Albion Castle: Cave Photo Shoot Under a Historic San Francisco Brewery
The Albion Castle is a fascinating and little known historic building in the Hunter's Point neighborhood of San Francisco. The castle was built in 1870 by John Burnell, who started a brewery using the underground aquifer as the water source. Two stone cisterns were dug to capture the water. This area is accessed via caves underneath the castle. You can read more about the castle's history on Atlas Obscura. In 2005 I got invited to a party at the Albion Castle. The building was amazing, and the underground caves seemed like a perfect location for a photo shoot. I came up with a concept about a mob couple who visit the caves, and the husband gets killed and dumped in the water. I arranged access to return to the castle, and then found two willing participants to play the couple. Thanks Rick and Excelsus!
The photos were taken with a Canon EOS 20D and 10-22mm lens. An off-camera 580EX was triggered with a Pocket Wizard. The flash was diffused but not gelled to create a warm against cool lighting scheme. I also used long exposures on some of the shots to blur Rick as he floated in the underground pool. And wow, that water was cold!
The biggest surprise in revisiting this shoot from 9 years ago is how much better the photos looked after updating the Process 2012 in Lightroom. Both the software and my post-processing skills have come a long way since 2005. I hope you enjoy the photos of this unique location. Below are a few outtakes:
