San Francisco, July 4th, 2025 (in color)

I don’t shoot a lot of color these days, but when I decided to spend the day of July 4th in the streets of San Francisco with my camera, it seemed almost criminal to shoot in black and white. I had a few rolls of Kodak Gold 200 in the home lab refrigerator and figured it’d be the perfect opportunity to use them. So I grabbed the MP and spent the afternoon walking. 

From Chinatown through North Beach, down to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, over to the Ferry Building, back up through Chinatown, and then down to Union Square, I was looking for places where people were congregating—either tourists touring, or people preparing for the holiday’s festivities.

Initially I was shooting with the 50mm f/2 lens, but as the crowds grew and I found myself closer to subjects in tighter spaces, I switched to the 28mm f/2.8 for a wider view. So there’s a mix of focal lengths in the final images. Underdog Film Lab in West Oakland processed the film (because I don’t keep the chemicals for color processing in my own makeshift lab), and I scanned the negatives at home…