September 30, 2014

Olema cemetery


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photo by Donald Kinney

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photo by Donald Kinney

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photo by Donald Kinney

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photo by Donald Kinney

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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 29, 2014

swaddled in fog, basking in fog


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photo by Donald Kinney

Merely a thin veil of fog; but one her favorite garments.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Serpentine; she has vast quantities of the green semi-precious stone.



Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 28, 2014

a guiding light to the bay


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photo by Donald Kinney

More than 300 boats ran aground near the Golden Gate during the Gold Rush years. One shipwreck, the SS City of Rio deJaneiro, is just a few hundred feet offshore from the light near the tip of that finger of rock.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Point Bonita was the last manned lighthouse on the California coast. This is the entrance to San Francisco Bay in the Marin Headlands, west of Sausalito.



Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 27, 2014

background of sky, background of bay


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photo by Donald Kinney

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photo by Donald Kinney

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photo by Donald Kinney

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photo by Donald Kinney

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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 26, 2014

Morning stillness at Rush Creek


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photo by Donald Kinney

The stillness of the morning at Rush Creek, near Novato, California.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Perfectly balanced. A quiet duality. Perhaps a sense of completeness.



Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 25, 2014

colors of sunrise light -- orange and blue


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photo by Donald Kinney

Nicasio in the morning. Can't think of a finer place. West Marin County. Nicasio Reservoir is managed by Marin Municipal Water District; serving as our emergency backup reservoir, one of 6 other reservoirs in Marin;
Phoenix Lake, Lake Lagunitas, Bon Tempe, Alpine, Kent Lake, and Soulajule. Drought has dramatically lowered the level of Nicasio Reservoir (above).



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photo by Donald Kinney

Apparently, this group of pilings had been a ferry landing at one time. I'm guessing it dates from the 1920's. The Golden Gate Bridge was not finished being built until 1937, and the Bay Bridge was not completed until 1936; so there was a lot of boat travel on this upper thumb of San Francisco Bay. Cars and people crossed the bays in and on ferries before the bridges.


lets get my "stats" up -- please tell your photo-loving friends about AphtoAday. If you have a blog, link to me and I'll reciprocate.

Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 24, 2014

view from Mt. Vision, Point Reyes National Seashore


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photo by Donald Kinney

And what a view it is! This snap was taken from the appropriately named Mount Vision. On a clear day we can see for miles. That is Drake's Bay on the left, Drake's Estero in the foreground, with the Point Reyes Lighthouse at lower center on top of that mountain of rock. Chimney Rock area is that finger of land on the left.

There has always been a controversy as to where Sir Francis Drake actually landed along the coast of California but recently the federal government has quietly ended a 433-year-old historical controversy by officially recognizing a cove as the site where the famous explorer landed in 1579 and claimed California for England. [more information? click on this: sfgate.com]



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photo by Donald Kinney

Cars are only allowed about half-way to the top of Mt. Vision. I stopped along the way in the thick pine forest filled with ferns, endless pine needles, berry vines, red fruited bushes, shiny leaved bushes, moss, a little bit of poison oak, and what looked to be a healthy eco-system--with a plethora of birds and other vertebrates. At one point a coyote was rather reluctant in getting out of my way. Some day I'll make it to the very top on foot. A 360 degree view. Not an easy hike, but sounds like a plan.

lets get my "stats" up -- please tell your photo-loving friends about AphtoAday. If you have a blog, link to me and I'll reciprocate.

Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 23, 2014

along Fairfax to Bolinas Road


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photo by Donald Kinney

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest fellow on earth. Lets face it--who deserves to live amidst such splendor? Who deserves to be alive at all? Yet, all I have to do is hop on over to the other side of town and gaze up at our beloved mountain--the centerpiece of our fabulous Marin County--and call it home.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Hollywood likes to visit Marin County. This past year we have had an endless stream of films being shot here. And if you watch any amount of television you've probably seen Mount Tamalpais and her two dramatic roads; Ridgecrest Boulevard and Fairfax-to-Bolinas Road being used as a backdrop for countless automobile commercials.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This last photo at Lily Lake is not new--taken in January 2009. I probably don't need to re-invent the wheel so here is what I wrote on the blog then:
I was going to save this for Valentine's Day, but here you go...

If you ever were to do some exploring on the Bolinas-to-Fairfax Road on the northern flank of Mount Tamalpais here in Marin County, you would find--amongst redwoods, fir, laurel, and madrone -- a little land-locked lake with no outlet until it overflows during Winter. You wouldn't find any sign, and I've never seen it on any map. Years ago I asked a friend what the name of that little lake was--with all the lily pads and frogs and horsetails on it's banks, and they replied: "Well, Don, who knows? I think they must call it Lily Lake".


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 22, 2014

the b&w vs. color dilemma


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photo by Donald Kinney

After using the photo [above] as the header yesterday I immediately knew s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g was wrong. When I looked at again later in the day I liked it even less. Usually I like ALL of my children [my photos] but this one began to cause me considerable consternation. Something was wrong--deeply wrong… If you need to see the color version again, click here.

My first thought was that it seemed too yellowish, and as a color image it probably was. But then I realized the sky was that sickening sky-blue color that I so truly dislike. I often wonder why God made the sky blue--maybe I should ask her. The sky-blue color had to go. The yellowish tinge had to go. I finally realized I needed to convert it to a black and white image.

Now, for those of you who aren't avid Photoshoppers, let me explain. With the click of one button the image went from sickening to sweet, but it still wasn't right. I needed to darken what was previously blue substantially--and with Photoshop that is as easy as moving a slider for that particular color. In the non-digital days I would have known to use a red filter on the lens--just like Ansel Adams would have done to get his rich dark skies. You see--the red filter would have absorbed the blue light, making it appear darker. Essentially, the computer and Photoshop do the same thing, electronically.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Now, this is NOT a black and white. It has some subtle but beautiful [I think] shades of green moss on those tree trunks. To convert this into a black and white would have been a travesty. The photo speaks; "moss". If I had I converted it to a black and white it would have spoken; "blah".

That concludes your Photoshop lesson for today. Take the rest of the day off. Best regards, Don


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 21, 2014

morning fog, way out behind Petaluma


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photo by Donald Kinney

Petaluma, California, is a great little town; located about 30 miles and a few massive traffic jams north of San Francisco on Highway One-Oh-One. Formerly, Petaluma was known for its chickens--most everyone on the outskirts of town had a chicken coop or two. Roosters crowed insistently and hens cackled excessively. The eggs were fresh! Everyone knew what would be on their plate come Sunday. Oh, there are still chickens--but mostly in horrid looking factory farms way out of town, down tiny and twisty roads that virtually nobody travels on but a few of the local birds.

Warm days and cool nights and a bit of humidity can generate copious amounts of fog. Fog also frequently creeps in from the Pacific Ocean, about 20 miles to the west--"as the crow flies".



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photo by Donald Kinney

This second photo is not new--it was taken in July of 2012 along the Petaluma-to-Point Reyes Road. I am hesitating to show a black and white image [top] in close proximity to a color shot--that is a definite "no-no" for photographers and artists who "follow-the-rules". But I say rules are meant to be broken. Pray for my soul… This bird might be going straight-to-hell.


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 20, 2014

the barn being restored in Pt. Reyes Station


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photo by Donald Kinney

In 2000, the National Park Service acquired the Waldo Giacomini Ranch for the purpose of wetland restoration. Part of the project is preserving what is known as the Wetland's Barn, the only remaining structure at the ranch.

Just to the west edge of Point Reyes Station is a tidal estuary where the Lagunitas Creek finally flows into Tomales Bay. The San Andreas Fault runs directly underneath this area, and the big quake of 1906 leveled most all structures in this small ranching town. The largest horizontal displacement--nearly 20 feet--occurred right here in Point Reyes Station.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Dramatic clouds were floating across the sky on Thursday. Truly a photo-snapper's delight. We received almost 3/8" of rain on Wednesday evening. Hopefully this is an omen of copious amounts to follow.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Cows don't do too well on slippery concrete floors so these grooves provided traction. This is a new floor, but as you can see it is already cracked.

The dual reversed image technique is an idea I've been experimenting with for a while now. A friend of mine and former co-worker, Omar Valdez, has been using a similar technique with his artwork for years. I swear I haven't deliberately ripped-off his idea, but who knows. Monkey see; monkey do? Hey Omar--maybe we can do a huge and fabulous show together some day?


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 19, 2014

the view from Point Cavallo, near Fort Baker


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photo by Donald Kinney

Come along with me, folks and I'll show you one of my favorite spots. You probably recognize the city. Locals birds like me just call it The City...



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photo by Donald Kinney

All three of these snaps were taken from the same perch. A vantage point called Point Cavallo. The Golden Gate Bridge isn't far away. Fort Baker is even closer.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, I'll save the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from this spot for another day--I've got a good new one. Swinging the camera in the opposite direction is Angel Island; sometimes called the Island of Tears. Just like Ellis Island on the East Coast, Angel Island was an immigration station. A vast influx of Chinese stopped here first in the mid to late 1800's. Not everyone was allowed to enter the United States. A rigorous health and mental test was administered to determine if the immigrant would be allowed entry. Those who passed the tests ended up working more of less like slaves; building our railroads, levies, roads, and doing the hard and dirty work in the goldmines of the Sierra foothills. They also fished, farmed, sewed, and laundered a whole lot of our dirty clothes.

