Film Photography in the Digital Age

I took this photo not long after moving to San Francisco in 2002, which was also the year that I started to take photography seriously. Digital photography wasn’t that advanced back then so I was primarily shooting with Fuji Velvia. I have to admit that I miss the feeling of anticipation while opening a box [...]

Foggy Pacifica

As with the Point Reyes National Seashore post, I’m going to be posting some older images in the coming days. I didn’t have a blog back then so it should be fun to take a trip down memory lane. Anyway…
This photo was taken up the street from my apartment. I had lived at this location [...]

Postcard Row, San Francisco

Picture: Downtown Scenic View From Alamo Square Postcard Row, San Francisco, California
This photo was taken from one of the most popular tourist stops in San Francisco. Despite the popularity of this place, I actually sold a picture of Postcard Row from my last trip to San Francisco so it made sense to try photographing [...]

Twin Peaks Panoramic, San Francisco

Picture: Twin Peaks Scenic Panoramic, San Francisco, California
Despite having lived in San Francisco for three years, I had never been up to Twin Peaks before this trip. Man, I totally missed out!
This nearly 180 degree panorama of the city took 10 separate images to stitch together with AutoPano software. To show the incredible amount of [...]

Downtown San Francisco Skyline

Picture: Downtown San Francisco City Skyline, Treasure Island, California
Believe it or not, last week was only the 2nd time that I had photographed the San Francisco skyline. It is such a picturesque scene that I wasn’t going to pass up another opportunity to photograph it. My best friend used to live on Treasure Island [...]

God Bless America, San Francisco

Photo: Chinese Woman Approaches Caucasian Women in Front of U.S. Flag Mural in Chinatown, San Francisco, California
This scene reminded me of how far society (in California at least) has come when it comes to race relations. I won’t elaborate, but it was pretty bad even when I was growing up in the 80’s and [...]

Portsmouth Square, Chinatown

Picture: Card Gambling in Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, California
At Portsmouth Square, you can find men and women playing Mahjong or cards all day long, often for money. Probably due to traditional Chinese customs, the men generally stay on one side of the park while the women congregate on the other.
Initially I walked around [...]

Chinese Family Association, San Francisco

Photo: Yee Fung Toy Family Association, San Francisco, California
When the Chinese first started immigrating to California during the Gold Rush, most did not speak English. This made it difficult for them to assimilate into society. Combined with the racial discrimination of the time, immigrants needed to form family associations in order for protection. This [...]

Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company Factory

Picture: Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company Factory, San Francisco, California
Four or five years ago I met this guy while walking past a gated side alley. He told me that he was a martial artist and asked if I was interested in photographing him practicing. It was dusk and the light was fading fast, so [...]

San Francisco Seal Rock

After photographing the tree-sitters at UC Berkeley, photographer Greg Lato and I met up with Jim Goldstein at the Cliff House for some landscape photography. Jim broke his toe recently so we chose this location to make it easy for him since he lives nearby. This is him shooting pictures with his $8000, Canon 1DS [...]

San Francisco Coast Guard Pier

Photo: Coast Guard Pier, San Francisco, California
When there is an image that has a strong center of attention, I find that it can be beneficial to add some vignetting around the edges to help draw the eyes toward that subject instead of drifting off to the corners of the frame. In this particular image, I [...]

Goodbye San Francisco

Monday morning rolled around and the weather in the San Francisco Bay was essentially the same as it had been since Friday afternoon. What I found strange about my moodiness on Sunday was that I loved the weather when I lived up there. But now that I was up there specifically for a photography trip, [...]

Foggy San Mateo Coast or Clouded Mind?

The night before I got the shots that I’d always wanted so I really didn’t have any plans for Sunday. I contemplated going over to Mount Diablo State Park, San Jose Mission, and the Pleasanton Ridge. Last time I hiked the Pleasanton Ridge with my friend Marc, we got lost off-trail and had to do [...]

San Francisco Summer Fog

On Saturday morning I met up with photographer Jim Goldstein in San Francisco. It was foggy everywhere so we went to the Fort Point area and the Presidio for a few hours to try shooting some “mood” type of shots. I wanted to get a lone fisherman silhouetted against the foggy Golden Gate Bridge but [...]

The Most Obvious Kind of Tourist

Since I was staying in Redwood City, I had to get up really early last Friday to catch sunrise at Fort Point. I wanted another classic Golden Gate Bridge shot but from sea level this time. Besides getting up at such an early hour, sunrises are always much more difficult to shoot than sunsets because [...]

San Francisco

The first stop I had planned for last Thursday was Mission San Juan Bautista. The mission was only about fifteen miles north of where I was staying so I was able to get some much needed sleep and still get there early. I had never been to San Juan Bautista before and was quite surprised [...]

Monterey

I am in Monterey right now. I got here yesterday morning. I’ve photographed three missions, the Steinbeck Center, Fisherman’s Wharf, Point Lobos SR, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium since I’ve been here. My wireless router isn’t working on my laptop so I’m in the library right now while waiting for a phone call. I just [...]

Living the California Dream

A week from now I will be driving up to Monterey. The campgrounds at Morro Bay State Park and Samuel Taylor State Park are filled up for the summer (unless you are disabled) so I have to skip Morro Bay for this season since their motel rates are quite pricey during travel season. Morro Bay [...]

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In the Field: Photo Blog by Richard Wong