24 Hours in San Francisco – What should you photograph?

Recently, I had to go to San Francisco for less than 24 hours.  I was flying in at 3 in the afternoon and had to catch a flight back to Seattle at 1 pm the next afternoon.  With a city as great as San Francisco and with thousands of photo opportunities, finding the right mix was not going to be easy.

Think about it.  If you had 24 hours in a city how would you prioritize what to shoot, and at what time?  Even if you come up with the perfect game plan weather, traffic, and any other myriad of unforeseen obstacles can put the brakes on everything.

So what do I recommend?  DON’T HAVE A PLAN AND BE FLEXIBLE!!!

When my plane approached San Fran, I immediately scanned the horizon to see if I had any weather to contend with.  Even if the skies were clear it did not mean that a fog bank could suddenly develop and move in.  The skies for the most part looked pretty clear.  I could see there were some low level clouds, but nothing too ominous.

I scrambled to get my rental car as I juggled tripod, laptop, and camera equipment.  My body looked like a walking, drooling, spastic cramp.  My trail of tears ended with a huge surprise.  My friends had rented me a convertible… something I would have never done, but as you will see it made for a magical trip.  I hopped into the car and was soon off to my 4:00 o’clock appointment.

An hour later I was done and free to explore… the fo… the fog… THE GREAT WALL OF FOG THAT JUST MOVED IN.  You have got to be kidding me!  Mother Nature is constantly toying with my emotions and has sent me on many a fruitless goose chases. Nothing can screw up a shot more than fog, especially San Fran Fog.  “I call this picture “Cloudy Nothing”… yeah just give me a thousand bucks and it’s yours.”.

Plan B came to mind… but that’s right I had no plan.  What the hell was I going to do?!?!

I through an internal tantrum as I tried desperately to look cool in my perv-mobile.  I decided to just drive around and see if any inspiration could penetrate my creative fog. 

I headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge.  With the top down, Sirius pumping, and the heat on full blast, I cruised through San Fran like a mid-life crisis in training.  My hair blew in the wind… causing some major afro-ization which soon morphed into a  troll-like existence as it formed and aerodynamic point.  As I glanced in the mirror I could not help think I looked like the Unabomber… great!

After a few u-turns and a couple flips of the bird I was found myself crossing the Golden Gate.    My face was wind burned and my body was now hypothermic, and worst of all, I had to pee.  Doubts about the trip and my ability to get some good shots started filling my brain. 

Then out of nowhere the sun came out!!!  Of course, this caused instant blindness, yet I became overcome with joy.  I tried to look around to see what might pique my interest but everything I looked at now had purple dots masking it.  White-knuckling the steering wheel became a side effect of trying desperately not to get killed by the California enduro-racers that raced and zig-zagged over the bridge.  It seemed inevitable that I would cause an accident or in the least the evacuation of an unsuspecting tourist’s bowels.

 As I approached the end of the bridge I was spying for a parking spot when I became horrified by what I saw, a ”Tourist Infestation”.  A photographers worst nightmare.  These blind, mindless pests are constantly bumping into equipment, running in front of shots, and generally suffer from head-in-butt syndrome. Their offspring are even worse.  They are usually screaming and have no problem with wiggling in front of what would be a masterpiece.   THE HELL WITH THAT!

My mind began to scatter as I rifled through the possibilities and trade-offs of where I should shoot.  It’s Friday afternoon and the traffic is horrible and I want to be in position for the sunset.  This whole situations has the potential to suck.  Then a moment of pure genius hit me.  I thought “where could I drive that will provide a constant stream of beautiful sites to choose from and not have to worry about traffic??? PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY BABY!!!”.

I jumped off the highway and followed the signs for Stinson Beach and Muir Woods.  I was soon at the top of a bluff overlooking the stunning coast.  My best view was towards the sun.  My eyes burned and spots once again began dancing around what was left of my vision as a I struggled to compose the shot.   I opted for black and white as all the color, much like my retinas, would be completely burned out of the picture.  The subtle shades of the cliffs and the shimmering ocean in gray scale worked out.

PCH and I are old friends and I have been to this part of her once before.  I was lucky enough to drive the majority of this coast into Oregon.  The next 1000 miles north of here are arguably the most beautiful coasts on earth.  Everyone should go once in a lifetime… or seven times should you be so lucky.  The northern part of PCH is profoundly un-Californian in its pristine nature and raw beauty.  Long gone are the traffic jams and the canterlevering of hundreds homes off of unstable mountain sides.  Don’t get me wrong, there are towns along the way that epitomize tourist traps of Cali, but nothing like crawling down PCH in Santa Monica., or worse, Long Beach.

