These photos were taken from the second horizontal cross member above the roadway on the Marin (North) Tower of the GGB facing South toward  San Francisco. There were no other photos taken from this vantage during the fire-fall. The San Francisco Chronicle reputedly paid 40K for photo rights (exclusive) to this Tower. Chron shooters were atop the Tower about 140 feet above me and got swell photos. They did not get any, however with the vertical cables so displayed with fireworks bursts beyond the stringers. I clamped my Pentax SLR to a catwalk railing and opened the shutter, holding my hat over the lens, darkening the exposure until a particularly good burst when I would remove the hat for an instant getting another layer to the picture. Time lapse photos taken this way during regular traffic times never came out good because of the constant and heavy vibration of the tower from passing trucks and cars. During the fire-fall, there was virtually no movement: nearly all traffic stopped! In the photo above, you can see the one or two vehicles moving during my various exposures.

           I shot seven photos, all of which miraculously came out. Here are three of the series: the best pictures of my brief, unschooled photo career.