# San Francisco



## Koru

anybody know of any great photography points of interest in San Francisco?

i'm going to be there (with my husband) from 24th Dec for a week.

oh, and if you have any great ideas for being comfortable on a 13 hour plane flight, i'd be grateful to hear them.

this is my first trip out of the country and i'm starting to get excited. 

rosesm


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## frank n texas

There used to be a short helo copter ride that took you out over the San Quenton Prison which may make for some great shots from the air...

I think they still have a group boat you can take out to the prison and some shots inside and outside of it should be interesting...

The SF cable cars

China Town

SF bay bridge from the side across from SF..

Val Hollow...May still be a restuarant...Used to be a w---- house 100 years or so ago...It is across the bay from SF as well...

A drive across the bay bridge is cool

On the flight be sure to bring a pair of house slippers...
Do not wear shoes on long flight...Do not just go with socks and you will freeze to death...
Get up and take a walk and stand up for a few minutes every hour or so...
This will keep you from getting blood clots in legs...
Bring your own magazines and snacks
Try to get aisle seat if at all possible..
Make photocopies of your passports and keep copies seperate from your passport...
Enjoy your flight and trip...


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## Old Whaler

Koru
Take an Ambien or Lunestra tablet about an hour or two into your flight. Here in the states, you have to get a prescription from a doctor, but in your country, it may be available over-the-counter at your local drug store. You'll sleep like a baby and wake up about an hour before landing.


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## lchien

everything in SF is great for photo ops. Bring a lot of film or memory cards and a great imagination. Great walking city easy to get around. 
Cable cars, old neighborhoods, hills, hills, coit tower, the wharf, the bay, the bridges, alcatraz, china town, italian town, Lombard street,
old buses, new and old architecture, people, houses, painted ladies, golden gate park, street persons, its endless. 

noise cancelling headphones.


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## grayfish

http://www.fishermanswharf.org/index.html

How could you guys forget Fisherman's Wharf.


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## berto

lombard street was pretty cool.. i got to do all the normal stuff. the best part was to go behind the scenes at the GGB. my uncle worked there for 40 years so i got a differnet type of tour. best part was San Quenton. make sure you get the head phones at the prison. some pretty interesting stuff on those


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## mastercylinder60

san fran is one of my favorite cities. my first visit there was as a kid in 1967, and i've been back many, many times. i used to have some great photos of my last visit a couple of years ago, but an ex-gf's son took my memory card out of my computer and lost it. this is the same kid that drew a picture on the tailgate of my truck with a nail. i think that little boy was the anti-christ. 

the typical tourist spots (coit tower, lombard street, cable cars, etc) have some great photo ops, but so does a lot of places not typically thought of.

somewhere just off the embarcadero - maybe on beach st., or north point st. - there's a parking garage. if you go to the top of the garage after sunset you can get a great shot of downtown at dusk with all of the lights, but with some natural light remaining.

you can get some good shots of the city from treasure island, too.

the golden gate nat'l recreation area (just across the golden gate bridge on the west side of hwy. 101) in marin county is way cool. there's a beach over there with black sand.

on a calm day (good luck with that), a boat ride in the bay is cool.

there is so much to see and do in san francisco. i could spend a month at a time there and never get bored. remember ... whether it is august or december, daytime or night, it's almost always cool, damp and usually windy in the city. dress warmly.

if your interested in architecture and design like i am, there's some very interesting and beautiful buildings all over san francisco.

i could go on and on, but you're a creative photographer, karen. you won't have a problem finding things to shoot in and around san fran. it's a beautiful and interesting city. have fun.

i can't help you with the plane ride. i'm 6'5" tall, so no plane ride is ever fun for me. bloody mary's?


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## Gator_Nutz

FOG and SEAFOOD

It's a great place to visit and you won't have any problems finding things to shoot. 90% of the people will be dying to pose for you. You won't be hurting for places to eat either. Can you make a jog down to Texas while you're over here? It's not a very long drive


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## Slip

I believe the Muir Woods Redwood forest is very close by? I went a few years ago on business to San Fransisco and wanted to go there, but had no time for much sightseeing. The Golden Gate bridge is a great photo opportunity.