With the top down, I snaked my way down the bluff to Stinson Beach.  The last time I was here I ate at one of the only places open.  The food was great, but the gas station situation was pathetic… well non existent.  In short, it was the beginning of a slow and sometimes redundant crawl up the highway as my car and my mental stability crumbled beneath me.  The highlights included begging for gas from the sheriffs department, a murder at Goat Head Beach (not involved), and the leaving of 7 memory cards including pictures of Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park on top of my car (directly responsible).

This time was completely different, my head was completely removed from my butt cheeks for one, and it was late summer.  I am glad that I came back.  The ocean air was invigorating and the views of the bird-laden marshes were beautiful.  Soon my negative associations from my previously tormented past were permanently replaced.

I was in a race to see how far I could get up PCH before the sun set.  The road twisted and turned and rose and fell as I weaved through patches of forest segmented by golden hills shining brightly in the soon-to-be-setting sun.  Surprisingly, there were park rangers with radar guns all over the road. This had no effect on me because I am stuck behind the remake of “Driving Miss Daisy”. The other problem is that there is no place to pass Speedy Gonzales due to the hundreds of curves in the road and lack of anything consiedered a straight away. Fortunately for Mr. Gonzales the fact the Sirius Satelite radio kept on cutting out proved more infuriating then his attempt at breaking the record for at the slowest speed possible with a foot placed on the gas.

I got as far as the Point Reyes turnoff when I decided to go back.  I knew I couldn’t make it to the next beach, nor the 28 mile journey to Pt. Reyes before sunset.  After all, I had plenty more shooting back in San Francisco.  I reluctantly turned around in order to insure good positioning for what could be a good sunset.  The truth is though, I would love nothing more than driving straight back to Seattle on this road… maybe next year!

On my way back a fawn jumped out in front of the car trying to show off some new dance moves.  It kicked and pranced across the road and then suddenly stopped. I slowed the car hoping to capture it in silhouette.  Right when I got the car stopped, the little deer continued his dance back up the hillside.  Oh well, this isn’t the first time an epic shot came so close to happening and then disappeared.

Instead I settled for some burned out branches on a cliff.  The cloud line was going to quickly swallow the sun.  I only had but a few minutes before the sunset potential was all but wiped out.

I was pretty hungry by now and wanted to grab some grub.  My stomach grumbled the whole way back on the roller coaster of a road called Pacific Coast Highway.  I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner in Sausalito.  This little town boasts dozens of great restaurants, charming architecture, pricey shops, and million dollar views.

It might have been the miles of ocean or the formation of what could be  “budding man-boobs” on my chest, but I decided on having fish. As I strolled aimlessly around the town a sign that said “Fresh Sand Dabs” piqued my interest.  I guess it’s San Fran’s signature fish.  It is supposedly a little flounder-looking fish with tons of bones.  As I scanned the menu I considered the bones, and then the recent oil spill here… a cargo ship scraped the side of pylon at the Golden Gate bridge dumping tens of thousands of gallons of oil.  That’s when I decided to forget about the Petroleum-encrusted Sand Dabs and decided to go with the mercury poisoning instead.  “I’ll have the Ahi Tuna!”, I exclaimed starvingly. 

 The service was quick, almost rushed.  The tuna hit my table just as the last bit of salad left my fork.  Normally I might be put off by this, but eating at that point was a necessary inconvenience.  All I really wanted to do was take some more pictures.

I was soon out the door and heading back to get the car.  To my relief nothing was stolen out of the trunk and my photographic adventure could continue.  I may have driven a quarter mile before I saw my next subject.  The city from across the water.

I set up my tripod, 70mm – 200mm, and my cable release and began experimenting with the different apertures and exposures.  After a couple horrible shots I was dialed in.  I took a few more shots and new that it was time to look for some better shots.

My buddies have always talked about the great times in Golden Gate State park.  I had driven by it a half a dozen times, but always feared the Tourist Infestations.  After wasting an hour driving past the exit, getting lost, and turning around totaling 3,600 degrees I was finally here.  I entered the long dark road back lit by the  Golden Gate bridge.  Despite it being after 9:00 there was still a good amount of lovers “enjoying the view” aka watching submarine races.  Despite the automobile-based procreation, parking was easy to find.  I pulled up to the first spot I saw and started my picture taking ritual all over again.

This place is beautiful.  The darkness of the park made the Golden Gate bridge seem as if it were on fire.  While I was up there several ships arrived providing for a hauntingly ghost like image as it passed slowly under the bridge.  Seeing how wide the bridge is made me wonder how in the hell could you actually hit a pylon.  Sure dense fog might be a good excuse, but I am pretty sure the Golden Gate bridge might be large enough to show up on radar.

