November 30, 2012

I call it Kinney Creek


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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, you know how we humans are--we attach names to everything...



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photo by Donald Kinney

And even though it is only a figment of my imagination, I thought my favorite "occasional" creek on my beloved Mount Tamalpais needed a name.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh don't worry--I won't be putting up signs, and I've scrapped plans for selling tickets. I'd even send you a map if you really wanted to find her.

But in checking on the web, I see that there are a few other "Kinney Creeks" in this world. One in Oregon near Detroit Lake, one in Colorado, another in Michigan, and lo-and-behold there is even a Kinney Creek Brewery in Minnesota. So very sad that I had to give up drinking so many years ago.


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November 29, 2012

I guess one had to be there


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photo by Donald Kinney

Feedback and constructive criticism is an important part of the process for a photographer, so I often run images by a wise and experienced image maker (and friend), who I won't name. To be honest, I was flabbergasted when he reported back that this image (above) "didn't do anything for him".

But it got me thinking--about why we like or dislike what we see. My conclusion is that our appreciation of a certain image is simply colored by our own experience. After all, I was "there", and perhaps what I am saw in the scene failed to successfully communicate with his own experiences. Perhaps this explains why when I view winners of photo contests, I often wonder just what the judges "saw" in the winning image.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Anyway, before the breakthrough of the sun, Sunday morning couldn't have been any foggier than it was at Alpine Lake on Mount Tamalpais.



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photo by Donald Kinney

I pretty much knew what was going to happen when the sun started to overpower the fog. But it was a good long wait. I waited and waited, with plenty of time to frame up several compositions in the fog. The goal is that what I saw and experienced would be successfully communicated. et voila.


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November 28, 2012

lifting fog at Nicasio


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photo by Donald Kinney

From afar...



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photo by Donald Kinney

And closer...



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photo by Donald Kinney

And just a little bit to the right...


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November 27, 2012

Chinatown speaks silently


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photo by Donald Kinney

I am guessing Buddhism is sort of like a roadmap. As is this acupuncture demonstration figure. Great and complex mysteries are contained within.



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photo by Donald Kinney

These are the universal and worthy Bodhisattvas, or ten great values.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Persimmons in Chinese culture are symbolic of the transition of the bitterness of youth to the sweetness of maturity through life.

Now, that statement took me a bit by surprise--in my own Western view of life I have always regarded youth as the sweet time of life, while maturity often turns out to be rather sour. Perhaps I've been looking down the wrong end of the telescope...

By the way, my buddy S.F. Mike currently has a great post on his blog reviewing the "Out of Character" exhibit of Chinese calligraphy at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.


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November 26, 2012

Northbeach celebrates Thanksgiving


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photo by Donald Kinney

Ah yes, Thanksgiving in Northbeach...
The shades at City Lights bookstore were pulled down tight.
Transamerica Pyramid was standing by silently in a soft light.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And not much was wiggling at "Live Worms" gallery on upper Grant Street.



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photo by Donald Kinney

I listened for jazz or jive or folk, but nary a sound on Green Street.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Down on Broadway I found my homeless friend, Mike, who has been surviving in Northbeach for the past 16 years. Mike is the eyes and ears of this area. We talked for a good long while about the real nitty-gritty of life.

As I was about to go Mike asked me to take some more photos of him so he could send them home to his aging mother in the East. On a warmer day he would have peeled off his shirt--he has an extensive collection of ink.

Here are three photos of Mike's tattoos I snapped in April of 2011:
Front     Back     this Side view may not be suitable for viewing at work.


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November 25, 2012

they call it f-o-g


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photo by Donald Kinney

Far out fog...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh wow, look at that fog...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Good golly almighty, isn't fog beautiful...


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November 24, 2012

Mount Tamalpais adventure


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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, there she is, my beloved Sleeping Lady in morning light. Indian Goddess Tamalpa of popular legend. Mount Tamalpais on the map.



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photo by Donald Kinney

A place where moss grows on rocks to keep them warm. Leaves fall where they may.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Cataract Falls flows year-around, but roars in Winter and especially after a heavy rainstorm.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Lakes; most all manmade, but one with the appropriate name of Alpine. Streaming sunlight; on the edge of the morning fog, transient and brief.