Discrimination was rampant; and backed by the law. A Chinese person was only allowed to work in certain, often undesirable occupations. The Chinese received low pay, couldn't vote and were second-class residents. With all due respect, we should all remember THAT, please; the next time we feel so damn proud of the history of our beloved United States of America.


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 18, 2014

"hallelujah" -- we have clouds in our sky


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photo by Donald Kinney

A cigar shaped cloud passing over Mount Tamalpais Tuesday afternoon.



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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 Spanish King Mackerel, the fish.





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photo by Donald Kinney

Sailors have used this cloud formation for centuries to predict the weather. An old nautical saying is; "Mackerel in the sky, three days dry".
[last image, sunrise over San Pablo Bay, is not new; taken Nov. 14, 2012]


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 17, 2014

Ed Ricketts -- John Stienbeck's "partner in crime"


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photo by Donald Kinney

Located adjacent to Monterey Bay Aquarium is this aging wooding structure; Pacific Biological Laboratories, Ed Rickett's business that provided marine specimens for study to educational institutions worldwide; 1923 to 1948.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Edward F. Ricketts (1897–1948) was an American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher. He is best known for a pioneering study of intertidal ecology; Between Pacific Tides (1939), and for his influence on writer John Steinbeck. In 1940 Ricketts and Stienbeck journeyed on a chartered fishing boat to La Paz, Baha California to collect invertebrates. This resulted in their collaboration on Steinbeck's The Sea of Cortez book, published in 1951.




In 1945, Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row was published. Ricketts was the model for "Doc" and instantly became a celebrity--tourists and journalists began seeking him out. Steinbeck portrayed "Doc" as a many-faceted intellectual who was somewhat outcast from intellectual circles, a party-loving drinking man, in close touch with the working class and with the prostitutes and bums of Monterey's Cannery Row. It is reported that Ricketts was not happy with Steinbeck's description of him, but he did admit the portrayal was honest.   [source: Wikipedia and Monterey Bay Aquarium]

Ricketts was also portrayed by Steinbeck as "Doc" in Sweet Thursday, the sequel to Cannery Row; as "Friend Ed" in Burning Bright; as "Doc Burton" in In Dubious Battle; as Jim Casy in The Grapes of Wrath; and as "Doctor Winter" in The Moon is Down.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Something I found rather interesting:   Ricketts also influenced Joseph Campbell (1904–1987); mythologist, writer and lecturer. This was an important period in the development of Campbell's thinking about the epic journey of "the hero with a thousand faces." Campbell lived for a while next door to Ricketts in Pacific Grove, and accompanied him on a 1932 journey to Juneau, Alaska. Like Steinbeck, Campbell played with a novel written round Ricketts as hero, but unlike Steinbeck, Campbell didn't complete the book.


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 16, 2014

a visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium


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photo by Donald Kinney

Big-fin reef squid; sometimes called oval squid. Characterized by a large oval fin that extends throughout the margins of its mantle, giving them a superficial similarity to cuttlefish. It is difficult to see in this photo, but what looks like their snouts can open and are actually tentacles lined with rows of suction cups used to capture their prey.

Basically they are hollow, yet very muscular tubes. For propulsion they take water in one end and simply squeeze it out the other [insert giggle here].

Small to medium-sized squids average 1-1/2" to 13" in length. They exhibit elaborate mating displays and usually spawn in May. They have the capability to change body coloration in order to blend in with their surroundings. Big-fin reef squids have the fastest recorded growth rates of any marine invertebrate, reaching 1.3 lbs in only four months. They are a short-lived species, with a maximum recorded lifespan of only 315 days.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Young "jellies" knows as black sea nettles. Graceful but dangerous. They can grow to 3 feet wide, with stinging tentacles that can extend 25 feet.

The bell color is a distinctive opaque dark purple to nearly black as they mature. The margin of their bells have a lighter brown reticulated pattern. Four gonads are attached to finger-like projections that extend through subumbrellar openings. Marginal sense organs are spaced around the bell margin after every set of 3 tentacles, for a total of 8. Normally elusive, but large swarms are occasionally seen in surface waters off the coast of Baja California and southern California. [source: Wikipedia]



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photo by Donald Kinney

Moon jellies. Aurelia aurita. Sometimes called common jellies or saucer jellyfish. When mature they can have a diameter of 10 to 16 inches. Translucent, and can be recognized by its four horseshoe-shaped gonads, easily seen through the top of the bell. It feeds by collecting medusae, plankton, and mollusks with its tentacles, and bringing them into its body for digestion. It is capable of only limited motion, mostly drifting with the current. Technically, jellies are not fish--they are invertebrates.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Sardines. This small fish, sometimes called pilchards is what Cannery Row is famous for, but during the mid-1950's the fishing industry in Monterey Bay collapsed. The reason is still debated, but it is generally thought the collapse resulted from a combination of factors, including unfavorable oceanic conditions, over-fishing, and competition from other species. I have my own theory--after WW2 the U.S. Army dumped vast quantities of ammunition and unused explosives into Monterey Bay.

