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Posts tagged “San Francisco

Day #76 – A Photo A Day 2013

It’s late! I’m just now getting around to posting today’s pic, one that I snapped two weeks ago when I was roaming around San Francisco. (I miss my new home! Returning there in two days yay!)

San Francisco has no shortage of interesting things to look at and in turn, for me to photograph. 😉

The Holy Cow Mascot

The Holy Cow Mascot

This cow hangs above the door of The Holy Cow Nightclub – when I first moved to San Francisco, this cow was one of the first things that greeted me but then he was a metallic gold! I walked past here hoping to get a better pic than I did last time, but now he’s such a lovely shade of neon pink that I didn’t mind that the gold was gone. 🙂

I used Tangled FX and Photo FX to edit this photo.


Day #72 – A Photo A Day 2013

Gosh, being sneaky with your iPhone to take pictures is HARD sometimes. Today’s shot is a perfect example of this. I found it to be one of the most difficult shots that I have edited lately.

Adorable Boy Riding on BART

Adorable Boy Riding on BART

This little guy was SO ADORABLE and he kept playing peek-a-boo with me… everything in me wanted to set up the shot and leave his Mom out of the picture – I felt like her white shirt was going to be really distracting in the frame. Also, I didn’t want the boy to lose his un-inhibited playfulness by putting the phone up to take a photo.

After I got on the plane at SFO I started looking at all of the shots that I got – the boy’s mom had on that annoying white shirt, and it was ruining this shot!!! What should have been a simple edit took a better part of the flight to do because I just could not seem to find a way to diminish that shirt enough to my liking.

A ton of masking and layering went on. I wanted to age the photo but not make him get lost in the edit. I’m only half liking the results but I could not think of anything further to rescue this photo. In the end I suppose what matters is that I captured a sweet and cute moment and treasure that rather than obsess over what I feel is lacking in the composition of the photo that captured it.


Day #71 – A Photo A Day 2013

Trains are a never ending source of fascination to me and in particular I really like the BART Powell St. Station in San Francisco. Part of this may be a connection to it since my very first BART ride destination after leaving SFO was to that particular station.

I also really like the lines of that particular stop – so many textures and since the tunnel is so long at that point it gives me a chance to get really nice lines in the (excessive amounts of) photos that take of the station.

Warped Speed - at the Powell St. BART Station

Warped Speed – at the Powell St. BART Station

This was taken as I was waiting for BART to take me to SFO last weekend. I really wanted to capture the motion of the train as it was coming in for a stop and I felt inspired to not only run it through Tangled FX but also played around with it in ElastiCam, made by Lucky Clan. I only warped the windows of the train to give it a sense of faster motion while maintaining the integrity of the lines of the rest of the train.

ElastiCam takes a bit of getting used to, not that it’s difficult to use – quite the opposite actually, but fine-tuning just how sensitive you do or do not want the effect to be to the touch of your finger takes a bit of time. At first I found myself over-applying effects, but once I got used to gently dragging and adjusting the strength of the effect, I found it to be extremely fun and satisfying to watch the transformation to my photo.


Day #66 – A Photo A Day 2013

On my walk on Mount Sutro two days ago there may not have been a view of the ocean, but there were quite a few eucalyptus trees and many wild flowers. The smell in the forest was so invigorating and it was so quiet and peaceful – it didn’t even feel like I was in the middle of San Francisco.

Along the trail in many places there were Forget-me-nots, which are one of my favorite old-fashioned flowers. I tried out the macro lens that I won from Photojojo and was very pleased to find that I could get less than an inch from the flower for a nice bokeh effect.

Forget-Me-Nots on Mt. Sutro

Forget-Me-Nots on Mt. Sutro

Again, I’ve run it through Tangled FX using two effects and blending the two pictures. I was lucky to have the sunlight actually show up for the few seconds that I was on my knees taking this photo.

I was disappointed that I didn’t have an ocean view for the sunset, but what a beautiful oasis this hill provides in the middle of the city! I think this may end up being a new favorite place to ofrequent.


