The Presidio...

In the past when I'd come up here, the intention had always been to seriously maximize the photo ops. As it ends up, though, I usually get in one good day of shooting. Well, Friday was yet additional proof that this trip would be different.

We headed out of Lafayette, and found our way across the Bay Bridge into downtown San Francisco. We were on our way to the Presidio, which was first occupied by the Spanish in 1776, then the Mexican Army in 1822. The United States Army took control of it in 1846.

The Presidio is home to San Francisco National Cemetery. It's small in comparison to Arlington, or even Fort Rosecrans, within its confines are the remains of the fallen going back as far as the late 1800's.

San Francisco National Cemetery overlooks San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz can be seen in the distance...

The Presidio also offers some pretty unparalleled views of the Golden Gate Bridge. A well maintained hiking trail makes access very easy, and there are even large, prepared areas off the path to accommodate everything from bicycles to, in my case, a camera tripod.

Shooting the Golden Gate Bridge. Photo by Chris Estes...

I've been dabbling (true, I "dabble" from time to time) with high-dynamic-range, also known as "HDR" photography lately, and I figured this would be a good place to flex that jones a bit. I'm not entirely sure how happy I am with the HDR results, but I know I wouldn't have wanted to fail at it anywhere else. This view was just inspiring.

My take on an "old time" photograph of Alcatraz, as seen from the Presidio...

From the Presidio, we decided to drive down to Baker Beach, to get an ocean-side view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Like the view from the Presidio, it was awesome. The wind was ridiculous, so I opted to leave the 5D in the car, and I took these with my trusty Canon G12:

The view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach...

After leaving Baker Beach, we had to come to grips with the fact that the only way to get to the Bay Bridge, and back to Lafayette, was to go through downtown. Accordingly, we decided to make it interesting.

We first made our way to Lombard Street. Now, most people know Lombard Street as the most crooked road in the world (although that claim is contested). It's a tourist mecca, and traffic moves very slowly through the quarter-mile route of eight switchback turns heading through the neighborhood of Russian Hill.

Lombard Street...

After surviving that, we continued through downtown, back past Chinatown and House Of Nanking (GO THERE!), and into the financial district.

So, Friday proved to be another photo-intensive day, and that was good. Again, I don't normally shoot this much when I come up here, and it's a Helluva' lot of fun...