sanfrancisco

How to Capture Stunning Star Trail Photos in Light Polluted Places

I’ve always found photos of star trails -- the arcs the stars paint across the sky as the earth turns -- fascinating. They’re one of the things that we can “see” with a camera that we can’t see with our eyes. Technology has changed how we shoot star trails, making star trail shots in locations we previously thought impossible possible.

Using Cigarettes to Connect with Strangers in SF

I visit San Francisco often to walk the streets with camera in hand, hoping to capture life as it happens. Invariably I am asked for change and/or a cigarette. For the most part I try to be generous, but as a non-smoker I’m not able to oblige. I then wondered what would happen if the situation was reversed: instead of being asked for a cigarette I would offer them to random people from all walks of life.

Photographer Has Identity Stolen, Gets Her Revenge with a Covert Photo Project

In 2011, photographer Jessamyn Lovell was at San Francisco gallery SF Camerawork when her wallet was stolen. Not long after, the unauthorized charges started pouring in.

Infuriated at what was taking place, Lovell decided to track down her thief rather than simply replace her cards and move on with her life. In doing so, she turned this art gallery mishap into an art project all its own.

Curious Coincidence: Photo Shows Same Time and Place as Frame from Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’

Here's a pretty fascinating little story of two men with cameras being in the same place at around the same time, over half a century ago. One of the men was Alfred Hitchcock.

The story began over at the vintage photography blog Shorpy, where a member named Ron Yungul submitted the above photograph. It was captured by his late father on the hills of San Francisco in 1957.

Time-Lapse Captures Just How Close of a Call Tuesday’s Mission Bay Fire Really Was

Firefighters in Mission Bay, San Francisco found themselves taking on raging five-alarm inferno on Tuesday when a $227 million apartment development caught fire. The time-lapse above shows just how close the fire came to spreading to adjacent buildings or the nearby Financial District, held off by 150 skilled firefighters putting their lives in danger.

Eric Kim Hits the Pavement with SF Street Photographer Jack Simon

There's something inspirational about watching a seasoned photographer work at his craft -- whether it's a studio photog who molds light to his will or a street photographer whose demeanor and results both scream professionalism.

Jack Simon falls under the latter of those categories, and in the video above, fellow street photographer Eric Kim takes us behind the scenes with Simon as he walks the streets of San Francisco.

Instagram Fills Up with Batkid Photos as SF Helps Bring a Young Boy’s Dream to Life

Yesterday a young boy named Miles, better known now as Batkid, inspired the world and probably became the most photographed child on Earth, if only for a day. You see 5-year-old Miles has been battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia since he was 20 months old, and when the Make-a-Wish foundation asked him what his wish was, he said he wanted to be Batman.

Well, you don't tell a 5-year-old no, and so the Bay Area Make-a-Wish foundation and 12,000 volunteers set to work turning San Francisco into Gotham city, and making sure that everyone who ran across this story today would break down into uncontrollable tears of joy...

Asking Random People to Tell the Story Behind the Last Photo on Their Phone

San Francisco-based interactive artist and freelance creative Ivan Cash recently had a neat idea: go out on the streets of San Francisco and ask random people to share the story behind the most recent photo on their phone (note: there is one racy photo and a few curse words dropped by some of the interviewees).

Frantic San Francisco Airport Time-Lapse Makes Planes Look Like Little Toys

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is one of the world's 30 busiest airports. The "gateway to the Pacific," as it is sometimes called, handled over 44 million passengers last year alone, and it was even the subject of its own short-lived television series back in the 1970s.

Given its scale and the sheer amount of air traffic that goes through there, YouTube user craigiest decided to give us a glimpse of the airport's comings and goings by shooting the above time-lapse.

This Zoomable Composite Aerial Photo of San Francisco is Like a 1938 Google Earth

What you see above is an ultra-high resolution aerial photograph of San Francisco as it looked in 1938. The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection put the image together using 164 large format black-and-white photos of SF that were shot in 1938. When viewed through a zoomable image viewer, the composite photo is pretty much a 1938 version of Google Earth's satellite view.

Shooting on the Streets of San Francisco for 24 Hours Straight

I have driven through San Francisco many times for business and pleasure, and have always been intrigued by how its energy constantly changes depending on the time of day. Glimpses of tall structures casting shadows, observing lighting and framing scenarios, and colorful people performing urban rituals often seen from my periphery had an affect on me.

These glimpses inspired me to undertake a 4am to 4am 24-hour-long project to capture unaltered reflections hour-by-hour how the city, the traffic, lighting, commerce, and ultimately the people change... or do they?.

Time-Lapse Shows What San Francisco Looks Like Without Any Humans

Two years ago, director Ross Ching created a viral hit by showing Los Angeles in a time-lapse video in which every trace of cars and people was removed. That project was such a success that Ching tells us he's now planning to create an entire series based on the same idea, showing what iconic cities around America would look like if the humans within them suddenly vanished. The first stop in his "Empty America" tour was San Francisco, captured beautifully in the haunting video above.

Beautiful Photos of a Double Rainbow All the Way Over San Francisco

San Francisco residents were treated with a dazzling sight yesterday: a double rainbow all the way across the sky, visible from many parts of the city. The San Francisco Chronicle writes,

The mist mixed with golden light from the low-slung sun to cast a beautiful pink glaze across downtown skyscrapers. Thousands at the Giants baseball game took their eyes away from the game to gawk at a double rainbow that formed over center field, perfectly framed by the grandstands. "There was just some very light rain at the game, but it was amazing to see so many people bringing out their iPhones and taking a picture of it," said Mike Pechner, a forecaster with Golden West Meteorology who was at the game. Dozens of motorists pulled their cars to the side of the road to gawk and take pictures of the rare double-rainbow, created when the light refracted through the moisture in the air.

Dizzying Animations that Show What San Francisco Looks Like to Superman

Director Kevin Parry recently finished creating a music video for the song "Water Falls" by Kalle Mattson. Filmed by Andrea Nesbitt, the video features some crazy time-lapse shots over great distances in San Francisco. Parry has also turned the shots into these animated GIFs that show you what various locations would look like if you were Superman whizzing around.

Passenger Shoots Time Lapse of Flight Between SF and Paris

This time-lapse video was shot by Nate Bolt using a Canon 5D Mark II, a 16-35mm lens, a tripod, and an intervalometer on an Air France flight from San Francisco to Paris. The camera snapped a photo every 2-30 seconds throughout the 11 hour flight, roughly capturing one photo every two miles of the journey.

Giant Camera Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco

If you're ever in beautiful San Francisco, you might want to pay a visit to the giant camera obscura, a room sized "camera" built in 1946 and based on a 15th century design by Leonardo da Vinci. It's designed to look like someone left a giant 35mm there with its lens pointed to the sky.

Rain Photographs by Navid Baraty

New York-based photographer Navid Baraty has a series of incredibly beautiful rain photographs made in San Francisco and Japan. We first came across the photograph above, titled "Rain Dance", in Pictory's "San Francisco" showcase. It was taken in San Francisco's Union Square with a Nikon D700. There's just something about the composition and lighting that blew us away.