I wonder sometimes, if they had painted the Golden Gate Bridge grey...would so many people come to see it? Is it because of the orange color that it draws such a crowd, or is it because it’s placed in such a beautiful location? I’m not sure the answer to this question...but I do know that this bridge is iconic, and connects one of the most beautiful areas of the bay, the Marin Headlands, with the city of San Francisco. We love showcasing this area to our photography classes. Our Marin Headlands class is our longest running workshop! We’ve done this class well over 150 times since we opened, and each one is nearly filled.

DeAnna and I met a group of 11 eager photographers in Sausalito for a brief orientation and a full day of photography in and around the Marin Headlands. Our Marin class typically has a lot of newer photographers in it, and we like to spend our time at the first stop going over a lot of the settings needed to operate the camera. Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO are all part of the instruction...we cover the different shooting modes, focus modes, metering, histograms, and more. It’s a lot to take in...but we have to cover it. We, of course, will address the topics over and over again throughout the day. Our first location is Battery Godfrey. This old fortress has some great vantage points of the Golden Gate...what a better subject to learn with!

We hit up a couple different views of the bridge from this area to work with the students on the basics before setting off for a little lunch break in Sausalito. The next stop is Rodeo Beach...one of my absolute favorite spots in the area. This beach is so rocky and feels so wild that it could be anywhere in the world. It’s always hard for me to comprehend that this place is so close to such a sprawling metropolis. The goal here is to work on tricky lighting, utilizing graduated ND filters to help balance the scene...we also work on getting longer exposures to get some smoothed out and beautiful looking water. Sunset was FANTASTIC as well, making this spot a favorite for sure. Everyone had unique and beautiful takes on their cameras...

The final stop for the night is the Golden Gate. We can’t drive right past this bridge, all lit up with the city glowing in the background and NOT stop. This isn’t a true night class, but we like to offer up a little bit of what goes into this kind of shooting...plus what better way to end a fun day of photography than with a true WOW shot!

All in all it was a fun day filled with beautiful weather and great locations. We look forward to seeing everyone again down the road!

Until Next Time,

Brian, DeAnna, and the rest of the Aperture Academy Team

P.S. If you'd like to join us at one of our workshops, you can find the schedule/sign up here.

NOTE: You can see more workshop photos below the comments.