For five years, photography was a huge part of my identity. It was my default answer to the typical group ice breaker questions like “what’s your hobby?” and “share a fun fact about yourself.” Among my friends, I was the designated picture-taker. When I got a job as a photographer for my school’s student-run online news publication, that just made it all the more official - I was a photographer.
And I loved it! Capturing group memories, finding visuals to enhance a story or tell one gave my photography a purpose. It was a creative outlet - something that gave me a much-needed break from schoolwork and screen time. When working for The Beacon, I got to meet so many new people and attend events that I otherwise wouldn’t have.
But after graduating, my camera started to collect some dust. With the pandemic still going on, I wasn’t really traveling, wasn’t going out often, and didn’t have much reason to pick it up in the first place.
After a few months, I started to feel the lack of a creative pastime. So with the extra free time that comes from being out of school, I tried out other artistic avenues. One month, I did a 30-day drawing challenge, and the next I did a 30-day writing challenge. Both were fun and I’ll likely give them another shot in the future, but I missed doing something I knew I could do well.
So for the month of September, I decided to switch it up again and get back into photography. Every week, I went on a photo safari - I took a trip somewhere in San Francisco, wandered, and snapped some photos. This was an exercise I did with The Beacon to get used to urban photography and trying to capture moments of people and places that would tell a story (shoutout to the multimedia team).
My first trip was along the Great Highway. It had been a typical foggy day in the Outer Sunset. There were lots of people walking, running, biking, and rollerskating down the highway. And despite the overcast skies, there were still plenty of people enjoying the beach itself.
I also snapped pictures of the surprisingly colorful ice plants that cover the sand dunes. While the plants weren’t blooming, the reds and oranges of some of the succulent-like leaves caught my eyes, reminding me of gems or pieces of candy.
My next trip was to Golden Gate Park. The size of the park somehow always surprises me, probably because most of my trips have been to the golf course at the west end, or to the concourse where the museums and gardens are. I never really spent time walking around the middle. So that’s what I did.
I stumbled across some little gardens and picnic spots and lakes and ended up taking lots of pictures of plants and animals. Am I a nature photographer yet?
The week after that, I went to Chinatown. On my past trips to Chinatown with family, I remember mostly walking on the touristy streets with lots of trinket stores and wide streets for festivals. But this time, Grant Ave. was quiet, noticeably absent of the usual hustle and bustle. In comparison, Stockton Street, where more of the actual heart of San Francisco’s Chinese community beats, was a flurry of activity. The groceries, bakeries, and traditional herbal pharmacies were open for business and the sidewalks were packed with folks doing their daily shopping.
While I do like these photos, I do plan to go back and try to capture more of the people instead of just the buildings and the environment. A photo series of a place like Chinatown where the people make the neighborhood what it is just isn't complete without recognizing its residents and patrons.
On September 24, I went downtown to observe the climate strike that was happening in San Francisco as part of the Global Climate Strike movement. I attended my first climate strike in 2019 in Portland where the turnout was in the thousands. I took hundreds of photos that day and even won first place for one of my photographs. Needless to say, the Global Climate Strike has a special place in my heart.
The turnout for the San Francisco strike this year was pretty small. It was still cool to see the police escort, see the young activists assemble on Market Street and then march forward, moving around halted buses, shouting chants and holding signs. Seeing tourists and workers peering out of buildings and applauding the students was also really moving, and reminded me of the solidarity that exists out there for the climate movement.
My last trip was a trek up to the Diamond Heights area to get photos of the city skyline. While the view was excellent and I definitely got my steps in for the day, there wasn’t a huge variety in the subject of my photos. But I’m still happy with the final ones.
Getting “back into” photography was… hard. As with any creative endeavor, trying to force inspiration when it refuses is a futile pursuit and just results in frustration. Looking back on the shots from these safaris, there are some I like, but I know I could do better. After so many years of practicing a certain craft, I’ve set a certain arbitrary expectation for myself in the kinds and quality of photos I should be taking. I’ve honed my creative eye to look for certain things, and most of these photos lack it.
I feel like the photos I took don’t do my words or the trips I took justice. Obviously, that comes from a version of me that is actively being reflective and trying to write descriptively, and there’s no way photographer-me could have known what I was going to write weeks after the photos were taken. But that’s what I’m talking about, the things I could be improving on - I want my photos to be able to sum up a trip or an experience and showcase it visually, either completely or at the very least, in a complementary way.
I really enjoyed these trips and picking up my camera again. I loved getting to explore the city I call home and diving back into a years-old hobby that inspires me. I’ll probably be repeating some of these trips to capture what was missing the first time around but I’m also excited to find new spots in the city to explore.
