Photo Tips USA – San Francisco

“It seemed like a matter of minutes when we began rolling in the foothills before Oakland and suddenly reached a height and saw stretched out ahead of us the fabulous white city of San Francisco on her eleven mystic hills with the blue Pacific and its advancing wall of potato-patch fog beyond, and smoke and goldenness in the late afternoon of time.”
Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”
Mark Twain

• Altitudes between the sea level and 285 m (935 ft) at Mount Davidson
• San Francisco itself has a population of only about 750,000, with the surrounding nine municipalities in the Bay Area, the number the number rises to 6 million
• A good 20 million people visit the Golden Gate each year

How, Where, What

Those who recall the cult series „The Streets of San Francisco“ from the 1970s may recall that at the time, they couldn’t believe how steep the avenues and boulevards appeared. – Well, after a walk through the city, there can be no doubt about the truth of the TV pictures!

We immediately arrive at one of the most formative themes of this metropolis: the urban landscape. By this, we almost always refer to the urban pattern of both built-up and undeveloped areas, the distinctive skyline created by the rows of shadow-casting skyscraper needles, and the layout of the streets and walkways. There is rarely any mention of the topography that actually defines a landscape, for all too often it has had to subordinate itself to urban requirements. It is quite different here: 43 hills underlie San Francisco, raising the terrain from sea level to 285 m (935 ft) in a confined space. – It’s a heritage that would be impossible to deny and gives us impressive views, insights, and vistas. But it does not end there. This city is more complicated and cannot be reduced to that.

The extraordinarily diverse cityscape, where Victorian facades more than 150 years old stand side by side with postmodernism, illustrates the Bay residents‘ attachment to their history. A maximum height for skyscrapers was enforced by citizen petitions, and construction measures were stopped that would have changed the city at its core. – Great achievements in a California that is striving ever higher, but not without reason; many call San Francisco „America’s last metropolitan village.“ Such a resounding impact must come from the heart, and only when you hear the confusion of languages between Chinatown, Japantown, the Spanish-influenced Mission District, or the posh Anglo neighborhood of Pacific Heights do you realize that openness, the ability to absorb all foreign influences, is the true engine of this city, helping it to perpetuate youth.

Youth may also have something to do with the Bay’s seemingly perpetual spring. – A cold current in the Pacific rarely lets temperatures rise above 25° C (77 °F) in the summer but keeps them constantly around 10° C (50 °F) in the winter months. This phenomenon also explains the well-known morning fog that occurs during the summer months: San Francisco is situated at a break, almost like a culvert, in the chain of coastal mountains, where the heated air masses from the Great Central Valley escape to the west and mix with the cold air off the coast. This creates fog under laboratory conditions, so to speak. But don’t worry; the sun dissipates the photogenic swaths billowing around the Golden Gate Bridge pylons by late morning. In the afternoon, a strong breeze often blows in from the sea, making a warm jacket seem advisable even in the summer. The best months, blessed with the most stable weather conditions, are April and May, as well as September and October.

In the course of the year, the following festivities stand out among many others: Chinese New Year in early February traditionally features a colorful parade through Chinatown and the Financial District. The Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival in mid to late April attracts visitors with dance and culture at the Japan Center. The Gay and Lesbian Parade is one of the city’s biggest festivities. It turns Market Street into a witches‘ cauldron in late June. Columbus Day (2nd Monday in October) is celebrated with a large parade on Columbus Avenue.

Motifs in San Francisco

• Cable cars in the foreground of the Transamerica Pyramid or the pagoda roofs of Chinatown
• The view through the street canyons up or down the hills
• View up Lombard Street with hydrangeas blooming in summer along the roadside
• View from a high point over the city, with Alcatraz or the Golden Gate in the background
• City view with the Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Spencer
• Views or details of the wonderful Victorian wooden houses, as well as pictures documenting the architectural diversity of the city

Directions

San Francisco is located on the northern tip of a peninsula about 40 km (25 mi) long, which separates San Francisco Bay in the east from the Pacific Ocean in the west. The most important sights are spread over an area of 11 x 5 km (7 x 3 mi). The city can only be reached from the south via the I-280 or the legendary Highway No. 1. In the north, the famous Golden Gate Bridge carries Highway No. 1 across the narrow 1,5 km (2,4 mi) of the Golden Gate to the Marin Peninsula, while in the east, the Bay Bridge provides an important link to the industrial and port center of Oakland.

