The MIRA building, at the corner of Spear and Folsom streets in San Francisco, is pretty irresistible for photographers—even if they're not into architecture. The twisty-turny facades make for striking images, whether you're photographing the entire structure (which isn't easy, given that you can't back up very far) or details. Here's the whole building: I [...]
When I have my monochrome camera with me, I'm always on the lookout for good black and white subjects. Heading to a meeting in Marin County, I passed the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and thought, well, there's one. These photos were taken about 9 in the morning. I put an orange filter on my camera [...]
I went with a couple of photo friends to the C&H Sugar refinery in Crockett this past weekend. Our intent was to shoot the refinery at the blue hour, when the building's sign is lit up and there's still some light in the sky. When we arrived around 5:30, the scene looked like this: Soon [...]
On a recent trip north, I photographed the Carson Mansion in Eureka, California. I'd been wanting to shoot it for years, having seen photos of it on the web. Built in 1885 by lumber baron William Carson, it's a Victorian in the Queen Anne style, and, according to Wikipedia, is "one of the most written-about [...]
I've visited Martinez many times because it's close, the downtown is picturesque and uncrowded (especially on a Sunday afternoon), and all the picture-worthy sites are within walking distance of each other. Incorporated in 1876 (!), the town has lots of history (birthplace of Joe DiMaggio) and well-preserved historic buildings, like the John Muir National Historic [...]
For my Sunday morning outing, I went into San Francisco to walk the Embarcadero. More and more often, I'm heading into the city, because it provides the most variety of subjects and the most photogenic environment. And I get there so early—at sunrise—that it's easy to walk around and come across very few people, which [...]
I'm not keen on photographing people wearing masks, and approaching strangers right now makes one even more apprehensive than usual. So, I'm foregoing street photography and instead am photographing buildings in monochrome. Here are four SF landmarks, taken over a couple of weekends. The Palace of Fine Arts is a good subject in just about [...]
Here are two photos of the Immaculata Church on the campus of the University of San Diego. Neither one shows the church as you'd see it if you went there, because one is black and white and the other infrared. I went to the church at sunrise, but the light was wrong: It's a sunset [...]
I drove into San Francisco on a Sunday morning, intending to photograph the Palace of Fine Arts. But as I drove past the Civic Center, San Francisco City Hall caught my attention. It was front-lit by the rising sun at about 8 a.m. and positively glowed. So I changed plans, parked there, and shot [...]
With no specific photo goal or subject in mind, I went to three towns on the shore of San Francisco Bay this weekend. Crockett, Martinez and Port Costa are all three fairly close together. Crockett and Port Costa are towns that time forgot, and seem stuck in time about 50 years ago. Martinez is small, [...]