Day #63 – A Photo A Day 2013

At the risk of redundancy I am posting yet another pic edited in Tangled FX because I simply cannot get enough of that app!

I layered two different Tangled FX effects for this picture of one of the Chinese Dancing Lions at the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade.

Dancing Lion at the Chinese New Year Parade 2013

Dancing Lion at the Chinese New Year Parade 2013

I really wish that I knew exactly how this app works – it’s so fascinating! This picture was already a little blurry because of the motion of the lion so I felt that it would be perfect to use the “blurred” effect to make it a little less noticeable. That didn’t quite give me the results that I wanted so I layered the “smooth fibers” effect over it as well to sharpen it up a little and to give the picture a bit more depth and detail.


Day #60 – A Photo A Day 2013

Surprises are one of the most enjoyable things in life to me, and they don’t have to be a major surprise to be spectacular.

To clarify, I do not mean a bad surprise… like falling and twisting your ankle or waking up with a cold. What I am referring to are those un-expected moments where something good happens that you are totally not expecting and it totally makes your day.

My husband knows that I love surprises – he also knows that I am notoriously difficult to surprise, not because I get suspicious and nosy, but I’m generally a very observant person and I can tell when behavior is just a little bit off and then it isn’t long before my brain does the arithmetic and I figure out what has been planned behind my back.

I don’t know if I have been off my game lately or if I’m just not paying attention because he really surprised me today.

Two weeks ago Chris told me that his team at work was going to have an afternoon get together for lunch and that spouses were invited. The lunch was to be at one of his co-worker’s house, which is near the Muir Woods preserve. My eyes lit up at this, despite the fact that we would be going to the house and not to the woods – maybe I could get a glimpse! It’s been a desire of mine to visit Muir Woods for several years and I just KNEW that being so close and not being able to actually go on a hike was going to drive me nuts.

Today was the day – I laced up my boots and walked to Chris’ office where I met him and two of his co-workers and we started the drive, others on his team following. Our drive was taking us over the Golden Gate Bridge, which I had not done before and once we started across I realized just how awesome those beautiful red towers are! It’s such a different experience being on the bridge itself rather than under one end of it… impressive for different reasons, but what a magnificent sight it was to have the golden sun illuminating that fire-y red against a deep blue sky!

Across the bridge and into the hills we went… there was the entrance to Muir Woods! WAIT! We’re turning INTO THE PARKING LOT! SURPRIIIIISE! The team was gathering here to go on a short hike!!! Elation! Chris did a great job keeping this a secret, no small feat let me assure you! The rest of the team arrived and away we went!

We took the Ocean View Trail which was a challenging one – lots of un-even ground with roots and rocks and many many hills. We were completely surrounded by towering Redwood trees and the fresh smell of the woods was so incredible! I only had my iPhone with me, and I had to catch up to the group many times because I kept pausing to snap pictures. 🙂

At the top of this trail was a hill covered in grasses, and you indeed could see the ocean. I was surprised that we were not closer to the ocean itself as I was under the impression that we would be on an ocean side cliff view, but it was still spectacular nonetheless. At this point, we hiked back the way we came, hopped into our cars and went to Chris’ co-worker Jason’s house, where we had a barbecue and we all talked and played with Jason’s lovely two girls. 🙂

The team ended up talking about ideas for a project they were working on so while they were talking shop I played a bit with a photo that I took while we were on the hike:

Iris In Muir Woods

Iris In Muir Woods

It’s an iris that I found growing along the trail in the woods. I shot the picture with my fisheye lens from Photojojo – I haven’t been very impressed with this lens but I’ve been trying it out in a variety of lighting situations to give it a fair shake. It just seems like the pictures are not turning out as sharp as they should be, like the lens glass just isn’t very nice, and after looking at the original of this flower I think that’s what the problem is.

I took a picture with just the native lens (un-fortunately I ended up deleting it from my phone to make more room for other photos before I backed up my photos, so I can’t put the comparison of the originals here) and it looked much more clear than the original of this photo.

