River Otters, west Marin County

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

So, at first glance one might think that this blog post is going to be about "barbed wire" or fences -- but no, this post is going to be all about that blurry background.   That blurry white strip is Tomales Bay -- gateway to my beloved Lagunitas Creek and happy hunting grounds of to a creature I've never spotted out here before -- the River Otter.

Oh by the way, CLICK to see an old shot with the background IN focus.
Location:   Wilson Hill on Marshall-to-Petaluma Road looking towards Inverness.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Okay, I'm going to tell you the story of two recent encounters with River Otters (((three individuals each time I spotted them -- it could have been the same individuals))).

So, you know me -- I'm the guy out there at the creek always focusing on colorful ripples and reflections in the morning (((hey, it's a tough job but SOMEONE has to do it)))...

Out of the corner of my left eye I sensed movement -- I diverted my attention from my camera's eyepiece to a spot in the creek about ten feet away.   Three heads sticking out of the water -- they were looking at me and I was looking at them -- I almost pee'd my pants!

I had ABSOLUTELY NO idea of what these creatures were -- it could have been the Loch Ness Monster as far as I was concerned...   But of course, just as soon as these creatures figured out who I was they made a very quick turn and vanished downstream.   Location:   100 yards upstream from the confluence of Devil's Creek.

They were too quick for me (((and I was too astonished))) for me to get a photo, although I did manage to get a few shots of the huge wake they made while making their turns.

So began the mystery of what these critters were.   At first I thought they might be Sea Otters, or even baby Sea Lions -- they had big bulbous noses and little tiny ears like a seal. What threw me off was their long pointed tail -- diamond shaped and thick at the root but tapered to a point.   All I could think about was Nessie, or maybe that three-headed dragon in that old King-Kong movie remake.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Okay, lets move on three days -- it's Tuesday and Don is out at Nicasio Reservoir spooking around the shoreline.   And there they are -- three more River Otters (((probably the same ones))) swimming around rather peacefully in a shallow corner of the reservoir -- diving here and there and generally looking like they were having a very pleasant morning.

They were about 75 yards away from me, not the 10 feet when I encountered them in the Lagunitas Creek.   They probably sensed my presence because they started to slowly move away, but I got a couple snaps.

So COOL -- I had seen them AGAIN...   I was feeling quite like the adventurous west Marin explorer -- I knew I had stumbled on a story here... Where's my typewriter?

I returned to my car and travelled down the road a few hundred yards, and stopped at another delightful spot -- a fore-bay of Nicasio Reservoir, and guess what -- there those same individuals (((or maybe three different individuals))) were navigating around in the fore-bay.   There is a large culvert that passes under the road from the reservoir to the fore-bay, so I'm assuming that the River Otters passed through that culvert and were checking out the fore-bay.

So -- isn't that a neat experience?   Seeing something rather rare.   Something that a lot of people don't get to see.   Lucky me...



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

life as we know it, at Rodeo Beach

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

You may recognize this general scene -- I can't seem to pass it up when I walk by.   Not very high marks in the poll, but thanks a lot anyway.   I'm really digging this audience participation with the voting -- the feedback helps me evaluate my work.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

To be honest, this image kind of has that "digital" look to it -- it might look more realistic had it been shot with film.   I could probably add some grain to it in Photoshop, but I kind of like it the way it is -- kind of plastic-like.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Some people come to Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands to rest, and some come to read a book.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Others catch -- ahemmm, miss -- Frisbies...



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

atmospherics on Mount Tamalpais

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Usually my photo expeditions are not planned -- often I haven't a clue where I will end up or if I will find anything worthwhile to shoot.   But in this case I pretty much knew what I was after -- streaming sunlight -- and with an abundance of wisps of fog on my beloved Mt. Tamalpais I pretty much knew I would find something rather spectacular.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This particular spot, less than a mile west of Fairfax has become one of my favorite places to stop and contemplate the beauty of "The Mountain".   That squarish bump on the very top is a fire lookout -- not staffed this time of year but in Summer some lucky guy or gal gets to live up there.

From that vantage point on a very clear day it is possible to see as far as the Sierras to the east, San Francisco and the Peninsula to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and a good chunk of northern California, including the Wine Country, to the north.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

early bird catches the worm

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Ah yes, nothing more beautiful than the San Francisco skyline at sunrise.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This pre-sunrise shot was taken from the Loch Lomond spit near San Rafael, looking across San Pablo Bay (the upper thumb of San Francisco Bay) towards the east-bay towns of Benecia and Pinole.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

The late afternoon sky, looking out at the Pacific, from a vantage point in the Marin Headlands.   Some of Mother Nature's finest brushwork, I think.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Okay, back to the San Francisco skyline.   This, from the Travis Marina area -- within spitting distance of the Golden Gate Bridge.


CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

here a duck, there a duck, everywhere a duck duck

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

All lined up and ready to start the new day.   Quack, quack, quack.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Early Thursday morning I had nothing better to do so I went spooking around San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf where I found this kindly quacker.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I was captivated by the artwork of this duck was inadvertently creating.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Way to go, duck...   After three or four unsuccessful dives the duck finally succeeded in catching breakfast.


CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

for short we just call her Mt. Tam

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

In between storms our beloved Mount Tamalpais (((for short we just call her Mt. Tam))) has risen to the occasion and has been putting on quite a display.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

They're pretty much skeletons of their former prickly glory, but here on Mt. Tam the last Star Thistle standing wins a prize.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

You may have noticed me referring to Tamalpa the other day.   According to legends Tamalpa is an Indian goddess and some believe her spirit has a strong presence.

Mt. Tam is apt to get a dusting of snow if our temperatures dip way down, but here she is wrapped snugly in a blanket of fog.


CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

fern studded and mossy

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I don't know about you, but I've never seen a mossier tree with this many ferns gowing on it.   And the best part of it is that this area of moss and fern studded trees is only a few miles from where Kitty and I live.

For you locals, this is Lagunitas Creek just below Alpine Dam.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

No, Kitty doesn't tag along on my adventures -- I'd lose her for sure.

But I DO tell her all about it when I get home.   She is my most severe critic -- usually she refuses to even glance at what I have on the monitor.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Kitty, the mighty Lagunitas Creek, and Yours Truly wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!


CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

a moody sun and clouds and water

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

From this vantage point on my beloved Mount Tamalpais the sea becomes a large canvas for the often impressive light show by sun and clouds.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This image has just a tiny bit of streaming sunlight coming through the base of the clouds but I wish it had been a bit more dramatic.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I suppose this shot could have also been a lot more dramatic with more streaming sunlight.   I am almost tempted to see if I can Photoshop some streams of light into the image, but I guess that would be cheating.   I'll just keep it on the understated side.

This (above) is East Marin Island (big) and West Marin Island (small) near San Rafael in San Pablo Bay (the upper thumb of San Francisco Bay).



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Sun, clouds and water -- all teaming up here, I think, for a rather moody shot.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

Cataract Creek and Falls on Mt. Tam

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

You may have noticed that I used Mount Tamalpais' nick-name, Mt. Tam, in the title.   Mt. Tam is what all the locals call it -- if you hear someone calling it Mount Tamalpais it's a pretty good bet they live elsewhere.

Tamalpais is named after an Indian goddess -- Tamalpa.   Some day I'll show you how the profile of Mt. Tam resembles "the sleeping lady", which many locals believe to be the spirit of the mountain.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

But okay, lets make sure we're pronouncing "Tamalpais" correctly -- it's "Tam - al - pie' - us".



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This is the lower end of the raging Cataract Creek and Falls -- on Tuesday I was up on Mt. Tam at Rock Springs; the source of Cataract Creek.

The creek picks up a lot of volume and power in the short mile or so before it flows into Alpine Dam.   Once the water makes it past the dam, and past another, it becomes my beloved Lagunitas Creek.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

on my way over the mountain

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

All year I've been looking at steep but dry canyons -- only being able to imagine the forces that scooped them out.   Finally the mystery is revealed...



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

My Ohio based buddy Jan Bell of BellImages.com sent an email yesterday saying that he liked this image and wished he was out here in the west shooting waterfalls too.

I am inclined to think that the waterfall (above) is skewed to the right -- I pulled the top left over quite a bit with the Photoshop Warp-tool, but to me it still seems as if the whole cascade is leaning towards the right.   I should probably go re-shoot the scene while the water is still flowing.

NEWS FLASH:   Oh by the way, Jan Bell has just won grand-prize in the Ansel Adams Gallery National Parks photo competition.   It's a highly prestigious award but I think it's well deserved -- Jan is an absolute master of his craft.   His winning image of an Agave reminds me of the famous Edward Weston's style.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

But yes, getting back to the theme here, I was on my way over the mountain and this is where I ended up -- the swollen and raging Webb Creek.   This is the Steep Ravine area of Mount Tamalpais, out by the coast a mile south of Stinson Beach.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

moody days and ominous clouds

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I can't remember getting so much rain in December -- usually we don't get the deluge until January.

With the rain has come impressive clouds -- but more clouds than blue sky.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Mother Nature was doing something transitory here.   Ten seconds later the cloud formation was gone.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This boater is on his way to murder just as many ducks as the law allows.

