Hi David, I live and work/shoot in Sunny San Jose. Most of the coastal areas are fogged in for most of this time of the year. It has been cooler than expected for this season, and the normal marine layer moves off around 10 am most days. But this year specifically the last few months the clouds have stayed through the day. I go up into the Santa Cruz mountains four or five times a month and have only seen a few days that were cloud free. The place I go to is at 2580 ft elevation and looks directly out over Santa Cruz, Hiway 1 and about 20 miles north or south (on a clear day). If you looking to do coastal stuff there are dozens of places along Hiway 1 from Watsonville north to San Francisco. The problem is always - fog - . In the "city" (what the locals call SF, we never say Frisco) I like china town after dark. The Haight can be interesting, as can the painted ladies, Chrissy field, Golden Gate park etc. Another fav of mine is the Presideo area and the areas in under and around GG bridge on both sides. Another particular interest of mine is the archetecture <sp> in and around the city. Many of the mansions are over 100 years old and even some of the building are as well. I just love the colors of the houses in little Italy or around the Chrissy field or Yacht harbor areas. If you have really good weather try the Marin headlands on the other side of the bridge shooting back toward the city. If you keep going up that drive to the headlands it comes down onto the only black sand beach in the area. I have shot boatloads of fashion there, it's cheaper than going to Hawaii. The Embarcadero, Fisherman's wharf, trollies, are all the normal touristy stuff. Heading south, the El Camino Real stretches from Canada to Mexico City. But the local stretch goes from SF into Santa Clara. Time of day, and year are another critical subject some things aren't lit real well until later in the year. Too bad you don't have a little more time the Elk are starting Rut soon in the North Coast areas of CA. Places like Oreck, etc. Get a really good map of the entire bay area, I always use the Thomas Guides. Gas prices are pretty steady at 2.20 per gallon avg. Try not to go into or out of the city or any major freeway during the 7-9 am or 2-6pm or you will just sit in traffic.. If you want e-me back direct and maybe we can hook up, for more specific stuff. Les Baldwin fotofx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > It really depends on what you want to photograph. There's a lot of > different places to go, but recommending any without some idea of what you > are looking for is very difficult. >
