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 fog layer was a little too high to capture that effect.

Our other stop was at the pet cemetery. There were some very nice, colorful flowers blooming. I think I got a shot or two that I am happy with.


Photo: Presidio Pet Cemetery, San Francisco, California

After lunch, I decided to go up to Mission San Rafael because Jim and his wife suggested it would be the only place on my to-do list that wasn't foggy. They were right. It was about 85 degrees there. The Bay Area is very unusual in that you can drive a mile or two and have a thirty degree change in weather.

Mission San Rafael Arcangel is a 20th century replica of the original at the approximate location. Probably because the chapel is only about 60-70 years old, it didn't have the ambience that most of the other missions have. Though it was a replica, it looked like a newer church. A baptism was about to start in the chapel when I got there. I had never seen one before so I guess that was enlightening. The new mission church next door was having a wedding so I took a few pictures there before leaving for nearby China Camp State Park.

In the 1870's, the San Francisco Bay had a large group of Chinese shrimp fishermen that were very efficient at what they did. Discrimination and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 eventually killed off the Chinese fishing industry in the bay. All of their fishing camps disappeared with the exception of the China Camp village.


Picture: China Camp State Park Shrimp Fishing Village, San Rafael, California

The village was dilapitated but it had some interesting displays in the visitor center. The buildings there were very worn but looked very authentic still. I didn't talk to anyone there but awhile back I read that a chinese family descended from the original group run the cafe and oversee the village. I found that to be interesting because those original chinese fishermen came from the same Guangdong province in China that my ancestors did. Not many people in America nowadays speak my family dialect but almost all of the older generation of Chinese-Americans did. I'll likely return to China Camp in the future to photograph during better lighting conditions. I'll be sure to do my research beforehand so I could ask some questions of the people there. The last thing I want to do is be under-informed and sound stupid while asking questions. Plus I'm not exactly the most articulate person in the world.

The fog was still hanging around the SF Peninsula so I decided to give the Marin Headlands one last try at sunset. I'd been up there four previous times during the trip at sunset but it was either clear or the fog was too thick to see anything. Getting a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in fog is something that I'd wanted to photograph for the past five years. I'd gone up to the Headlands several times when I was living up north but was fogged out each time. The one time it did look nice was during the middle of the day when the bridge is not very golden.


Photo: Golden Gate Bridge Summer Fog, Marin Headlands, California

These 15 hour days of summer are brutal. To wake up at 4:30 a.m. in order to drive somewhere to get a sunrise shot, shoot five or six locations during the day, then have dinner at 10 or 11 p.m. is very exhausting. Those who think that travel photography is easy aren't trying hard enough.

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 you cannot really plan to be at a certain place and expect to get the results you want. You check the weather report the night before to make sure there will be a sunrise then you just show up and hope to get good light. For sunsets you can clearly see where and when the light will be somewhere but for sunrises that is not an option.

First light turned to out to be rather flat when it hit the Golden Gate. The East Bay was partially obscured by clouds so I got more diffused light than anything else. It made for a nice Alcatraz shot however.


Picture: Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California

After Fort Point, I wanted to get some warm lighting on the Palace of Fine Arts which was just down the street in the Marina District. I managed about ten shots in warm light before the light started to wash out. Since this was during the weekday, I wanted to get over to Pier 39 to take advantage of the “Early Bird” parking rate at this garage that I used to park at when I worked at the aquarium. I paid something like $7 for the day pass. The other lot that I used to use frequently had the shocking price of $25 at 7:30 a.m. Apparently they don’t cut you any slack these days. Traveling is a little easier especially when you know San Francisco like the back of your palm. It can be a stressful place to get around if you don’t know it well.

Even at the early hour, I could tell that this was going to be a hot day. The temperature wasn’t that high, but San Francisco has a higher humidity than Southern California so it doesn’t take much to feel uncomfortable. I walked over Pier 45 hoping to catch some fisherman unloading the day’s fresh catch but didn’t see anything going on. I took some photos of the Fisherman’s Wharf sign then walked up to Lombard Street. Well more like climbed. I had only been to Lombard Street by car so I didn’t know how to get there from the wharf. I did know that Lombard ran from east to west and that Columbus would pass by it at some point. What I didn’t expect was having to walk up two blocks at a 40 degree angle to get there though! When I used to hike in the Bay Area it probably wouldn’t have been as bad, but I’ve been a flatlander for two years now.

I was pretty much burned out physically after Lombard Street so I half-heartedly made it to Chinatown and took a few snapshots. Nothing was open yet at that hour and I was already tired by 9 a.m. so I went over to Lori’s Diner on Powell and Sutter for breakfast. My roommate and I used to there for breakfast when we lived in Nob Hill so that was kinda cool to go back there. There’s a few others in Union Square too but I think the diner on Powell and Sutter tastes the best.

After breakfast I did my usual routine of checking out the magazine rack at Borders. Life has a nice picture book this month of America’s “must-see” places. The only thing I’d change about the issue is to replace some of those images with my own. :-)

A photographer’s will to get great photos is sort of like your sex drive. It goes up and down depending on your mood. I had all these plans to get great shots downtown and of cable cars but after Lombard Street and the several mile uphill walk to Union Square, I really didn’t care about quality photography anymore. I had already sweated it out by 9 a.m. so I got a some shots of the cable car turnaround at Market Street then took a Muni F line ride back Pier 39. It was lunchtime by then for the tourists so I wanted to get some crab shack vendor photos. It was quite crowded there and not a whole lot of action going on but I was reasonably pleased with the photos that I did get.


