We meet above
the fog.
On the summer mornings the fog sits under the towers, Ezra Calloway takes five people up the Marin side to watch them come out of it. The rest of the year, the city under it.
Fogline · San Francisco · since 2017
The fog has a top. Most summer mornings it’s far over your head. A few mornings a month it sits under 746 feet, and the towers stand out of it.
- 746ftThe towers above the water
- 220ftThe deck, inside the fog most July mornings
- 5People in the van, one photographer
- 8pmThe fog call, the night before
The fog call
Where the fog will sit tomorrow
Every night at 8 pm I text everyone booked what the fog will do at sunrise, and which walk we’re doing. Here is one week of calls in June. Pick a night.
Sat Jun 12 · sunrise 5:47 am PDT
Towers out
Above-the-fog sunrise runs. Meet 5:05 am PDT at Battery Spencer, layers on.
Walks
Four walks, four altitudes
Five people at most on every walk. Tripods, lens cloths and coffee are on me; you bring a camera or a phone and a warm layer.
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Above it500–900 ft
June to August · weekends, plus called mornings
Above the fog, at sunrise
Battery Spencer on the Marin side with the north tower close enough to count the rivets, then the hill above it for the whole sea of fog and the city’s tallest towers poking through. Only on mornings the fog sits under the towers; I make the call at 8 pm.
$1453½ hours · van from Union SquareBook
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Inside it0–500 ft
Any foggy morning · Thursday to Sunday, 7:30 am
Into the fog
Lands End and its cypresses, then Fort Point right under the bridge’s south end. Fog is a giant softbox: no shadows, layers fading into white, the foghorns going. Some of my favorite frames are made on mornings people call ruined.
$1102 hours · meet at the Lands End LookoutBook
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Under itThe city
Every day · 10 am, all year
Under the fog: the city walk
The Painted Ladies across Alamo Square, then Russian Hill: Hyde Street dropping to the bay with a cable car coming up it, and the crooked block of Lombard. We ride the cable car up the steepest hill. I drove one for nine years.
$952½ hours · meet at Alamo SquareBook
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After it922 ft
September and October · Fridays and Saturdays
After the fog: Twin Peaks blue hour
When the fog season ends, the city has its clearest weeks. We stand on Twin Peaks as the lights come on: Market Street a river of light, downtown, the Bay Bridge. Long exposures, then home for dinner.
$952 hours from sunset · meet at the summit lotBook
Private morning · $480 Any of the four, or all of them in one long day, for one to four people. Your list, your pace.Ask for a date
One morning · Sat Jun 12 · Pacific time
From the tower tops to the beach, through the fog
Four and a half hours, from above the fog to under it. Scroll down through it with us.
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5:05am
Above the fog
Battery Spencer
The van left Union Square at 4:35 and crossed the bridge inside the fog, wipers on. On Conzelman Road we climb out of it and the stars come back. Tripods along the old battery wall.
Tripods up
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5:16am
Above the fog
Civil dawn
The fog is blue and moving like a river under the deck. Long frames now, two to eight seconds, so it turns to silk.
f/11 · 4s · ISO 100 · 24mm
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5:47am
Tower tops746 ft
Sunrise, top first
The sun touches the tower tops before anything else in the city. The orange goes almost red for a minute. I call the exposure out loud.
f/11 · 1/30 · ISO 100 · 35mm
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6:10am
Above the fog
The hill above
Up the road for the whole sea of fog: both towers, the city’s tallest buildings poking through, Mount Tam behind us. Long lenses come out.
f/8 · 1/250 · ISO 200 · 200mm
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6:50am
The deck, in it220 ft
Back across, inside it
We drive back over the deck, 220 feet above the water, and can’t see the towers we just photographed. Everyone goes quiet.
Windows down, foghorns
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7:15am
Sea level0 ft
Marshall’s Beach
Down the steep trail and under the ceiling. The bridge disappears into gray, the waves go to silk, the serpentine rocks shine.
f/16 · 1s · ISO 50 · 21mm
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8:20am
Under it
Crissy Field
Coffee, and three frames from every camera side by side on my laptop. Back at Union Square by 9.
Coffee, round two
Frames
Under, inside and above it
Thirteen summers of mornings. Every frame is captioned the way I log it: where, when, how high the fog sat, and the settings.
The photographer
Ezra Calloway
I grew up on 41st Avenue in the Outer Sunset, where July is gray and everyone is wearing a jacket in the photos. For nine years I was a gripman on the Powell–Hyde cable car, and every day I’d come over the crest of Hyde Street and the bay would be there, or it wouldn’t.
In July 2014 a friend drove me up Conzelman Road before an early shift. We came out of the fog at the top and the towers were standing in it, orange in the first sun, nothing else of the bridge at all. I made that frame on my phone. I’ve been back up there more than nine hundred mornings since, and I write the fog top down every time.
I started taking people in 2017. Five fit in the van, and five means I can get to every tripod before the light changes.
Ezra
From the log · July 2014
- Jul 111,600socked in
- Jul 121,100towers in
- Jul 13520towers out ●
- Jul 14700tips out
The ● is the morning it started.