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## Koru

my husband rolled his eyes when i showed him this thread.  guess i'll be the one holding the camera 

thank you all for your suggestions.

one thing i didn't realise (and other kiwis i mentioned it to) is how cool it's going to be. sure i knew it's winter, but i thought that San Francisico would be about 10oC warmer than what i've read.

is this likely to have an impact on my camera? would it be a simple matter of taking it out of its bag for a few minutes before taking any photos?


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## yakfishin

Have some clam chowder down at the warf. Go to the Redwood forest as mentioned above. There is a very old restruant about 2 blocks off of the trolly, can't think of the name of it but it is one of if not the oldest one there. Great food at a great price.


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## lchien

Koru said:


> my husband rolled his eyes when i showed him this thread.  guess i'll be the one holding the camera
> 
> thank you all for your suggestions.
> 
> one thing i didn't realise (and other kiwis i mentioned it to) is how cool it's going to be. sure i knew it's winter, but i thought that San Francisico would be about 10oC warmer than what i've read.
> 
> is this likely to have an impact on my camera? would it be a simple matter of taking it out of its bag for a few minutes before taking any photos?


It can get very chilly down near the bay when the cold wind rolls fog off the water. You need a jacket and or a windbreaker. Shouldn't be much of a problem for a warm camera, most camera/moisture problems occur when you have a cool camera taken into a warm, humid place.

to add to my previous list, Muir Woods is very nice if you don't plan to get farther up the coast, and Saualito is quaint.


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## Arlon

when I know I'm going someplace new, I just google the images for that city. Go to google, click on images and search "san francisco". You'll see tons of photo opportunities staring right at you. Another good place to search for specific location pictures is at pbase.com or some of the other public photo sites. Search "San Francisco" at pbase and you'll be busy for awhile too. Be sure to cut/paste some notes on exposure, time of day and such from the files on pbase. I'll even print thumbnails from time to time just to get an idea from where a shot was taken. Searches now can save you a ton of legwork later.. Have a great trip. Arlon


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## Freshwaterman

*Nice place to visit....IF...you have a return ticket back to the real world.*


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## Pocketfisherman

The tour boats that leave from next to Fishermen's wharf and head to alcatraz offer some great photo ops of the skyline and bridges. I'm not sure if they run all year long though. The national maritime museum park a few piers down from Fishermen's wharf also has some cool sights if you like history.


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## Koru

we're going to Alcatraz.  

thanks for all the suggestions everyone. i appreciate your help and thoughts, you've given me plenty to aim for.

it's getting very exciting. 

rosesm


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## Freshwaterman

*Take the ferry to Sausilto. It passes right by Alcatraz and slows down as it passes. The Alcatraz our my be disapp.ointing. Here are pics taken from the ferry. You will ebjoy walking around Sausilto.*


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## Koru

i have heard there is the possibility of cycling across the bridge to Sausalito. during the journey, one can see a cross section of the ropes that hold the big poles up (apparently they're astonishingly small  )... and catching the ferry back. 

i've also heard today that the fog rolls in about 3pm every day. that ought to make for some fascinating spooky pics with my point and shoot. 

i'm officially excited now.


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## Freshwaterman

*If you choose to take the ferry, the Ferry Building (as shown in a pic) is located at the East end of Market St.*

*Also a pic thru' the windshield to give you and isea about cable size on the bridage.*

*Have a GREAT trip!*


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## Freshwaterman

*Don't turn your back on handbag and camera!*


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## trodery

Koru... My son lives in the San Fran area, I was just out there in October to go sailing with him. It's a nice place to visit! Hope you have some nice sunny fog free days!


