One year anniversary trip to San Francisco

Armanius

Bring Jack back!
Location
Houston, Texas
Name
Jack
The better half and I had the chance to celebrate year one back in San Francisco, the site of our destination wedding. We relaxed and had a blast with a professional photographer, who took "post wedding" photos for us. We didn't have an "engagement" photo session last year, because of budgetary choices. So we had the "post wedding" photoshoot instead one year later. That will be the subject of another thread for another day.

We took numerous photos with the Leica M9 + 50 Lux, Fuji XE1 + 18-55, 35/1.4, and 14/2.8, and Fuji XF1. But this set is from the XE1.

On the first night, we had dinner at the Pacific Catch, a seafood chain restaurant in NoCal. Pretty good for a chain. There were long lines everywhere, which provided a variety of photo subjects.

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Pacific Catch - long lines to get a table by Armanius, on Flickr

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Someone is in trouble! by Armanius, on Flickr

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Long lines continue to get a table by Armanius, on Flickr

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Pacific Catch - manager looking out to the crowd by Armanius, on Flickr

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Pacific Catch - we are finally in by Armanius, on Flickr

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Sticky ribs to go by Armanius, on Flickr

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Tacos by Armanius, on Flickr

10919222536_f2859ffc45_b.jpg

Asian food requires chopsticks by Armanius, on Flickr

More photos to follow ...
 
Thank you for the congratulations! Year one has been good! :)

The photos were JPG's processed in Lightroom. So there was additional noise reduction, sharpening and exposure adjustments done to the photos.

Welcome to the forum Air-Cooled! Make sure you drop by the introduction thread!
 
Congrats on the anniversary, and I like the idea of the post wedding shoot - good for you!

I've been wanting to do something like that with my wife sometime soon now that I know a lot more about photography (and I'm now friends with a few talented local pros I'd want to do a shoot for us).
 
Thanks Jay! The post wedding photo shoot was a blast. We dressed up and had the photo shoot around Union Square in the middle of the day. The photographer was simply awesome -- far better than our wedding photographer. The urban setting was really cool. We switched outfits midway through the photo shoot to a more "casual" look. We also took some photos around the Painted Ladies which overlook the SF downtown skyline. I'll post some photos after Christmas. Right now, the wife doesn't want me to share the photos!

Congrats on the anniversary, and I like the idea of the post wedding shoot - good for you!

I've been wanting to do something like that with my wife sometime soon now that I know a lot more about photography (and I'm now friends with a few talented local pros I'd want to do a shoot for us).
 
Spying on folks eating at PPQ. We had our rehearsal dinner at PPQ, but didn't get to enjoy the food at all, because we were too busy hosting everyone. We finally got to enjoy the food, and found out that the food is actually good!

Leica M9 + 50 Summilux (Sorry, one non-Fuji photo. The rest are all Fuji though!!!)

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PPQ is in the Richmond District, which has one of the several mini-Chinatowns in San Francisco. We strolled around a little bit, and I decided to try my hand with zone focusing with the XE1 + 14/2.8. The 14/2.8 is indeed a joy to zone focus with, successfully capturing subjects in motion, whereas the XE1's less than stellar AF would have not performed as well.

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As this kid was running by, the man on the background was yelling in Cantonese, "Just wait until I catch you. You are going to get a beating!" I assume he was kidding as he had a smile on his face, and so did the kid.

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I'm always amused to see photos of ogling eyes! But this was the first one I captured. And I wasn't even ogling. I titled this photo, "buttocks are better than ice cream."

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After returning to our rental house and taking an afternoon nap, we walked to the Wharf. We tell ourselves all the time that there really isn't much to do in the Wharf, but we find ourselves there every single time we visit San Francisco.

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San Francisco has got to be the metered parking capital of the world. Meters are everywhere. I suppose they've got to raise money to pay for the budget deficits. Houston is moving towards that path as my neighborhood is full of parking meters now.

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I noticed this lonely figure sitting by herself in front of this beautiful view. Hopefully, she was waiting for someone to come by and enjoy the sights and sounds with her.

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After eating dinner at the Wharf (at Boudin Bakery … again), we headed towards Ghirardelli for dessert. I saw this group of girls dressed a-like and walking hand in hand. Couldn't help but to snap a quick picture with the XE1, with AF this time around. Not too shabby.

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I had to meet my daily ice cream quota. So I grabbed myself a fudge brownie sundae. Yummy! Photo taken by the better half using a Fuji XF1 in EXR mode. And the red left eye … it wasn't the flash. I did have a red eye.

View attachment 159948

And finally, a photo of the happy couple taken by one of the Ghirardelli servers, also using the Fuji XF1. Thankfully, we had to walk a mile and half back to the house, and we got to burn up the calories (or some of them anyway)!

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The better half and I had the chance to celebrate year one back in San Francisco, the site of our destination wedding. We relaxed and had a blast with a professional photographer, who took "post wedding" photos for us. We didn't have an "engagement" photo session last year, because of budgetary choices. So we had the "post wedding" photoshoot instead one year later. That will be the subject of another thread for another day.

We took numerous photos with the Leica M9 + 50 Lux, Fuji XE1 + 18-55, 35/1.4, and 14/2.8, and Fuji XF1. But this set is from the XE1.

On the first night, we had dinner at the Pacific Catch, a seafood chain restaurant in NoCal. Pretty good for a chain. There were long lines everywhere, which provided a variety of photo subjects.

10919174925_61cc0ca67e_b.jpg

Pacific Catch - long lines to get a table by Armanius, on Flickr

10919227296_13112aa5b8_b.jpg

Someone is in trouble! by Armanius, on Flickr

10919305974_9a18521205_b.jpg

Long lines continue to get a table by Armanius, on Flickr

10919225466_52b57691fc_b.jpg

Pacific Catch - manager looking out to the crowd by Armanius, on Flickr

10919171805_144caff58f_b.jpg

Pacific Catch - we are finally in by Armanius, on Flickr

10919170955_3e9a861043_b.jpg

Sticky ribs to go by Armanius, on Flickr

10919223176_13266c2c79_b.jpg

Tacos by Armanius, on Flickr

10919222536_f2859ffc45_b.jpg

Asian food requires chopsticks by Armanius, on Flickr

More photos to follow ...

The wide angle distortion is very addictive. For me at least.
 
I'm still learning to use wide angle. I find it much easier to use 50mm. I don't think any of the photos (from Day 1) above were with the 14/2.8 though. They were probably all 35/1.4. Day 2 was mostly the 14/2.8.
 
Wow this was such a great idea for anniversary, love the pictures, looks like you had a great time there, your wife must be really happy :eek:

May I ask, which hotel you stayed at? I've been planning the trip to SF with my husband, right now we are in the process searching for good and cheap hotels at $69+ San Francisco Hotels: AAA, Senior, Military & Cheap Rates (California), looks like you had a well located one, would love to know which one it was :)

Hope you are having a great second year with your wife, and wish you many more beautiful anniversaries. :)

Jenny
 
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