I was determined to make this photo look a bit more interesting with a bit of app layering – I do love a challenge! All in all, I think this edit looks better than the original but I am a little disappointed still with my edit. I think what is bothering me the most is that one petal that is much longer than the rest of the petals – normally I like asymmetry but this just seems out of place to me. I’m posting it here anyway as it was a part of the memories that I will take with me from this awesome day!


Day #59 – A Photo A Day 2013

App Layering. It’s addictive. It’s highly rewarding and creatively stimulating, not expensive and most apps are really easy to understand and apply practically.

I’m doing another Before and After post today because the edit I did this morning is so drastically different from the original photo that I wanted to show the difference.

The Hawaiian Chieftain is again the subject photo of the day. This photo here was taken on my iPhone 4s, native camera app at approx. 4:45 in the afternoon.

Here you see it un-touched – no edits nor touchups of any sort, just the raw photo:

Hawaiian Chieftian Un-Edited Photo

Hawaiian Chieftian Un-Edited Photo

I went to bed last night thinking of this pic and how I’d like to edit it. As I found myself immersed in the process, the picture ended up becoming something much more different than I envisioned it to be in the first place and I built layer upon layer of editing and overall I am much more pleased with the finished result than what I had originally planned to do.

Hawaiian Chieftian Heavily Edited Photo

Hawaiian Chieftian Heavily Edited Photo

I started out in Photo FX where I added a bit of haze to darken things up a little. I then moved on to Iris where I added a bit of dirt, back to Photo FX to darken it a bit more. On to Filtermania 2, then Wow FX, back to Filtermania 2, again to Wow FX again, on to ScratchCam and that’s where I forget just how many more times I ended up going back into Photo FX and Filtermania 2. This edit has taken the longest of any iPhone editing I have done – there were just a lot of layers to play with and tweak until I got just the look that I was going for.

I really don’t know what I would do without Photo FX and ScratchCam – they are my staples, and the Dropico apps are quickly becoming favorites as well!


Day #57 – A Photo A Day 2013

Yesterday I learned that two tall ships were in town so OF COURSE today I had to go see them, since I have had a life long fascination with tall ships, pirates and the sea.

This afternoon I started the long walk to Pier 40. It was warm today and very sunny so I was particularly looking forward to a long walk that I routinely enjoy. Also, I hadn’t walked toward the tourist-y part of San Francisco in quite a while so I was ready to go.

It wasn’t as crowded as it would be on the weekends, and people were smiley and friendly. Lots of runners and bicyclists and people walking their dogs, apparently oblivious to the fact that THERE ARE TALL SHIPS IN TOWN! How could they not be heading straight there that very moment?! It boggles my mind.

The bay looked like a blue jewel glinting in the afternoon sun and it made me want to take a dip, despite what I knew the temperature of the water to be. I resisted the urge, partially because I wanted to reach my destination and partially because… well, I had no swimsuit! Onward I marched…

Past the Ferry Building, past Boudin Bakery, past In-n-Out – I almost stopped there but NO! I must resist! The ships await! (and because I like this pic, here is a shot of the Ferry Building! It’s an accidental shot, and I haven’t edited it)

Ferry Building - Accidental Photo

Ferry Building – Accidental Photo

I avoided pier 39 completely and went onto…. wait, where is Pier 40? This is 41, where The Balclutha, and amazing ship in her own right (and an original!) makes her permanent home.

The Balclutha is a National Historic Landmark and Pier 41 is in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park so I asked the park rangers if perhaps I had the wrong pier? No, Pier 40 was correct, and this is Pier 41… It turned out that Pier 40 IS JUST A FEW BLOCKS FROM MY APARTMENT!!! Arg! So I walked miles out of my way when I would have been at the ships in mere minutes.

The park rangers and I had a good laugh at the irony, and they explained the odd-even placement of pier numbers – basically the Ferry Building is the center and everything to the south of the Ferry Building is the even numbered piers and everything to the north of the Ferry Building is the odd numbered piers.

Disappointed, I started the walk home. Tours were due to end at 5 and I knew there was no way that I could walk there in time. (there was only a window of 1 hour for dockside tours) My feet were killing me – I already had some major blisters from a very long walk I had taken earlier in the week and I feared that I was forming blisters under my blisters… so I hopped on the F-Line and started home.

