I spent a week in the summer of 2007 exploring and photographing the fascinating city of San Francisco and surrounding area. If you've viewed the previous articles of travel impressions I've posted on this site, you'll note that my photographic intentions are focused on interpretation, rather than description. I wanted to make more than just a record of the sights I saw along the way. I want my pictures to express my own feelings about them.

Aside from sharing these pictures with you on this website, I also am using many of them to teach the principles of expressive travel photography on my pbase website (http://www.pbase.com/pnd1) as well as in my Sedona workshops for corporate photojournalists, and in the tutorial workshops I give in Phoenix for newcomers to digital photography.

These 44 images were gleaned from the more than 2000 digital pictures I shot during this trip. To view them properly, it is essential that you click on the link beneath the image marked "View full-size image -- 1000 x 750" This will allow you to see the picture in all of its detail.

I used a ten megapixel Leica V-Lux-1 to make most of these images. It features an amazing 36mm-420mm Leica lens with image stabilization, allowing me to use its long telephoto in low light situations with remarkable clarity. Its flip-out LCD viewfinder allows easy use at low and high angles, making it the single most useful tool for travel photography that I've used to date. I also made some images with a Leica D-Lux 3, a pocket camera offering a 28mm wideangle view within a 16x9 frame, a shape similar to a high definition TV screen.

I've edited all of these images with Photoshop to correct and refine the hue, color, contrast and sharpness levels, hopefully making my pictures more vibrant and meaningful. Although all of these photographs were digitally enhanced to some degree, none of the content has been significantly manipulated. The facts are all here, as I captured them. I hope you will enjoy these photographic impressions. Please post any comments at the end of the article, or ask me any questions you might have via email. Phil Douglis Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops, Phoenix, Arizona, pnd1@cox.net