Uploads from vonvonvon, tagged sanfrancisco

Transamerica Pyramid: Graffiti Detected

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:56:02 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

A few weeks ago, I made a rather-hilarious discovery in this San Francisco shot from August 2006. Up on the northwest spine of the Transamerica Pyramid, 600-feet-or-so high, above the bank of lit windows, there is graffiti, aka a tag! You see zooms of it, as well as read more about this on my blog.

If you took a telephoto shot of the Transamerica around that time, you might have captured it too! I'm trying to determine its lifespan, so if you happen to see it in one of your photos, if you could be so kind, please email me with the date! Thanks a bunch!

Particulated

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:32:13 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

The last few days have seen a pall of smoke, from distant wildfires across northern California, overtake the San Francisco Bay Area. Here, the sun, filtered red by the soot, sets behind the Golden Gate Bridge.

In this shot, the sun was at about six degrees above the horizon. At the same position on a normal day, it would have been hundreds of times more intense, and my camera, like an ant under a magnifying glass, would have melted!

Glden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

Mixed Feelings

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:01:30 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

Shadowed

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:34:43 -0800

vonvonvon posted a photo:

With the upcoming lunar eclipse on deck, tonight had the potential for some epic moon shots.

In San Francisco, for most of the evening, high overcast blanketed the skies, making the shots of totality difficult. However, the same clouds rather nicely diffused the fully-illuminated slivers seen directly before and after. Here, minutes before total eclipse, the moon rises behind the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

San Francisco, California.

Doe

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:02:18 -0800

vonvonvon posted a photo:

A mule deer grazes on a bluff above the fog-shrouded Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

For more about this photo, see the Tourist series in my online gallery. Thanks for your interest!

The Steeps Of San Francisco

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:14:37 -0800

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Unhappy with the "typical list" of San Francisco's steepest streets, canvassed the City for other substantial pitches, and found what just might be the most-tilted urban thoroughfare in the world!

Along the way, to narrow my search, I created the above map, which features San Francisco's street grid, colored by grade. See the original size for a better view, and feel free to share under the Creative Commons license.

For more information, see my blog:

www.weathersealed.com/2009/11/10/the-steeps-of-san-franci...

Experiments In Time Lapse

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:51:37 -0700

vonvonvon posted a video:

A time lapse of a low evening cloud deck blowing past San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge. Created earlier this summer, by shooting 300 or so still photographs, one per second, with Canon DSLR gear, and then assembling them back-to-back, with some inexpensive video production software.

Beyond its atmospheric nature, what I like best about this clip are the subtle details within. The mist curling around the superstructure and lighting up as the brighter headlights traverse the bridge. And, check out the floating duck, in the water slightly to the right of bottom center!

Flickr's video compression mangles the flow of this clip a bit - to view a higher quality version, see my blog.

The Lineup

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:28:27 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Hello there, everyone!

Here's a classic lineup from the archives: the sunrise above the Transamerica Pyramid, framed by the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once upon a time, I shot these so much that I wrote a computer program to determine where and when they'd happen. From time to time, I'll post a sampling of this information on my blog:

www.weathersealed.com

For example, on the evening of Friday, September 4, 2009, at approximately 7:36 pm, the full moon will rise behind the top of San Francisco's Coit Tower, as viewed from the western edge of Crissy Field. More details on my blog:

www.weathersealed.com/2009/09/01/the-lineup-distant-coit-...

Good luck and I hope you catch it!

Update: The lineup will occur as described, but will be blocked from view by a building on Nob Hill! See my blog for an alternate lineup!

Ten Lamps

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:57:38 -0800

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Sunday evening, I went to the bridge to test one of Canon's latest SLR offerings, the semi-pro 50D. It has two features that'll make my supertelephoto work much more productive - "live view", which frees me from that tiny viewfinder and allows much more accurate manual focus, and "silent mode" shooting, which eliminates the blurring influence of shutter slap via an electronic first curtain.

This is a test photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, shot from 3000 feet distant at an equivalent focal length of about 1920mm.

Verdict on the camera: it's a keeper!

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

Dauntless

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:14:09 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Yesterday, I enjoyed a late dinner with a friend in the East Bay, and afterwards, I gave in to the irresistable draw of the Golden Gate Bridge and headed to it for some night work. The upper halves of the towers tend to draw the most attention, but I've always felt a special fondness for the cross-beamed lower portions, conspicuously featured in this shot!

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

Blaze

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:16:36 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Sunset, San Francisco, California.

Base

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:54:29 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

On a recent trip to Coit Tower, I noticed something that I hadn't before -- its base, a wonderful jumble of edges and corners. Here, we see it shot through an Aero Ektar, extremely tilted, on 6x9cm black and white film. The dark upper left is vignetting from the filter stack, attached after focusing to attenuate the light entering the camera, since the shutter I'm using isn't fast enough to do it by itself. I like the result, but someday I'll reconfigure the rig and reshoot this one with all four corners included.

Coit Tower, San Francisco, California.

Criss Cross

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:57:55 -0800

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Under the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

Rebirth

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:51:38 -0800

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Emerging lunar eclipse and Bay Bridge, San Francisco, California.

Tension

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:13:54 -0800

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Cables, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

For more about this photo, see the Bridge Tableaux series in my online gallery. Thanks for your interest!

1667 [Seconds]

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:01:52 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Yesterday found me at San Francisco's Embarcadero for some full moon shots. After I'd finished with what I'd planned, and the moon had risen high enough in the sky to reach its peak brightness, I decided to stick around and do an experimental "moon trail" long exposure. In this shot, the moon started at the lower left, and moved slowly to the upper right, at its steady speed of approximately one moon width every two minutes.

Fortunately, soon after I started the shot, a nice gentleman happened along and engaged me in some pleasant conversation. Otherwise, keeping the shutter open for 27 minutes would have been almost unbearable! :)

Bay Bridge and full moon, San Francisco, California.

In Suspension

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:04:07 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Bay Bridge and full moon, San Francisco, California.

For more about this photo, see the Bridge Tableaux series in my online gallery. Thanks for your interest!

Commute

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:01:55 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Offramp, San Francisco, California.

Waves

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 09:19:29 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

Golden Gate Bridge and passing ships, San Francisco, California.

Lunatique

nobody@flickr.com (vonvonvon) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:55:37 -0700

vonvonvon posted a photo:

It'd been a while since I'd done a straight-up, old-fashioned-style moonrise shoot, so Tuesday evening, I departed for just that purpose to the north shores of San Francisco. The fog obscured all of the primary locations that I'd selected, but a backup spot worked out! Here's how it looked at about 8:40pm, looking east from the yacht club in the Marina district!

Full moon and Coit Tower, San Francisco, California.