A couple weeks ago my brother and I went up for a flight to get some aerial photos of downtown San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area during the shelter-in-place order. I saw some remarkable drone footage of all the empty SF streets that would typically be packed with cars, and was inspired to make my own rendition by taking some aerial photos. What started as a mission to capture these photos resulted in something completely different, as I managed to take some of the best air-to-air shots after a couple friends joined us in the air over the city.
Below is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, one of California’s premier beach destinations. Typically around this time of year, thousands pass through the site each day, however not a single soul was seen on the beach or boardwalk as we flew over.
After getting the shots over Santa Cruz, we headed north towards SF and met up with a couple friends on the way. From there, we flew formation for over an hour while I was snapping away getting pics from the right seat. I knew the shots looked pretty cool, but didn’t realize how good they looked until I pulled them up on Photoshop later that night.
After about an hour of formation flying, we all went our own ways and my brother and I went back to getting the shots of downtown SF. Here’s a few of my favorites.
These shots look like they are straight out of a marketing department. Especially that bridge shot with both aircraft in the foreground. Everyone’s inside for now but these photos took me out for a brief moment. Thanks for sharing, beautiful stuff!
Ya’ll are lucky you get to go out and see these princes! ❤️ I live right next to OEJN and I get to see Saudi Freighters all the time! It’s awesome! Too bad I pursued in microlense cameras. 😞
You must’ve enjoyed your flight very well. These pictures are just stunning! If I could only earn the PPL license one day and gather some friends together. This will be my plan. San Francisco is a beautiful place, a bit similar to Los Angles but with more Cable bridges.
