my bridge, the Golden Gate

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Most photographers have never heard of the rule enforced by the Golden Gate Bridge and Transportation District that "commercial" photography [offering a photograph for sale] of any scene taken while standing on property owned by "the Bridge", requires a permit to be purchased, retroactively if necessary, at the rate of $2000 per day. Believe it or not.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

And so it went... A year or two ago the nice public relations lady at "the Bridge" sent me a polite but inflexible email informing me of the permit policy. Evidently "the Bridge" thought I sold a lot of my work--sadly not so.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Anyway, I hammered out a deal with "the Bridge" spokeswoman Mary Curry. I no longer have three Golden Gate Bridge shots on what I call my "big" site. And you aren't going to be able to buy these recent shots (above) either.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Sigh...  Oh the world is a cruel place.  Little does it know.


CLICK for 40 new photos on my "NEW" photo website.

morning fog, West Marin

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

On the edge of a dense fog the sun will often cast curious shadows.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Seas of cool and thick fog float hills--temporarily turning into islands.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Brighter and warmer. My camera pointed a bit more towards the sun.


CLICK for 40 new photos on my "NEW" photo website.

Blood Alley, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, China Camp

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Frank Quan's mother, Grace, reportedly smoked cigars, spoke salty words, and was said to have gotten along f-a-m-o-u-s-l-y with John Wayne when he and Lauren Bacall filmed "Blood Alley" here at China Camp in 1954.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Pictures hanging inside the cafe at China Camp Village. I'm not sure who the little guy on the right is, but that big guy is definitely John Wayne.
CLICK to watch YouTube movie trailer for "Blood Alley".



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

In the late 1800's Frank's father came from a shrimping village in the Guangdong province of China, along with hundreds of others. At the time discrimination was rampant--netting shrimp was one of the few business endeavors the Chinese were allowed.   CLICK for L.A. Times article.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Frank Quan's former shrimp boat, the Seabreeze.
CLICK for a recent photo of Frank Quan".



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

And seldom have I ever left China Camp Village without snapping the roofline of the shrimp processing and drying shed. IMHO, industrial & arty.


CLICK for 40 new photos on my "NEW" photo website.

another foggy morning at Nicasio

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Hey, how's that for pretty...



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Same scene, just back a bit...



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

A bit later, when no longer shooting directly into the sun. The scene cooled.


CLICK for 40 new photos on my "NEW" photo website.

Mount Tamalpais, centerpiece of Marin County

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Mount Tamalpais (((tăm·əl·pī′·əs))) is the highest peak in the Marin Hills, part of the Northern California Coast Ranges. The elevation at the East Peak, its highest point, is 2,571 feet. The West Peak, the mountain's second highest peak where a radar dome currently stands, is 2,560 feet. It stood over 2,600 feet before the summit was flattened for the radar dome construction. Mount Tamalpais (((tăm·əl·pī′·əs))) is clearly visible from the city of San Francisco and the East Bay region.     source: Wikipedia



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

The majority of the mountain is contained in protected public lands, including Mount Tamalpais (((tăm·əl·pī′·əs))) State Park, Muir Woods National Monument, and the Mount Tamalpais (((tăm·əl·pī′·əs))) Watershed.

Mount Tamalpais (((tăm·əl·pī′·əs))) adjoins the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (which in turn adjoins Point Reyes National Seashore) as well as several Marin County Open Space Preserves. This provides nearly 40 miles of continuous publicly accessible open space.     source: Wikipedia



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

With its height, various faces, and proximity to the ocean and bay, Mount Tamalpais (((tăm·əl·pī′·əs))) contains many microclimates, ranging from cool and foggy in lower ocean-facing valleys with their redwood forests, to hot and dry on the manzanita slopes, cool and breezy at the summit, and shady on the heavily Douglas-fir-forested north slopes near Alpine Lake. source: Wikipedia


CLICK for 40 new photos on my "NEW" photo website.

white morning, colorful morning

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I had another chance to photograph Spirit Rock and cows on Friday morning.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

As it was, White's Mountain was standing by, chilling in the fog, whiteish.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Canada Geese; this is about as organized as their formations ever get. They're quite noisy and always let a photographer know they are coming.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Rat Island at China Camp gets few visitors. And probably has no rats.
I'll have to admit to shoddy reporting--I really don't have a clue how it received the name of Rat Island. ((still working on Rodeo Beach, too))


CLICK for 40 new photos on my "NEW" photo website.

Webb Creek at Steep Ravine

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

South of Stinson Beach is Webb Creek. Studded with Redwoods, the Steep Ravine area is one of the most beautiful spots Mt. Tamalpais has to offer, but is probably one of the least visited.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

"Least visited" until once eacy year. June brings the hugely popular and demanding Dipsea Footrace, from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. 1500 runners complete the 7.4 mile course up and over Mt. Tamalpais.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Leaves from last year are still hanging on. Little works of art in my eye.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

And a fern will continue to put on quite a show -- even past their demise.


CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.

3 "occasional" streams of Marin County

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Located between Woodacre and Forest Knolls in West Marin is the Gary Giacomini Open Space Preserve. There are secret groves of Redwoods but except for mountain-bikers, this county park doesn't get a lot of visitors. After heavy rain, the creek--normally just a trickle, puts on an impressive show.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Allow me to present the "occasional stream" of nearby Roy's Redwoods.
Moist mushrooms, most likely being left untouched by man and animal,
for good reason...



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Miwok Meadows at China Camp has a pleasant "occasional stream" also.


CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.

rainy day experimental

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

The gentle Mount Burdell, in the distance across the top of San Pablo Bay.
(technique: Photoshop "frost" filter applied overall)



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Redwood Creek, not far downstream from Muir Woods, out by the coast.
(technique: Photoshop "smart-blur" filter applied selectively)


CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.

Spirit Rock, San Geronimo Valley, W. Marin County

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Sprit Rock, December 2012.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Spirit Rock, December 2011.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Spirit Rock, July 2012.

"Over the hill", as many say.
Residents of San Geronimo Valley and surrounding areas refer to it as "The Valley." It is a fairly close-knit community, with a rather liberal citizenry.

Spirit Rock was a sacred place for Ohlone Indians. Today the oak draped rock serves as an unofficial symbol of "West" Marin County.


CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.

Point Bonita, Marin Headlands

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I swear, the light was like some Cecil B. DeMille epic...



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

More than 300 boats ran aground near the Golden Gate during the Gold Rush years. After building the first lighthouse at the exact spot where where I was standing (306 feet), they realized in 1877 that the lighthouse needed to be lower, where it is now, at 124 feet above sea level. The lower elevation allowed the light to be seen father at sea. Fog forms a dense ceiling, but often there is a clear space nearer to the ground.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Our beloved City on her hills... Weather prediction; RAIN.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I found some SPLENDID, I think, graffiti plastered over a few decrepit concrete military bunkers in the area.

And if it IS going to rain, turn yourself into an octopus! Tread carefully.



CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.

incoming storm, Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

We've had some really wild weather out here on the West Coast.
On Thursday the weatherman was warning us all; "Stay away from the beaches--there is no reason to go there".



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

So, naturally, with fear to the wind and like a moth to a flame, off I went. Destination; Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands. Surf was up!



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I've been talking so much about Photoshop recently that perhaps I should reassure you that I did not "paste" these Pelicans into the image.

Not that I am without sin--in 1963 I entered a "paste-up job" of birds flying next to a dramatic splash in the Monterey County Fair and the composite image somehow did manage to make it past the selection committee and was exhibited. I didn't win a prize, but lived in horrible fear for a few days that my "fakery" would be discovered.


CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.

softening with the clarity tool

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, I'm not a big fan of the multitude of special manipulation effects that can be so easily applied in modern image editing programs, but there certainly is a lot that can be done--and probably shouldn't.

For instance I can take most any image and make it look like an artistic painting method: colored pencil, dry brush, fresco, daubs, palette knife, rough pastels, smudge stick, sponge, under-painting, and watercolor. I can make my image look like it has film grain, or give it a neon glow.

I can make it look like it has been wrapped in plastic-wrap, or I can make it look like a silkscreened poster. I can give the image brush strokes with accented edges, angled strokes, crosshatch, dark strokes, ink outlines, spatter, sprayed strokes, and even mimmic the Asian Sumi-e technique.

Oh, it just goes on and on... I can, but wont, distort the image six ways towards Sunday, make it look like a pencil or charcoal sketch, give it glowing edges, and add texture and grain.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

For me it is all just good rainy day fun, but I do sometimes employ a few of the of the blurring and sharpening techniques, with Smart-Blur being one of my favorites. All of these "filters" can be applied either selectively in certain areas of the image, or over the entire image. The keyword here is restraint.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

A relatively new filter that I've actually started to find useful in certain situations is the Clarity Tool. Used with a positive setting (+) it tends to increase contrast, but in a much more refined manner than standard contrast adjustments. But in certain situations I like to use the Clarity Tool with a negative setting (-) where it tends to reduce contrast. I'm finding this to be occasionally useful in gaining control over exceptionally "busy" images.

The jury is still out on whether I will make negative settings with the Clarity Tool part of my standard arsenal of techniques for getting the most and very best out of an image. Again, I feel that restraint is important.


CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.

the leaves leave

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I guess California is no competition for the incredible displays of Fall color in New England and some other parts of the world, but out here in the West we definitely give it our best shot.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Little solar panels... Capable of manufacturing their own food for branches, trunk, and roots. Taking in "evil" carbon dioxide and converting it into life-giving oxygen. These are amazing processes, really...



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Deciduous leaves detach, fall, and return nutrients to the soil. Some even go for a swim. Others look quite ghostly. Isn't it an amazing world we live in?


CLICK for new slideshow on my "BIG" photo website.