Looking southwest from the second floor of the Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39, you can see the office buildings and residences of San Francisco rising above on its hills.

Handheld, 1/200 sec at f/11 on ISO 100, 17-35mm f/2.8 lens

I think this is going to the the last photo in the Photo of the Week/Wednesday Photo series for a while. I'll be packing and moving and unpacking. I'll resume the series once I'm settled again.

This photograph was taken from the Parc 55 Hotel (about two blocks from Union Square). The lights were turned off in the room and the tripod with camera was setup between the blackout curtains and the windows of the room to minimize glare and reflections from the window glass.

Tripod, 10 sec at f/16 on ISO 100, 85mm f/1.8 lens

Here's another photograph from San Francisco. This one was taken from within my car parked on Bryant Street near where I worked. The photo was taken with the camera braced against my steering wheel and dash. It was the first photo that I took with my Nikon D200.

Supported, 1/2 sec at f/3.5 on ISO 100, 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

Since I'll be leaving the Bay Area exactly one month from today, I thought I should post another picture of San Francisco. Here's Coit Tower as seen from a rooftop in the south part of the North Beach neighborhood.

Handheld, 1/1000 sec at f/2.8 on ISO 200, 85mm f/1.8 lens

I have a lot of photos of the San Francisco Skyline but this is one of a few that I have taken from within the city capturing both the imposing Transamerica Building and the first span on the Bay Bridge. The shot was taken from a rooftop in just north of Chinatown.

Handheld, 1/1000 sec at f/4.2 on ISO 200, 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

This morning (at 3:42am), a tanker truck carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline hit a guard rail, rolled-over, and exploded. Somehow the driver crawled out and walked off the freeway and found a taxi fueling up at a nearby Arco gas station at around 4:30am. The driver was taken to a hospital where he was treated for second degree burns. Meanwhile, the big news was unfolding - the gas tank that had exploded was still burning and temperatures had risen beyond 1,000°F, and at points going beyond 2,700°F. The truck happened to be positioned on what is called "The Maze" - a series of overpasses that interconnect the Bay Bridge into San Francisco (I-80), with I-880 and I-580 - and was burning on southbound 880 directly underneath the westbound 80 to 580 overpass. The heat was high enough to soften the giant steel screws holding the 580 in place above the 880 causing them to buckle and releasing a large section of the freeway to fall down onto the lower layer. The burning inferno continued and was able to melt some of the steel. The amazing thing is, no one was killed in this amazing disaster - which is incredible since this interchange is the busiest section of freeway in the San Francisco Bay Area. So far, the only injury related to the accident was the driver. (He has second degree burns on his hands, face, and neck, but is expected to live.)
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Collapsing Freeways