Everyone wants photos of the Grand Staircase at San Francisco City Hall. It is the central theme in this amazing building and so consequently every bride and groom wants their photo taken there. The Grand Staircase has so much interesting history and amazing beauty, it’s no wonder that our newlyweds want a picture while standing on it. Obviously this presents a massive problem….. Not only do all 28 couples who get married at city hall on a daily basis want there photo on the Grand Staircase, but the tourists love to hang out on the stairs and take their own photos. It can be a huge challenge to get a nice image with the Staircase not completely covered by other people. Friday is a popular tourist day and so that adds even more people to the staircase. So how do we as San Francisco city hall wedding photographers, handle this problem? Continue reading to find out! If you’re interested in learning more about our city hall photography click the highlighted link.
Christmas at SF City Hall on the Grand Staircase
Timing is Everything at City Hall
We have quite a few different techniques for getting the all important Grand Staircase wedding photo. Our most effective way of handling this is to just keep our eyes on the staircase as we take our brides and grooms around the building. If we suddenly see the staircase clear of people, we change our pattern and head straight down to it as soon as we can. Many times when we do this, the staircase is already loaded with people again by the time we get there. Mostly, though this technique works great, but requires a little patience. We have discovered over the years that people tend to walk around city hall in large groups so when one group descends on the Grand Staircase another smaller group may go in a different direction. The idea is to be ready when the small group is nearby and the large group has left. You can see from our photos that we are quite successful getting this shot at our various weddings. Admittedly, some of the photos have been Photoshopped to remove one or two straggling tourists! The other thing we have to admit is that it times, we just have to wait our turn to get the Staircase shot.
Late night Staircase Image
Some History About the Grand Staircase at SF City Hall
The actual steps of the grand staircase were named after Charlotte Schultz to commemorate her active participation in hosting celebrations for foreign dignitaries at San Francisco City Hall. There are 45 steps in all and they were made out of pink marble. In the 1960s there was a protest march that occurred right on the Grand Staircase. The police department ordered fire hoses to be used to spray the protesters off of the stairs. There was damage caused to the Staircase that took a while to fix and so that part of San Francisco city hall had to be shut down temporarily. If you look straight down at the grand staircase the patterned floor is meant to mirror the Dome of City Hall which is directly above.
The Light Changes Throughout the Day on The Grand Staircase
The image above was taken at a time which also illustrates the importance of timing at city hall. We set this image up at around 5:30 pm and it was our final shot of the day. As you can see, late evening lighting give a completely different look and add a certain amount of drama. Photos taken at mid day can create unattractive overhead lighting on the subjects which includes what we call “Raccoon Eyes”. Basically dark circles where your eyes are, making them difficult to see. We always use professional lighting on the Staircase at this time of the day to eliminate that look. Saving the Staircase photo until later in the day will give you the added benefit of less people in the building and thus less crowds on the stairs. The other technique for getting the Grand Staircase shot is doing it very late in the day after people leave. They stop doing weddings at 3:30 pm so things start to slow down at that point. In some cases, we might be able to schedule some of your wedding shoot later in the afternoon to help with this problem.
City Hall Staircase shot from above
I wanted to add the view above to this Blog post because it is not one you typically see at San Francisco city hall. Most wedding photographers shoot the staircase while facing it and for good reason. But I am always trying to come up with new ideas and I have not seen this angle too frequently. Never exactly like this. I love this view because it show the patterned floor really well but also lets you know that the Grand Staircase is there! In addition, it is technically pleasing since there are leading lines present in the photo and nice depth.
Other Portrait Photography and Quinceaneras
In addition to the wedding photography that occurs on a daily basis on the grand staircase, there is also other types of portrait photography. Many professional photographers bring models to City Hall and pose them in various places including the grand staircase. In addition to portrait photography we also have to compete with the quinceaneras that often take pictures there as part of their celebration. Since San Francisco City Hall is a public building, everyone who wants to use the grand staircase for photography has equal rights to be there. So once again it takes patience and good timing to get pictures on the staircase without other people in the way. This is all part of the challenge of wedding photography at this historic building. Just another reason to make sure you hire a professional wedding photographer with experience if you are getting married at San Francisco City Hall.