Dave Wilson Photography » HDR

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Dave Wilson — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:23:27 +0000

I could easily have spent a whole day inside Grace Cathedral during my visit to San Francicso. It's a gorgeous building with so many interesting little details that set it apart from many other cathedrals.

I already mentioned the fascinating scientifically-themed stained glass but here's another example - a large, brass chi-rho symbol embedded into the floor of the nave partway down the aisle. There's also a labyrinth on the nave floor behind me (I may post a shot containing it later). Both of these make great foreground elements in shots of the whole nave, adding even more interest to shots which are already fascinating due to the majesty of the building itself.

Knowing that I wanted to make the symbol a major part of the composition, I set up right above it with the fisheye lens and shot this image. Of the pictures I've processed from the cathedral, this is definitely my favourite so far.

Eureka, San Francisco

Dave Wilson — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:21:33 +0000

On my second day in San Francisco, I had intended walking from my hotel all the way past the Golden Gate Bridge to try to get one of those iconic shots of the bridge from the beach that's just south-west of it. By the time I got to the Fisherman's Wharf area, though, two things were apparent. Firstly, it was going to be a long way (there are hills in San Francisco!) and secondly, it was going to be completely pointless since the clouds were covering the bridge (I didn't see any part of the bridge that whole day).

Rather than call the day a dud, I decided to take a wander into the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. Am I glad I did! What a fascinating place that is. They have half a dozen or so historic ships, all beautifully preserved (or under renovation) and all set up with loads of fascinating information boards. It's definitely worth the visit if you are even slightly interested in maritime history.

This particular image shows the steam ferry "Eureka" which is powered by a fabulous and enormous single cylinder "walking beam" engine.

Embarcadero Stairs, San Francisco

Dave Wilson — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:19:18 +0000

We're back in San Francisco today with a shot taken during the PhotoNetCast photo walk we held there a couple of weeks ago. This was taken in the Embarcadero center right at the end of the walk (just before we hit the pub).

Next time I'm in San Francisco, I think I'll spend some more time in this area since there appeared to be lots of interesting photographic opportunities there that I didn't have time to exploit on this trip.

Grace Cathedral Nave, San Francisco

Dave Wilson — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:21:03 +0000

I spent a wonderful couple of hours inside Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco during my recent visit. What a superb building!

While there, I got into conversation with one of the vergers who happened to be British. She pointed out some of the stained glass and I was surprised and delighted to see that many of the windows had scientific themes - one commemorates John Glenn's first US spaceflight, another contains "E=mc2" and a third shows an image of a spiral galaxy. In addition to the strained glass, the walls of the nave are decorated with spectacular murals. All in all, a must-see location if you happen to be in the area.

Upper Floor, Xanadu Gallery

Dave Wilson — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:57:14 +0000

Here's another shot from inside the Xanadu Gallery on Maiden Lane in San Francisco (you can find the previous one here). This is taken from the second floor at the top of the spiral ramp that joins the two.

One Eleven Sutter, San Francisco

Dave Wilson — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:02:53 +0000

This is another shot from our San Francisco photo walk on April 21st but this one has another security guard story associated with it. While wandering around downtown, we noticed this very ornate doorway and decided to stop to take a few shots. Within about 20 seconds, a security guard appeared and informed us that it was illegal to take pictures of the building and especially illegal to include the address plate seen on the left side of the doorway.

We informed him that he was incorrect and that, since we were standing on a public sidewalk, we were perfectly within our rights to take pictures of anything that was visible but he insisted that we were engaging in illegal activity and returned to his desk to call the police.

Once we finished shooting, the police had not arrived so I headed into the foyer, left him a business card and got the address of his manager so that I could write and pass on information on photographers' rights so that he could be more correctly informed next time anyone shows up with an interest in his doorway.

If you take pictures in large US cities, you have almost certainly had a similar experience. To keep yourself informed and ensure you have ammunition on hand next time this happens, head on over to Bert Krages' photographers' rights page and print a copy of his photographers' rights overview to keep in your camera bag.

Xanadu Gallery, San Francisco

Dave Wilson — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:11:11 +0000

Xanadu Gallery can be found on Maiden Lane close to Union Square in downtown San Francisco in a fine example of a Frank Lloyd Wright building. The space echos Wright's famous design for the Guggenheim Museum in New York with the main space dominated by a spiral ramp between the two floors.

I was introduced to the gallery by Jesse Nichols who led us on Satuday's downtown San Francisco photo walk and showed us many fabulous locations that only a local would know. Many thanks, Jesse!

Damage Control Station, USS Lexington

Dave Wilson — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:57:41 +0000

One of the damage control stations deep in the bowels of USS Lexington in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Pilot House, USS Lexington

Dave Wilson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:01:58 +0000

Getting around USS Lexington is not something you should try if you are even vaguely unhappy with the idea of ladders or very steep staircases. I think it's pretty fair to say that the ship is not wheelchair accessible since there's a whole lot of climbing involved!

Getting from the hangar deck, where the main visitor entrance is, to the pilot house in the island involves at least 5 flights of these almost-vertical stairs and, for me at least, also involves at least 2 bashings of the head on some low metal beam or other.

Oddly enough, in a refit in the early 1950s, an escalator was added to allow access from the flight deck to the hangar. Oddly enough, though, it was for downward traffic. Perhaps tired air crews were more likely to have accidents on the stairs than fresh ones heading up to work?

USS Lexington Island at Night

Dave Wilson — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:26:14 +0000

I took this shot at about 10pm on the flight deck of USS Lexington as an experiment. The floodlights in the picture were illuminating most of the deck but were enormously brighter than the island so I really didn't think that the image would work even after shooting a very wide bracket (9 shots - unusual for me, especially in an outdoor HDR). In the end, however, the dynamic range was fine and I was let down by dust or spray on the fisheye lens creating a ton of flare spots all over the dark areas. Regardless, I still like the image enough to post so here it is.

The aircraft in the foreground is an SNJ-5 Texan, also known as an AT-5 outside US Navy circles or the "Harvard" to everyone else. It started flying during World War II and was used as an advanced trainer into the 1950s.