mirrorless camera, and just because I wanted to travel super light, I only brought one lens: the Panasonic Leica Summilux prime lens.

Some cool graffiti I found while walking along market street

one of my favorite spots in chinatown - i think i have shot here at least 5 times!  and I will probably shoot it again some day! — one of my favorite spots in chinatown - i think i have shot here at least 5 times! and I will probably shoot it again some day!

I love the combination of that lens and camera - both are very light and quick, and having the prime lens really makes me think about what I am shooting. Obviously there are some things you just can't get to with a prime (this one is a 15mm, so not-quite-wide but pretty-far-from-zoomed), but I still find it very versatile. It may be my favorite lens. Being able to shoot all the way wide open at f1.7 is one of the many great things about it (and in using it, I don't use a tripod, allowing me to further travel light).

However, I have not had any free time since returning home to process the photos (I took about 1100 with my Olympus), so today's post is a bit of a teaser: these are some of my favorite iPhone shots that I took in San Fran last week. As usual, I took a bunch of iPhone pics, and since I have the ability to process those on the go, I obviously have quite a few to share. These were all taken with my iPhone 6 and processed in Snapseed, which is just about the only app I use for processing iPhone photos these days. It's that great.

In terms of subject matter, I shot a lot around the Ferry Building (my favorite spot in SFO) and along the Embarcadero, including the Bay Bridge. I got a great new vantage point of the Ferry Building from my hotel, too, which was awesome. I wandered one morning over to Chinatown, which is always fun for me. After work one afternoon, I took a taxi over to the Mission District. I have always heard there is some great graffiti there, and there really is (it's in a spot known as Clarion Alley). It was a gold mine. I walked from there over to City Hall, which has an incredible staircase. Lots to come from there. And I ended where I began the week - shooting the Ferry Building, although this time at sunset (and I have a little story to share about how I got a better view there). So I guess I did have a little time to get out and shoot, after all. Yay for me LOL!

You may have seen these on Flickr already, if you happen to follow me there. If not, then these will be all new to ya! Either way, I hope you enjoy this little visual tour of what I encountered while wandering around the City by the Bay last week. As soon as time allows, I will be processing and sharing a bunch of stuff from last week, so stay tuned!