Lasers Light Up Sutro Tower

Sometimes, Summer is not summer. At least in San Francisco, when the fog rolls in, winds kick off, and you feel as if you are in the middle of the winter. And it feels a tad worse when you are near the city’s top, the iconic Sutro Tower. The tower — about 977 feet in length — is located in the Twin Peaks area. It stands on Mount Sutro. 

And that’s where I ended up this past weekend. Braving high winds and chilly temperatures, I was excited to watch a laser light show by Ben Davis and his arts non-profit, Illuminate. The installation is called “loveAbove,” and was created to celebrate the 50th birthday of Sutro Tower. Hundreds of others, including families, watched the laser display that felt uniquely San Francisco. 

Davis’ group had used 12 laser space cannons to send light beams down Market Street during Pride. They repurposed the same lasers at Sutro Tower, continuing Illuminate’s “Summer of Awe” Series. They plan to light up the Coit Tower next, though there is a lot of political drama around that installation. 

Chris Michael and I got to the Sutro Tower base to photograph the spectacle. I have never been this close to the Tower that has been part of the San Francisco Skyline as much as the Pyramid. As a communications nerd, I was delighted to see all those antennas — small, medium, and gigantic. The sheer scale of the tower, simply vanishing into the foggy night, was breathtaking. 

I am sure the lights would have looked magical on a clear night, but I love fog and how it changes everything. Of course, the downside is that the city folks couldn’t enjoy the show from their homes. You needed to be really close to the tower to appreciate the installation. 

The thick fog, almost as viscous as an In-n-Out vanilla shake, made the light show seem like a scene from X-Files. I felt like Mulder, about to be beamed into a nether world. When I reached the Tower’s bottom, I saw an opportunity to create colorful stars, like in a disco. All I was missing was Yung Singh spinning!

I tried to capture as many colors as possible. I focused on photographing individual colors because the fog made everything dreamy and otherworldly. In my mind, ideal photos would juxtapose the solidity of the tower and its purpose against the magical light of the giant lasers. The lasers were pretty big – a foot and a half long and about a foot wide. You could hear the lasers coming out. I can’t even imagine how much energy was being consumed by these giant beam-throwers. 

The last night’s adventure was a great opportunity for me to put the Leica SL2-s through its paces. It is a camera designed for lowlight photography and is supposed to produce clean, noiseless images even when using high ISO. It also has in-body stabilization and, as a result, can produce sharp images even at the slow shutter speeds we tend to encounter due to lack of light. I wasn’t disappointed— so many of the images were clean — the only noise is not noise but the fog. 

I have shared a few photos here, but the complete set is available on my photos-only website! 

July 10, San Francisco