On this brisk but beautiful Saturday afternoon, our group of eager photographers met on a bluff above the Golden Gate Bridge. We did a brief round of introductions and talked about the goals of the day and the itinerary planned. With that, it was time to begin our great afternoon or creating images.

At Battery Godfrey, we talked about camera settings and compositions while shooting iconic scenes of the Golden Gate Bridge. This historic location has beautiful wind-blown Cypress trees that help frame images of the majestic bridge. We wandered this location and got lots of great images with trees, sailboats, helicopters, and the Golden Gate Bridge. The skies were so clear that we could see the Farallon Islands. From there, we were off to our next stop.

After only a couple minute drive, we arrived at the historic Fort Point (built in the 1800’s). Rusting anchor chains line the seawall along the roadway, making for stunning photography subjects. The cracks and crevices in the deteriorating chains alone make unique shots. We were able to capture images that included the anchor lines in the foreground of the mighty Golden Gate. We discussed long exposure images to smooth out the water and we also practiced shooting images with fast shutter speeds in to freeze water in the air as waves crash onto the rocky shore.

From there we headed due north across the San Francisco Bay for another beautiful vantage point of the bridge from Sausalito. As the sun was beginning to go down, we were better able to practice some long exposure techniques that we were discussing previously while finding interesting compositions. We shot multiple angles of the bridge, flowers, birds and even saw a bunch of sea lions. We were also treated to some light clouds heading towards the bridge adding great photographic elements to our bridge images. We were hoping these clouds would stick around for sunset.

We loaded up again for our next stop on the journey. This time we were heading to Rodeo Beach for sunset. Everyone was excited to try and capture a beautiful coastal sunset. We met near the base of a pedestrian bridge of the Rodeo Lagoon and began our short walk along the beach to some great sea stacks just offshore. While walking, we continued to talk about various aspects of photography techniques and future places to explore while watching a pod of dolphins in the surf. There were smiles all around as it was clear we were going to have a great sunset with a receding tide. We spent a lot of time moving along the beach watching a beautiful orange burn in the sky. We captured many motion blur images while capturing the rocks and waves in front of gorgeous skies. There is no doubt that we captured “frame worthy” images here!

Even though we were running short on time we decided to make one more stop to close out our great workshop. We headed to a vantage point in the Marin Headlands with a sweeping view of the San Francisco skyline the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. Everyone was having such a great time and capturing awesome images that our workshop went well over the ending time. It was time well spent because we had great weather great imagery. With that, we walked down the hill, and everyone got safely back to their cars. The workshop seemed to end just as quickly as it started, and I am confident that everyone created some memorable images.

Until Next Time,

Kevin 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.

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