All images © 2007-2013 Aaron Meyers
Most people associate San Francisco’s summer as its foggy season. For photographers, however, the winter is when “fog season” starts. With the cooler temperates the fog drops in elevation and on those perfect mornings it sits right at the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge. Those of us hoping to photograph the bridge wake up early on particular mornings to check. A new webcam, EarthCam, was installed in SF on the approach to the GGB — in this photo just below Sutro Tower, the big antenna thing near the back of the bridge (in reality that tower, and the webcam are miles away, but just for reference, below it). On this particular morning Willie and I woke up, saw fog on the webcam, and jumped in the car and drove to the city. Getting to the bridge was a bit of a disappointment — we new immediately that there would be no morning fog. It was mostly clear. A small patch of fog sat where the webcam was but no where else. We walked out to Battery Spencer and enjoyed the sunrise for a bit before hopping back in the car and heading to work. At least it was a beautiful way to start the day! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 27mm, f/13, 30 sec, ISO 160
I love Christmas time in San Francisco because the city outlines itself with beautiful holidays lights. The Transamerica Beacon lights its beacon, a star at the top of its pointy roof. I’ve photographed the city from under the Bay Bridge but I’ve always also wanted to photograph it from above the bridge. Willie, Alan, and I met on Treasure Island and were the first to arrive at this spot above the bridge. Several other photographers joined us. I staked out a spot that looked straight onto the bridge and waited. In past years the Transamerica Beacon turned on at 5pm, perfect timing for our blue hour photographs. Last year, however, the Beacon turned on at 6pm, when the sky was too dark for good photographs. This year, luckily, it was back to 5pm and our photos would work perfectly! While waiting for the Beacon to turn on I decided to grab my big lens and take a few shots of the Bay Bridge, all by itself. I love the way the cars travel below and the long exposure captures their red tail-lights and yellow turn signals. As soon as I was done snapping this photo I had to change lenses and race to capture a wider view of this scene before it got too dark and the beauty of the city faded into night-time. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 120mm, f/14, 15 sec, ISO 100
