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, [...]
Camera clubs disqualify images that a judge determines to be "photos of someone else's art." But if you put your spin on such subject matter, that's OK. Fortunately, this isn't a camera club competition. Here are two photos of other people's art from the Burning Man exhibit currently at the Oakland Museum. Named "Trocto," [...]
I drove across the Bay Bridge early Sunday morning to catch the 7 a.m. shuttle from Treasure Island to the Yerba Buena Island viewpoint. The shuttle didn't get there till past 7:30, so my plans for catching the earliest light on the bridge went by the wayside, but it was still directional early morning light [...]
Because the Salesforce Transit Center has been open for such a short time, everything is clean and new, unlike what you find in other public spaces in San Francisco. The sidewalks are pristine, the drinking fountains work, the bathrooms are clean, the greenery is neat and trimmed, and the tables and chairs in the courtyard [...]
In the previous post, all the photos were shot with my monochrome camera; in this post, they were all shot with a color camera. I don't convert color photos to black and white—it feels like taking something away from the image. Early morning on Main Street in Ferndale. These Italianate buildings built in 1900 are [...]