Does the World need another image of the Golden Gate Bridge?  Is another photo of the Eiffel Tower or Yosemite's Half Dome necessary?  Really, thousands of images of these iconic locations are taken every day.  Most of them are snapshots saying "I was here." Few, if any, portray the subject in an unusual way.  

 What compels us to take more images of these icons?  I'm not certain but I think these icons provoke some kind emotion from within us...  something about them, the very thing that makes them an icon, seems to require us to try and capture it.  And, it is that very, very difficult thing that we try an capture in our photos. 

This first image was captured in 2002.  It is one of the first digital images I took was using the one of the very first, readily available Single Lens Reflex cameras from Nikon.  It had a breath-taking 6 mega-pixels!  I was by myself and was able to choose the location and time of day to shoot.  It was taken from the hills above Berkley ... almost directly above Strawberry Canyon if you know the area.

Taking a good image of an iconic location is even more difficult when the visit is a casual one not directly related to photography...  it likely isn't the right time of day; the right light, the best weather, or even the right equipment!  That's how I felt last week when I visited my friend Ronnie who lives in the East Bay area... that darn Golden Gate Bridge just begs to have its picture taken.  And, just because I had my camera with me, I had to try and take an interesting picture!

The first one was taken around 1:00PM from a point above Baker Beach.  Most photos are taken from a view from the Eastern side of the bridge or the hills above the bridge on the Marin County side. I was lucky that there was still a layer of fog hanging around otherwise this would be a totally uninteresting image.  While the bridge is a prominent aspect of the image, the subject is really the entire bay area.

The second shot was taken from an unusual place ... the national cemetery located in the Presidio.  The light was filtered by nearby trees.  The main subject, though, is not the bridge but the cemetery.  The bridge is just a backdrop.  FWIW, I took this shot from inside the car proving that I didn't want to bother the driver and other passenger AGAIN!
We drove down to the base of the bridge at Ft Point  I zoomed out and focused on the near tower eliminating most of the roadbed hanging from the suspension calbes.  And, I purposely left the top of the far tower.  Of course, I  converted the image to black and white which helps emphasize the fog.

So there you have it.  My three best images of the Golden Gate taken on the "spur of the moment" like any tourist.  I hope you like them!


Adam

P.S.  Here's the unedited original image of the 2002 shot as it came out of the camera .... yes, I purposely over-saturated the image by increasing the contrast.  I wanted to really pop the orange and red tones of sunset.  And then to emphasize the bridge, I cropped it into a panoramic format for the finished image shown above!