Behind the Cameras in San Francisco, USA

If you are expecting that I travelled to San Francisco to shoot a Hollywood movie after reading the title, then I’m sorry to disappoint you!

Have you ever had the moment when you took a picture of an amazing view but you missed all the action that happened because you were too focused on taking the picture? I did. And I decided not to anymore.

I was in San Francisco for two days and around seven of us decided to go out and explore the amazing city. The city is on the tip of the peninsula, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. It is not the city itself that is amazing, but it is the surroundings that make it memorable. After food
shopping, we decided to have lunch outdoors, like a picnic, to enjoy the beautiful sun. However, we all got scared of a tiny snake and ended it up eating in the trunk of the car, constantly scared of a snake attack. We took funny pictures hanging off the big winery commercial Napa Valley on a road. We visited the biggest winery and learnt a lot about wines.

We all decided to go up the hill and watch San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge during sunset. The time difference and the jet lag were slowly installing into our bodies and you could clearly see we all were getting tired. It got cooler as time passed and thanks to the fatigue, we felt colder than it actually was. When we finally got there, the view was absolutely stunning; it was all worth the effort. The ocean view in between the breath taking scenery of the rocks, combined with trees, was priceless. You could smell the freshness of the cold air and it filled our lungs with pleasure of fresh air. It was a blend of the smells from the ocean and trees. It took my body barely five minutes to engulf in the positivity the environment was offering.

While walking up the hill, I saw curious tourists wandering around and taking pictures of the view. I was happy that the people were enjoying this priceless moment, but what I noticed more were the few cameramen taking astounding pictures and filming not only the bridge itself, but the view of the woods and ocean. They were just waiting for the perfect moment.

I asked one of them how long they had been in that spot for. He told me a few hours. As someone with no experience in professional photography, I shockingly asked why that long? It’s just a picture after all! He then explained to me that they were waiting for the deer’s to come out of the woods so they can shoot them in the sunset. While he was talking to me, I saw two deer’s appear. They took the pictures of the moment, but I didn’t because I was just mesmerized by the view of the deer’s walking in the sunset.

Just few days ago, I went to a seminar of photography with the famous Bryan Peterson and I came to understand the passion and dedication behind the camera that few years ago meant nothing to me. We as the receivers of the photographs don’t see what goes on behind the camera. The photographer allows you to see only what he wants you to see, and it involves a lot of creative thought process, dedication and time.

However, I am not sad that I didn’t capture that moment in my camera myself. My aim was to enjoy the moment and to capture it with the strongest resolution there could possibly be: the eyes. A photograph is just a reminder of the place and a static memory. But the real action is what your eyes captured. Sometimes it is okay to not capture every moment with your phones or cameras when you have two built-in 576 megapixels cameras on your face!