Embarcadero Holiday Lighting – San Francisco, California

I’m back to covering San Francisco, which I visited with my family at the end of last December. Across from the Ferry Building is the impressive Embarcadero Center which was started in 1971 and fully realized in 1989. It’s a complex of five office towers, two hotels, and 125 stores and restaurants.

In reality, it looks like a bunch of modern office towers from afar, not having any of the history or charm of the older structures like the Ferry Building. However, during the holiday season, they feature special edge lighting on the buildings, which you can see here. It’s a simple effect but striking.

What I didn’t know is that there is an elaborate lighting ceremony every year, along with fireworks and festivities. I knew nothing of this until I did some research. As a tourist, I just saw the pretty lighting and made an image with my compact Canon G7X Mark II. The black and white was done in post processing, which added even more drama, which is always helpful for a photo of simple modernist geometric forms.