I hopped off at my stop and walked toward my apartment. I realized that I would have JUST enough time to get to the dock to spend a few minutes there so I decided to walk through the pain and make my way there. Fast walking and blisters do NOT mix but I cared not.

Finally I was there! 10 minutes on board the Hawaiian Chieftanso I didn’t have time to shoot many pictures but I took a few and talked with one of the ship hands. Everyone in the crew was dressed in appropriate attire for the late 1700’s early 1800’s as is evident to the photo I shot and edited below:

Aboard the Hawaiian Chieftan

Aboard the Hawaiian Chieftan

Shot with my iPhone 4s, edited in Photo FX, Iris, and ScratchCam.

10 minutes on board was not enough and I didn’t have time to go on board the Lady Washington… I’m going back tomorrow!


Day #56 – A Photo A Day 2013

We have arrived at post #2 for today, which is actually today’s post! Hopefully the website and internet access woes are behind me for a great deal of time.

I met @tatum22 and @diegoscott83 of Instagram fame on the instawalk_sf and they are a continual source of inspiration to me. They have this Monday tradition where they post “Meditation Monday” pictures where one of them (usually @diegoscott83) jumps in the air in a pose of levitated mediation and they have really perfected this!

Below is one of the shots that I took of @diegoscott83 doing just that at Fort Point right under the Golden Gate Bridge here in San Francisco.

@diegoscott83 "levitating" under the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point - Instawalk_SF 2103

@diegoscott83 “levitating” under the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point – Instawalk_SF 2103

There was a great deal of lens flare that I wanted to keep in the picture, but it was hard to tone down the outer edges of the picture and still keep the basic integrity of that awesome flare. I’m basically happy with how this turned out but I may re-visit the pic for a re-edit later.


Day #54 – A Photo A Day 2013

This whole week I have been bummed out that I was going to miss my good friends’ concert up in Seattle today. Sure, the plane ride is short, but other forces prevented me from going.

Actually “bummed out” would be understating it a bit, but I am trying to not sound melodramatic so the phrase stays. Oscillaror X not only makes awesome music that I LOOOOVE, but they are also dear friends of mine, so to not be there to support them was driving me nuts. (side note – you will see a couple of shots that I took of them in their Photos section! /shamelessselfpromotion)

Somewhere around Wednesday this week I was perusing the San Francisco Fun Cheap websites for distractions this weekend when I saw events listed for the wrap-up of all of the Chinese New Year celebrations happening this weekend – how could I have forgotten?!?!?! I’ve only wanted to go to the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade since forever!

While I wasn’t able to be magically transported to Seattle for the concert, I did have the parade to look forward to and it would be so sweet to finally see it in person! I immediately studied the parade route, diligently scouting out the perfect position for me and my camera – oh and Chris too. I really wanted to share the parade with him – to have that memory to share together.

This morning I awoke, sleepy and cuddly when suddenly my mind remembered what day it was… PARADE DAY! I jumped out of bed with anticipation of the evenings festivities to come – why was the morning crawling by?

Afternoon came and my excitement grew. Chris just looked at me with a half smile and a shake of his head.

Oh! It’s time to go! We put on our coats and half walked and half jogged the 3 blocks to Market St. – despite wanting to be in Chinatown, I felt that we would have the best experience with fewer crowds (for Chris’ sake) and I could still get a good angle.

We weren’t far from the beginning of the parade, so that meant less time standing around too. We stood just north-ish of Market on the corner of 3rd and Geary, right underneath the Geary sign. (Some of the intersections downtown are soooo odd) We had a front-row seat! er, stand!

A few parent-less kids (where were their parents, anyway?!?!) attempted to make the crowding more miserable by yelling at each other and shoving both themselves and people around and didn’t stop until the guy to my left said “Look, you should stop shoving and shouting because if you don’t I’m going to shove back, and I’m definitely going to win”. That made them leave – hooray!

