Wanamaker Photography

A Visit To The West Coast

After an extremely long, fully packed, six and a half hour plane ride across the country, I finally set foot in San Francisco for the first time last week. While it was 8PM Pacific time and you couldn’t see too much of the area, I was still excited to be out there!

The trip was a combination of business and pleasure, which let me see some of the city while learning new things about business. I stayed at the Parc55 Hotel in downtown San Francisco, just inside of the Financial District. At the end of each day, I had some time, before the sun set, to get out and take in some of the sights like a typical tourist. Luckily, there was a cable car turnstyle a half-a-block away from the hotel, which gave me quick access to many of the great spots throughout the city.

I hopped on to one of the San Francisco Cable Cars and headed for Mason Street in Fisherman’s Wharf. Not wanting to miss an opportunity for a great picture, I slid my arm through one of the side bars and hung off the side of the car with my camera bag and one of my feet dangling over the road below. As we crested the top of Mason Street, I snapped this shot of an oncoming cable car with the bay in the background.

I kept taking shots of the oncoming cable car until I was about 2 seconds away from being knocked off as it passed by. Needless to say, not all of those shots came out that great …

After being dropped off in Fisherman’s Wharf, I walked around and grabbed a few more shots of the area before heading out on a Bay Tour that would take me under the Golden Gate Bridge and around the far side of Alcatraz. I wish I could have visited some of the more known spots to take shots of the bridge from … but I still love this one …

Alcatraz island …

And as we finally came around Alcatraz island, Downtown San Francisco …

(For another great shot of this boat, check out our photo of the week)

As the sun set and the upper 60 degree weather faded, I decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I figured I would be daring once again and hung off the side of the cable car for a few more shots. As we climbed up Mason Street, I saw another cable car headed our direction … so I snapped this …

But what makes this photo great is the guy in the white shirt. As you can see, he isn’t looking in the same direction that his cable car is headed. Needless to say, no one in his car decided to tell him about us either. As the two cars approached, I leaned in as far as I could … and then I heard the “thud”. The guy in the white shirt was actually hit by our cable car! He never fell nor did the cable cars stop … but I am sure he was a little sore the next morning!

As I got back to the hotel and opened up the door to my room, I was greeted with one more photo opportunity. The bay fog that covers the Golden Gate almost everyday, started rolling into the city. I waited as long as possible so I could get the right light and the perfect amount of fog!

All in all, the trip was fun (until I got sick for the last few days) and I learned a lot of new things that I get to bring back home with me. I shot a lot of images but only got to see part of the city … so I look forward to returning soon!

As a final thought, there were two things that I really didn’t like about the city. The first was that everything seemed to be overpriced … no matter what is was. The second was the homeless … as they were everywhere and constantly pestering you for food or money. On a few occasions, I even had a couple of them follow me down the street. While I understand that people can be down on their luck, I wish the city would do a more for them to help clean up the streets!

San Francisco Bay Sail Boat

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I took a boat tour that brought us under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz island. During the ride, I snapped shots of surrounding elements like this sail boat with the Bay Bridge as a backdrop.

I had been watching the sail boat for a while as I had snapped enough shots of Alcatraz and was looking for something different. What originally attracted my eye for this shot was not the sail boat or the bridge, but rather the reflection of the boat in the water. I am not exactly sure why that captured my eye, but I loved the way it looked and decided to go for it.

The shot above was taken with the Mark III with a 70-200mm lens at F8 at 1/2000 with the ISO at 320. I was zoomed out to about 105 mm and did slight retouching in Photoshop to help bring out the blueness of the water and sky.

Minisink Cheerleading Competition

This past Saturday, we attended our first Cheerleading Competition hosted by Minisink Valley. While we’ve photographed cheerleaders at football games before, this competition turned out to be a completely different animal for us!

We setup in the morning for portraits in the far corner of the gym and found a nice spot behind the judges to video record all of the performances. We had a slightly smaller crew this time with Sean working the video camera, Loretta and Jenny at the table and myself shooting action shots during the event.

As things got underway, I quickly found that I was trying to anticipate the next flip, kick or jump. Needless to say, I did so with very little luck! Everything was extremely fast paced and moved over every inch of the mat. As the day went on, Jenny would join me in front of the judges and would shoot group shots to get the action as it happened while I would shoot closeups on a few of the competitors. Some of the shots we captured were interesting!

In our new Photo Of The Week section, we also posted a great shot of one of the cheerleaders with a memorable face that became an instant classic!

In between the competitions, we would watch the crowd and sidelines for things that might catch our attention. The little boy pictured below was hanging out with us at the edge of the mats and decided to pick up one of the megaphones that was being used as a barrier. I think he might have a future in this

During the morning set, I hopped up during one of the breaks to make sure everything was alright at the table with Loretta and Jenny and to check out the video Sean captured so far. As I came around the judges table, I found this couple who seemed to support their little cheerleader 150%!

Overall, it was a great day for everyone and we were even invited to do the same for the Cheer For All Winter Fest at Pine Bush High School on February 16th! Let’s see what kind of shots come out of that one!