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jamesqMy first full day in San Francisco and I really didn't have a clue what to do. So I opted to walk to Union Square (a mere 1.5 blocks east of my hotel) to see what I could see.
There were a lot of double-decker tour buses there. I opted to do the tour. For $50 you could do any of the four tours, at any pace you wanted (while they were open) for two days. Ok, this seemed like a decent idea so I did it. For bureaucratic reasons I had to go to Fisherman's Wharf before anything else. Boarding the bus I was the last person on after the top filled, so I had to sit by myself in the bottom. Note that the bottom is not good as the windows are completely covered by advertising. Not the best design, but since the buses serve two functions (showing off the sights and getting people to and from the sights) I was OK with it. It did tell me not to dawdle getting on the bus.
Rule #1:Take pictures from the bottom of a double-decker bus. Yeah, there's no pictures because this was such a bad idea, I didn't even attempt it. It would be like taking a picture through cheesecloth.
The four tours are as follows:
Rule #2: Take pictures from the top of a double-decker bus while other people are also trying to take the same pictures.
That's the Palace of Fine Arts BTW, also known as the place where Nick Cage catches Sean Connery in The Rock.
We continued on and managed to get one of my few decent pictures, a painted lady near Alamo Square.
When I become a multi-millionaire, my dream house in Vancouver will be modelled after this.
Rule #3: Take pictures from the top of a moving vehicle so you can't frame the shot properly. Especially if it means getting lots of other crap in the frame, like cables.
That's the Transamerican Pyramid, which I kept circling around, but never got closer to than five blocks. In this, it was a lot like Coit Tower.
Rule #4: Take pictures of things that look cool in motion but don't really translate well to still photography.
That's one of the numerous big-damn hills that SF is famous for, and that our buses careened down.
Rule #5: Take pictures of stuff you think is funny when you see it on the spur of the moment, but could easily be described in writing.
These look better than the others only because I cropped out 90% of each of the original pictures.
Rule #6: Use your shitty-ass cell phone to take night shots.
The tours were fun and gave me decent bearings of the city, which would come in handy. However, being tours, they were the white-bread-and-mayonnaise of the trip. Enjoyable enough, but not something you're going to wax poetically about.
There were a lot of double-decker tour buses there. I opted to do the tour. For $50 you could do any of the four tours, at any pace you wanted (while they were open) for two days. Ok, this seemed like a decent idea so I did it. For bureaucratic reasons I had to go to Fisherman's Wharf before anything else. Boarding the bus I was the last person on after the top filled, so I had to sit by myself in the bottom. Note that the bottom is not good as the windows are completely covered by advertising. Not the best design, but since the buses serve two functions (showing off the sights and getting people to and from the sights) I was OK with it. It did tell me not to dawdle getting on the bus.
Rule #1:Take pictures from the bottom of a double-decker bus. Yeah, there's no pictures because this was such a bad idea, I didn't even attempt it. It would be like taking a picture through cheesecloth.
The four tours are as follows:
- The downtown tour. A big loop of Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, North Beach, Ferry Building, Union Square.
- Golden Gate and Sausalito. All that and Ghiradelli square, the Presidio and the Palace of Fine Arts.
- Golden Gate Park Loop.
- Night tour. Highlights of all of the above, if they have any sort of action after the sun goes down.
Rule #2: Take pictures from the top of a double-decker bus while other people are also trying to take the same pictures.
That's the Palace of Fine Arts BTW, also known as the place where Nick Cage catches Sean Connery in The Rock.
We continued on and managed to get one of my few decent pictures, a painted lady near Alamo Square.
When I become a multi-millionaire, my dream house in Vancouver will be modelled after this.
Rule #3: Take pictures from the top of a moving vehicle so you can't frame the shot properly. Especially if it means getting lots of other crap in the frame, like cables.
That's the Transamerican Pyramid, which I kept circling around, but never got closer to than five blocks. In this, it was a lot like Coit Tower.
Rule #4: Take pictures of things that look cool in motion but don't really translate well to still photography.
That's one of the numerous big-damn hills that SF is famous for, and that our buses careened down.
Rule #5: Take pictures of stuff you think is funny when you see it on the spur of the moment, but could easily be described in writing.
- MY ICBM on a Volkswagen Bus.
- Inga Donut, which I am showing here for NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
- A giant set of legs in Haight-Ashbury.
- Wholesome family entertainment.
These look better than the others only because I cropped out 90% of each of the original pictures.
Rule #6: Use your shitty-ass cell phone to take night shots.
The tours were fun and gave me decent bearings of the city, which would come in handy. However, being tours, they were the white-bread-and-mayonnaise of the trip. Enjoyable enough, but not something you're going to wax poetically about.
