Golden Gate Bridge

“Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. ”
― Walker Evans

I have seen many pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, located in San Francisco, California, since becoming a photographer.  The images that seem to stay with me are the ones that have the bridge disappearing into the fog.

This past week, I had my first opportunity to see the bridge in person.  I intentionally did not

look at other’s pictures of the bridge just prior to going on my trip.  I like to see things through my own eyes whenever possible.

My first encounter with the bridge was on our first day in San Francisco.  My family and I took a double-decker bus tour of the city to get an overview.  We traveled across the bridge.  I was able to capture this image from the moving bus.

When you have a fixed traveling schedule, such as a family vacation, you often have to work with whatever weather presents itself when photographing in that location.  My family and I had two and a half days to spend in San Francisco, so I had limited time and opportunity to photograph the bridge.  Luckily, thanks to my husband, Randy, I did have two opportunities to photograph the bridge for “sunrise”.

The first morning brought very little color to the scene.

I found that the flags flying on this sailboat added some much-needed color.  I took the picture using a variety of shutter speeds to get the movement I wanted in the flags.

I learned long ago that you always need to look behind yourself when photographing.  When I turned around that morning, I noticed the reflection of the bridge in this window.  I also liked the colors and textures.

The second morning photographing the bridge brought just a small amount of color just before sunrise.

It is always helpful to revisit a location, so we returned to the place where we photographed the first day.

For a short period of time, there were soft, pastel colors.

Using my wide angle lens I was able to add some leading lines to the foreground.

I was happy to come home with a variety of images and views of the Golden Gate Bridge.  The next time you visit a subject, often photographed or not, be sure to look at it in many different ways.

I would love to hear which view you prefer.