Before you come
What to bring, and what to leave
- I only have a phone.
- Perfect. Half my guests shoot on one. I show you how to lock the exposure on the tower tops so the fog stays white instead of gray, and I lend a small phone tripod.
- Do I need a tripod?
- For the sunrise, yes, and I carry five in the van. Any camera you can put in manual is plenty; a zoom from about 24 to 200mm covers both the close tower and the long view.
- How cold is a summer sunrise?
- Colder than you think: about 52 to 56°F at Battery Spencer in July, with wind. A warm layer, a hat and long pants. Locals will see your shorts and smile.
- How much walking?
- The sunrise is a few minutes on a paved path, then a steep beach trail with steps at Marshall’s. Lands End is a mile and a half with stairs. The city walk is two miles of real hills; we ride up the worst one.
The kit
- Camera with manual mode, or a phoneyours
- A zoom, 24 to 200mmyours
- Tripod and phone tripodlent
- Lens cloths (the fog is wet)lent
- The van from Union Squaremine
- Coffee and hand warmersmine
- A warm layer and a hatyours
Too deep? If the fog is over the towers at 8 pm, we walk into it instead, or your morning moves free.
The fog log · 2014 to 2026
When the fog comes
Gray: mornings the fog covered the Gate, on average. Orange: the mornings it sat under the towers’ tops. The month lit is this month in San Francisco.
- June to AugustFog season. The valley heats up, pulls the ocean air through the Gate, and the sunrise walk runs every weekend.
- September and OctoberThe clearest, warmest weeks of the year. Twin Peaks at blue hour instead.
- November to AprilRain, then storm-washed air. The city walk runs every day; sunrises when a fog morning turns up.
Guests
In their words
★★★★★ 4.9 from 386 reviews
“We booked from Seoul a month out, terrified it would be clear. The call came at 8 pm, in his time and ours: towers out. At 5:47 the tops went red and nobody said a word.”
Ji-woo and MinSeoul · Above the fog
“I only had my phone. He showed me how to hold the exposure on the tower so the fog stays white. The Marshall’s Beach frame is printed in my hallway.”
Carmen D.Fresno · Above the fog
“I’ve shot the bridge for clients for ten years and never had it like this. He called the fog top within fifty feet the night before.”
Tomasz W.Chicago · Private morning
“Our Saturday was 1,400 feet deep. He texted at eight, moved us to Sunday free, and Sunday was the one. Also the cable car story is worth the price alone.”
The AdeyemisLondon · Above the fog
Prints
The morning, on a wall
Six frames from the log, printed in editions of 30, each signed with the date, the minute and the fog top. Guests on a walk get 15% off.
- 12 × 18 inArchival pigment print, signed$95
- 24 × 36 inSigned, edition of 30$260
- 30 × 45 inFramed in white oak, no mat$520
Twin Peaks · 922 ft · Oct 9 · 7:02 pm PDT · f/11 · 20s · ISO 100
Then September comes, the fog goes, and the whole city shows up.
Book a Twin Peaks blue hour · $95Where
The Golden Gate, both sides
The sunrise meets at Battery Spencer on the Marin side, or in the van from Union Square at 4:35 am. The other walks meet in the city.
- Above the fogBattery Spencer lot, Conzelman Road. Or the van from Union Square, 4:35 am.
- Into the fogThe Lands End Lookout, at the end of Point Lobos Avenue.
- Under the fogAlamo Square, at the top of the lawn across from the Painted Ladies.
- After the fogThe Twin Peaks summit lot, by the stone wall on the north side.
Questions
Before you book
Which time zone are the times in?
Pacific Time: PDT (UTC−7) through the summer and fall, PST (UTC−8) from Sunday, November 7, 2027. The fog call shows the meet time in your own time zone too, so you can book before you land.
When is fog season?
June to August is the heart of it, when the valley heat pulls the ocean air through the Gate most mornings. May and early September are the edges. September and October are the clearest, warmest months in the city, so I switch to blue hour on Twin Peaks.
How do you call the fog?
The 4 pm weather balloon from Oakland, the inland heat, the webcams, and thirteen summers of my own log. I text the call at 8 pm the night before. I get it right about four mornings in five.
What if the call is wrong?
If we get up there and the fog has risen over the towers, we go down into it instead (it’s beautiful in there) and your next sunrise is half price. If you’d rather, the whole morning moves free.
Can I book from abroad?
Yes, most of my guests do. $45 holds your spot; the rest is paid on the morning by card. Book your first morning for your second day in town, jet lag gets you up anyway.
Can kids come?
From ten years old with a parent on the same booking. The 4:35 pickup is the hard part, not the walking.
Book
Hold your morning
Pick a walk, a date and how many of you are coming. $45 holds each spot, and the fog call comes by text at 8 pm the night before.
Above the fog $145 · Into the fog $110 · The city walk $95 · Twin Peaks $95 · Private morning $480. All times Pacific.
Next fog callFri Jun 11 · 8:00 pm PDT
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