fire escapes

I had a few hours to spend on my own while visiting San Francisco recently and I took the opportunity to stroll through Chinatown with one goal, to make images for my toughest client, me. I came across this scene as a little boy was feeding pigeons while his mother and grandfather hovered close by. I watched from across the street recording the action, intrigued by the family dynamics between the generations. It was their private moment together while the rest of the city went about it’s own business. Photographing amongst the buildings on a sunny day can be tricky where the range of tones between sunlight and shadow areas can be extreme. In this situation the contrast was reduced in Photoshop taking care not to “flatten” the scene, to lose color, detail and dimension. The goal was to find a “believable” balance.