Photo: Crab Vendor at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California

Musee Mechanique wasn’t as photogenic as I hoped it would be. The problem is that the lighting in the Pier 45 hangar causes a lot reflections on the glass. Perhaps if I had my tripod, I could have eliminated some of the reflection with a polarizer but tripods are not practical for San Francisco tourist traps during the summer time. I’ll have to consider a monopod for next time.

The sea lions weren’t at Pier 39 either. They have this sign up now saying that sea lions go further south during the summer season. I found that interesting because when I worked up there for an entire year, not one day went by when the sea lions were not there. Very disappointing. I secretly have a reason why I was disappointed and for wanting to shoot the most popular tourist locations but I will not reveal that here.

I can’t recall what I did after Pier 39, but the fog started rolling in at the point and it never cleared up again. In the evening hours I went over to Lands End and wanted to walk my favorite trails. I used wander off-trail there all the time but I was disappointed to find all of the thick vegetation missing and the areas beyond the trail cordoned off. I went off-trail anyway but didn’t get far because there was nothing to explore! The official excuse is that they want to re-grow the place and do something with the trails. I don’t buy that because it looked perfectly fine two years ago. Plus it seems like half of the wind-gnarled trees are gone too.


My mood on this particular evening.

The fog was low and thick so I wanted to get some moody tree shots but I had a difficult time finding enough trees clustered together to get good shots. I took about three images then called it a day. A few years ago, getting this type of shot would have been no problem. It was kind of disappointing to pre-visualize these shots over the past two years and not be able to capture them now that I was actually there. Things change (especially when man touches it) and not always the way you hope. Just have to roll with the punches I suppose.

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 by how interesting the town looked. It is a small town but looks just like it probably did in the 1800’s.

The mission was just as nice. It is surrounded by other historic buildings as part of the San Juan Bautista State Historic Park. The chapel was the most beautiful California Mission chapel that I have been to. Some of the other mission chapels have generic church-looking interiors but Mission SJB is decorated in a very southwestern type of theme. It must truly be a pleasure to attend Mass at the church if you are so inclined. In fact, Mission San Juan Bautista has never ceased being an active parish since its inception in 1797.


Photo: Mission San Juan Bautista Chapel, California

I spent awhile photographing the mission then made my way over to the other part of the state historic park. Some cool looking cowboy stuff in the barn. I didn’t find anything I wanted to photograph in the old home but it is definitely worthwhile to visit as a tourist. Afterward I had a very filling lunch at Dona Esther Mexican Restaurant then proceeded onto Santa Clara Mission.

Santa Clara Mission is located on the campus of Santa Clara University. Nothing exists of the original mission except for an adobe wall across the lawn from the mission church. To be honest, I didn’t find chapel to be very interesting. In my opinion, Santa Clara Mission is the 2nd least interesting of all the 15 or 16 California Missions that I have photographed to date. I took a few shots then walked around campus for a few minutes before leaving for the hotel in Redwood City. I still look reasonably young so I didn’t feel out of place walking through campus. Plus I had my Sierra Club backpack on so I looked like a student at least.

I made a stop at the Palo Alto Baylands Preserve to scout before going to Redwood City. It didn’t look nearly as appealing as my previous visits three years ago but I found some nesting egrets in the palm trees. After making a mental note, I checked into my hotel room then made my way up to Muir Woods National Monument. I hadn’t planned on going to Marin on this particular day but sometimes you’ve got to improvise. I decided on doing a sunset of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands and needed to burn a couple hours so that’s how I ended up at Muir Woods.

The only weather conditions I enjoy Muir Woods in is in the winter and during a storm. Everything is so lush during the winter time in Marin but drab looking during the rest of the year. Plus the smell is so much fresher in winter. Regardless, I made an effort to get some photos. Sometimes you shoot pictures with artistic intentions while other times the goal is to merely make publishable photos. Sounds good to me.

I have a confession to make though. I absolutely hate driving on Mount Tam. The roads are really narrow, a lot of hair-pin turns, steep drop-offs, often completely fogged in, and drivers either go very fast or don’t know how to drive mountain roads (inexperienced mountain drivers rarely use the pull-outs, much to my chagrin.) I have been up that road many times…

The sun was dropping lower to the horizon so I went over to the Marin Headlands to get the classic postcards that I never managed to photograph when I lived in San Francisco. I have tried for the past five years to get a Golden Gate Bridge shot at sunset while half obscured by fog but have never been successful until this trip. (More on that in a few days.) The air quality was great and a few whispy clouds were lingering above the Golden Gate. Some pretty powerful alpenglow was going on this night.


Picture: Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, California

When I was living in San Francisco, I wasn’t yet secure enough in my photography skills to be able to photograph the postcards. I feared being known as a postcard photographer so I generally avoided the general tourist photos unless the light had potential to be spectacular. Now that I am more experienced and have a decent-sized photo collection, I can feel comfortable attacking the classic scenes and make them my own. It can be profitable as well to have these sorts of images in your archive. For example, last month I sold a popular tourist picture twice through my stock agency. 30 million people per year visit that place and probably almost as many have pictures of it. Yet a picture that I took while waiting for dinner at a restaurant, has netted me a few hundred bucks.

Postcard or not, I enjoyed this shoot as much as any other scenic photography I’ve done. The view from the Headlands is stunning regardless if you are alone or are surrounded by 100 tourists. Now that I no longer live in San Francisco, I actually felt embarrassed to not have some of those classic tourist pictures. It’s about time.