Posts Tagged "Golden Gate Bridge"

Recently I rented a Fuji GFX 50s for one week. During that week, I had scheduled a photoshoot with one model and spent a couple days camping near the Golden Gate Bridge. My goal was to evaluate if the Fuji was a possible replacement for my Canon 5D MK IV. I have heard great things about the Sony Alpha 7 R II but when I used it, I did not like the view finder and the ergonomics. In contrast, Fuji came with a lot of expectations about the natural ergonomics and ease of use. Plus a 50 megapixels camera was very interesting to me.  It is true, I was able to use the Fuji within a couple minutes without even opening the manual. Everything is right where you expect it,  it’s like putting on an old favorite jacket (including finding loose change at the...

After going south to Channel Islands National Park, this short trip will take out not far from San Francisco to Stinson Beach and Bolinas. If you leave in the Bay Area, you have probably been driving to Stinson Beach but the town is very different if you can actually stay there! I knew of Stinson Beach before this trip but I was interested in experiencing the early morning when the day trip folks are not yet there. I found a great rental property about 50ft from the beach. There are literally tons of short term rentals in Stinson or Bolinas, a quick search on AirBnb will let you find the one you like. If you have never been in this area, I would recommend going first to Point Reyes but this blog is purely focused on the Stinson Beach area (and Bolinas). Ours was...

This morning, early, there was a full moon eclipse visible from San Francisco. The eclipse did start at 2am until 8am. So I woke very early and drove to San Francisco, I was planning on catching the second portion of the eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. A couple of factors were not playing in my favor: First the weather, a storm was supposed to be here Saturday and the chance of clouds were at 45%. This is high enough not to see the moon at all. Second, the eclipse was past the moon set, so the moon would be not as bright as usual, combining by the fact that the moon set time was after the sunrise (by 5 minutes or so) I was predicting that the moon would be very faint against the sky. Third, the moon would not be low enough on the horizon until...

This year’s “supermoon” was on Saturday, July 12. A supermoon is when the Moon’s orbit brings it closer to the Earth (at the perigee) and make it appear larger (especially when it’s full moon and at moon rise). In San Francisco, any summer full moon is a challenging situation to photograph. The summer fog can play troublemaker and block any moon rise. My plan for that supermoon rise was to take a picture of the Moon sitting on top of the Coit Tower. Saturday night was a typical summer evening in San Francisco, cool, windy and with the fog rolling in. As I was waiting for the Moon to rise I took a couple images to show you the fog rolling in over the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin headlands. The East Bay was still visible and I...

Today is independence day and one fun thing to do on that day, beside pool parties and BBQs, is the fireworks show. I have heard that the shows at Disneyland, South Lake Tahoe and Ala Moana Beach Park are among the best. While waiting for the fireworks to start,  I leave you with a couple images from the New Year’s fireworks (above) and from the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate bridge. If you want to know where to go in San Francisco for the fireworks (and where the top image was taken from), read this post. Be careful, the 4th of July fireworks is best viewed from Pier...