Morning in San Francisco

From time to time I will venture into the city for a morning of photography. My favorite time is early Sunday mornings. My favorite place is the Mission District. Both time and place offer an unusually quiet look to a normally busy and high energy place. Just before sunrise, the lighting is subdued as well as life on the streets except for a few homeless people, offering opportunities otherwise impossible to capture. 

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Pebble Beach

This series of images were influenced by a good friend and exceptional photographer, Marvin Wax. For years Marvin was my mentor who taught me to see, compose and understand light. He was a master of controlling and playing with light within his images. Marvin referred to it as a method of “push and pull”, pushing portions of the image to the back to deemphasize and pulling other areas to the front to emphasize the main focal point and create depth and balance. He created light where there was little or no light.

Forming symmetry with the inanimate rocks creates a look of animate creatures. You are never sure what the final image will look like until you take the photo, duplicate it, flip it, and join the two together.  But the true magic is creating a sense of light. Thank you, Marvin. 

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