The parade was a cacophony of colors and sounds that constantly bombarded your eyes and ears and it was hard to focus on any one thing for too long due to the whirlwind of activity before you. One of my favorite parts of the parade were the Chinese Lions dancing all around the street and coming up to greet and dance right in front of us! I was determined to use my iPhone as much as possible as an experiment – sometimes the images are just a blur of color (once it got dark) and sometimes the motion really added to the sense of movement in the picture, in my opinion.

This picture is actually pretty clear:

Chinese Lion Dancers - SF Chinese New Year Parade 2013

Chinese Lion Dancers – SF Chinese New Year Parade 2013

Here I am now at home, re-living the parade tonight with relish – I’ve wanted to see this for such a long time, and finally I was able to attend! I’ll never forget when my former boss Stan told me, in great detail, what this parade is like. He definitely described it well enough for me to yearn to go and being there to experience it myself was really a treat – I felt like a kid again.


Day #52 – A Photo A Day 2013

When I am out and about, I really do need to be better at keeping track of where I taking random photos because if enough days pass I can tell you about where I was, but I’m not able to exactly pinpoint the exact location where a specific picture was taken.

For example, this bit of stencil graffiti that Chris and I discovered on our way to the basketball court on Saturday:

Tron Graffiti Stencil

Tron Graffiti Stencil

I know for certain that this was stenciled on the sidewalk between 3rd and 4th streets, but what I am NOT sure of is what street we were actually walking on – I want to say that it was Brannan Street but I’m not exactly confident in saying that it definitely was. (I’ll ask Chris – maybe he will remember)

Anyway, I take great delight in finding things like this in random places, especially when it has a geeky subject like Tron… what I can’t figure out though is what on earth does the Nike Swoosh (props to Carolyn Davidson) have to do with Tron???


Day #50 – A Photo A Day 2013

As of late, Chris and I have used a great deal of our free time (free time? well, perhaps not, but we’re making time) to play Borderlands 2, an obsession that I think is not going to go away anytime soon.

I never did play the first one all the way through, simply because I didn’t have regular access to the 360 before we got married and we weren’t living in the same city. I kinda wish that I had, but after paying #2 I have to say that this is much better than the first one. (and I really liked that one!)

I think that my own obsession over Borderlands 2 is beginning to affect my creativity, because everywhere I look I’m imagining how things would look like if they were places in the game and I’m altering my photos to have a hint of that look.

For example, here’s one that I edited today. I took this pic at 3rd and Market streets yesterday as I was walking home from the BART station:

3rd and Market St.

3rd and Market St.

I cartoon-ized it in an app called Manga Camera, then ran it through Iris, Colormania, Scratch Cam and then in Iris one more time to get the grunge effect that I wanted. I do wish that I could have gotten a more cell-shaded effect, but I have yet to find an app that will help me achieve that.

Nonetheless, I’m basically happy with the results, and I think that I’ve found a new obsession with Manga Camera!


Day #48 – A Photo A Day 2013

Chris and I have decided to do more things together that are physically active. When we were looking for an apartment here, we saw these basketball courts near one of the apartment complexes that we toured and made a note to go back.

Yesterday we went there to shoot hoops, and ended up going again today, vowing to make this our weekend morning tradition. We had such fun! It made me realize just how awful at shooting baskets I have become but it’s still fun nonetheless and I’m determined to up my skill level to what it used to be. (or at least try!)

Chris was getting some serious air time – he says that he wasn’t jumping high enough, but I was certainly impressed and of course I brought out the iPhone to snap some pics, much to his chagrin but he was still a sweetie and didn’t complain.

Chris - Michael Jordan Style

Chris – Michael Jordan Style

We played at the Berry Street Basketball Courts at the end of Mission Creek Park – there is also a sand volleyball court there too!

It’s underneath Highway 280 which provides some nice shade and an interesting setting. It’s clean and quiet and steps away from Mission Bay and a super nice walkway along the water, which is the route that Chris and I like to take to walk there.

I’m sure we will have many more happy one-on-one games there! It’s a nice spot.


Day #47 – A Photo A Day 2013

Mass transit is definitely one of the best ways to get around here in San Francisco, other than using my two legs to get me from point A to point B and the various options available here is a source of endless fascination.

