Shine On and a Warning

I hope you aren’t getting bored with these Sutro Baths images because I have one more!  The day I went to Sutro Baths with my camera club was so amazing that I went back the very next day to take some pictures on my own.  This one was a result of that.  It’s a long staircase down to where I was standing for this shot.  I didn’t go all the way down to the beach because I found this vantage point and rather liked it.  The colors were amazing!  I’ve been shooting sunsets with the shade white balance and I’m liking the results so far over deepening the tone in Lightroom or Photoshop.

Shine on and a Warning

After the shot, I packed up my things and started heading up the long staircase in the dark with my headlamp on.  Someone who was exercising the stairs stopped and chatted with me all the way up (as I was huffing and puffing trying to look like it was no big deal), and part of me wondered if he was going to rob me.  Turns out he was just someone nice who was chatty.   Thank goodness because just in the last few weeks after this outing there have been muggings of camera equipment in this exact spot!  It’s happening more and more around the picturesque places in San Francisco and it seems that my experience was a forewarning to be heeded.

Thankfully I have my camera club, because there is safety in numbers.  Most likely never go to these spots by myself again which is really sad to me.  There’s something meditative about taking photos alone and I really enjoy it, but I won’t be doing that anymore in San Francisco.  Another change I’m making is to purchase some pepper spray.  It’s legal in California so I’ve ordered some on Amazon.  Just in case.  I think if I were tackled for my equipment I’d give it up but you never know when the spray might come in handy.  Also, it’s time I get insurance for my equipment.  Sadly I don’t have any yet but that is changing and soon.  I can’t risk losing thousands of dollars of equipment because I can’t replace it overnight.

So please everyone, when out taking photographs, always watch for who is around you, get insurance for your equipment and try to take photos with someone else.

That’s my two cents!  And more.  🙂

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My own before and after…..

I know some of you like to see what my original photos look like vs. the processed ones, so I thought I’d share an iPhone photo I took at Sutro Baths the other day with my camera club in its original form as well as the edited version.  Normally I edit iPhone photos on my Phone via various apps, but this time I thought it’d be fun to bring it into Photoshop to see what I could do with it. I’m showing the edited shot first.

I was so thrilled that I caught a couple in love standing on the rock in the foreground with the Golden Gate Bridge in the upper right making a cameo appearance.   Don’t you wonder what the couple was saying to one other???

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Sutro Baths

 

Original

 

Variety is the Spice of Life!

Not that I’m an expert by any means, but I’ve been trying to push myself a little bit with my compositions.  It’s easy for me to get stuck doing the same thing over and over.  For instance, on my way from the Presidio parking lot to take the Golden Gate Bridge, I decided to look at other possible views of the bridge.  It was literally steps to the magnificent vista of the bridge where I noticed this old battery and could see the Golden Gate through the structure, so I thought it might be fun to try and get a shot.  I like seeing new and different compositions with this bridge and I don’t think I’ve ever seen this one before.

The building is one of several gun batteries that were built in the 1890’s for coastal defense and were abandoned after World War II.  There are lots of them scattered around the shoreline of San Francisco.

I hope you enjoy the image!

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