My father came to the Monterey Peninsula in 1946, a year before my birth, and worked as a bookkeeper for a succession of canneries as they all folded, one by one. Many defunct canneries burned to the ground over the years.



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photo courtesy Monterey Bay Aquarium

Cannery Row packing house workers. Notice that the ladies aren't smiling in this old photo. I've heard ladies who worked there tell their stories. It was a grim place to work. Salty men managed the machinery and can cookers.

I can still vividly remember my dad taking me into one of the huge canneries. He did his accounting work (lots of red ink) in a tiny office that overlooked the entire packing house. Occasionally we would lower a round crab net on a rope from the back of one of the canneries and return home with dinner.

Most canneries packed sardines but others packed mackerel or anchovies. When the sardines "vanished" the final cannery where the Monterey Bay Aquarium is now located processed and canned squid--mostly for export to Japan. Other plants rendered the waste from the cannery operations, turning it into fish oil and a stinky powdery fertilizer. Yes, I can still remember the smell--I thought it smelled wonderful, but then I was sort of a weird kid.

Very little is left of the old Cannery Row as I remember it. Aside from the fabulous Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row is now a major tourist trap although it does boast some nice hotels and restaurants. This is "Stienbeck Country", and I'll tell and show you more about that famous writer and his colorful cohort Edward F. "Doc" Ricketts tomorrow.


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

September 15, 2014

early morning down at the Gee-Gee Bridge


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photo by Donald Kinney

I wonder if it would be terribly disrespectful to the memory of my parents if I said that I probably grew up in the most unimaginative and unadventurous family on this planet.

But I did, and that is all past history, but I often marvel at how many times, as a kid, us four Kinneys made the arduous 130 mile journey from Pacific Grove to Kentfield here in Marin County w-i-t-h-o-u-t having much fun. The mission was to "see" Grandma, and for dad that meant a dedicated effort to make it from point A to point B, and no fooling around on the way. Certainly there would be no time to stop and admire or walk on the Gee-Gee Bridge. Certainly no time to take a little excursion to the top of the pointed Mount Tamalpais, which was teasingly close to Grandma's house.

This image (above) was made December 6, and when first posted on my Facebook page I explained that, yes, the moon w-a-s in the sky and setting quickly, but just not in this specific location.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Image made on July 25 of this year. Again, oh so very early in the morning.

originally appeared on AphotoAday, December 26, 2012

September 14, 2014

the sun, she is a rising


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photo by Donald Kinney

As loyal as a dog. As faithful as Mother Teresa. A golden glow of the rising sun--more than sufficient to warm my deep, dark heart.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Followed by a blazing sun. Blindingly bright and unforgiving. Illuminating. Hot and searing, with more degrees than a Fulbright scholar.

originally appeared on AphotoAday, December 24, 2012

September 13, 2014

sunrise at Nicasio -- reality without reproach


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photo by Donald Kinney

It was Tuesday morning and getting late, and because of a plain vanilla sky--without clouds--I wasn't quite sure if I was going to snag any photos or not… Imagine my delight when I arrived at Nicasio Reservoir and discovered that the lake was busy at work generating its own set of foggy clouds.

And yes, that bird is real--not later Photoshopped into the scene… Just a bit of happy happenstance I suppose, as I would have been perfectly satisfied with the other snaps I was making of the scene without the bird.

Not that I have always been beyond reproach--in 1963 I remember feeling terribly uneasy about one of my my Monterey County Fair entries. I had added in a string of low flying birds into a rather pleasing splash image. No Photoshop--just scissors, rubber cement, and a copy image; yet the judges fell for my deception and the print, although it won no award, got hung. I have never quite gotten over my deception and can only tell you about this now because I believe the Statute-of-Limitations has run out on the crime.

originally appeared on AphotoAday, December 23, 2012

September 12, 2014

tracks, possibly from outer space


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photo by Donald Kinney

A few days ago I ambled out to the dunes at Abbott's Lagoon in Point Reyes. Sand dunes are the coveted "Holy Grail" for many landscape photographers.



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photo by Donald Kinney

It could be the print left by an Egret or Heron, but it also could be something more unexplained. Bird-prints make a good disguise. We will never know...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Endless ramblings? Apparently. Perhaps to throw us off track. Be watchful.

originally appeared on AphotoAday, December 22, 2012
 
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