There is the Muni which is the bus system here – that’s not so unusual except that they run off of electricity so they have connecters that go up to lines suspended above the city streets – similar to what you’ll see in Seattle.

Of course there are the Cable Cars that are the quintessential mode of transportation that you see in connection with San Francisco all of the time. They’re beautiful, and I have yet to ride one – can you believe that? I need to start doing all of the touristy things!

There is BART – the Bay Area Rapid Transit which I use often and is very convenient since there is a stop not too far from my apartment.

There is Caltrain, which takes you places in the Bay Area outside of the city – oh goodness I need pics of those trains! (I am in love with trains! I totally understand Sheldon Cooper’s obsession)

Then there is the bus-type-cable-car-ish-on-rails-thing – what are these things called! I love them! They look so retro, like 30’s or 40’s or 50’s retro. Sleek and colorful, they really add to the fun atmosphere of the city and I HAVE TO RIDE ONE!

Retro-Bus-Thing

Retro-Bus-Thing

This was taken near Market Street and The Embarcadero – I’ve obviously altered this photo, as there are not that many stars visible in the skies above San Francisco.

Don’t these things look romantic! They make a lot of noise going down the street – they’re on rails and derive their power from electric lines above the street. I need to see the inside of one! I’m guessing that I’ll be as impressed with the inside as the outside. Ha. It takes so little to please me.


Day #46 – A Photo A Day 2013

This past week has been a fun one! So many photos shot, and so many that I need to sort through and edit… and certainly many that I’ll need to trash too. 🙂

Today I’m posting a pic that I shot and edited on my 4s on Thursday when I was at the Raygun Gothic Rocketship. I just can’t stay away from that spot – I have already taken SO MANY pics of this thing, and I’m sure that I’ll probably continue the trend of redundancy with more. Perhaps I should apologize in advance for too many rocket pic posts in the future.

Raygun Gothic Rocketship Up Close

Raygun Gothic Rocketship Up Close

I ran this pic through Photo FX, then Iris, then back to Photo FX again. I REALLY wanted to do a grunge-y effect on this one, but I was so happy with the results of my tinkering that I felt that any further modification would have displeased me.

Every time I visit this awesome piece, I want to climb inside and see what’s there – there IS a door!


Day #45 – A Photo A Day 2013

Valentine’s Day is today, or if you prefer to call it “Singles Awareness Day”.

It’s not that I am anti-Valentine’s Day, but I’m not really a fan. As a kid I LOVED it – it was a reason to make pretty cards and give them to your friends – that’s something that I liked to do anyway, but people made fun of me for being “mushy” so I just kept the sweet messages for Valentine’s Day.

As I grew up, I realized just how commercial the holiday had become… or at least I THOUGHT had become. Valentine’s Day origins are different from the modern day celebration of the holiday, which didn’t really have any mention until the 14th century.

From my observation, Valentine’s Day has become a day for people to feel guilted into buying presents and fosters the believe that if you’re single, you aren’t worth as much. Not everyone sees it that way, but in my mind, every day should be like Valentine’s Day – show people how much you care – show them how you feel with your actions and your words every day. Make it a celebrated lifestyle and not just one day a year.

There is a tradition here in San Francisco, a way to celebrate the day that everyone can enjoy wether you are single or in a relationship, young or old – it’s the Great San Francisco Pillow Fight and I went to it tonight at Justin Herman Plaza!

Here is a guy blowing feathers at me, and well… me covered in feathers!

Blowing Feathers at the Great SF Pillow Fight

Blowing Feathers at the Great SF Pillow Fight

Me Covered in Feathers

At the 2013 Great San Francisco Pillow Fight!

I’ve never been in the middle of such craziness! I am guessing there were over 3,000 people there, maybe closer to 4,000, most of which were in the thick of things swinging away with their pillows!

Revelers were not supposed to hit people with cameras, but I still got hit… A LOT. Sometimes, it hurt, and twice my iPhone got knocked to the ground, but thankfully it was not hurt!

