9.6.13 : lighthouses and coastline.

On my way out of San Francisco, I took a detour that pointed me towards Point Reyes Lighthouse. Following the winding road ended up costing me about two hours of my time, but seeing it fog free (a rarity) made the trip well worth the loss. Passing only a few people on my way down the long staircase, I had the place to myself. A deafening foghorn sounded every few minutes, which rendered my hearing useless for a few seconds afterward each time it went off. It was a beautiful place that really did feel like it was at the ends of the earth. I can only imagine what a lonely existence living out there might have been at times.

The coastline varied greatly across the 200+ miles I drove that day, but it was as beautiful as ever. I arrived at Point Arena Lighthouse after it'd already closed, but as luck would have it, that granted me the ability to explore without any other people around. The coastline at that particular viewpoint would have been incredible to watch the sunset from, but alas, I needed to make camp before sundown and my destination for the night was another hour away.

9.5.13 : San Francisco Day 2.

You can probably assume from the content of my photos that my focus was not on exploring cities on this trip up the coast. With that being the case, I sought out a popularly Instagrammed spot (somehow I ended up following a bunch of folks in the San Fran area on there) called Mount Davidson. I'd seen some pretty beautiful shots done in the area and wanted to avoid the city as much as possible (a shame, but I know I'll be back at some point).

I had to wind around through a maze of streets with some impressive looking houses and incredibly steep hills before I came across an entrance to the path up one side of the mountain park.  It was a perfect foggy morning when I got there, which made for some great photos and a nice contrast to the blue skies from the day before. Surprisingly, I had the place to myself that morning, so I got to explore without interruption.

As I hiked up through the chilly fog, I rounded a corner to see a giant white cross rising up in front of me. The way it seemed to disappear into the white of the fog was enchanting to me and it was all I could do to pull myself away from taking a hundred photos of the same thing. 

9.4.13 : San Francisco Day 1.

San Francisco spanned multiple days and was a rare portion of the trip in which I stayed with friends and was able to enjoy some company throughout my explorations of the area.

David and Brooke Condolora are friends of mine from college and also happen to be former clients of mine (I shot their wedding). They're an incredible artistic couple (he works for Pixar and she works independently as an illustrator and designer) and as such, were a great inspiration to get to spend some quality time with on my travels. I highly recommend checking out some of their work:

Brooke's physical goodies shop: http://idlemouse.org

Brain & Brain (their husband and wife venture into game design): http://brain-and-brain.com

Brooke's personal site: http://www.brookecondolora.com

My first evening took me on a laid-back stroll around the island of Alameda, where they live, but the second day there was basically spent finding every angle of the Golden Gate Bridge to photograph.

Brooke and I happened upon a handful of interesting little finds throughout the day, including a creepy old bunker and a nude beach full of very active nudies (nudites?) climbing rocks and playing beach volleyball.

I couldn't have asked for better weather, as the city was not covered in the deep layer of fog I'd heard it often is. They must've known I was coming.

This was before I’d begun to tote my tripod around with me for self-portraits, so it was nice to have Brooke along for the day to get a photo or two of me as proof I’d been present.

And now, I shall inundate you with photos of the Golden Gate Bridge.