This is a hopelessly belated photo story of the photowalk my friends and I did back in February, focusing on a few landmarks in San Francisco's Hunters Point and Chinatown neighborhoods. My friend did all the driving so the itinerary was at his discretion. First order of business in the morning was this particular set of artful stairs:
Called the Arelious Walker Stairway, it's one of many mosaic-tile step installations scattered throughout San Francisco. This set connects Innes Avenue up to Northridge Road in the Hunters Point neighborhood. My driving friend had already shot the other mosaic stairs and this one completes the set.
The artist(s) must've been fans of the golden ratio.
A photographer is spoiled for choice in angles and perspectives.
Turn opposite the stairs and you'll be treated to this ensemble view of downtown San Francisco and the two Bay Bridges.
After the colorful stairs we thought since we're in the neighborhood already, might as well pop down the street and have a look at the old naval shipyard. In recent years the place surrounding it have massively gentrified, but the old ghosts of ship-working still lie there dormant, awaiting its final fate: dismantlement for new housing.
I had just recently purchased my first set of ND filters, and shooting the shipyard was the maiden attempt at long-exposure during the daytime. Due to being so far away from the water the smoothing effect isn't all that apparent so I'll be on the hunt for many lakes and waterfalls in the future.
A missed opportunity that auto-crosses aren't held on these premises. The surface and space looks perfect for it.
Abandoned shipyard sitting on super prime real estate.
Cargo ship somehow stayed stationary on the water long enough for this 10-second exposure.
After getting enough of the morning Vitamin-D at the shipyard, we motored on towards San Francisco Chinatown. The specific goal was to survey the many walls of mural art painted throughout the district.
We simply had to take a stop at our childhood haunt: Chinese Playground on Sacramento between Grant and Stockton. I have fond memories of playing volleyball with friends here on the weekends.
Memories of childhood.
The Chinese Playground happens to play host to this particular mural:
Indeed I can remember dressing like the guy on the left here back in the day.
Famously steep streets of San Francisco.
The hanging of traditional red lanterns throughout Chinatown have added a really nice flair. I'm glad these are hung year round and not just during festivals.
This is America.
The mythical Dragon is a major symbol in Chinese culture and no surprise the motif is widely utilized in the Chinatown murals.
A Dragon and a lady lacking her skin. Not sure what's going on here but it's striking.
This Dragon taking a swim in a pond of lotus lillies.
The Buddha, Dragon, and Bruce Lee are great compliments. Look closer on Bruce's chest and apparently someone isn't fond of the famed graffiti artist Banksy. A nice Audi S3 on the left side, too.
SF's Chinatown is full of interconnecting alleyways and side-streets, each with unique character and architectural interest points. Obviously they serve their innate utilitarian purpose quite well as we used them to traverse through the many blocks without needing to contend with motor vehicles.
Build them sturdy.
I got a Cuban/Latin vibe to this side-street connecting Grant and Columbus; really dig the colors here. The wall on the right belongs to the world famous City Lights Bookstore.
Sad to see this mural getting peppered over by other graffitis. I would've loved to see it in its original form.
During our escapades we ran into these two artists doing repair work to this art installation consisting entirely of Chinese red envelopes.
We arrived at the intersection between Broadway and Stockton, and not being content with the long-exposure shot I did with the ND filters earlier in the day, I figured the busy crosswalk would be excellent to have another go:
A one-second exposure with the lens wide open using a 10-stop ND filter leaves a decent enough blur to the pedestrians crossing the street.
Another alleyway.
She's so sweet with that get-back stare.
Half the time spent during photowalks is walking aimlessly hoping for cool stuff to materialize just around the corner.
At one point we arrived at an elementary school, the playground of which was a film location in the Will Smith movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness". The school's upper basketball court set the scene for the film's emotional climax.
Unfortunate for us it was Saturday and school was out, so we couldn't enter the premises without resorting to trespassing. I had to settle for shooting from outside the fencing:
Now that's not a bad backdrop for a school, is it?
The piers aren't so far away...
The day sadly came to an abrupt end when we went to the top of the Stockton tunnel to do some shots and unceremoniously - and much to do with my stupidity - my camera fell out of the tripod and onto concrete six-feet below. Day instantly over. Thankfully the camera body survived the tumble with only cosmetic blemishes. The lens however took the brunt of the impact and broke off its collar ring.
At least I managed to get a few photos in before the incident:
Final attempt of the day using the ND filter for daylight long-exposure. This one is at 1/8 second.
A few weeks and 700 dollars poorer the broken lens was good as new.
