San Francisco a great place to do your next shoot

Dear Reader

San Francisco is probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world, especially as a location. In 2010 I had the privilege of working on a number of photo shoots, commercials and a feature film in the Bay area. What I discovered, there are so many places in San Francisco and also around the Bay area for doing a shoot. Twin Peaks for instance, the second highest point in San Francisco; has probably the best view of the city. One can see the Golden Gate Bridge from the west, a view that is uncanny from this angle. To the east, one can see the Financial District, the Oakland Bay Bridge, China Town, Pier 39 and more. The view of the bay from this angle is spectac

ular; it is almost like one is in a helicopter. From the perspective of someone who drives a large vehicle for a living, motor homes, access to Twin Peaks is easy; just take Market Street west, Market Street turns into Portola Drive, and make a right at­­­­­­­­ Twin Peaks Blvd., in a few minutes you will have access to one of the best views of San Francisco.

Baker Beach has one of the best views of the Golden Gate Bridge looking to the east. If one continues to walk east along the beach, one would see a bridge that appears to emerge out of a fog bank. In late afternoon on a sunny day, the sun covers the Golden Gate Bridge in an orange hue. This is probably one of the most popular locations to do a shoot because of how it highlights one of best-known bridges in California. Parking for large and small crews is not an issue; there is a large lot and a sub-lot. Baker Beach is just west of the Presidio and thirty minutes from most of San Francisco Hotels.

Fort Point has one of the best views of the Golden Gate Bridge looking west. There is a bluff that allows a great shot of the bay and the GG Bridge. If one is lucky, they can get a great shot of the bridge with low-lying fog. Big plus, there is a dirt lot with lots of parking, however this lots fills up quickly and one needs to get permission to use this lot for staging and crew parking. Shooting on the Golden Gate Bridge is no easy task, especially if you plan to block lanes. Though it is not impossible, the City of San Francisco can be a little testy about their little bridge, do not take no for answer, it will just take some time to get clearance. If you want easy access to a similar bridge, the Fremont Bridge in Portland, Oregon; was the prototype for the Golden Gate Bridge, it crosses the Columbia River. This was the Plan B if our Producers were not able to have access to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Fremont Bridge does not exactly look like the GG Bridge, but from the right angle it can pass.

If you cross the Golden Gate Bridge to the north, there is scenic point on the right; that has a view of San Francisco and the GG Bridge. A number of tour buses stop here and for good reason, below ships enter and exit the bay, Alcatraz Island, formally known as the “Rock” is located to the east. San Francisco emerges from a fog bank in an array of hues; the city is bustling with activity, even at night. At night San Francisco glows like the neon lights in Las Vegas.

San Francisco has a bad rap in terms of the cost to film at this city; this was true in the past. Because of the economy, SF needs the revenue that Hollywood brings and they are willing to work with producers. There is an abundance of qualified crew, support equipment, generators, grip and lighting rentals. Tim Ramaham (510-268-3500) rents grip equipment, tables, chairs, steamers, etc.… Tim is also a good contact source for other equipment needs. The Reel Directory (Lynetta Freeman 415-531-9760); is the best source for obtaining crew list, venders, location needs, etc.… Motor homes and portable restrooms I recommend my company Mike Green RVs 415-730-7127, I know the Bay area and I know how to give my clients that personal service they crave.

For still shoots, San Francisco is a very friendly place to shoot; SFPD are nice to crews in terms of blocking traffic, safety and parking needs. With that said, San Francisco is a crazy place for parking; from experience, make sure you secure parking in advance. Most of streets have limited times for parking and some of those streets are very narrow. With planning San Francisco is a great place for your next shoot.

Seattle Locations

California Coast/Klamath Falls

Seattle & San Francisco Locations

Various Locations on the West Coast

Road trip to Chalan, Washington (Part I)

Dear Reader

This year I have gone up and down the I-5 corridor from Los Angeles to the Northwest numerous times. Every trip is filled with challenges, there is always construction projects going on, weather issues and crazy drivers. On this trip weather was not going to be a problem, the problem was going to be boredom. I convinced my wonderful wife to join me on this trip, at first she was reluctant, she finally agreed. At 7:30 in the evening I merged onto I-5 from Sun Valley. The traffic was moderate, most of the heavy traffic had subsided, I looked at Lecia for a second, she smiled, and I knew this was going to be a fun trip.

