Friday, September 23, 2011

...The San Fransisco Treat! {Utah Photography}

Apologies in advance, this post is a bit long... and here we go!

I am in a play right now, Anything Goes, at Centerpoint Legacy theatre and we have the most AMAZING costumes. Here is a photo of our lovely Erma.

Isn't her jewelry fantastic? I am totally fascinated with her necklace! Our costumers obviously didn't make it from scratch so I couldn't help but wonder where on earth they found it because it must exist in real life, do people really wear jewelry like that??

Ta-dah!!

These are actually the mildest of the fun necklaces I saw in Chinatown. I was so excited to take this picture to show the girls in the dressing room. We all thought it was great fun!

As I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I jetted to San Fran for the weekend a couple of weeks ago. We had an absolutely wonderful time and it was extra fun being such a random, crazy trip. Our hotel was pretty much at the very top of Nob hill and to be honest I was completely freaked out by the steepness of the hill. I was physically leaning forward in the car and didn't breath easy until I was out. I wondered out loud what on earth they do when it snows, hubby pointed out that it doesn't...oh yeah, right.

I took a quick snap as I was walking across the street from my hotel...it doesn't look at all as creepily steep in this picture as it really is!

We jaunted over to Chinatown...sidenote: Chinatown in real life does NOT look at all like it does in the movies. It isn't all crazy lit up and there were no parades with a bunch of people dressed as a giant dragon. Sad...still fun though!

I was loving all the lanterns strung everywhere and I couldn't wait to come back at night to get a shot of them all lit up, sadly they don't light up. Sad...still fun though, lol!

Here is a view of the city from Telegraph hill. Bit of hike that one is, my quads were killing me.

I liked how the flag stood out against the sky and monument. Just a quick snap for fun.

I'm a sucker for boardwalks. Below is a photograph I took at Fisherman's Wharf. To my left are the sea lions, it was fun to watch them.

I loved the bustle of Pier 39. We got clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl, soooooooooo good!

Of course I couldn't visit San Fransisco without visiting the Golden Gate bridge and by visit I mean stay for hours to get as many pictures as I could.

Most of my photographs are taken from Battery Spencer. The shot above was obviously taken before it got too dark though it looks lighter thank it really was, I just used a tripod and dragged my shutter speed. I'm glad there was some fog for the shot.

I seem to have a penchant for freezing night-time shots. Luckily Todd and I were able to wait in our car until it got darker. I literally bolted to the look-out as soon as I saw the light getting where I wanted it. It was freezing and so windy. I tried to use my weight to steady my tripod. It worked pretty well.

There is a dirt rode that leads from Battery Spencer down to the beach. Darling Husband had researched it out for me (he is so fantastic) and we headed down for a thirty minute walk in the pitch black darkness. Of course he had known that so he warned me to wear good shoes and we brought flashlights. Luckily as soon as we dipped below the ridge line the wind couldn't get at us and it was a lot warmer. I was also totally creeped out. I had NO idea where we were going and I could just picture the police standing over our bodies shaking their heads and muttering about stupid tourists (I have a very vivid imagination). Then some people with a kid and fishing poles passed us and I realized we were just heading to a campground where a bunch of other people were and I felt much better.

We walked out onto the beach as close to the water as we could get and I took a bunch of pictures while Todd made sure I didn't get soaked as the tide was rising and I was not paying any attention at all to the water. Here are a couple of my favorites. I almost got doused taking the shot below. We basically had to bolt for higher ground right after taking it.

We headed over to Liberty Island that same night to get a shot of the cityscape...I am a sucker for cityscapes!
I have more of my San Fransisco bridge and cityscape shots on my online boutique. They are all available for purchase and I have included many different croppings to make things easier. Here is the link.

http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/sanfransisco


This is my My World shot that I took the morning that we left. It was pretty early as you can see and I actually think it shows the steepness of the hill and the dynamic of the city pretty well. I dragged my shutter a little and racked my lens to create the motion. Oh, we had such a great time! I hope I get to visit again soon!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Oakland CA Temple {Utah Photography}

Last weekend my husband and I made a quick two-day trip to San Fransisco, CA. We left at about 10:30 pm Friday evening after my preview performance (kind of like a final dress rehearsal) of Anything Goes at Centerpoint Legacy Theatre in Centerville, UT. We drove straight through the night with only a one-hour pause at a surprisingly nice rest stop. Our first destination was the Oakland Temple and we arrived around 9:30 am while it was still shrouded in fog. We decided to go through a session before taking any photographs in hopes that the fog would clear. After our session the fog was indeed gone but the sun was blazeingly bright and people were EVERYWHERE. This temple has the most gorgeous landscaping! There are two long rows of palm trees that frame pathways, fountains, and a stream that lead up to the temple. It is stunning! Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of that without people in it so although I did take pictures I haven't bothered to edit any of them.

I was fascinated by this carving on the temple.

This is my favorite picture. I like the framing of the unique spire by the palm trees. Maybe it's because I don't see palm trees often enough or maybe it's because this was my first real stop and pause view that I had of the temple. Yes, I am standing in the middle of the parking lot to take this shot...people are really nice!