Heading Out to Sea

A ship heading out to sea from the San Francisco Bay. I have been fortunate in that when I come to this spot there are colorful clouds at sunset. As I live on another coast I know that it’s not always the case and sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw. I’m not adverse to a little luck.

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Heading Out to Sea
Heading Out to Sea from San Francisco Bay

There are places known for sunsets and this spot at at Lands End is one. From my own experience it seems the conditions are conducive for colorful displays like this during the golden hour. Another place that comes to mind is in Texas. I’ve not spent a lot of time in Texas but the few times I’ve been there I noticed colorful sunsets.

Not to be outdone, we too have sunsets in Florida, but often there are no clouds so the colors can be limited. We do get spectacular sunsets, it just seems maybe fewer than California, but I could be wrong, it might just be a matter of my luck.

I noticed this ship close to the Golden Gate Bridge earlier and I was surprised to see it still heading out to sea an hour or more later. These large vessels seem to move very slowly, but could just be an illusion created by their size and the distances involved. This is zoomed in almost 200 mm, so it is a long ways out.

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Once I was at the waters edge at the entrance to the bay in Vancouver BC. It was late at night and otherwise quiet as I watched a large container ship pass under the bridge into open waters. It passed close to where I was standing and the vibration of the engines left an impression on me. For whatever reason I am struck with fascination whenever I see these lumbering giants.

Like So Many Grains of Sand

People dot the beach like so many grains of sand. A few weeks ago I was looking out over Ocean Beach from the Cliff House in San Francisco. When I first looked I was met with this spectacle. That got me thinking about the age old adage about grains of sand on a beach. And from that my mind took off on its own, not waiting for me to catch up.

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Like So Many Grains of Sand
Like So Many Grains of Sand on the Beach in San Francisco

It seems people and technology have been recalculating the size of the universe lately and we now know its much bigger than we thought. To put it in context I’m not even sure our planet would amount to a single grain of sand on this beach.

According to estimates there are about 200 billion stars in our galaxy. That would mean our star was one of the grains of sand on this beach. But that’s just referring to our galaxy, the Milky Way. Now scientists say there may be one trillion galaxies in the universe. That basically hits it out of the park, so to speak.

It stands to reason then that there might be as many stars in the universe as there grains of sand on Earth. So that is even remotely true, then what’s the point of ever trying to comprehend it? Just trying to fathom the grains of sand on this one beach is futile to say nothing for the number of stars in the universe.

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So, for me, the only thing left to do is turn away from the beach and eat a bowl of soup. That’s the one thing I can handle.

Chandelier in the Cathedral

This is a large chandelier in the Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco. Without a doubt it is the first think you notice when you walk in. It’s positioned above the alter and reflects the light from the windows of four corners. When I walked in it was all I could do to stand there and look up. I imagine that’s the intended effect; to give pause and a feeling that this is an extraordinary space.

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Chandelier in the Cathedral
Chandelier in the Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco

My Sony A7rII camera has a silent shooting mode. I turn that on whenever I enter a house of worship or any place where the sound of a shutter might break the mood. I try to respect places like this even though I want to take photos. My desire to get a good photo does not trump my manners or sense of reverence. As much as I love to get a good photo, I’ll walk away if I feel I’b be crossing some line.

That’s not to say that happens a lot. In the vast majority of cases its cool. Even if I have to take a few chances, sometimes it’s better to get forgiveness than permission. But invading someone’s space when taking photos is not cool. If I find someone in contemplation when I walk up with my camera, I’ll walk away if I cannot capture the scene without disrupting it.

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For me it’s as much about the presence of mind as it is about the picture. That sometimes involves being respectful of other people’s space.

City Across the Bay

Here is an image of the city across the bay in California. If I recall I took this from a spot just below the Golden Gate Bridge. But I could be mistaken, it could have been from Sausalito, I’m not sure. Normally I use an app on my iPhone to geotag images so that I won’t forget when writing about it later. In this case I forgot to do that or was just lazy. It doesn’t matter that much, it’s a picture, not a survey.

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City Across the Bay
City Across the Bay in California

Speaking of surveys, I met a retired surveyor a few years back who now lives on a sailboat in Florida. He used to do arial surveying with a medium format camera. That’s because back in the day’s of film, the highest resolution images came from medium format cameras. Today that’s still the case except everything is digital and hundreds of times more resolution. Anyway, the guy was selling his old Hasselblad cameras and lenses. The only problem was, nobody wanted to buy them. I think he ended up donating them to a film school.

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So while I was here in San Francisco I was walking near Union Square and a photographer was setup in a mini street fair selling his prints. He still took all his pictures with a film Hasselblad camera. I told him the story of the surveyor in Florida and he understood exactly. Film photography is a dying art and the equipment, if you can find it, is dirt cheap. Of course, you still need to develop the film and process it in a dark room. And that, is something of a lost art these days.

Having said that it seems there is a small renaissance in film photography. I’m curious to see where that goes.

Out Over San Francisco

Looking out over San Francisco from the top of Coit Tower there is a lot to take in. It’s a good good I was here in the morning because this is popular and at other times there are be lines to get up. But on this morning there were only a few people on top and the view in all directions was unobstructed.

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Out Over San Francisco
The View Out Over San Francisco

San Francisco is hilly enough, but when standing up here on a tower everything is accentuated. I used a wide angle lens to pack in as much as possible, but of course this is only looking in one direction; it was like this all around.

I think living up on this hill and then taking a walk everyday would ensure you are in pretty good shape. And that’s exactly what you see, people walking up and down the hills. I get a little winded on just one hill but if I did it everyday maybe it would be different.

