I realize I have yet to write anything beyond half-baked reviews on old cameras, so I figured I would give it a shot at a story. Excuse the rambling and overall lack of detail or direction here, it’s not easy trying to recall a single day from 6 months ago.
What do you with one whole day in a beautiful city with a Fuji X-T1, a 35mm lens, $30 in your pocket, and no responsibilities? You walk, a lot. I love San Francisco, it is one of the most approachable, interesting cities in the country. I had one day on my own, and was determined to see and photograph as much of it as I could. Unfortunately, a few days before I got a call from my credit card company, asking to verify that I had just spent a bunch of money in Washington DC. Upon looking down at the couch I was sitting on in Athens, Georgia, I very quickly realized that probably wasn’t me. With no working card, my transportation options for this trip were looking pretty limited. Walking it is.
I started my day with a little advice from my cousin’s boyfriend. San Francisco, like most cities, has a gritty side, this one being heroin. However, according to him, avoiding this is easy. Just don’t go all the way down any of the city’s many hills. Apparently, the addicts don’t go up hills. Probably a heroin thing? I don’t know. But armed with this knowledge and a desire to not get mugged for a small amount of money and my cherished X-T1, I headed out the door.
I can’t say enough how great San Francisco is, including the weather. A hoodie and jeans made for comfortable attire for the morning. First stop, the roof of the apartment building. And the oddly aesthetic stairwell.
Outdoor stairwell leading to the roof. All photos shot on X-T1 with 35mm f2.
As a consequence of that cool air coming in off the bay, mornings in San Francisco tend to be foggy. And some evenings. And afternoons. Actually, it just tends to be foggy there in general. However, the fog did not detract from catching views of the layered hills and buildings surrounding the Marina District.
With my first few shots in the bag and absolutely no idea where I wanted to go and no real reason to know, I headed out the door and picked a direction, excited for the long day ahead. For me, vacation is not a relaxing ordeal. Relaxation is being idle, and being idle is death. If I wanted to lay around all day, I just wouldn’t go anywhere. I moved fast, stopping only to line up shots as scenes caught my eye. First, a group of peach color walls, full of interesting lines and angles, perfectly complemented by red flowers. Then, an old car, just peaking out from beneath a cover.
At this point I was feeling good. What’s next? Well as it happened, San Francisco is an incredible place to shoot leading lines. Every other road is a steep hill, perfect for snapping off interesting perspective photos. After trying and failing at shooting downhill (it kept looking like I was shooting off a cliff, biking here seems like an exercise in terror) I turned my lens up the hill instead, resulting in one of my favorite photos of the day.
Light photo shopping to match yellows
Meandering on, I came across the bustling streets of Chinatown. Perfect street photography territory. Now, at this point, I had never really attempted street photography before, and honestly, the idea terrified me. Correction, still terrifies me. The prospect of finding subjects in the random passerby on the street is a nerve-wracking proposal. Sure, you’re not really doing anything wrong, but it doesn’t feel quite right either. But having seen the incredible results of when it goes right, I figured the reward was worth the awkwardness. Here’s what I got.
Is it great? Absolutely not. Is the focus on? Not quite. Am I happy with them anyway? Less so now, but yea, sure. Street shooting experiment over, I headed out towards the piers, with one particular one in mind. I had heard of one called Pier 7, not as popular a tourist destination but apparently lined with old light posts, another perfect opportunity for shooting interesting leading lines. After a quick stop off for a late morning bagel I found it, composed, and got what I came for, as well as a couple little bonus photos of a fisherman and the bridge.
At this point I figured I would check out the rest of the piers, but the throngs of tourists quickly turned me away. Seeing what appeared to be an endless hill, I took it. Partway up, I saw what would become my favorite shot of the day. Keeping with the leading lines theme of the day, I lined up the scene with some power lines resulting in this:
National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi
Finally, I headed up the biggest hill of all time, snagging the killer view of downtown pictured at the top of this post. At this point it was early afternoon, so in my attempt to see as much of the city as I could in one day, I pointed my way toward Haight-Ashbury. After exploring the area, I decided the seemingly endless bong and tie-dye shops weren’t for me, and figured I would check out the nearby Golden Gate Park. Do not do this if you aren’t really sure what you’re getting into. Seriously. This thing is unbelievably huge. On the upside it is a beautiful walk with plenty of variety, from museums to the Japanese tea garden, none of which I had enough cash on hand to get into. Finally, with a desperate need to pee, I decided it was time to find a bathroom. Unfortunately, those are extremely hard to come by, and the only public bathroom I did come across had a very sketchy looking homeless guy hanging around at it. After two hours lost and uncomfortable I thankfully found one, and even came out of it with a few keepers.
With the end of the day looming, and clear skies all around, I had to accomplish my final and biggest goal: the Golden Gate Bridge. Could I really leave here without trying my hand at capturing the icon? Hustle time. I raced to get there, or at least as quickly I could go in my jeans and Vans. I could not miss this chance at shooting the bridge without it being obscured by fog. I was getting close, and my heart was rapidly dropping. Finally I got to the coast at what should have been a brilliant sight and looked off into what seemed to be the edge of the world. I had missed my window, and everything was engulfed in the fog. With the sun creeping ever lower, I knew I wouldn’t have another opportunity today.
A sight to be sure, but not what I wanted. If you look really closely midway through the fog, you can’t see shit.
Oh well, all the more reason to go back right? 16 long miles later and my day was done. If you enjoyed this, drop a comment and tell me what you thought. I’ll try and work on doing more, maybe sooner than 6 months after the fact. And to wrap this up on a positive note, though it wasn’t nearly the shot I wanted to take, I did at least get one of the bridge the evening before.
Cheers.