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Taking a tripod to Muir Woods
Why every photographer should add an extra day to their San Francisco visit
Every so often, work takes me to the City by the Bay. A long time ago, I lived there. Like any city, it is bustling with life, people, and intensity. There is always someone around, some scene to spot. The city is booming; AI and Biotech start-ups have taken over. Downtown has become gentrified. One must be careful not to be run over by a self-driving taxi or a Google bus.
San Francisco is a street photographer’s paradise! $14 gets you unlimited cable car rides for a day. The cable lines go through every neighborhood and move slowly enough — at least uphill — for 1/60 sec exposures and all manual focusing you need. People expect tourist riders to take pictures and ignore the cameras pointed at them. This makes for candid shots. If you sit in the front of the cable car, no glass window blocks your view.
I also ate way more than I wanted: dim sum for breakfast, Italian for dinner — all on the Powell-Mason Line. Who can escape the temptation of a thousand cuisines? After the third day, I was exhausted. My stomach, SD card, and mind were full. I experienced an acute episode of stimulation fatigue. This is when I remembered Muir Woods National Monument.
