Photographing the Golden Gate Bridge

I only had ONE request on this family reunion trip to Northern California: To take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. When Michael and I dated and I went to visit his family, we walked across the GGB. It was his first time ever doing that and he'd lived their his entire life. So the bridge is special to me and I wanted to get some great shots to hang in our home.

I made my plans clear ahead of time and gathered willing participants to accompany me on this photographic excursion. I knew of course that I'd have on board my two photography protege sister in laws, Karen and Julie (Michael's younger sisters).They have recently purchased DSLR's and want to learn and experience all they can with this great art of photography. It is so much fun to share and enjoy with them and feel closer to them because of it. I was shocked that not only have they not walked across the bridge, but they said they have never even DRIVEN over it! Baffled, I was.

Before the trip, I asked local photographers from my forum were to go, studied others images, and mapped out our course of the 4 different angles to take great pictures. My utter hope was for a beautiful clear day with brilliant blue skies, but I didn't get that. I really wanted the contrast of a bright blue sky against the orange bridge. The usually foggy sky put a damper on my excitement, but I decided to go with it and take what I got.

We left the kids behind and got Jen and Joanna on board to make it a girls adventure. Baker Beach was the first spot, and boy was it chilly! I had my little long sleeved t-shirt around my waist, that I put on, but Jen and Jo forgot any such item and had to bare it. I was intrigued by the boldness of this sign warning us not to swim...


This was our foggiest/darkest spot, but the one I wished was the clearest because I really liked the angle/view. We also took pictures of each other here.

Karen squatting for the shot
Karen took this of me
This is the best shot I have of Karen's face....(by Julie)

We then headed to drive across the bridge and spotted this cool angle and stopped. Still quite foggy...Grabbed a few shots and kept moving. I was driving, so I wasn't able to snap any shots as we drove across the bridge, but it was fun to drive over such an iconic spot...I was excited:) We drove up on the overlook on the other side of the bridge and saw a lighthouse. This is on the ocean side of the bridge. and lots of other tourists grabbing shots. They took this shot of all of us with Joanna's camera.

Karen, Jen, Me, Joanna, Julie I liked this angle the best, seeing the long stretch of the bridge
Jen and Joanna (Michael's other little sis)

Jen (married to M's brother) posing by a tattered building

ooh la la....Julicious (Karen took this)
By Karen as well
Our last spot was the best and the clearest, but super super windy. I was really concerned that the wind would knock me over. It was so loud, we had to yell at each other and it was just hilarious I kept laughing. We had to climb up a path to get to this overlook. Jen and Joanna headed back quickly, but Karen, Julie, and I took advantage of the photographic moments.
Julie took this shot and I loved how she saw the yellow flowers and must have gotten low enough to get them in the frame. I didn't even notice them and they didn't show up in any of my shots:)by Joanna (me, Julie, and Karen seen here) almost falling over
sooooo windy!
It was SUCH a fun time and I'm so glad we got some shots. This is the image that I made a canvas for our home.