Posts Tagged ‘night’

 

There’s something about the San Francisco skyline that feels like home whenever it comes into view. It’s tricky to pinpoint why. I’ve spent so much time working near all those big office towers yet the skyline from Dolores Park at sunset (pictured above) actually feels a little new to me. The first time I took a photo from that location was over a decade ago, and many of those towers didn’t exist back then. I guess you could say in the past 18 years I’ve grown up with all those new buildings.

It certainly can’t be the skyline alone that gives San Francisco its allure, but it can’t hurt.

 

 

As the sun sets, Coit Tower (above) is lit from below. This changes its appearance from a gray building one’s eyes can easily skip over to a somewhat imposing presence on Telegraph Hill.

It almost looks like someone stuck a giant pin at the top of North Beach to guide people over. North Beach is always worth visiting at night, even if it’s just to check out City Lights Bookstore. You can never go wrong with a visit to City Lights… unless of course you visit the other City Lights — the one that sells lights.

 

 

As daylight savings time ends and we go back to standard time, the edge lights on the four Embarcadero Center towers turn on a little too early.

Unfortunately one thing that doesn’t completely turn on are the ye olde fashioned lights at Pier 7. It wasn’t that long ago that these lights all worked. Hopefully they’ll get fixed before the masses start showing up for their wedding photos here once again.

Either way, the silhouette of the Transamerica Pyramid is prominent in the background. It hasn’t been the tallest building in San Francisco for a long time, but it’s still the tallest pyramid in North America. Suck it, Aztecs!

 

 

The red neon “Port of San Francisco” sign on the Ferry Building feels like a homing beacon of sorts. I don’t ride the ferries often — let alone after dark — but there’s something about this vantage point that feels welcoming in a way arriving any other way can’t even compare.

Don’t get me wrong, most of the time when I return to San Francisco it’s on BART. Nothing against BART, but it’s pretty boring compared to arriving at the Ferry Building. The funny thing is that even though it’s an iconic view, it’s not one you tend to see in movies or on postcards. It’s almost like a secret hidden in plain sight.

Over the past year or so I’ve taken to walking along the Embarcadero waterfront, if for no other reason than to stretch my legs after work. With the early sunsets this winter I’ve been experimenting with after dark photography with my new iPhone 11 Pro Max. Here’s a few I’ve taken along the waterfront.

 

 

Pier 7

This public pedestrian pier features a wooden walkway with classic light fixtures, and is a magnet for both wedding photos and people trying to catch fish in the bay. At night the electric glow of the lights gives it a completely different feel.

Believe it or not, the ye olde fashioned lights and wood deck were built in 1990. In a previous life it was a typical commercial pier with a concrete deck.

There’s an artifact in this photo I really don’t like — the green dots that appear below the lights at ground level. I suspect these are due to the lens material.

 

 

San Francisco Belle

Viewed from Pier 7, this paddlewheel ship looks like something from a Mark Twain novel.

Looks can be deceiving however as this ship was built as a floating casino in 1994, and was later moved to San Fransisco and repurposed for dinner cruises and corporate events.

 

 

View from The Exploratorium

As you can tell from the reflection in the upper left corner, I shot this one through a window. Specifically it’s looking back towards the city from The Exploratorium at night during an After Dark event.

This photo shows just how bright a thin layer of clouds can appear at night when lit from below by a relatively small urban area.

 

 

Buckyball

This soccer ball within a soccer ball sculpture was installed outside The Exploratorium in 2016. It’s one of those fixtures you can’t help but to notice at night when the LEDs inside it are glowing.

You don’t have to look closely to see the same ghostly green artifacts in this photo like I mentioned earlier regarding Pier 7. From a distance the artifacts look like part of the sculpture.

 

 

Bay Bridge and a yacht

The flashy Bay Lights on the Bay Bridge are all lit up as a brightly-lit yacht (at least I think it’s a yacht) glides toward the bridge.

The sky in the background almost looks like a painting. I suspect that’s Apple’s “night mode” quietly stitching together several photos into one. The end result is a little off, but somehow closer to human vision than an unprocessed photo.

 

 

Wolf Moon under the Bay Bridge

Last night was the “Wolf Moon” lunar eclipse in the southern hemisphere. We don’t get to see the eclipse, but the moonrise lights up the sky in the northern hemisphere for an hour or so with a bright orange glow.

The moon often looks larger to our eyes than it does in photos, though when near a human-scale structure like the Bay Bridge the difference is negligible.