The wonderful thing about traveling in a motor home is the view of the scenery and the comfort of the ride. The “Ambassador” has eight air-bags and eight shocks, the ride is smooth almost “Lexus” like, except the RV is a lot larger than the average size car or truck and I have almost as much horse power a big rig. My windshield is eight feet wide and six feet tall; in my journeys I have numerous collisions with birds of almost every size, insects and rocks. In fact since I have owned this motor home I have had to replace this $3,000 windshield at least once or twice a year. Until this trip I had gone ten months without a crack windshield, unfortunately a rogue rock cracked my windshield just outside of Olympia, Washington, my windshield person is going to love me.

As the last glimpse of sunlight disappeared, I was snacking down the grapevine, the exhaust brake kicked in, keeping me at a steady 55 miles per hour. To all you non-truck driver types, the “Exhaust Brake” or the “Jake Brake” uses compression from the exhaust to slow down; this allows the driver from using the air brakes on long grades. Only diesel vehicles are such equipped with this brake system. Most commercial drivers use a combination of down shifting to a lower gear, Jake braking and air brakes to keep their rigs at a constant speed and thus avoid excessive braking. Lecia was mesmerized by the view from the San Joaquin Valley; after the Grape Vine, I-5 becomes a lonely highway except for the occasional rest stops and fuel stops. My goal for tonight was to travel at least a couple of hundred miles before I called it a day. Lecia bought me up to speed with her life; I listened intently I was her captive audience. It felt nice to be next to her, I wanted to share a part of my life that unfortunately because of her 9 to 5 job, she could not travel with me on my many adventures. Finally, even Lecia’s best story could not keep me awake, I pulled into a Motel 6 in Coalinga, parked the RV for the night and proceeded to get some serious sleep.

After a big breakfast at Denny’s I was on the road again, this time, the longest leg of my journey, roughly 700 miles to Portland. Lecia was still tired, she enjoyed a comfortable sleep in the bedroom of the motor home; try that in Mercedes or any other luxury car. When we got north of Redding, California the terrain became more scenic, with Shasta Lake, then Mt. Shasta and finally Yreka, the large windshield offered an incredible view, and Lecia was beside herself and me. The weather was perfect, cool and cloudless, we stopped in Weed, California and had lunch at the TA. By nightfall we were just north Coburg, Oregon, I was starting to get tired, I decided to pull over at a rest stop and make some coffee.

It was great having Lecia with me; I had a chance to share a lot of stories about my travels up and down the I-5 corridor and other things. I think we both learned a lot about each other on this trip and I did not need my XM radio to keep me company. By eleven in the evening the rain was steady, this was a good thing, I did not need to stop at Jubitz and get an RV wash. At 11:45 PM I pulled into my favorite RV Park in Portland, Jantzen Beach RV Resorts. I hooked up the power, and the plumbing, it was time for a good sleep.

The next morning we pulled out of the park and headed for Seattle, a three and half hour drive. We decided to pull into my favorite casino in Tacoma, the Swinomish Casino and had a nice hearty lunch of pork ribs, baked beans, fries and a coke. Yes, I know this is not the healthiest food, but darn it taste so good. The slot machines beckoned “us”, I usually play the nickel machines, and Lecia liked the old fashion quarter slots with the triple sevens. Today I would be the winner, I doubled my five-dollar investment in thirty minutes, I felt good, and Lecia was not so lucky; she lost her forty-dollar investment, it was time to leave.

I had a pick up to make at SeaTac, the photographer wanted to load some equipment into my RV and I needed to drop off Lecia at the airport for her return trip to LA. I decided to make a side trip to Seattle first; Lecia had never seen Seattle and the surrounding area. I exited at Mercer Street, and showed her the EMP, the Space Needle and downtown Seattle. I merged onto I-5 north, then took the 520 east to the I-405 south, snaking our way to SeaTac. We did a lot of talking, if Lecia had been able to take off for a week, she would have been able to stay with me for the rest of the trip. This job came at the last second, which is typical for me; usually I have a few minutes to make up my mind if I want to do a job.

At last, Dean the photographer showed up, we loaded the equipment in the RV and then I reluctantly drove to SeaTac airport to drop off Lecia at the airport. I was a little sad; I gave Lecia a long kiss and a bear hug. I drove to my favorite RV Park in Bellevue, Washington about fifteen minutes east of Seattle for the night.

To be continued…