Hidden Gems
Fog Over Golden Gate Bridge
Hawk Hill, San Francisco, California

On this particular morning the fog at the Golden Gate Bridge was just at the bridge's deck level. Crossing over the Bridge from San Francisco into Marin County was an eery feeling as I was engulfed in fog at the same time as being able to see the stars above. As I drove up to Hawk Hill I looked down on a beautiful scene below me: the Golden Gate Bridge glowing, San Francisco peaking it's head out above the blanket, and the beautiful curves of Conzulman Road winding towards me. As the sun rose and began washing out the color of the bridge and the city lights I decided to try a number of different compositions and shutter lengths. Here I focused on the fog as it began to blow off from the tree line and disappear as the sun baked it away. Leaving the shutter open for 30 seconds captured the movement as the fog began to dissipate. Above the bridge you can see the fog leaving, beginning to reveal Alcatraz. This was such a beautiful scene I had to post more than one photograph from here!

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
48mm, f/16, 30 sec, ISO 64
No Filters
Summer's Blanket
Fog Over Golden Gate Bridge
Hawk Hill, San Francisco, California

Hopefully as each year passes by, we, as photographers, learn from our past mistakes and in turn become better photographers. A year ago I left things up to chance. Today, most of my photography is planned: I've learned to check weather forecasts, watch the "WunderMap" to follow cloud patterns, and even tried to understand what makes the low marine fog that we want so badly. I learned to check the SF webcams before I go to sleep and made a great new friend who could check the fog from his bedroom window and tell me if I should go back to bed or not (thanks Alan!). Last year I butchered a shot from here. This year I vowed to get it right!

The night before this particular morning I had checked both the weather and the webcams and text messages about the following mornings fog started rolling in. I was so excited that I actually woke up *before* my 4:15am alarm! Alan almost instantly messaged me to tell me: "get up here, it's going to be amazing! EVERYONE is coming!" I arrived early, ran into Yan and began taking photos. Alan and Wilson arrived shortly after and we started trekking up to Hawk Hill. I also ran into Jim Patterson, Joe Azure, David Yu, and Della Huff, who are all great local photographers!

The fog on this morning was pretty much a dream come true! The fog was just above the bridge deck when I arrived and throughout the sunrise I watched the fog move lower and lower. By 8am the fog was completely gone! I photographed the bridge from several locations on the road to Hawk Hill and had so many great photos that I had trouble deciding which was my favorite. 
I chose a photo from the blue hour of sunrise (which is really only about 10 minutes), when the sun was still somewhat low and the sky had purple tones to match the fog. A couple minutes later and the sky started to turn light blue, orange, and red, washing out the lights of the city in the background. I experimented with different aspect ratios of either 2:1 or 3:1, and found that a slower shutter smoothed out the fog while a faster shutter left more texture and bumps. Ultimately I chose quicker shutter speed of 10 seconds and a 2:1 crop so that I could include as much of the amazingly textured fog as I could.

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
29mm, f/11, 10 sec, ISO 64
No Filters
Summer's Blanket
Fog Over Golden Gate Bridge
Hawk Hill, San Francisco, California

Hopefully as each year passes by, we, as photographers, learn from our past mistakes and in turn become better photographers. A year ago I left things up to chance. Today, most of my photography is planned: I've learned to check weather forecasts, watch the "WunderMap" to follow cloud patterns, and even tried to understand what makes the low marine fog that we want so badly. I learned to check the SF webcams before I go to sleep and made a great new friend who could check the fog from his bedroom window and tell me if I should go back to bed or not (thanks Alan!). 

The night before this particular morning I had checked both the weather and the webcams and text messages about the following mornings fog started rolling in. I was so excited that I actually woke up *before* my 4:15am alarm! Alan almost instantly messaged me to tell me: "get up here, it's going to be amazing! EVERYONE is coming!" I arrived early, ran into Yan and began taking photos. Alan and Wilson arrived shortly after and we started trekking up to Hawk Hill. I also ran into Jim Patterson, Joe Azure, David Yu, and Della Huff, who are all great local photographers!

The fog on this morning was pretty much a dream come true! The fog was just above the bridge deck when I arrived and throughout the sunrise I watched the fog move lower and lower. By 8am the fog was completely gone! I photographed the bridge from several locations on the road to Hawk Hill and had so many great photos that I had trouble deciding which was my favorite. 

