I've been wanting to get foggy photos of the Golden Gate Bridge (GGB) for a while now. I've seen some amazing photos of the bridge by several local photographer's (like Chris Honeysett, JaveFoto, etc) and I've wanted to get out there and try to re-create and capture my own. Despite coming down with a cold this week I woke up at 4:15am and headed up to Hawk Hill with Willie. When we arrived the gate was completely clear -- no fog at all! As we pulled into the parking lot a cop was sitting at the entrance and turned his light on when we pulled in but didn't say anything. Finally as we started unpacking our camera gear he turned his spotlight on us and I went over to find out that he wouldn't let us park/walk up Hawk Hill (which was closed until sunrise).
Fortunately the road up Hawk Hill opened before sunset and we got up there in plenty of time to walk up the hill before sunset. Unfortunately, as we started walking we noticed that the bridge was becoming completely covered in fog! Our hopes at low fog, below the bridge, was completely dashed. We walked up anyways, setup up our cameras, and hoped that there would be a part in the fog to give us something to photography.
Fortunately the fog had some gaps in it and we were able to snap off a couple photos while the bridge went from being completely enveloped to completely clear. Yes, all this fog did go away as the sun started to come up. I threw on a 3-stop reverse ND Grad filter to bring out all the color in the sky.
At one point I went to put an extra 2-stop ND grad into my Lee Filter holder but it slipped threw the holder and fell on the other side of the fence and down the slope! It stopped before rolling all the way down and I risked jumping over the fence to get it. Unfortunately the fence was too tall for me to get back over and I had to walk all the way around to get back!
Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S
27mm, f/11, 30 seconds, ISO 200, Feisol Tripod
HiTech 3-stop ND Grad