Fireworks over San Francisco Skyline

San Francisco airport is literally the worst transit point to be at in the whole of the US after the crash landing of a Korean airline yesterday. That’s where we are, sitting on the floor near gate 80, hoping to get a flight to Portland at some point.

We’ve been booked onto 2 flights today, both have been cancelled. They transferred us to a flight tomorrow evening at 7pm – we’d be spending the night in the airport, we thought. Complaining seemed to be in poor taste given the circumstances. However, after 3 hours waiting in line and a brief chat with a friendly airport employee, we were booked onto a flight at 11pm this evening. As I type this, that’s our only hope of leaving San Francisco today.

We’re not in a hurry to leave, mind you. This foggy city has provided us with 7 days of inspiration and productivity, not to mention some great new friends.

My 3:00am wake ups and late bed times finally offered rewards on our last day. In fact, the 3 photos I’ll publish this week of San Francisco are three of my favourite images so far and are evidence that persistence really is key, especially when faced with unpredictable weather.

On my final morning shoot, I was sat on a large rock on Baker beach at 5:00am with Julien (AKA Beboy), surrounded by water, waiting for blue hour to appear. Our view was the San Fran coast with the glorious Golden Gate bridge sitting above. Not a soul was to be seen and only the sound of the lapping ocean accompanied us. How can anyone not be inspired by that?

8 hours earlier we were sitting on a cliff edge on Treasure Island looking at the city skyline which was framed beautifully by Bay bridge. Below us, a school of dolphins was swimming about, while a sea lion lay on its back and snorted water out of its nose.

The beauty of San Francisco, for me as a tourist, is the magic that happened around us every day, the magic that seemed so normal to locals yet which simply doesn’t exist in most places. Unlike New York, San Francisco isn’t billed as ‘The greatest city on earth”, yet in its modest, liberal vibe and beautiful natural surroundings, it soars above and beyond anywhere else we’ve visited in the US. It’s a city that I would happily live in. Coming from a man who likes to stay mobile, that’s saying something. Only Paris has had a greater impact on me.

We took more than inspiration from the city of the beatniks – we made friends. Our hosts, Erin and Chris, not only made us feel comfortable, they were always a good source of amusement and conversation. However, I do blame Chris for the mild hangover I woke up with this morning.

And with that, if the gods see fit to allow it, we’ll leave this bohemian city tonight looking forward to our new adventure but with the hope that it won’t be long before we return to San Francisco.

Today’s Photo – Fireworks over San Francisco Skyline

This image is a composite. Both were taken on the 4th of July. The fireworks were actually much further to the right, which meant that the skyline would have been too small to be impressive if I tried to include the entire scene. Instead, I employed two techniques that I’ve written tutorials on to create my own composite skyline.

Firstly, I used the same technique to add the fireworks as I did in my Milky Way tutorial. And finally, I mirrored the skyline using my city reflection tutorial.

Before the Joys of Post-Processing