Worked with photography buddy Craig Lee on a food photography workshop at Taboo Restaurant in downtown San Francisco.

Craig is the former photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Self-taught, he has developed a technique with a strong backlight and modest front fill light to show the texture and the color of the food. As the restaurant kept rolling out the food, Craig continued to shoot. Once he has placed the lights, he works simply and quickly.

Craig organized the shoot. He allowed me to photograph the meals as they came out of the kitchen. In addition to Craig’s Dynalite strobe, I used a Nikon camera and Nikon SB-900 fill flash to fill in the foreground.

Thank you Craig for making it all possible.

Cuisine from Taboo Restaurant, San Francisco including Mimosa to wash down a Chocolate Banana Nut Crepe

Big Roti sandwich including turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion
Texi-Mexi Fajitas including chicken breasts, red & green bell peppers, rice and beans. Served with chilled Sangria.

Restaurant customers enjoying exotic, gourmet Toscana Garden pizza and dark beer.

Three course meal from Taboo Restaurant, San Francisco. The main dish includes Texi-Mexi Fajitas, with chicken breasts, red and green bell peppers, grilled onion, and warm corn tortillas.

Craig Lee on assignment @ Taboo Restaurant, San Francisco. Craig uses Canon cameras, Dynalite strobes, and Pocket Wizard trigger device

Panorama of the World Series Parade from Civic Center Plaza

Estimated crowd of 1 million joyous San Francisco Giants fans gather in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza to celebrate the Giants victory over the Texas Rangers to win the 2010 World Series.  The parade went down Market Street and then ended at City Hall.

Balloons in the shape of Giants baseballs float above the crowd jamming Civic Center Plaza

Giants fan cheers on his boys with home made sign and T-shirt.

Line of San Francisco cops form a human barrier against the huge throng of Giants fans. By closing down the streets, moving in any direction was nearly impossible.

Giants fans on the edge of Civic Center Plaza go crazy and yell "Go Giants" as the motorcade of players rolls by.

Young woman cheers from the shoulders of her boyfriend as the motorcade of Giants players passes before her.

Dad carries his son on his shoulders while photographing the motorcade of passing Giants players.

Motorized cable car carrying SF Giants pitchers Tim Lincecum and Dan Runzler travels the parade route on its way to Civic Center Plaza.

Fans went crazy every time a player went by and waved to the crowd.

Two women ride friend's shoulders to snag a view of the Giants World Series Parade.

Young boys jump on newspaper boxes to look over the fence blocking view of the Giant's victory parade.

Many fans held up home-made posters including this lady who stated her sentiments exactly.

One Fan’s Notes:  Although I have attended many parades and public celebrations as a working photographer, I have NEVER seen or experienced anything like the San Francisco Giants World Series Parade.  The police and the press estimated that more than 1,000,000 people attended this event.  I do not dispute that number.  I do know, however, that the crush of people became overwhelming at times.  On four different times during the day, it became impossible to move either forward or backward.  The good mood of the crowd and the celebration for the Giant’s fantastic achievement saved the day.  I thought it was amazing that no horrible incident marred the day.

Much of the photography was difficult to shoot.  Making the panorama of 12 different shots was very challenging.  Although there is some distortion in the opening image at the top of the post, I was lucky that anything at all worked out.

National League Division Series (NLDS) between San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves.National League Division Series (NLDS) between San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves.  The Braves rallied for a 5-4 win in 11 innings Friday.  The Giants won the best of five game series in four games by beating Atlanta twice in Atlanta.

Heroic statue of Giants great center fielder Willie Mays at the entrance to AT&T Park in downtown San Francisco, California

The Giants played the Philadelphia Phillies in the second round of the playoffs for the right to represent the National League in the World Series.The crowd of more than 43,000 was the largest crowd in the 10 year history of AT&T Park.National League Division Series (NLDS) between San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves.

Part of the standing room only crowd of 43,000 people squeezing into the main entrance of AT&T in preparation for the first pitch of the National League Championship Series between the Giants and the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves rallied for a 5-4 win in 11 innings Friday to even the series at one game each.  The Giants won the best of five game series in four games by beating Atlanta twice in Atlanta.  The Giants play the Philadelphia Phillies in the next round of the playoffs for the right to represent the National League in the World Series.

Left field denizen Mickey O'Reilly cheers on her Giants from her season ticket position.

The crowd of more than 43,000 was the largest crowd in the 10 year history of AT&T Park.  The Giants went on to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series.  Then, the Giants defeated the American League champions, the Texas Rangers, in the World Series.

Part of the crowd in AT&T Park waving bright orange pompoms handed out by the Giants for the first playoff game.Father & son Charlie and Jack Thomas "nearly died" when Buster Posey grounds into a double play to end a rally in the botton of the 8th inning.

Father & son in center field cheer on the Giants in the 8th inning. They "almost died" when Buster Posey grounded into a double play to end the rally.

The "Orange Man" was completely covered in orange grease paint in honor of his boys. Even his backpack, his shoes, and his underwear were orange.

Giants fans dressed up in orange and black in honor of their team. Some uber-fans wore fake black beards in honor of Brian Wilson, the Giants closer, who grew a beard during the season and died in black to frighten opposing players.

Memorabilia from the playoff game including the NLDS program, a pompom, two tickets from the game, and the photographer's glove.

Tips and Tricks about these photos:

These photos were shot at night, under challenging conditions.  Because I wanted to get “the roar of the crowd,” I bought a Standing Room Only ticket and shot the photos among the Giants fans in the outfield. No special arrangements.  No press pass.  The crowd of 43,000+ was the largest ever to attend a game at AT&T Park.  At times the crush of people was enormous.  Still, people were in a great mood.  It was a fun shoot.

I used a fabulous Nikon D3s camera, a Nikon SB-900 strobe, and a Nikon SU-800 trigger for the photography.  ISO’s varied from 800 to 6400.  Camera RAW.  All images processed in Photoshop CS-5 on a Macintosh computer.  The camera and flash were adjusted to match the ambient light in the stadium and the stadium lights.