When you find yourself surrounded by water on three sides, as is the case here, and there is little room for growth, space becomes an expensive resource. This has been felt by many old-timers, for whom housing downtown became unaffordable after the rent surges of the dot-com boom of the 1990s. – This factor has significantly altered the demographic composition of the city. For the visitor, it is important to avoid owning a car (parking spaces are rare and expensive, even at hotels), to choose a centrally located neighborhood instead, and to get around by public transport.

The cable cars, with their 20 km (12 mi) network, cover a part of the center that is difficult to cover on foot. In their heyday at the beginning of the 20th century, five companies operated a network of about 180 km (112 mi), but electrification caused the little cars to all but disappear by the end of the 1940s. Thanks to the assertive population, which forced the city to accept several citizens‘ petitions, the three remaining lines were preserved. – Thank God, one must say, because without a ride on the squeaking and rumbling contraptions, no visit would be complete, and San Francisco would have lost much more than just a means of transportation. Today, the cable cars even hold the status of a national landmark and can prove that their simple technology still works: The cars themselves do not require a motor and instead use a claw to access a cable running in the street. The steel cables, one for each line, are set in motion by electric motors at a central point, the Cable Car Barn, and guided over countless pulleys. Downhill, the wagons roll on their own; the gripman can disconnect the cable and must now concentrate on braking. The Powell-Mason line and the Powell-Hyde line cross Nob Hill and Russian Hill from south to north, connecting the corner of Powell and Market Streets with the Fisherman’s Wharf area. The California-Van Ness line crosses Nob Hill from east to west, connecting Embarcadero Center with the major artery of Van Ness Avenue. You can board at any of the marked brown and white stops along the routes and, of course, at the wooden turntables at each end. The cable cars run daily between 06:30 and 24:00 every twelve minutes. For extended stays, I recommend a three-day pass that covers all public transportation.

The only campground relatively close to town is the San Francisco Candlestick RV Park at Candelstick Stadium in the southeast, which offers a shuttle service to downtown. The well-stocked Visitor Information Center is located on the lower level of Hallidie Plaza at the corner of Powell and Market streets.

Geographical orientation and the most photogenic times of day

In principle, a city should be treated like a spectacular landscape. The light of the low sun in the morning and evening, coming in from the side as much as possible, also plays an important role here. We must identify the key points of the urban landscape. Where are the lines and prominent points located?

Of course, the high hilltops that offer an overview, and the places where the topography separates, such as where bridges cross the water and allow you to step back, are the first and foremost features. Here, the more expansive the subject, the flatter the light needs to be to make an impact. So overviews and skyline shots work best at or just after sunrise and just before sunset. Then the illuminated windows of the buildings provide additional appeal.

Conversely, as you go deeper into the city, you focus more on details, less on directional light, and work better with diffuse lighting on an overcast day. The rolling ups and downs of the hills here in San Francisco put us in a comfortable position to turn even the higher noon sun angle into good images. The straight-line aisles of the major boulevards make these rises really visible again in the development that’s been pushed over them. The sun at your back spices up these ups and downs with invigorating shadow sections. Either the skyscraper backdrop at the Embarcadero or the blue waters of the Golden Gate provide the right background.

But the life of a city is, of course, not limited to the bright hours of the day; artificial lighting also sets its own accents. Chinatown or Union Square, for example, are filled with hectic life at lunchtime but appear in a completely different mask after dark. After a sumptuous lunch, however, you’re sure to last long enough to savor these photo delights, too!

Photographic specialties

In San Francisco, a new subject lurks around almost every corner, and I guarantee that you will need all your focal lengths, from wide angle to long telephoto. But since the cable cars, buses and streetcars can save you a lot of walking, it’s not too hard to have all your equipment on hand. – This includes a tripod, which is crucial for studying architecture, and long exposures during the evening hours. To reproduce these scenes in correct color on analog silver film at the end of the day, you should also consider using tungsten film.

Minimum program and daily schedule

Despite a population of three-quarters of a million, San Francisco has remained manageable and quickly makes visitors feel like they belong. Good public transportation allows visitors to cover the main sights in two days, including the two best evening sites, the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge and Telegraph Hill.

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

Next Intermediate: The Golden Gate Bridge

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

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