San Francisco

The Bay Bridge, Pacific Ocean, Mile High Hilltops, San Francisco Bay, Palace of Fine Arts, the Painted Ladies, Victorian and Edwardian houses, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Park, Dolores Park, Japanese tea house, Dutch Windmill, Tulip Garden, the Wharf, Golden Gate Buffalo Paddock, the tree-covered mountain tops that backdrop the Pacific Ocean is stunning and leaves you breathless.

The symmetry that San Francisco displays are an artistic masterpiece as a whole. It’s challenging to get that feeling by visiting the City. It’s a city that once settled into it feels comfortable. Maybe that’s just the West Coast was coming from the East Coast vibe.

I’m not sure, but it worked for me.

San Francisco is like most major cities, and it does have subways, trolleys, and electric buses and ferries as transportation methods.

But, the preferred method of transportation in San Francisco is a bicycle. And lucky for me, I had mine shipped before leaving.

Having the opportunity to work and live in San Francisco was an exciting transition coming from New York City. I never really thought much about living on the West Coast. I have always considered myself an East Coast person. Florida is as far as I would venture for warmer climates and palm trees.

I have heard the phrase: sometimes, change is good for the soul, and I would have to agree. San Francisco was the perfect contrast to NYC. The escape from the City to the City is precisely the exchange that I welcomed at that time.

I should add that my post is not comparing the two Cities. They are both very different and have distinct qualities that make them both incredible places to live or visit.

But, as far as my camera lens could tell we were in the right place at the right time.

I took full advantage of my time there collecting images of this extraordinary place that I call my second home away from home. If that makes any sense?

I made sure to take it all in every time that I ventured out with my camera in tow.

Somedays sitting for hours taking in the waveless view of the Pacific Ocean, waiting for sailboats to pass. Sitting on Crissy Field East Beach, gazing at the soaring red arches of the Golden Gate Bridge waiting for the morning fog to clear. Sitting on the dock by the Bay, patiently waiting for flocking seagulls to scavage under the bridge to add them to my photo.

In my opinion, it’s the small details that make a photograph seem unique. I believe this to be the true essence of photography as an art. Something that appears in an image that no one else knows why or how it got there. Only you know. That’s part of the passion that I try and display and share with you.

There were times that I could spend 8-10 hours of riding my bicycle up and down the hills of San Francisco.

I would ride throughout the eclectic neighborhood of the Haight Asbury to get to Golden Gate Park to take images of the Dutch Windmill, and the Bison.

Maybe, cycle down to the Marina District to take photos of the Kite Surfers along Crissy Field East Beach, only to end up taking
photographs of Sailboats docked at Fort Mason Marina.

Climbing back to the top of Russian Hill to gaze out over the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge surrounded by fog was always a particular time for me.

I spent many weekends cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge to climb some of the highest peaks in Marin County. I wanted the chance to point my lens out to the sea across the Pacific Ocean.

It was time riding back under the moonlight just me and my camera that had collected memories.

That is part of the joy, the excitement of knowing it was time well spent. It was realizing that those images and moments will live on when I am no longer here.

It’s the feeling that I get sharing my photos with others.The
satisfaction of knowing that my photos are shared as though you were in that moment with me.

A place that you have been before but, never had the chance to capture the image or never to have the opportunity actually to experience a site yourself. A picture is the closest thing to being there.

It’s a chance to make that image your own. That’s what I offer by sharing my photos with you.

That’s art, and it’s in the Drawings, Paintings, Sculptures, Photographs, Music, Beautiful houses, Buildings, and Bridges that live on after we are gone. It’s for other artists to learn from emulating.

I valued each moment, taken the time to appreciate an image that I photographed; understanding my subject was essential to me. Something quickly ignored, especially when you are in a rush or want to capture an image without something getting in the way.

In San Francisco, I made an effort to understand and appreciate my subject and I hope that is in the photos that I shared with you today.