Ivan Makarov Blog

I’ve waited for the right conditions to take this shot ever since I moved to the Bay Area almost four years ago. The wait is finally over.

The structure on the left is the 170-foot tall Oakland Temple. It is one of the more recognized landmarks in the San Francisco East Bay. It is located on the hill not far from the Oakland Zoo, and is lit up at night, which makes it easy to notice, especially when one lands in Oakland Airport. The temple was built in the 1960s by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as LDS Church, or Mormon Church). Oakland Temple became the second temple of the Church in California.

Photographing LDS temples is a project I’ve been doing for years. With that said, I never had the shot of the temple that’s closest to me that I particularly liked. The weather in Oakland tends to be just as boring as in San Jose, with just a few storms a year. I also live an hour away from Oakland, so even if the conditions are right, I often can’t make it there on time.

But one Saturday in November I noticed that the storm were going to clear over San Francisco and Oakland right at sunset, and I quickly made my way there. There’s a spot on a hill right above the temple that overlooks not only the temple grounds, but also Oakland, the Bay and San Francisco itself.

As I was standing there watching the light change, for just a couple of minutes the sun dipped below the cloud layer and eliminated the Bay with amazing red light. I have never seen the Bay in these colors before or since then.

Either way, this spot is one of the best ones to see SF Bay.