San Francisco is renowned for Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge however no trip to San Francisco should be complete until you visit some of the more famous murals in the Mission District.
A good place to launch your walking tour is 24th Street and Mission. If you are unfamiliar with the area, you might want to pick up a mural map at Precita Eyes. Just before the store is an alley with some really unique and cool murals. Some of the murals are done just because they are fun to look at while others tell a story.
Murals aren’t graffiti but true works of art done by artists with a vision to tell a story. Marine Life Artist Wyland has been doing murals for well over a decade and walking through the first alley with all of the work done by local creative geniuses was a real treat. While it is very easy to see the big picture, there appeared to be a lot of thought and vision going in to the smallest of detail.
Envision a two car garage door and include the framing around it. It takes a lot of planning not to mention the imagination of the artist to make it come alive and tell a story. This type of project doesn’t happen overnight but sometimes months, as the work maybe very detailed or the artist has to work off the ground.
While walking around, it was obvious that many photographers frequent many of the mural locations. The photo of the two hands is a very small portion of the larger mural, "El Inmigrante" by mural artist Joel Bergner.
The area surrounding many of the works of art are sometimes tight, as you will find yourself in an alley or a busy street. A recommendation would be to take a really wide angle lens. Something around a 14mm might do the trick as a 14mm-40mm zoom could also come in handy. If you don’t have something as wide as a 14, then shoot several photos then stitch them together using some type of graphic design program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.
There are so many murals that it might take you more than one outing, so enjoy yourself.
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Photo: ©Sandy Moniz 2010
Story: ©Sandy Moniz 2010
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