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November 23, 2012

through the tunnel to Black Sands Beach


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photo by Donald Kinney

There are two ways of getting to the Point Bonita area; along the steep drop-offs along Conzelmen road with fine views of the Golden Gate Bridge, or through the old narrow tunnel originally built by the military during World War 2 for easier access to the defensive gun emplacements and the base of operations, Fort Cronkhite.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Normally I would just head out to the easier access of Rodeo Beach and its environs, but on Tuesday I was inspired to visit Black Sands Beach.



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photo by Donald Kinney

When sunny this is a popular nude beach, but since the weather was overcast and unsettled I was the only person there. And no, LOL and Lord almighty, most certainly I kept MY clothes on! It's quite a steep and long walk down to the beach--climbing back up is quite an effort for an old guy.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This gull was making a meal of the seeds in a pine cone that had drifted ashore. I believe those little birds are Sandpipers who were deftly searching for food at the edge of the foam.


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November 22, 2012

the reality of Photoshop


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photo by Donald Kinney

I cannot tell a lie. Especially on a day like today. If I don't behave myself I just might end up with the "Pope's nose", a.k.a. the "piece that went over the fence last"...

My confession? Sorry folks, I "Photoshopped" in that big yellow sun in the photo above.     (Happy Thanksgiving to everybody, by the way)

In my defense--the sun was actually there, but I just couldn't move into position to capture both the real sun and the Turkey Vulture. But yes, that is a real bird, and what it is doing is drying it's wings in the morning sun.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Very rarely do I employ such trickery. And I'm betting that many people have the wrong impression of what Photoshop is actually for. Image editing programs such as Photoshop and Lightroom are primarily designed to get the best qualities out of an image and fix a few mistakes--not trickery.

In the process of Photoshopping, a myriad of defects can be treated and corrected. If most of your images come out of the camera absolutely perfect, than you are a much better photographer than me. Once in a blue-moon I am able to make an image that doesn't require at least some sort of corrective treatment.



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photo by Donald Kinney

The church (above) is St. Mary's in the tiny West Marin County farming town of Nicasio, California. If interested I'll explain the technical details next.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark2 with the second generation (II) 70-200mm f-2.8 I.S. "L" zoom lens at 142mm, set at f-8 with Aperture Priority and no + or - Exposure Compensation. With my ISO set at a low 100 to keep "noise" at a low level, the camera automatically set shutter speed to 1/1600 of a second.

I was shooting in the highest quality format available; RAW, which has a much deeper bit-depth than the common JPEG format. (RAW can handle underexposure beautifully, but overexposure is always difficult to correct.)

So, after opening the image in the RAW Converter "CameraRAW" the first thing I checked was not the image itself, but the image's "Histogram" which is a graphical representation of all the brightnesses in the image. I first checked to see where my high values maxed out on the Histogram, and since this image was slightly underexposed I needed to stretch the whites up to a higher value on the Histogram. Similarly, I then checked my dark values and saw that I had enough solid blacks on the low end so no stretching of my blacks was required. The main idea here is to get a full range of tones, although the final image was intended to contain no pure white.

Next came my "Curve Adjustments". I noticed that the dark values were obscuring some detail, so I manually tugged on the low values of the "Curve" to bring the "low tones" up just a bit, while being careful not to disturb the "blacks" themselves.

Next I checked the Color Temperature, and although I often will warm up my images just slightly, I left this image as it was. Then I checked if any specific color needed just a little boost, or reduction of its Saturation. This image, being fairly monochromatic required none, and just to make the image even more monochromatic I reduced the Vibrance quite a bit. Often, when I make an exposure in the shade, and especially when I underexpose on purpose, I'll need to remove blue.

I noticed quite a bit of Vignetting in the corners of this image, but decided not to make any corrections. In this case I thought the Vignetting worked.

Okay, so after making these corrections in the CameraRAW converter it was time to actually open the image in Photoshop.

First, I re-checked the Histogram to see how the tones were falling on the scale. I think I remember deciding to lighten up the whites just slightly.

Next I checked to see if the image was straight, and seeing that the steeple and cross were slightly skewed I made corrections by pulling on corners of the image. On this image I did not do any cropping, taking advantage of every bit of quality available on a "full-frame" 24x36mm digital sensor.

