San Francisco

This morning, early, there was a full moon eclipse visible from San Francisco. The eclipse did start at 2am until 8am. So I woke very early and drove to San Francisco, I was planning on catching the second portion of the eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. A couple of factors were not playing in my favor: First the weather, a storm was supposed to be here Saturday and the chance of clouds were at 45%. This is high enough not to see the moon at all. Second, the eclipse was past the moon set, so the moon would be not as bright as usual, combining by the fact that the moon set time was after the sunrise (by 5 minutes or so) I was predicting that the moon would be very faint against the sky. Third, the moon would not be low enough on the horizon until...

After my first post on Made In USA, a reader sent an email to point me at a local company (local meaning with a shop in San Francisco) making hoodies, vest, and other nice apparel for the same price as the Gap. So I ordered one of their hoodies and I was again pleasantly surprised by the quality, the feel and the softness of the garment. The company is American Giant and has factory in South San Francisco and in North Carolina. There is a level of attention to details that is quite nice, especially for $90 hoodie. The zippers are metal zippers, not the cheap plastic ones. There is a metal loop where the string for the hoodie goes. And a very discreet logo. The making of this hoodie: The best part is you can get 15% discount at American Giant by using this link....

Did you see the full moon yesterday? This month, the moon was rising over the Coit Tower in San Francisco. The ideal point was between Lombart St. and Chestnut St. Unfortunately there is no open view between those two streets, buildings are lining up the streets and keeping the view for themselves. I got on top of Lombart right before sunset. The cable car stops right here, with the gold light of the sunset it was great, candid shot. Even the Coit tower was basked in warm light, but I was looking for a better location. I could not find any, so I went back to Lombart St. and found a spot that was the closest to buildings as possible, while still having a view. When the moon rose, it was on the left of the tower but too close to the tower. This confirmed what I...

I wish you an amazing new year that includes a lot of travels and a lot of photography. Last week we had an incredible clear day after a quick rain. The two combined events made the atmosphere exceptionally clear. I drove to the East Bay hills to capture a panorama of the city of San Francisco. The sky was so clear, I was able to see the Farallon Islands from the Berkeley hills. For information, the Farallon islands are 30 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge and I was 14 miles away from the Golden Gate. You can see more of the images of San Francisco here (including new images I took that evening). If you want to capture the fireworks of San Francisco, read this post. All the images presented here are available for licensing or as fine art...

It’s this time of the year when you reflect on what happened to you this year? First and foremost I spent two extraordinary weeks in Burma. Seven of my top ten images are from Burma and I could have easily have more. I have started to find that challenging weather environment can result in unique, more interesting images than fair weather. My last three images illustrate this point: a thunderstorm in Burning Man, a very strong dust storm or a foggy evening on the San Francisco Bay.

Friday evening, my wife and I went to see the exhibit of Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz island. We choose the evening tour because it let us combine the exhibit and an a photoshoot of the city with the Christmas light from Alcatraz. The tour boat left at 3:20pm with plenty of time for looking at the exhibit before the sunset at 4:51pm. December is the best month to go to Alcatraz to photograph the city’s christmas lights. It’s a unique vintage point and relatively close. I love doing panorama of the city while there. You need to sign up for an evening tour otherwise you have to leave the island before 5pm. Only evening tour people can stay and take the last boat of the day at 6:40pm. One of the side benefit of seeing the @Large exhibit is the fact that it is...