I spent almost an hour and a half moving up the road.  The further up the road I traveled, the more isolated I became…  HEAVEN!  With each bend in the road came a new perspective of the Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco.  The only thing missing was a full moon or even better a meteorite streaking across the sky.

I must have stopped at seven different spots in the park before deciding that my photography marathon must end.  Reluctantly, I packed up my equipment and concluded what was a great session.  Looking back, I covered a lot considering the impossibly short amount of time.  Plus, I will use this experience to help plan for my return to San Francisco… whenever that may be.

The Dating Scene – It’s Even Tough for a Moose

We have all been there. You are out with some friends and you see a girl that you are instantly attracted to. Most males pride themselves on their ability to approach a beautiful female, engage her in seductive conversation, and if we are lucky, it becomes the beginning of a wonderful night and possibly a great relationship.

However, we have all been shot down and sometimes shot down badly. I remember countless times cruising the bars in Tempe Arizona and seeing the girl of my momentary dreams and you are instantly compelled to talk to her.  It’s an impossible situation. You have no rapport established, you are going to be judged in seconds, and one wrong move will seal your fate as you crash and burn in front of countless observers. Often I was able to get a few sentences in before figuring out she was not interested. Eye contact was rarely established for more than a few seconds, she begins looking around you… maybe for a friend, or a possible escape route.  Her one word answers usually are a billboard-size sign that you best move on. More often than not they were extremely polite about it. With any luck it is not infront of your buddies who will surely use it as fodder for at least the night if not for half a decade.

I was on a Nature and wildlife photography shoot in Grand Teton National Park when I witnessed and photographed the best example of being shot down by a female in arguably all of Natural history.

Oxbow Bend is known for its romantic settings, great tasting swamp grass, some of the best river water this side of the Mississipp, and best of all, females out number males 4 to 1. In short, this place is a moose’s equivalent of a meat market.

With number’s like that the choice is pretty much yours. All you have to do is walk up, show the female the size of your rack and she is all yours, RIGHT?

I think their are some valuable lessons to be learned here. First of all, we have all been rejected in the dating scene. You could have the biggest rack, a custom radio tracking collar made by Gucci, and the largest muscles in the park, but if she is not interested, there is nothing you can do about it. Simply cut your losses and move on. Why? Because there are many more moose in the swamp. You can never take someone elses reaction to you and internalize it as a problem with you. She simply never knew you to begin with, and never took the time to know what a great moose you really are. Lastly, more likely than not, your buddies did not capture it on camera and will not post it on their blog for the enitre world to see. So get out there and have some fun in the dating scene and never take someone’s rejection of you to heart!!!

Real Estate Photography – When Mother Nature is Your Biggest Visual Asset

As a real estate photographer you are always looking for something that will give a house a competitive advantage while trying to capture it photographically in a manner that highlights the home’s selling points. You will never, however, anticipate the magnitude of how much Mother Nature can help you.

Bellevue Washington, is much like her big sister Seattle, often cloudy during the winter and only providing glimpses of the natural treasures around you.

I was contacted by Ardell BellaLaggio of Brio Realty to come and shoot a home that she would soon be listing. It was a beautifully renovated historical home on the western side of Lake Washington. The weather was terrible yet typical, 45 – degrees, wet, and windy. My years of being a New Englander were squandered during the last decade as the dry heat of Arizona afforded me a new perspective on weather and a pathetic tolerance for low pressure systems. I jumped puddles, avoided the micro-mudslides that painted the side walk, and put my head down as I scampered up the never ending maze of steps and landings.

I approached the summit of the stair-mountain and finally the porch was within reach. Ardell peaked her head out of the window and I was greeted by a half dozen people and the strong scent of paint thinner. I looked around and could see they were scrambling to put the last-minute touches on the house. Clearly we would not be shooting everything today.

We quickly began discussing the process and strategies we would use to photograph the home. The lake, which was barely visible was going to be the center of attention. I asked if there were mountains that may play well. Ardell and her partner Kim knew there were some mountains around but none close enough to help. We agreed that I would come back following night and shoot. I took a few shots that I knew were not dependent upon the view and headed out.

The next day I came over the top of Capitol Hill and thought I had seen a white mountain. Looking like a bobble-head driving a car, I bobbed and weaved desperately trying to see if it were true. Then, absolute proof, I was staring at the single biggest overlooked visual asset… “WE HAVE SNOW CAPS!!!”. An instant rush filled my head and I began day dreaming about the shoot to come. I found myself speeding through the Arboretum as my power-steering squealed in pain. As I approached the final hill I stared left desperately trying to take it all in.

