Intermediate: The Golden Gate Bridge

Eight major road bridges cross the San Francisco Bay, including the remarkable 13.2 km (8.2 mi) San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. – In comparison, the 2789 m (1.7 mi) of the Golden Gate Bridge look almost modest, and yet it has remained the queen to this day. No other bridge in the world can compete with it in terms of popularity, and San Francisco would hardly be conceivable without it today. Its lonely location on the stormy Golden Gate, its elegance and, at first glance, strange color, and certainly the economic potential it has mobilized in the counties to the north have contributed significantly to this. – Bridges create connections where Mother Nature didn’t intend them to, and the Golden Gate Bridge gives us the distinct sense of triumphing over its endless competition. Fortunately, the topography on both sides of the Golden Gate allows us to view the bridge from a variety of angles and capture all of its facets in pictures. You can easily spend an entire day doing this, as each time of day sees the best light on a different side: mornings are predestined for views from the east. In the afternoon, you work best from the Marin Headlands or Baker Beach, with the sun to the west.

Let’s start looking for the most suitable viewpoints at the Visitor Center on the south side. The best way to get there from downtown is to take a Golden Gate Transit Lines bus from the stop at the corner of 5th and Mission streets, just a block south of the Visitor Center at Hallidie Plaza. Here, in addition to an outline of the construction history, you’ll find a fragment of the 3-foot-thick cables that hold the bridge in place. Just above the parking lot, you can take in the diagonal span of the bridge from a southeasterly position, with the trees of the small park in the foreground and the rolling hills of the Marin Headlands beyond. And just as architect Joseph Strauss predicted, „the color of the bridge contrasts beautifully with the green hills of Marin County, with the blue sky and water.“ – Applying a slight twist to the polarizing filter enhances this impression.

The short walk to Fort Point takes you northeast down the slope to the waterline, putting you in a good position to capture the best morning panorama of the Golden Gate and the bridge. The steep vantage point adds drama. Despite the fort’s three-story structure’s intended protection of the city during the Civil War, none of its cannons ever fired a shot. The location directly under the bridge practically demands the shortest wide angle in your arsenal, offering an exciting view along the entire underside of the structure. But beware: the big rocks break the high waves, and often more water sloshes ashore than you’d like!

The approximately 1.5 km (2.4 mi) long sandy Baker Beach, situated on the side of the headland facing the Pacific Ocean, is the third good location on the south side of the bridge. The view from the west predestines it for late afternoon or sunset and puts the Golden Gate Bridge at the right edge of a panorama of gently landing waves and green hills. You get more dynamic if you approach the bridge from south to north, steepening the perspective and bringing the prominent black rocks in front of the shore into focus. To get here, cross under Rt-101 from the Visitor Center and follow Lincoln Boulevard west to Battery Cranston Road. From the old fortifications, descend wooden steps to the beach.

The three shooting locations on the south side bring the bridge into the foreground of the Marin Headlands. The north side, on the other hand, allows you to include San Francisco in the picture. If you cross the bridge by foot, you can take advantage of the unobstructed view of Alcatraz and the center of San Francisco from the middle section to get a good picture. Since the wind coming from the Pacific can be very cold at any time of the year, a sweater absolutely pays off here. The busy Vista Point on the other side offers mostly the same view of the city but also allows for a uniquely different image: If you position yourself on the eastern side of the parking lot, right up against the low wall and very close to the road, you can put the two pylons of the bridge right behind each other with the streamlined perspective of a long telephoto lens (at least 400 mm). The lower opening of the northern pylon then frames its southern colleague in this portrait format.

The trip across the Golden Gate Bridge costs $ 9 for vehicles with two axles and motorcycles. The fee is only charged in the S.F. direction of travel.

To get to the higher shooting locations in the Marin Headlands, follow the highway exit past Vista Point (Alexander Avenue exit) and then bear left to get under the bridge ramp to the other side of Rt-101. Just before the road rejoins the highway, Conzelman Road branches west into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The climb up here is steep, but after just a few hundred yards you’ll reach Battery Spencer, marked by the remains of an old gun emplacement. It is one of the best viewpoints in the San Francisco area. The road has brought you closer to the north tower of the bridge, to the point where you could almost reach out and touch it. Diagonally, the structure pushes its way into the picture from the lower left, and if you choose your vantage point skillfully, you can frame the entire skyline of the city far to the rear between the steel cables. In the late afternoon, the sun low in your back makes the orange steel glow and also provides the tops of the skyscrapers with some more light. In summer, you’re high enough up here to record how the bridge pylons pierce the low morning fog. A nearly 2,4 km (1.5 mi) hiking trail, leading from the overlook through the cypress forest, completes the vistas. This is the only location where you can view the Golden Gate Bridge from the water’s level, directly in front of the city’s silhouette. You should budget approximately 2 hours for the journey there and back and your stay. Kirby Cove Viewpoint lies directly above the small bay, approximately 1200 m (0,7 mi) west of Battery Spencer. From there, you can put the northern bridge pylon with a long telephoto focal length (at least 300 mm) right in front of the San Francisco skyline, especially the Transamerica Pyramid. Conzelman Road leads you for the next 1.5 km (2.4 mi) to Hawk Hill, which is 280 m (920 ft) high and located 3 km/4.8 mi west of the bridge. It’s a) far enough west to give you a view of the full width of the Golden Gate Bridge, and b) still high enough to make the city’s sea of houses visible in the background.

Without a doubt, the views of the Marin Headlands make the walk worthwhile, but only Battery Spencer is close enough to the main road to be accessible on foot. Provided you have a car, you can easily fit the points further west into the afternoon of a day trip to Sausalito, for example.

Next Motifs in San Francisco – Second Round: Presidio, Palace of Fine Arts, Pacific Heights, Alamo Square

Next Motifs in San Francisco – Third Round: Golden Gate Park, Haight-Asbury, The Mission, Twin Peaks

Next Fourth Round: Alcatraz and Angel Island, Skylines

Previous Motifs in San Francisco – First Round: Union Square, Chinatown, Cable Car Barn, Lombard Street, Fisherman’s Wharf, Telegraph Hill

Previous Photo Tips USA – San Francisco (with maps)

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