Saturday, February 13, 2016

Yerba Buena Gardens/Market St./Chinatown - San Francisco, CA (Part 2)

I recently took two trips to San Francisco, CA visiting different places and taking photos. I went to many tourist attraction areas, some lesser known places, and took quite some street photography. I am here to share with you the photos that I took on these trips. The photos I took will be split across 7 blog posts. Day 1 of my trip in San Francisco took place on 1/27/2016, and day 2 of my trip in San Francisco took place on 2/1/2016.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best San Francisco, CA photos for 2016, use this link. To see all of my San Francisco photos from this trip, use this link.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Today I have photos from Yerba Buena Gardens, street photography from Market Street, a flower photo from Union Square, and street photography from Chinatown. These photos are from Day 1 shot on 1/27/2016.

View from Yerba Buena Gardens. The orange building on the right is SF MOMA (Modern Art Museum). 
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 04 N 122 24 09 W  

Black and white process of the photo above.  

The artificial waterfall at Yerba Buena Gardens. 
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 05 N 122 24 08 W  

Black and white process of the photo above.  

At this moment, I would like to share an experience about Yerba Buena Gardens that makes me never want to go back there again. When I got there, I saw a few homeless people (not that I mind them, I understand they need a place to stay) and drug addicts in the park (and I'm guessing 1-2 was probably both), but that wasn't really the shitty experience (although the drug addicts doing drugs does contribute to part of it). Let me get this out there first though... This park does have some nice views for a photographer and an artificial waterfall which is beautiful (as you can see from my photos).

What really pissed me off was this. I was standing right outside the waterfall taking a small break to catch my breath and update my Instagram with my live feed. Some security guard came over and was asking me what I was doing. So I told her oh, I'm just taking photos. She was like, for a school project? I told her no, just as a hobby, I don't sell my photos and stuff. She then was like, well you look too professional, fold up your tripod, your camera is fine, or you need permission. Let me just say here, while it does say on their website no tripods unless you get a permit (I found out afterwards after I got home), I did not see any easily spotted signs (actually, I didn't see any signs at all) that said no tripods or professional photography when I entered the park and this is a public park. I'm sure the law says if you don't want someone doing this, you have to have it clearly posted at the location.

Also one minute before she (the security guard) came, some guy had a blunt in his hand passed me, go back behind the waterfall, and decided to "take his time" looking at the articles on the wall behind the artificial waterfall (while it is clear he just went to smoke his marijuana without anyone seeing him). At first I thought maybe I saw a cigarette, until I smelled the lingering marijuana smoke. He was still there when the security guard came over to hassle me (and you can still clearly smell the marijuanna!). Yeah, come hassle the harmless photographer, but leave the drug addicts smoking pot alone in a park where people take their kids. Sounds like the security personnels are pretty well educated and trained! (Note the sarcasm)

Either way, this experience has made me give this park a 1 star review on both Yelp and Google Reviews.

Another photo of the artificial waterfall at Yerba Buena Gardens.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 05 N 122 24 08 W


A photo of the view at Yerba Buena Gardens. The orange building to the right is SF MOMA (Modern Art Museum).
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 06 N 122 24 07 W 

 Black and white process of the photo above. 

A street photography scenery shot from Market Street shot near the Powell Street BART Station. As you can see on the right, there are paper lanterns hanging on the trees decorated for the Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year).
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 05 N 122 24 25 W 

Black and white process of the photo above.  

A closer up street photography shot of the paper lanterns hanging on trees in celebration of Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year). Photo from Market Street near the Powell Street BART Station.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 05 N 122 24 26 W


A photo of an Angel's Trumpet Flower shot at Union Square.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 17 N 122 24 26 W 

Black and white process of the photo above.  

A street photography shot from Chinatown (Grant Avenue). This photo was shot at a food and herb store. The photo is of (from left to right, top to bottom) pickled cabbage, dried dates, dried chestnuts, dried haw (I think), and dry salted daikon radish.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 47 N 122 24 26 W 

Another street photography shot of an herb and food store in Chinatown (Grand Avenue).
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 47 47 N 122 24 25 W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Next time I will have photos of sunset along the Embarcadero and some night photography. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7