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## Koru

fishinfella said:


> *Don't turn your back on handbag and camera!*


thanks, got that one covered i think. 

and thanks for more wonderful photos. you're all making me itch to get my feet on SF soil (errr tarmac or something  ) and start taking photos!

trodery, i'm not showing my husband those photos. i'd never get him away from the computer! that's one mighty fine looking sail boat! (okay, i'll show him when he gets home from work. ) what beautiful weather, great photos and i can imagine you had a wonderful time with your son. thanks for sharing those photos. 

rosesm


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## Freshwaterman

*Just think about it. You will depart there and be a day younger when you arrive in Frisco. (date line)*


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## trodery

Hey Koru.... I hope everything is ok in your world. I heard about some earthquakes in New Zealand.


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## mdmerlin

Not sure if you're in to it, but you might want to check out the haight-asbury district...home of the 70's Hippy movement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haight-Ashbury

Maybe not the best for photos, but for the memories. I stopped by a music store and checked out some of the guitars, then had lunch a couple of doors down from it.


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## Koru

trodery said:


> Hey Koru.... I hope everything is ok in your world. I heard about some earthquakes in New Zealand.


ALL okay here, thank you. it was centered about 50k south of Gisborne which is about 3-400 miles from where i live. so far no fatalities or missing people have been reported. one person had a broken leg and there are some other minor injuries reported. there is building and roading damage. the police have blocked off the city until the building inspectors have gone through and given the okay that the clean up can begin.

a couple of families have been relocated.

it happened at about 9pm last night in the central business district which was very busy with Christmas shoppers.

God must have been watching out for people down there, i reckon.

rosesm


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## Koru

mdmerlin said:


> Not sure if you're in to it, but you might want to check out the haight-asbury district...home of the 70's Hippy movement:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haight-Ashbury
> 
> Maybe not the best for photos, but for the memories. I stopped by a music store and checked out some of the guitars, then had lunch a couple of doors down from it.


thanks! that's a neat piece of history you've shared. i'll see if we can add that to our tripping around.


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## Koru

fishinfella said:


> *Just think about it. You will depart there and be a day younger when you arrive in Frisco. (date line)*


we won't discuss the coming back part, okay?


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## mastercylinder60

> i've also heard today that the fog rolls in about 3pm every day.


not everyday, but a lot of days. some days are sunny and beautiful all day.

i forgot to mention that the beach at the presidio and the marina district is a pretty cool place and it gives you a good view of the golden gate bridge. warning: on warm sunny days you might see topless or naked people at the beach.


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## Koru

we got back on new years day (i think that was yesterday - sorry my clock is all up the boohai). i've lots of photos to share. we had a great time and the weather was wonderful. we saw and did so much! i'll share in a few days when i've had more of a chance to figure out what photos to share and what to bury. lol

rosesm


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## Gator_Nutz

Welcome home Karen. I can't wait to see what you brought back.


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## Freshwaterman

*Welcome home...be glad to see your pictures after the ol' body clock recovers.*

*Afraid maybe you went to the zoo to take Tiger pics  *


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## Koru

fishinfella said:


> *Welcome home...be glad to see your pictures after the ol' body clock recovers.*
> 
> *Afraid maybe you went to the zoo to take Tiger pics  *


okay, i admit i took 990 photos, and none of them involved a zoo or any hungry tigers... i am very pleased to say.

the body clock seems to have recovered fine, thank goodness, i just have no idea what day of the week it is. lol i'm now simply overwhelmed by what to pick and choose to show you. i guess that serves me right for clicking the shutter buttons at everything that took my fancy.

we had wonderful weather. blue sky and sunshine. one day of misty-barely-wet weather and that was it. we went to Yosemite National Park with the knowledge that it was forecast to rain or snow. so we were a little disappointed in that. however the rain did not begin until 4pm and by that time we were happily ensconsed in the cafe having hot drinks while we waited for our shuttle bus.

talk about lucky.


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## Koru

okay a few to whet your appetites...


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## richg99

Let's see...985 to go! Nice pigeon shot, and I liked #1 #3 and #5 the best. Welcome back home. I'll be doing a reverse trip in a few weeks. Rich


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## Gator_Nutz

Ahhhh street journalism. You gotta love it. I really like the expression on the guy's face getting the shoe shine. The jazzman is styling too. Did you buy his CD? Keep up the good work.


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