My friend, Greg, started to talk about a group of photographers in Paris. Hmm, sounds interesting. So, on one weekend, we took a Caltrain to San Francisco, and took some street photos in Haight-Ashbury Street.
The
photo on right is my first shot on Market Street. A man was trying to cross
the street with a babycar full of flowers. It was not easy for him to cross.
That gave me a plenty of chance to take a nice photo. Not bad as a start.
We
took a bus to Haight-Ashbury. This is where 60's started. It still has
its own class of people. When we arrived their, police-officers suddenly
blocked the entire section of the street. People were anxious to know
what was going on. I heard there was a bomb threat. What a chance! Tried
to take some photos, but no success. I could not adjust the focus quickly
enough for the dynamic scene. That was disappointing. I need a camera
with auto-focus!
Anyway, we settled in a small Greek restaurant where we had a good view of the street. Took many photos. I took some photos. Then Greg tried. But... In my opinion, taking such touristy place is not good for street photographs. People came here to look for something. They were too aware of what's going on the surroundings. Every time we tried to shoot, they noticed about us. It did not look natural nor interesting.
After a while, we moved to a back street of the Haight Ashbury, and settled in a cafe. That was a good move. People on the street lived here. They were more relaxed (hence moves slower, easier to photo). Here's some of the interesting ones.
This
is the first time for me to play with black and white. These photos look
better in black and white, I think.
The photo on the right is my favorite among all of the SF street photo I took. Only if I took one second moment later (or the girl stepped about a few inches to the left), then the girl would have stand out against the bright pavement.
