Alamo Square is a famous landmark in San
Francisco. Although Alamo Square Park is composed of four city blocks, the
most photographed section is the residential neighborhood at the east side
of the park, which is characterized by the style of “Painted Ladies.”
These Victorian and Edwardian houses are painted in three or more colors
that enrich their architectural details. The term “painted ladies” was
coined by Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book entitled
“Painted Ladies - San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians.” I arrived at
Alamo Square around 6:00 PM for the sunset view. Although the sunlight
shone upon the city instead of the Victorian homes, the contrast between
the cool, classic foreground and the warm, modern background still looks
interesting.
Grace Cathedral is the Episcopal Cathedral of the Diocese of California.
The Cathedral contains 7,290 square feet of stained glass windows designed
by prominent artists, such as Charles Connick and Gabriel Loire. However,
I found that the light beams piercing through the stained glass are more
photogenic than the glass. I didn’t bring a tripod and thus was forced to
use high ISO for these exposures; nevertheless, the photos turned out well
owing to sophisticated noise reduction algorithms.
Previously I went to Point Reyes National Seashore twice but could not see
any scenery (seashore, lighthouse…etc.) due to improper timing, which was
a consequence of poor research. Point Reyes is the second foggiest place
in North America and the windiest place along the Pacific Coast. In the
first trip the visibility was confined to a few feet only due to thick fog
whereas in the second one it was rainy and windy. This time I conducted
extensive research and it paid off!