Ultimately I chose a photo from the blue hour of sunrise (which is really only about 10 minutes), when the sun was still somewhat low and the sky had purple tones to match the fog. A couple minutes later and the sky started to turn light blue, orange, and red, washing out the lights of the city in the background. I experimented with different aspect ratios of either 2:1 or 3:1, and found that a slower shutter smoothed out the fog while a faster shutter left more texture and bumps. Ultimately I chose quicker shutter speed of 10 seconds and a 2:1 crop so that I could include as much of the amazingly textured fog as I could. 

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
29mm, f/11, 10 sec, ISO 64
No Filters
Speed Limit: 08
Radar Enforced
Speed Limit: '08          (with apostrophe)
Cal Logo replaces "Radar Enforced"
Speed Limit: '08
"Cal Enforced" replaces "Radar Enforced"
Speed Limit: 08
"Cal Enforced" replaces "Radar Enforced"
Speed Limit: 08
Cal Logo replaces "Radar Enforced"
Holiday City
SF Bay Bridge and Skyline
San Francisco, California

Willie and I have been wanting to take the now popular San Francisco skyline photo from under the Bay Bridge for a while now. The photo is much much nicer during the holiday time when the lights outlining the buildings are turned on and a bright white light (called The Beacon) is turned on at the Transamerica Building (the triangular building). Willie checked the webcams for a couple nights this week and it looked like The Beacon was on, and I got confirmation from a friend in the city that it was also on (although, she described it as a "blinking light" -- I should have known this was bad information … read more about that).

We left work early and headed out to Treasure Island with plenty of time to find parking, hike up the hill, find "the spot" and then get setup. Unfortunately when US-101 and I-280 merged we hit a HUGE Friday afternoon holiday traffic. We arrived at Treasure Island much much later than planned (almost an hour later), and had to high tail it up the hill and over the Bay Bridge (we were both sweating pretty badly). After hopping the guard rail we actually found the spot pretty easily (just as we were walking over the Bridge a CalTrans truck drove by and screamed over the loud speaker "No photographs from this side of the bridge." We kept walking). We scouted out the area for a while, found our spots and then waited for the light to get nice.

Luckily for us there was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL sunset that night, which makes the photo much more interesting. As the sun went down we could start making out the lights on the buildings, first some random window lights, then the building outlines, and then a light on top of the Transamerica Building. A light … a red blinking light … NOT the white BEACON we were hoping for. In fact, The Beacon *never* showed up for us :( We still came away with a great shot but both Willie and I felt jipped because The Beacon is the icing on the cake of this classic shot. We're going to have to re-attempt it another time :(

Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
42mm, f/16, 30 sec, ISO 125
No filters, NOT an HDR (all from 1 exposure)
Hidden Gems
Fog Over Golden Gate Bridge
Hawk Hill, San Francisco, California


On this particular morning the fog at the Golden Gate Bridge was just at the bridge's deck level. Crossing over the Bridge from San Francisco into Marin County was an eery feeling as I was engulfed in fog at the same time as being able to see the stars above. As I drove up to Hawk Hill I looked down on a beautiful scene below me: the Golden Gate Bridge glowing, San Francisco peaking it's head out above the blanket, and the beautiful curves of Conzulman Road winding towards me. As the sun rose and began washing out the color of the bridge and the city lights I decided to try a number of different compositions and shutter lengths. Here I focused on the fog as it began to blow off from the tree line and disappear as the sun baked it away. Leaving the shutter open for 30 seconds captured the movement as the fog began to dissipate. Above the bridge you can see the fog leaving, beginning to reveal Alcatraz. This was such a beautiful scene I had to post more than one photograph from here!

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
48mm, f/16, 30 sec, ISO 64
No Filters
Hidden Gems
Fog Over Golden Gate Bridge
Hawk Hill, San Francisco, California


On this particular morning the fog at the Golden Gate Bridge was just at the bridge's deck level. Crossing over the Bridge from San Francisco into Marin County was an eery feeling as I was engulfed in fog at the same time as being able to see the stars above. As I drove up to Hawk Hill I looked down on a beautiful scene below me: the Golden Gate Bridge glowing, San Francisco peaking it's head out above the blanket, and the beautiful curves of Conzulman Road winding towards me. As the sun rose and began washing out the color of the bridge and the city lights I decided to try a number of different compositions and shutter lengths. Here I focused on the fog as it began to blow off from the tree line and disappear as the sun baked it away. Leaving the shutter open for 30 seconds captured the movement as the fog began to dissipate. Above the bridge you can see the fog leaving, beginning to reveal Alcatraz. This was such a beautiful scene I had to post more than one photograph from here!

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
48mm, f/16, 30 sec, ISO 64
No Filters
See photo in original gallery.