Cityscape Images

I was born and raised in California but I have never been up here. I’ve seen the Coit Tower countless times, I’ve been to the base of it, I recognize it as part of the skyline, but I’ve never been to the top of it until now. In my opinion its well worth the visit if you’ve not done that yet.

San Francisco is full of architectural landmarks but this ranks in the top two or three.

On the Last Night

It seems that I’ve started a tradition of going to Lands End for a sunset on the last night of a visit to San Francisco. Not that planned it, it just seemed to work out that way. So far I’ve been rewarded with great sunsets, what are the odds of that each time? I’m just knocking on a piece of wood right now to persevere whatever good luck the photography gods have bestowed upon me. I can go a long way with a little luck.

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On the Last Night
On the Last Night in San Francisco

This time I ate dinner at the Cliff House Bistro, it’s right on the water. In fact I took this during dinner from the restaurant which is perched upon a cliff overlooking the pacific. The best part about it is enjoying a meal while watching the sunset. I took a few minutes to step out with my camera. It is an iconic location.

If you are looking at this on a large monitor you might be able to see a small island way out on the horizon just right of center. That is part of the Farallon Islands located about 20 miles offshore. I never noticed it before but while sitting in the restaurant looking out at sea it became apparent. I grew up in California and never knew these islands existed. There is a wildlife refuge there and it’s been called the “Galapagos of the North”.

San Francisco

Now that I know it’s there I’ll keep an eye out for it next time and maybe even take an excursion if I can find a company that sails out there.

The Fine Line We Walk

This picture makes me think of the fine line we walk every day. It might even be a metaphor for how we are evolving. We can be filled with distractions so that we miss what is around us. Constant thoughts, reminders, threads of conversations, it can be hard to disconnect. This kind of challenge will only continue to grow.

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The Fine Line We Walk
The Fine Line We Walk

I think we are morphing into another type of human. In a hundred years we will be even more merged with our technology and a global source of knowledge. The question is, how will we change? I’m not worried, eventually we’ll do the right thing. We’ll evolve and make good decisions. I believe that.

In the mean time we will walk along the shore and share the experience with our friends thousands of miles away. We’ll surf our twitter feed even as the surf is pounding at our feet. We will walk a fine line, but in the end we will get it right.

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These thoughts are not about photography per se, but , through photography I am thinking them. By creating this image it leads to an idea and that is the enjoyment I get out of it. One thing leads to another and before you know it I’m predicting the future of humanity. Such are the wanderings of my mind.

Contemporary Jewish Museum

This is part of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Naturally the design caught my eye and is another example of art in architecture. As unusual a shape as it is, the wide angle lens accentuates the effect. The surrounding buildings seem to bend into its gravitational pull.

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Contemporary Jewish Museum
Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco

Public art can evoke imagination transporting the thoughts of any who take the time to notice. I believe it subconsciously stimulates our inner worlds one individual at a time.

We all need art in our lives. Many of us live, move and age in a world without acknowledgment of art. We ignore it. I am no exception, racing at the feet of another god, unmindful of my surroundings. But eventually we tire of being disconnected from deeper meaning. Art is a portal to the place it was created. That’s an opaque way of saying it leads back to creative energy, because it’s the product of a creative.

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I have never considered myself a creative. But I’ve come to appreciate creatives and their art. And through the practice of the craft of photography I begin to recognize creative similarities in my own and different mediums. If I, of all people, can become aware of the value of art, then there’s hope indeed.

Baths at Point Lobos

I took this from the baths at Point Lobos in San Francisco. There were so many things to take pictures of that day, it was a lot of fun. As I write this I’m on a flight to the west coast again. I’m doing the West coast thing. I’m leaving the West coast of Florida to the West coast of Canada. Then I’ll travel to the West coast of the United States. I think whomever said go west young man, must have had me in mind.

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Baths at Point Lobos
Baths at Point Lobos in San Francisco

Growing up in California I was steeped in west coast sensibilities. New age, new thought, new ways of doing things. Of course I didn’t know any of this until I moved away and got a little perspective, I just took it all for granted. That sensibility is in my blood. I’m not particularly concerned with which west coast, just as long as it a coast and the sun sets that way. If the earth spun in the other direction then maybe I’d be an east coast guy. I’m fortunate because in Florida I can watch the sunrise over the Atlantic on the East Coast and then drive to the West coast and watch it set over the gulf.

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It’s not just me; most people are like this. We are attracted to the arc of the sun. That’s a geeky way of saying we are attracted to light and it’s our natural tendency to follow it. If you look at a picture or painting our eyes go to the brightest areas. It’s something primal, or spiritual, or both. If nothing else, its something to think about, perhaps we can figure out the whys and wherefores another day.

Cathedral Of Saint Mary Of The Assumption

When I was a child I saw this cathedral from the outside because my aunt had an apartment directly across the street. The architecture made an impression on me that has remained to this day and the area around the cathedral occasionally appears in my dreams. With this in mind I was driving by a few weeks ago and thought to stop and look inside. I’m glad I did.

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Cathedral Of Saint Mary Of The Assumption
Cathedral Of Saint Mary Of The Assumption in San Francisco

On a Monday afternoon it was empty save for an attendant. It’s a cavernous space infused with refracted light from the stained glass ribs of the spier. However what struck me most was the silence of the enormous space.

There is much to take in, but as for my camera I look for rectangles that convey one aspect. As I could not help but look up at the light coming through the windows I chose this perspective. It was late in the day and so the west facing windows conveyed the greatest light.

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Just happening in on this the way I did was a complete surprise. Whatever I expected was surpassed by the combination of ambience, light and architecture. This is without question a place of inspiration.