Photographs of the City in the Bay

Spencer Aldworth Brown set out to photograph San Francisco’s waterlogged edges. Mr. Brown’s immersive photographs take the perspective of the water itself. Waves pull at the coastline, flow under the piers and erode the seawalls built in boom times a century ago.

Wearing a wetsuit and using a waterproof film camera, he shot at the water’s surface while floating the majority of the coastline from Hunter’s Point to Ocean Beach. There is uneasiness in the photos. For some, they evoke eerie visions of rising sea levels or tsunamis. For others it’s what lurks below that raises hairs. For Mr. Brown, it was the chance to explore a part of San Francisco seldom photographed that drew him into the bay.

Spencer Aldworth Brown is an award winning editorial photographer and has taught at Harvey Milk Photo Center since 2002. More of his work can be seen at https://www.spencerbrownphoto.com