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.