I was out there in the fray for about an hour and a half, and loved every second of it. The event was supposed to last for another 2 and a half hours, but I didn’t stay… I wish that I had stayed to get pictures of the aftermath, but after I went home Chris and I spend our Valentine’s evening playing Borderlands 2 well into the night.

Giant pillow fights and playing video games probably isn’t most people’s idea of a romantic Valentine’s evening, but I cannot imagine a better way to spend it than doing just that. (I can’t wait for next year’s pillow fight!)


Day #44 – A Photo A Day 2013

A few weeks ago I discovered an awesome website called SF Fun Cheap where there are listings of tons of free or cheap events happening all around San Francisco and the Bay Area and since then I’ve found many great things to do which has introduced me to several awesome people.

As we only know just a few people here it’s nice to find venues that make it easy to meet people with similar interests. It’s not a meetup source but so far a few of the events have made it possible to meet some really nice people.

I went to an event this evening at the Ferry Building – it was scheduled to start at 5:30, but I walked to the waterfront early so that I could catch a few shots of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, one of my favorite places so far here in the city.

It was COLD. I didn’t think about the fact that it can be a few degrees cooler there despite the fact that it’s only 4-5 city blocks from my apartment, so I was FREEZING after spending a half hour in my hoodie next to the water. So, I walked a few more yards down to the Ferry Building and walked around inside to warm up.

It was time for the event to start… I didn’t see anyone gathered yet, and from the information on the event page, it was going to be obvious when they arrived. Minutes passed… I was not going to go outside and freeze again so I just hoped that they hadn’t changed the meeting place… checked Facebook… no notice there.

I patiently waited at the doors… watching from my nice warm spot, people filling in and out of the building as the ferries came and went – no one even noticed me, which was good because I was snapping shots of people walking without anyone noticing. 🙂

Suddenly, they appeared! The first person I saw was a girl in a cute black and red tutu with hearts all over it… I walked outside, and was glomped by a lady in a huge heart costume! Free hugs for all! The First Annual Operation Street Love was in session!

Crack A Smile!

Crack A Smile!

Only 6 people showed to give random people hugs… a smaller turnout than was expected based on the responses on Facebook, but 6 was still fun! They hugged commuters, scared tourists off with their offers of hugs and high-fived joggers, spreading love and smiles everywhere. I hope that there is a bigger turnout next year – people need to have a reason to smile more.


Day #41 – A Photo A Day 2013

Today I am busy editing photos from Friday’s photo walk and I don’t have anything that I feel is ready to post here yet, so for now I will leave an experiment with long exposure from a few nights ago.

Long Exposure of Downtown San Francisco

Long Exposure of Downtown San Francisco

Slow Shutter app was used – I really need a tripod attachment for my iPhone… or a bendable Joby tripod! 🙂

Okay… back to editing!


Day #39 – A Photo A Day 2013

This afternoon I had the opportunity to go on a iPhone Photowalk with some users from Instagram – some were local, some were from as far away as LA or San Diego!

I am so glad that I went! Not only did I take some great shots, but in the company of like-minded people who understand the need to stop and “take a picture of that”. Also… they don’t mind being in your shots, which is something that many of my friends just won’t do.

We met at Crissy Field and walked from there all the way to Fort Point which sits right underneath the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Fort Point visitors hours were over, so we could not go inside, but there was plenty to keep us busy outside for sure.

The sun was going down, and it was the PERFECT time for shadow pictures – here is the first edit from today, with 4 of the Instagrammers casting shadows for us:

Instagrammers Shadows at Fort Point

Instagrammers Shadows at Fort Point

It was great to spend time with that group, and I’m already looking forward to the next outing! Hopefully it won’t be too soon, because I have around 200 iPhone photos to sort through – hopefully I’ll have a few gems to edit and share!


Day #38 – A Photo A Day 2013

More fun was had with the Pro HDR app this afternoon. I was on Market Street running some errands and the late afternoon sun was blindingly bright and casting the most interesting shadows from the mass of people walking toward me.

Market Street was even more crowded than usual due to the droves of people freshly out of a day of convention going over at Moscone Center, which made it difficult at times to move upstream (since I happened to be going in the opposite direction of what seemed to be EVERY person who had been at the optics convention today) but this proved to be the PERFECT conditions for capturing people in motion without them noticing me taking their pictures. Stealth for the win.