Having the name, roots, and spirit of a duck, I do not approve of hunters.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

That's the San Rafael-to-Richmond Bridge, and you may be able to see a bit of the Bay Bridge showing through underneath.   December weather in California has definitely been for the birds.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

"Unnamed Creek" -- revisited

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Well, once again I've switched to what I think is a better vertical shot instead of the horizontal example I showed as my banner image yesterday.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I shot these at what I call "Unnamed Creek" on Saturday during a brief intermission in our unusually rainy weather.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

A parade of water -- these spectators probably couldn't be happier.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

an emotional walk in the woods

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

On Friday I thought I would take advantage of a break in our storms to explore the Devil's Creek and Baranbe Mountain areas of west Marin County.
This tree seemed to be shedding a tear.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Okay -- time to start up Photoshop...   I suppose this wall of sword ferns would make a suitable background for some stylized subject with a lot of emotion -- oh you know, heady stuff like God, love, death, and taxes.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

It's a common event but the experience is always new to me.   My cat just rolls her eyes when I return home to report that I've just seen the light in the forest.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

on a Wednesday in December

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I used a similar horizontal shot yesterday as my banner image but I think this vertical orientation looks much better.

These (above) are the Calla Lilies at Rodeo Lagoon.   A curious plant indeed -- I thought this was a plant that arrived around Easter, but it seems to have no qualms with unrolling it's blooms this time of year.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Before I went Calla Lily hunting at Rodeo Lagoon I did a bit of spooking around for little waterfalls at Rock Springs on Mount Tamalpais.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Not to forget the Coyote I met along the way.   He seemed fat and happy.



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.

big names in San Francisco

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

E-gads, I've got to be the worst "street phototographer" -- if not in the whole world, then at least in the urban jungles of San Francisco.

Oh, I don't know what I was thinking -- I'm sure I may have gotten a better snap had I been spooking around natural beauty a bit closer to home.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Today Fifth and Mission isn't the nicest place in the City to stroll, but the Chronicle Building is certainly a part of San Francisco's history.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young, the paper grew along with San Francisco and was the largest circulation newspaper on the West Coast of the United States by 1880.

The newspaper grew in circulation to become the city's largest, overtaking the rival San Francisco Examiner. The demise of other San Francisco dailies through the late 1950s and early 1960s left the Examiner and the Chronicle to battle for circulation and readership superiority; the competition took a financial toll on both papers until the summer of 1965, when a merger of sorts created a Joint Operating Agreement under which the Chronicle became the city's sole morning daily while the Examiner changed to afternoon publication (which ultimately led to a declining readership). The two newspapers' editorial staffs combined to produce a joint Sunday edition, with the Examiner publishing the news sections and the Sunday magazine and the Chronicle responsible for features. From 1965 on the two papers shared a single classified-advertising operation. This arrangement stayed in place until the Hearst Corporation took full control of the Chronicle.   (source:   Wikipedia)



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

The de Young family controlled the paper, via the Chronicle Publishing Company, until July 27, 2000, when it was sold to Hearst Communications, Inc., which owned the Examiner. Following the sale, the Hearst Corporation transferred the Examiner to the Fang family, publisher of the San Francisco Independent and AsianWeek, along with a $66-million subsidy. Under the new owners, the Examiner became a free tabloid, leaving the Chronicle as the only daily broadsheet newspaper in San Francisco.
(source:   Wikipedia)



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

The "New" U.S. Mint stands guard over Safeway on upper Market Street, but this is the "Old" U.S. Mint within a stone throw of the Chronicle.

Within the first year of its operation, the San Francisco mint turned $4 million in gold bullion into coins. The second building, completed in 1874, was designed by Alfred B. Mullett in a conservative Greek Revival style with a sober Doric order. The building had a central pedimented portico flanked by projecting wings in an E-shape; it was built round a completely enclosed central courtyard that contained a well—the features that saved it during the fire of 1906, when the heat melted the plate glass windows and exploded sandstone and granite blocks with which it was faced.

The building sat on a concrete and granite foundation, designed to thwart tunneling into its vaults, which at the time of the 1906 fire held $300 million, fully a third of the United States' gold reserves. Heroic efforts by Superintendent of the Mint, Frank Leach, and his men preserved the building and the bullion that then backed the nation's currency. The mint resumed operation soon thereafter, continuing until 1937.

In 1961 the Old Mint, as it had become known, was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The given name of "The Granite Lady" is somewhat of a misnomer as most of the building is made from sandstone. While the base/basement of the building is made of granite, the entire external and upper stories are made of sandstone. The Granite Lady was a marketing term given in the 1970s that stuck.

The Old Mint was open to visitors until 1993. In 2003 the federal government sold the structure to the City of San Francisco for one dollar—an 1879 silver dollar struck at the mint— for use as the Museum of the City of San Francisco. In the fall of 2005, ground was broken for renovations that would turn the central court into a glass-enclosed galleria. The Museum is scheduled to open in 2012, but the Old Mint is used for special events, some open to the public, prior to the Museum's official opening.
(source:   Wikipedia)



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Oh yeah, go ahead and put your card into this ATM machine -- I dare you...

As Hyacinth Bucket once said to the Parson; "Oh, I would never put my cash card into one of those -- you never know who's been before"...



CLICK to visit my Daily-Duo.
CLICK to visit KittyBLOG -- the daily doings of my cat.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.

Your comments are invited and welcome.