Details |
ISO 650 … 144mm … f/5.6 … 1/160 sec

Intent |
Engagement portrait

Comments |
This was taken just past Sea Cliff, under the Legion of Honor for my clients and long time friends, Eric and Victoria, who are planning for their destination wedding in Mexico later this year. She really wanted something that said “San Francisco” and we found just the spot. This was one of the very last shots and also one of my favorites. We shot a few locations and have a lot of great images, but this one is classic.

P.S. At the Legion of Honor, there is currently an exhibition from Annie Leibovitz and her life’s work. I highly recommend that you go if you have a chance. But not on Mondays. It’s closed.

This image is a good example of how fences are coming down and lines are blurred between different areas of photography. This is my friend Kylie, at SF Lovefest, who had ridden the Pink Mammoth float during the parade and was now fanning herself with a Supperclub fan while standing on their float. It looks as though we set the whole thing up, but I had my 70-200mm and she was just having fun. I followed her with my camera and kept firing, hoping for a winner. This image was later used for promotion.

2.5 sec
f/8

That is the eclipsing moon up in the sky, from the other night. I waited a long time for it to come back out and although it was murky, it was then close enough to the bridge to get them both in the same frame with my 24-70mm. This image has been converted to B/W and then split-toned in Lightroom.

Originally, I’d planned to be at Mono Lake for last night’s lunar eclipse, but decided against it due to the storm. However, yesterday afternoon the skies were clearing just enough for us here in the Bay Area to witness a partially eclipsed full moon rise. The Golden Gate Bridge was where I wanted to be. I grabbed my tripod and the rest of my gear and took off. Traffic through the city was light. I don’t know if you’ve ever been able to go from Market to Lombard, on Van Ness without ever hitting a red light, but I did it yesterday and felt as if the traffic Gods had escorted me across all of San Francisco. I got to the Marin Headlands around 5:30 and while I thought there might be 25-30 photographers lined up along the fence, there were only 3. One of them had a compass and they were discussing exactly where the moon would be rising in relation to the bridge. Based on what they were saying, I expected to get a great shoot of the moon through the bridge. But no. These guys were waaaaay off and while they continued to look at the compass, I noticed the top of the moon poke up over the eastern hills. I wasn’t terribly impressed as there was about 15 minutes of clarity before it ducked behind the clouds. I shot it through a hole in the cyclone fence.

Then, as the sky darkened, the lights from the bridge created a brilliant contrast against the city. I shot for a long time, hoping the moon would come back out. It made a murky appearance later on, but I was freezing and it was time for a beer. I got one good shot.

1/250
f/5.6

While I was shooting the pear trees, it started to rain again and I looked up to see the beginnings of a rainbow forming beyond the orchard. So I quickly jumped back in the car and headed towards an open field where I thought I could make a good image. And of course, the perfect farmhouse was right out there in the middle of it. It took driving about 300-400 feet to get it to line up just right. At first it was just the bottom bit. But as I was shooting, the whole top half opened up. It was pretty cool.

1/40
f/5.6

This image was made early in the morning on August 28th, 2007 as the moon set over the Golden Gate Bridge, from the deck of my house. I knew it was going to be a glorious full moon, so I set my alarm for 4 in the morning, but it was still way too high in the sky. When shooting the moon, you have to include something closer to you in order to provide a sense of scale in the frame. Here, I used a telephoto lens and cropped in post-production, in order to fill the frame with as much of the moon as possible while still holding on to the bridge. I knew sunrise was at 6 but I was hoping the moon would set over the bay while it was still totally dark. I should have checked the moon set time. It hung high in the sky all night only to come down shortly before dawn. I have a shot like the one I was hoping for already, so no biggie and here’s a great addition to the set. Look for our landscape photography workshop this summer and join us at the house for a sunset photography and cocktail party.

1/640
f / 5.0

Here is a shot I recently took while hiking on Mt. Tamalpais with my friends Adam, Victoria and their dog, named Squiggy Bojangles (a hopelessly cute small golden retriever who wiggles her rump side to side when she walks). It’s not the most earth-shattering image by any stretch of the imagination, but it is good for discussion purposes.

Let’s talk about the composition. There are so many triangles and lines that it’s like a geometric diagram. This scene wasn’t staged as I was just hiking and shooting. I’ve included the film strip for you to see the shots leading up to, and following the selected image. I get a shot I’m happy with about half the time I try to pull this off. It’s cool sometimes when everything is in motion, including myself and I’m just free-styling; that’s when I experiment and really learn

When you look at the selected shot, in comparison to the others, you’ll begin to see ways in which everything works. On the hike, my eye jerked as we came through some trees to see the knoll before us disappearing into nature’s infinity pool and tapering off both left and right on the horizon. The tree on the left helps balance the fact that the knoll is a bit off center and it works well juxtaposed to the bend in the path. I knew the first few shots where going to include that shadow (see bottom right), but I wanted to see how my exposure was, given the brightness of the sky and the path combined. It was fine and by the third shot, I knew I was warm, but Squiggy was lingering too close to Victoria, who I really wanted further to the right side of my frame in order to balance out the tree. Once they all lined up, I started firing. Composition-wise, shots 4, 5, 6 and 7 all fit my vision, but in shot 4, Victoria’s body position is smooth and fluid, unlike the others.

See more about this topic in Composition at Rest.

(Click on image to see larger file)

I recently got a call from my friend Josh who was in LA for the weekend and unable to shoot the TrannyShack Pageant 2007 event in San Francisco, something he’s covered since the beginning.

He told me I would have backstage access and a front row seat in the press box, so could I do the shoot? I thought for a second and then said, “uhhh, sure!” with access like that? why wouldn’t I??

The show was hosted by Heklina, who started Trannyshack at the Stud several years ago. Sandra Bernhard showed up to judge the pageant and delivered a brilliant stand-up. James St. James, one of the original club kids from New York, was also judging, along with last years winner, Ana Conda.

Read the rest of this entry »

I woke up at 6am this morning with the moon shining brightly in my eyes. As I looked through my blurry vision, I knew a beautiful image was awaiting me on the ridge up the street. So I jumped up and headed out the door. Ahhhhh! my tripod is in the other car and my keys are with Alex. Hmmm, I see a stool that looks good enough… I run out the door and up to the spot. In minutes, I have the stool setup and the camera nice ‘n steady. Bam! Here it is… and wow, what a GORGEOUS day it is already

I was just digging through my archives and found this video of last year’s Love Fest.It’s happening again this weekend in San Francisco! Too bad I’ll miss it. I’ve got Anne and Dan’s wedding to cover. It’s a big wedding, so I’m flying Melissa Schwartz of Organic Photographs up from Santa Monica to cover it with me! I can’t wait. Anyway, hope you enjoy the video…