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photo by Donald Kinney
Must say that I am a bit overwhelmed by all the interest in the foggy cypress trees -- yep, that's a shot I kind of like myself. You can probably see how beautiful this spot is -- imagine how beautiful it is being there in person -- breathing the tasty thick fog but cursing the chilly morning.
The KPH cypress tree tunnel is a popular photo-op. Not long ago a pharmaceutical company filmed an advertisement under those trees -- I think they were promoting some anti-depression medicine. No shortage of fog in this area -- one of the foggiest spots on the coast.
If you look closely at the photo above, you may be able to make out faint windows in the distance -- that's historic radio station, KPH, a ship-to-shore radio receiving station. More about KPH later...
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photo by Donald Kinney
I take more vertical shots these days than I have in the past. Sometimes some extra emphasis can be gained by the upward sweep.
This photo was made looking in the opposite direction of the horizontal shot.
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photo by Donald Kinney
Still visible today are tall antennas, and even odder shaped wooden wire support structures that extend out to the antennas. A myriad of wires carry the signals to the station.
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photo by Donald Kinney
SPECIAL EDITION -- Re-run, AphotoAday of October 17, 2009
With your permission I am going to republish the AphotoAday blog entry for October 17, 2009.
This will show you the interior of KPH, and show you the fine tour I had two years ago.
(((these are OLD photos from here down -- I want to go back and shoot more)))
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photo by Donald Kinney
At the end of that "cypress tree tunnel" shot I showed yesterday is part of the historic radio station KPH. This building contained the receiving half of the station -- the broadcast transmitters were located 18 miles to the south in Bolinas to minimize interference.
Mundane weather reports and traffic lists were pretty much all that went out or came in to KPH, although I suppose the occasional S.O.S. would liven the place up a bit.
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photo by Donald Kinney
Well, I mentioned the Cypress Tree Tunnel -- that's why I was out there -- but imagine my surprise when the massive door to KPH opened and Amanda Tomlin, an archivist for the National Park Service, asked me if I wanted to come in and see what was inside.
Well, when I saw the Kenwood R-5000 receiver (lower left in photo) I couldn't contain myself -- "Hey, I've got one of those" was my loud report. Looking around the room I saw several other R-5000's -- I always knew it was a good receiver (cost me an arm and a leg).
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photo by Donald Kinney
Well, these days I suppose all those wires would be replaced by something solid-state about the size of a postage stamp, but I like my electronics "old school" -- you know, vacuum tubes and all that jazz.
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photo by Donald Kinney
Well, there you have it -- pretty much the whole world. Dit, Dit, Dat.
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photo by Donald Kinney
Well, you and the rest of the crew would probably be in big trouble if you found yourself turning the cranks (there are two) of this marine emergency radio.
END OF SPECIAL EDITION BACK TO NORMAL PROGRAMMING
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photo by Donald Kinney
Rather artful, isn't it?
Thanks for visiting, folks, and have a great weekend. Don and Kitty
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7 comments:
Beautiful images and love the tour of KPH. I worked in Radio in my late teens and had one of those teletypewriter machines in the "soundproofed" cubby next to the studio. Great memories.
Thank you for the rerun as I missed its premier in 2009. Great stuff. I have to confess as the one giving the banner a 'I like it' instead of WoW like the others. Not your fault, but I feel clouds need body to produce good sunsets. These were too wimpy.
Beautiful images, especially the first, third & last (love the abstract!).
Where exactly is KPH? I'd love to go sometime.
Hi SCOTT -- Thanks and sounds interesting about the job you had at a radio station so young. Bet there's a few stories to be told... (((illustrated, please)))
And Hi SINBAD'S DAD -- hey no problem with the "like it" rating -- my god what do I expect? And of cuouse I can't just make "wow" photos all the time. A "like it" rating indicates a success and I think that's just great.
AND Oh hi, ADAM,
KPH is abut a mile further past the old Johnson Oyster Farm, which I think they call Tomales Bay Oyster Co... It's run by a cool family now -- the Lunny's
A real crusty character used to own the place -- Charlie Johnson -- but he died in 1992 and the Lunnys took over in 2005.
Here is a URL abut the oyster farm -- I would imagine you had explored the area, but yep -- there's a lot of neat places to explore:
http://groups.ucanr.org/GIM/Rancher_Lunny_buys_Johnson_Oyster_Company
Fascinating post Don. I love the pictures and the info that goes with it. I didn't mind the rerun either. It just makes the package complete.
WOW!!!
Did I say "wow" already?!!
Shot number 2 had my jaw drop.
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