A Photo for Friday: “Evening at the Golden Gate”
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, February 23, 2018
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10 comments
“Evening at the Golden Gate”
September 3, 2015
San Francisco, CA
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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I left San Francisco in ’75.
I’d been there for a year.
If it wasn’t for the fog and the girl I met
I might still be living there.
I was in SFO in July 2015 and I had one perfect morning, up and out by 5:30 where I got some great bay shots mostly of sunrise shining on the bay bridge.
I enjoy seeing the results of your playing with light and contrast. There is something sort of magical about the low-angle sun and the sea.
I have that view every day on my commute to
San Francisco – very dark at 6AM and light at 6 PM.
I never ever tire of it.
One of the arguments I employed to convince my wife that I should buy a convertible (she had the crazy notion I might roll it) is the drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Most often I cross the bridge going to or returning from SFO. It’s never less than glorious. I particularly love when the fog is so thick you can’t see the tops of the towers and the cables just swoop up into nothingness.
On days when it’s too cold to work outside in the courtyard I sometimes drive to the Headlands, park in a scenic overlook and prop my laptop against the steering wheel. There are times when the fog is so thick the entire bridge is 100% invisible – and I mean 100% – from a distance of maybe a quarter mile. And then you’ll see the bow of some massive container ship coming through and it’s like it appeared out of nowhere.
I don’t love San Francisco, but I do love that big orange bridge.
I was out there in November. I didn’t go on the bridge because I’m terrified of heights, but I did go under it during a cruise. (The Bay Bridge scared the tourist out of me.)
Was this taken from a boat?
@James Pearce: It was taken from land–SF Maritime Historical Park.
@Steven L. Taylor: With a long lens? My photos from the same general area came out….well, wider.
Check this one out.
(My fav part of this pic is the bird. I like silhouettes in general, but I also like little unexpected surprises and happy little accidents, and I suspect that’s how the birds ended up in the shot.)
@James Pearce:
(This one was taken from a boat.)
@James Pearce: It was a 300mm lens on a crop frame camera, making it the equivalent of 480mm, IIRC.