With new found super human strength, I man-handled my strobes… like the Delta-Male that I am, and ran all the way back up those damn stairs. The forty feet above sea level started to cause some major respiratory distress. I managed to barely fight off altitude sickness but knew that a nose bleed would likely set in. With only the porch left to conquer I looked up to see the contractor waving at me… telling me… tell… te… TELLING ME TO GO AROUND TO THE SIDE DOOR?!?!? BUDDY!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?, I screamed silently. I just sherpa-ed 80 pounds worth of unrelenting awkwardness up a stair-master of a yard. Please tell me I am at least the butt of some joke. I would simply hate to waste this perfectly aggravating moment on misery alone.

Finally back inside, I can already see that we are going to have a great shoot. I needed to calm myself down and get back to the game plan. If you get too overwhelmed you will lose your methodology and make critical mistakes. The light wasn’t quite perfect yet, so I took my time setting up the strobes and triple-checked the camera settings. I didn’t want to go for too big of a shot. I had some time and started out with the smallest view. It was small both in terms of scale and importance. It was a view shot, but it was not the money shot.

This shot of the corner was the perfect warm up. The view was my priority because it was the most dramatic aspect of the shot. The furniture is nice enough, but it was not the best that the house offered. The view is spectacular and contemplating what the summer brings is equally magnificent. All I knew is that I would need to charge a hell of a lot more to be able to afford this house.

I took 20 or so pictures looking for perfect representation for both the inside of the house and the view. When I got what I thought would make the perfect combination I started contemplating the next shot. With a situation like this you need to be running both inside and outside constantly monitoring Mother Nature and being on the lookout for any surprises. Ideally you want to have two cameras ready to go. One paired with your interior wide angle lens and the second with a telephoto lens. Having to switch lenses for every shot will waste valuable time. You are doing double-duty and I have been known to run in order to capture a series of shots.

Photographing Nature requires a conservation mindset in that you are given a certain amount beauty over a finite amount of time and your job is to make sure you use as much of the beauty as possible with out wasting any of it. Its funny how Nature repeats itself.

Stepping out onto the porch this red glow caught my eye. I turned right and was blown away by what I saw. Mt. Rainier was visible and it happened to be pinks. I quickly grabbed my 70mm to 200mm lens and mounted it on to my tripod and began snapping. The whole drive up the hill I was looking left and never saw what was dead in front of me. I probably passed a family of Sasquatch too.

Could this get any better? I think not! Today was such a gift. I could not paint, let alone contemplate, a better showing than what we were given. Then I started thinking about the entire conversation I had with the real estate broker about not having any mountains. Ardell was going to be floored by these. I rushed back inside and new I had to get some more interior view shots before I ran out of day light.

The bedroom was going to be a tough call. Generally, I like shooting them at night, but when you have a view you have more liberty. The sun is not shining directly on the lake which provides balance between the intimate settings of the bedroom and the smooth and soothing blues of the shadowed lake. Having a harshly lit exterior is sort of a mood killer and would be too distracting.

Looking into the LCD on the camera I liked what I saw. The soft interior of the room was complemented well by the architecture of the ceilings and the views from out side. This is the exact moment when I noticed something I had not planned on. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Behind the mountains outside rose a bright light. It was a full moon rising over the Cascade mountains!!!

I instantly switched game plans and knew I need to capture this moment. The moon rises surprisingly fast and I knew I less than 2 minute before the shot was lost. Furiously I removed my lens and switched to my 70 to 200mm lens so that I could get a more “real life” perspective. The tripod was set up and ready to go as I got my target in sight. I fired my first shot and checked to see how it looked. “Too Dark!!! You have got to be kidding me”. Fumbling some more, I was finally able to turn on the light to the display so that I could make my adjustments.

With my camera dialed in I turned for another round and BINGO! we got it. The moon was half exposed adding to the drama of the moment. I can’t tell you how many times I had been out on the trail and had scrambled for a similar shot and was always too late. My positioning was not right, or my tripod was back in the car, or I just fumbled around too much. This was just a great shoot that was only getting better.

Now that I had my shot it was time to get back to business. With the full moon helping me out I changed my game plan slightly. Lake Washington was going to reflect the moonlight and I new that there was an opportunity to capture it through the windows in the dining room. There was not enough time to get the moon directly in the picture. More likely than not, the moon would be too small in the composition of the picture to even matter anyways. I decided to line the camera up in a way that would capture the reflection off of the lake and Bellevue, Washington’s city lights in the background. It came out exactly as I had hoped for!

As a real estate photographer you can only be as good as the home you are photographing will allow you to be. On a rare occasion, Nature will step in and help you with a dramatic sunset or a perfect moment when a bird or butterfly adds something fun to the foreground. On this night, Nature stole the show completely!

And what did Ardell have to say? “Fabulous! Simply Mahvelous!!! as Billy Crystal would say. Kim and I are very, very pleased!”. I wish I could take all of the credit…

Harley Lever

www.HarleysEye.com