When Persistence Finally Pays Off!

Canon 5DMKIII, 400mmL f/2.8 + 1.4x (effective 560mm) @ f/8, 1/2 second, 800 ISO (Click on image for larger view).

Persistence: 1. The act of persisting.  2. The state or quality of being persistent; persistency.

Successful landscape photography is rarely the result of luck, though “the art of chance” does play a role from time to time. Yet it is my experience that those who rely solely on luck may be in for many disappointments. On the other hand, those who rely of consistent planning and perseverance will more often than not come away with awesome images.

Today’s image is the direct result of persistence (8 years and counting) and planning. I have had a mental image of this scene permanently imbedded in my brain since I first saw a similar image created by the late Galen Rowell 10 years ago in his Mountain Light Gallery and the cover of his book Fog City: Impressions of San Francisco Bay Area in Fog. I didn’t want to simply replicate Rowell’s image, I wanted my own take on this magical view of the San Francisco skyscrapers poking through a veil of fog. My image was also different in that Rowell chose to leave the colorful sky in his frame whereas I chose to crop it out as I thought it drew the eye away from the skyline (simply a personal choice and I had a similar-looking sky).

Last Sunday, my persistence finally paid off. My planning was the result of constant monitoring the predicted depth of the fog. I felt any forecast where the fog was forecast at 1500 feet or higher was a green-light situation. The predictions for Sunday were 1600 feet! When I first started chasing this scene back in 2004, I felt a deck of 1,000 feet was needed, but experience is a great teacher, and though I have created many images from this location in Berkeley’s Tilden Regional Park, this was the first time I had the combination of the correct fog depth and a colorful sky.

Canon 5DMKIII, 70-200mmL II @f/8, 1/4th shutter, 200 ISO, Singh-Ray Polarizer, Singh-Ray 2 stop hard-edge GND

The sky color gets very intense after the sun sets. Juxtaposed against the cool fog, it creates a magnificent color contrast (warm and cool colors), yet I chose instead to put more of the Bay Bridge into my tight shot as there were no clouds low along the horizon (had there been I may have thought different). The shot of the city skyline needed to be tight. I was using my Canon 5DMKIII, which has a full frame sensor. I also used my Canon 400mm f/2.8 lens, which is razor sharp and works well with a 1.4x converter. I did try some frames with my 2x converter but did not think they were sharp enough in the final analysis.

I made this trek with friends Mike Hall and Nick Lust. We arrived a full 75 minutes prior to sunset and enjoyed watching the fog move in off the Pacific Ocean and eventually (to our dismay) envelope both towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. In retrospect, it was inevitable as the fog was too high for either of the towers to poke through the mist (can’t have it all). We had a bit of a scare 40 minutes out from sunset when the fog completely obscured the San Francisco skyline. Mike quickly recalled a scenario that had occurred a few years back when the fog was so thick that we could not photograph as it eventually rose and enveloped our position! I crossed my fingers and toes that it would not happen on this night and fortunately it didn’t.

Fog is perhaps the most elusive weather phenomenon to predict because of all the variables involved in creating the mist. My hope was that as the air above the mist cooled, it would sink and in turn, push the marine layer down a bit. I’m not exactly sure if that is what happened, but as the sun set, the San Francisco skyline did begin to emerge from the soup! I captured my tight shot 30 minutes past posted sunset. The reddish color of the fog was a result of the warmer color temperature of the building lights and perhaps the remaining color from the sunset reflecting (I’m not exactly sure). Nonetheless, I felt it worked well against to cooler-colored fog along the top of the frame.

As we drove away (smiles abounding) someone questioned if we would ever return? I would have to say yes as no scene ever looks the same twice. But for now, I’m very satisfied with my new creation. I’m also pleased that I stayed persistent!

Would Love to Hear Your Thoughts!

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2 Comments on “When Persistence Finally Pays Off!

  1. Fantastic shot with the glowing clouds and the city at the bottom. The colors are really nice. It’s hard to get something as nice as Galen Rowell had done but you’ve done it here. Nice work!

  2. San Francisco has to be one of the most photogenic cities in the world. It’s where I learned to play with my first SLR. Great job of capturing a unique view of it. And, yes, fog does tend to keep life interesting… 😉