Nearing the end here, I checked the image carefully for signs of dust and dirt on my sensor, and yes I found a few spots that I was easily able to remove with Photoshop's "Spot Healing Brush".

Finally, I had to make a decision if the image should be sharpened or not. I left it the way it was because sharpening could have produced a halo artifact between contrasty parts of the image. Also there is NOTHING worse looking than an over-sharpened image. This was sharp to begin with even though I didn't use a tripod or even bother to brace the camera against some available object such as a tree or fence--the high shutter speed of 1/1600 second plus Image Stabilization helped.

So, satisfied with the work I had just done, I saved the image first as a full size 5616x3874 lossless TIFF that I will keep if I want to print this image. Next I made my usual set of JPEGs, sized to 960x640, 640x427, and 500x334. So there you go, folks, that's how I use CameraRAW and Photoshop. All of that took no longer than 10 or 15 minutes to complete.

It's a "piece of cake"... Hope you like this church. I'm not a terribly religious person, but I respect ALL religions. I am also an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church if anyone needs to get married or blessed. Seriously!


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November 21, 2012

It rained. "Kinney Creek" flowed.


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photo by Donald Kinney

Indeed... Sunny California got some copious amounts of rainfall last week.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Enough rain to get several of the normally dry creeks flowing again.



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photo by Donald Kinney

So, of course I headed up on the Fairfax-to-Bolinas Road to check on what I call "Kinney Creek". As far as I know, this "occasional" creek has never been named. Dibs...


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November 20, 2012

for the times, they are a-changin'


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photo by Donald Kinney

(((with apologies to Bob Dylan)))
Gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown



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photo by Donald Kinney

And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'



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photo by Donald Kinney


Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'


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November 19, 2012

wet and wild in the woods


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photo by Donald Kinney

Call them Horsetails or call them Scouring Rushes, but I'm pretty sure they originally arrived here on Earth from Outer Space...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Mushrooms--yeah--they've got "far away galaxy" written all over them.
Pointy needled Fir trees--they seem to be doing well here on Earth.



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photo by Donald Kinney

All a definite mystery. I'll let science and religion battle it out for their preferred explanations--I've already got MY theory and I'm sticking to it.


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November 18, 2012

leafy at Lagunitas Creek


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photo by Donald Kinney

Good lord--with all the Fall color here in Marin this year one might think they are in New England.



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photo by Donald Kinney

We have a plethora of deciduous trees in this area, and by now a large percentage of their leaves have fallen.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Perfect time to wrangle up a few images...


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November 17, 2012

Holy Mackerel -- sunrise, once again


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photo by Donald Kinney

Some folks will call this a "buttermilk" sky, but more might know it as a "mackerel" sky, getting its name from a resemblance to the speckled skin markings of the King Mackerel, the fish.

Sailors have used this cloud formation for centuries to predict the weather. An old nautical saying is; "Mackerel in the sky, three days dry". And yes, I snapped this three days ago, and now it is raining.



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photo by Donald Kinney

If I've learned anything about sunrises, it is that birds celebrate the event with great vigor and excitement.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Being a bit of an old bird myself, my excitement level also rises. I've been known to mutter; "oh wow", and offer up a hearty; "hey, look at that"...


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November 16, 2012

the spirits of China Camp


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photo by Donald Kinney

Long before the White-man and Chinese immigrants arrived, Coastal Miwok Indians lived, hunted, worshiped, and buried their dead at China Camp.
Location: north of San Francisco on the western shores of San Pablo Bay, which is the northern "thumb" of San Francisco Bay.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Some say China Camp is haunted, and there is a lot of folklore about ghosts and spirits. Murders too. In 1975 two teenagers, boyfriend and girlfriend, killed the girl's parents, wrapped them in a carpet, doused it with lighter fluid, then burned them to a char in a barbeque fire-pit at Miwok Meadows.



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photo by Donald Kinney

But as for things spiritual, I've always thought that you get just about as much out of the spiritual world as you put into it. There is no free lunch. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


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November 15, 2012

a foggy morning at Nicasio, California


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photo by Donald Kinney

Lord of the cat-tails.



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photo by Donald Kinney

King of the sunrise.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Comforter of all mountains in need of comforting.



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photo by Donald Kinney

An army of two. Winged rulers of large and distant rocks.


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