I recently did a portrait session with Kiki in the Mission District in San Francisco. We arrived early, when the streets were uncrowded and we had a clear sky with angled light. I'd scouted some locations ahead of time, and chose mural backgrounds—ideally, without discernible letters, which could be distracting. There's no shortage of murals [...]
I never tire of photographing San Francisco City Hall. It's a beautifully balanced, Beaux-Arts building that sits at the end of a long, tree-lined promenade. It's dramatic and impressive when photographed at sunrise, when it's front-lit, and just as impressive at night when it's lit by LED lights in a variety of color schemes, [...]
I was in San Francisco for an overnight this past Friday, and decided after dinner to walk down to City Hall. Civic Center, where City Hall is located, is not the best part of town, especially after dark. As I walked down Market St. after 9 p.m., surrounded by the creatures of the night, I [...]
This year was my fifth time going to the Pride Parade in San Francisco. I feel the event has been getting more corporate and less authentic every year. Howevere, this year was a little better, in that there didn't seem to be as many corporate groups promoting themselves and more members of the LGBTQ community [...]
For the fifth year, I went to Carnaval in San Francisco over Memorial Day weekend. It's ideal for street portraiture and event photography. The participants are in colorful costumes and are all willing to pose for pictures. Despite that, there are challenges. The overcast day provides even, soft light, but it's also a flat, dull [...]
Pier 7 is a popular spot for tourists, couples taking selfies, wedding photographers, and me. I've been there at all times of day and in a wide range of weather conditions. The pier provides a perfect example of single-point perspective toward a vanishing point, at which sits the Transamerica Pyramid. Recently, I arrived there before [...]
I drove into San Francisco in the late afternoon on Christmas day to photograph City Hall lit up in Christmas colors. It looked like this at 5:45. before the lights came on. The city turned on the lights at 6 p.m. There was still too much light in the sky for them to be very [...]
Up Your Alley (also known as Dore Alley) is an annual leather and fetish event in San Francisco, known as the little brother to the much-larger Folsom Street Fair. This is the second time I've gone there to photograph the day. The attendees are friendly, and without exception, happy to pose for portraits. This year, [...]
I went to a workshop taught by Mark de Paola, a New York-based fashion photographer and filmmaker, whose style for his personal work—and often his commercial work—is to take photos where the main subject is out of focus. You can see examples on his website. His justification is that science has shown that "the entirety of [...]
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 [...]