Recap

Ghostly Golden Hour: A Walk with Camera West through North Beach

Story by Maggie Dougherty 2 min read October 2026

Date: October 3, 2026
Venue: 120 Maiden Lane
San Francisco

The Friday before Halloween, as the sun began to hang low in the sky, a group of camera enthusiasts gathered with us at 120 Maiden Lane. With the air beginning to crisp and costumes rustling, we took a few moments to introduce the creative prompts for the evening, offering attendees two different ways to approach the walk.

The first was to build a story in three images: setting the tone, creating an interruption, and establishing a final scene of what remains. The second invited four observations: something hidden, an unsettling shadow, a face without a face, and something that simply felt haunted. With these ideas in mind, we departed from the storefront and made our way toward North Beach.

Our plan was to haunt the streets of the neighborhood, looking for interesting characters, fleeting encounters, and moments that might otherwise go unnoticed. We moved through the Stockton Tunnel, emerging from its darkness into the liveliness of a Friday evening in North Beach. With around 25 photographers in tow, the group spread throughout the neighborhood, capturing everything from the activity of the local markets to distant, city-framed views of the Bay Bridge, eventually making our way to Washington Square Park.

Here are a selection of images from our attendees, each offering a different interpretation of the evening’s prompts and the scenes unfolding around them.

After finding our own small symphonies of humanity in the park, the group began to split off. Some headed out to enjoy dinner in the heart of North Beach, while a smaller group made the return journey with me. We passed Vesuvio, continued toward the Transamerica Building, and cut through the Financial District before arriving back at the storefront.

Along the way, our conversations continued, touching on everything from photographic equipment to the creative processes behind the images we make. It was a fitting end to an evening spent looking a little closer at the familiar streets around us, and finding something unexpected in the process.