Beaux-Arts

City Hall
San Fran, Cali

Nice place, cool architecture, fantastic natural light. I took a few photos. I didn't spend much time at the City Hall since I was chasing my travel itinerary. 

I kept on seeing these beautifully shot architectural photos on 500px and I wanted to try it out. The City Hall had the right type of design and I jumped all over the place trying to find angles. I wish I had references from the greats photographers, to make a story out of building. To capture a moment of the City Hall as a structure in this time, this point in history. Unfortunately, the photos did not match my thoughts.

But I finally tried my hand at HDR in post process...sort of.

Arboretum

Conservatory of Flowers
San Fran

The Conservatory of Flowers is what I imagine a 1900's century solarium would look like. Humid, green and the scent of dirt and flowers illuminated under a great glass dome. It was a pleasant surprise. There was a quixotic romanticism in the flower arrangements and everything looked so lush. I enjoying the muted sunlight for a while before the taking photos. 

The photos didn't come easily. The greenhouse was so humid that my lens fogged up. No amount of wiping cleared away the condensation fast enough so I ended up running back and forth between a cooler climate room and the garden. But sometimes, the haze gave the pictures a dreamy effect. 

Spine

Mountain Range
Colorado?

Truth be told, I have no idea where this is. It was on my flight to San Francisco and at sunset. The light were brilliant rays of red and pink...it was the first time I seen the intense hues that characterize Colorado sunsets (well, Colorado in my mind).

I took a lot of pictures up in the air. Bumped my lens into the windows to find the right angles. Cursed at the airplane wing that blocked the scenery. At one segment, patches of cloud spanned below us and it looked like pink silk blowing in the sky.  

This picture was taken in the last moments of sunset. I took out the wing, upped the saturation and sharpened the peaks.

Up in Air

Mountain Range
Colorado?

I took a lot of pictures up in the air. Bumped my lens into the windows to find the right angles. Cursed at the airplane wing that blocked the scenery. At one segment, patches of cloud spanned below us and it looked like pink silk blowing in the sky. ​

I wish I was outside the plane, to have an unobstructed view of the world. 

Telegraph Hill

Telegraph Hill
San Fran, Cali

The booking promised a view and we got it. We stayed in the Hilton near Chinatown which overlooked Telegraph Hill. Every morning and every night, I would take pictures from our window. This was the best of the bunch. Tilt-shift done in post.
 

Graffiti

Haight Street
San Fran, Cali

I got recommended to stroll down Haight Street, because it was "a street on acid". I had to go after that description.

At the beginning, I was mildly disappointed and a tad terrified. Haight Street is not the...most reputable area and I feared for my safety if I walked into graffiti alleys (even if it looked amazing). But as I hit an residential intersection, a bunny eating skull sculpture caught my eye. It was so out of place at the street corner and just...charmingly disturbing. I ditched my logic and followed the graffiti down streets and into alleys (really not the best idea). 

I even had time to take a "self portrait" before scrambling away.