Blue hour at Ghirardelli
Who wants some chocolate?
Ok, now that I have your attention, I have to admit that I don't have any chocolate to share with you today. Sorry about that! But, I do have some wonderful photos from Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, so hopefully you enjoy that just as much. Well, maybe not as much as some of that tasty goodness, but close.
Anyways, I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and had some spare time one evening to get out and shoot. It's a town that's wonderful just to wander in, but I had a few things in mind that I wanted to shoot. The problem was, the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate. It had been raining most of the day.
I got out at about 6pm, and walked over to the Ferry Building, which is one of my favorite places in San Fran. It was the ideal place to start, because of the rain, but after a short while the tripod police had other ideas and I was done inside. Luckily, the rain had stopped.
I crossed my fingers and started walking down the Embarcadero.
I spent the next two hours shooting all the way down the Embarcadero, pointing my camera at this and that and in lots of nooks and crannies, until I reached Ghirardelli Square. It was fabulous. Time well spent. Plus I got some exercise. :-)
By the time I got to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, sunset was waning and the blue hour was coming on strong. Sometimes you can tell it's just going to be one of those nights. This one definitely was. The light was fabulous.
I was in full-on photo-robot mode. Scan the scene, decide on a shot, set it up, fire the brackets, and move on. All done in quick succession. All done with a big smile on my face.
So by the time I got to Ghirardelli Square, it was deep into blue hour and darkness was falling. I had to hurry. I fired away and grabbed all the shots you see here today, and then I was done. Spent. Exhausted. And it started to rain again.
I opened my umbrella and strolled casually back over to Boudin Bakery, ate a sourdough bread bowl full of clam chowder, and called it a night.