I am really having such fun with movement while using this Pro HDR app. I end up with some very interesting double exposures and in this case, some of the people toward the top of this picture look like ghosts.

Shadows on Market Street

Shadows on Market Street

Look for a couple more pics from this day! I have a couple of unusual edits in mind.


Day #37 – A Photo A Day 2013

Epic clouds today! It’s been so sunny this winter and I have LONGED to see some epic fluffy clouds like we get back home in Portland, Oregon – today did not disappoint!

I was working away at my desk and glanced out my window when I noticed the clouds… grabbed my iPhone and started clicking when it hit me… I could get a really cool effect with the Slow Shutter app if I held the phone instead of setting it on a stable surface or using a tripod for the long exposure.

So, I held my breath, tapped the screen and the seconds ticked by… 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… ahhh done!

Wow! I was pleased – it looked a little like a painting, and I wanted to enhance that a bit so I pulled up Iris and started editing…

Balcony View - Slow Shutter and Edited

Balcony View – Slow Shutter and Edited

Rather sort of an impressionist painting, dirty gritty look – I like it! I am really having fun experimenting with the scratched gritty looks that you can achieve. It’s interesting to see how it can transform an every day sort of photo into something a bit more unusual.


Day #34 – A Photo A Day 2013

Yesterday Chris and I took a walk to The Presidio here in San Francisco, partially to take a nice long walk, but also our main destination was the Walt Disney Family Museum.

Unfortunately, they do not allow photographs in the museum and it was very tempting for me to snap a few, but I respected the rules. The museum was very different from what I was expecting – many interactive displays done in creative ways! It was a very fun and interesting experience for both me and Chris.

On the way there, I decided to take some pictures “from the hip” with my iPhone… in other words, I wasn’t looking at the screen to see what was going to appear in my shot – I just pointed my phone in the general direction that I wanted to shoot and clicked.

I ended up with several pleasing shots that I want to edit a bit – I won’t be posting them in successive order most likely, but probably all of them will be posted before the end of this month, and I’ll be sure to note which ones are from that walk.

This is one that was most stunning to me:

HDR While Walking - From The Hip

HDR While Walking – From The Hip

Pro HDR functions like this: you tap the screen and it analyzes the lighting, then it takes one picture with a longer exposure (more light) and one picture with a shorter exposure (less light, you see the darker portions of the pic) and then matches the two up as best it can.

This process takes around 30-45 seconds, so if you are moving at all the pic will be blurred. In daylight, if you are walking, you can get some pretty interesting results!

I’m pleased with this result, and it’s something that I plan on trying with Slow Shutter also in the coming weeks. What do you think of this experiment?


Day #30 – A Photo A Day 2013

Tomorrow is MacWorld and I am SO excited to attend a few Tech Talks on iPhoneography!

There was a special all-day event today called iPhoneography: The Mobile Masters Sessions that I was not able to attend, but many of the people (and others besides) that taught classes in today’s lineup will also be giving shorter Tech Talks in the two days that I will be attending MacWorld. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say, and I’m hoping to learn a bit more about using apps to edit my photos.

I didn’t get out to take any photos today, but here is an un-edited sunset pic that I took from my balcony with my SlR and a zoom lens.

January 15th Sunset in San Francisco

January 15th Sunset in San Francisco


Day #29 – A Photo A Day 2013

Proximity to San Francisco Bay is one thing that I love about living in this city – just a few short blocks away are seabirds, seawater, a huge bridge, restaurants, people watching, tourist traps and photo opportunities galore.

Today’s pic is one that I snapped two days ago on a walk with Chris – the Bay Bridge again, but this time by day using, again, the Pro HDR app.

Basically, I like this picture as far as composition goes, but I do think that I over-adjusted the saturation and I am not completely happy about it. I share it here so that I can look back at it with more objective eyes later.

In the future, I may have to heavily edit this one and see what I can do to make it a bit more to my liking.

The Bay Bridge

The Bay Bridge