I fly in and out of KSFO about 3 times a year, sometime more if going to airshows across the USA.
Very often the evening sun provides an excellent opportunity to get aircraft during the so called ‘golden hour’, where the yellows and orange hues from the setting sun’s rays provide a great hue to images.
There’s also reasonable variety of aircraft types and colour schemes from both US and Foreign carriers that use KSFO and it was also a good opportunity to capture airlines like United who are in the midst of livery changes.
KSFO runways 28L and 28R thresholds extend into the San Francisco/Oakland Bay and so images are best captured across the water from an area on the main shoreline.
I positioned myself near the San Francisco Bayfront Marriott Hotel, where there is a small free public parking are called Bay Front Parking – don’t park in the hotel car park which is right next door – they have significant charges!!
There are a few seats along the shorefront – a nice place to sit and watch the arriving and departing flights although I was fortunate that runway 01R which is often used for departures was closed for long term maintenance, which meant more departures were using 28L/R.
