San Francisco Bay Area

I have been exploring places to photograph around the San Francisco Bay Area in the summertime visiting Napa/St. Helena wineries, Grizzly Peak in Berkeley, Fioli Gardens in Woodside and looking out for fall colors in our neighborhood. To my surprise, there were places we have been ignoring in our area which turned out to be wonderful places to photograph. Next few pictures are focused in the Bay Area.

I was walking around in our neighborhood and noticed couple of patterns designed by Nature. The colored leaves on the ground and a cluster of dry grass is often ignored, but the camera sees it as a celebration of textures. Still life portrait of various varieties of tomatoes from our backyard and Pomegranate fruit.

​I went to Castello di Amorosa Winery in St. Helena during fall, 2022. Besides the excellent wine they serve, the vineyard sits in the middle of a castle which was built from scratch using imported stones from Italy. Beautiful fall colors in the winery, the composition projecting the lines of the vines and 1/3rd ratio. I like the fence in the foreground on two pictures which adds a grey tone to the foreground. There is a farm in the winery where they raise chickens, goats etc. The castle takes you to Tuscany.

​San Francisco Bay, Palace of Fine Arts & UC Berkeley - I was anticipating sunny weather, but it turned out be very foggy in the San Francisco Bay. Typical San Francisco summer weather. No blue hour shot on this day. Instead, my wife Saumya Parameswaran shot this great picture of the Presidio Golf Course in the fog. I really like the ghostly appearance of the trees, the winding road leading to somewhere and the surrounding green grass. Picture of the Bay Bridge with the Hornblower Yacht in the foreground. Campanile or Sather Tower - UC Berkeley - well known landmark which is visible from miles around the Bay. San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts building.

​I have been in search of Blue Hour during the summer and fall in the Bay Area. Some days were disappointing due to the thick layer of fog in the bay which is typical in the summer. The first picture was shot from the Grizzly Peak near the UC Berkely Mathematics research building. Bay Bridge with the Hornblower in the foreground. The next two pictures were shot from my neighborhood shopping plaza where they have an artificial lake and mini waterfalls.

​I was looking for fall colors in the bay area and the first 3 pictures were shot from my neighborhood. Who says we don't have beautiful fall colors in the Bay Area? We just have to look for it. I could have composed these pictures differently moving the camera closer to the tree trunks and even hiding the white paint section of the tree trunk at the same time keeping the beautiful sun burst on the side. The last two pictures were taken at the Fioli Garden in Woodside.