ripples and reflections

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, I came to my senses and determined that the image I used for yesterday's header just isn't up to snuff so I am not using it today as the lead photo, and am instead replacing it with this.

Often I am the worst judge of my own work -- I tend to get emotionally attached to a scene which clouds my objective evaluation of the final image. I think all photographers (and artists) go through a similar dilemma. But if you missed it yesterday and are scratching your head about the rejected photo, you can click here to see it.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Visions of grandeur, perhaps, but I think ripples and reflections are my specialty. Many people have been so kind as to let me know they like these sorts of photos too, for which I am appreciative beyond measure. Thank you very much -- I have a great deal of fun shooting them.



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photo by Donald Kinney

I usually shoot my ripples and reflections out on the Lagunitas Creek -- I have a favorite spot (just upstream from the confluence of Devil's Creek) where there seems to be more of this sort of thing than other locations on the creek.

However, the shot above wasn't taken on the mighty Lagunitas Creek -- it's the waters behind Alpine Dam on the northern flank of Mount Tamalpais. Actually, water from the dam does flow into Lagunitas Creek, but not before it is captured once again in another dam farther downstream. The dams provide drinking water for Marin County residents.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Can't resist telling you that one of my biggest laughs I had as a kid was tricking my mother into saying "damn". If I said that word I just might get my mouth washed out with soap. "Hell" was another word she would not speak and I had a devil-of-a-time tricking her into saying that one. But Mom died years ago, so these days I am able to say damn and hell with reckless abandon.

But again, these are the waters behind Alpine Dam -- at this particular moment there were less ripples and more reflections. (If you can't make it out, you're looking at an upside down hill)



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morning in west Marin

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photo by Donald Kinney

The other day I think I mentioned that 90 percent of photography is just "being there at the right time". You just never know when all the conditions are going to be right.

But I can help narrow the "being there at the right time" statement down a bit -- the odds of getting a good landscape photo in the middle of the day are pretty much slim to none. My advice is to put that camera away between the general hours of 10AM to about 5PM.



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photo by Donald Kinney

If I ever thought you might go there I would show a map of my usual route out through west Marin, but I take a series of tiny roads that snake out through some of the most beautiful rolling hills and farmland that you are ever going to find. There is a great deal of Marin County that the local residents never get out to explore.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Shrouded in a hazy fog it might be a bit diffiucult to see, but that's our beloved Mount Tamalpais (Tam-al-pi'-us) in the distance.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Even at 8AM the light on this schoolhouse was almost too harsh, but I stopped to shoot it anyway.

Within a ten mile radius of here there are four "one room" school-houses, although two of them are actually in Sonoma County, just slightly over the Marin County border. And yes, they are still in use. Lets hope those kids are learning more than I did in school -- I was such a dummy and still am!



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Golden Gate Bridge

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photo by Donald Kinney

Like San Francisco's tourist oriented Pier39, the Golden Gate Bridge is another spot local photographers usually avoid. "Pretty as a postcard" has somehow come to be considered as "un-cool", or "un-artistic". I think they've got it all wrong.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a true photographic challenge. Returning home with something a bit above the norm or different is the goal. Once in a while I like to give it a whirl.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Many people don't know that a large and wild experience awaits them if they use the pedestrian and bicycle under-crossing on the north side of the bridge.

You'd think the Golden Gate Bridge would be a lot more solid and stable than it actually is. When a heavy vehicle passes on the roadway overhead it causes the whole structure to violently shake, rattle, and roll. Really. The impression is that the whole Erector-Set is going to fall apart at any moment.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Tourists often want to know why the bridge is painted international-orange instead of gold. Well, between the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills in 1848 and the building of the bridge in 1938 the Golden Gate simply referred to the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Actually, it still does.

The international-orange was chosen partly for visibility in the heavy fog that often creates navigation hazard for ships, and partly because the orange color goes nicely with the reddish rock cliffs of the Marin Headlands.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Normally, hundreds if not thousands of visitors take a stroll (((it's more of a hike))) across the Golden Gate Bridge, but last Wednesday I got there there just before sunrise (((see today's edition of the DailyDuo))) and besides the usual speedy bicycle commuters I encountered only two tourists out enjoying the sunny morning.

Wednesday was an exception, but typically, this time of year the bridge is heavily shrouded in morning fog. Not that we don't love our fog, and not that foggy photos of the bridge can't be interesting -- but give me a sunny morning on the Golden Gate Bridge and I'll show you a smile on my face.



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early morning "spook around" in S.F.

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photo by Donald Kinney

Some folks in San Francisco can't find two nickels to rub together, yet others have more money than they know what to do with.

San Francisco's Fisher family has made a gazillion dollars with their GAP brand, and although I am unclear on how much they may have donated to improve the "human condition", Mr. Fisher has worked hard to assemble one of the more extensive collections of modern art.

This is part of the "crumpled circle" outside of GAP headquarters. Across the street on public land is another sculpture from the Fisher collection -- the largest bow and arrow you're ever going to find. Some people love it and some people hate it but I think the money Fisher spent could have been more wisely used.


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photo by Donald Kinney

Some people have jobs in San Francisco. I haven't a clue as to what they actually do.


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photo by Donald Kinney

No day-dreaming allowed. Without windows to gaze out of it must be all work and no play inside this rather artistically designed building.


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photo by Donald Kinney

Sorry King Kong and Spiderman -- some places in San Francisco are totally off limits, and the structures holding up the Bay Bridge is one of them.



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Embarcadero, San Francisco

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, if you DON'T have a lot of money but DO have a few really spot-on concepts about society, like Gandhi here, then you TOO can come to San Francisco and hang out behind the Ferry Building.   Nights can be a bit chilly, but you'll have a great view of the Bay Bridge.

Of course, homelessness is NO joke, and it's just luck that I haven't had to join their ranks (((yet))).   I have learned to never ignore a homeless person -- and consider many of them to be true friends, although our encounters are usually brief.


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photo by Donald Kinney

The Port of Oakland has taken over as the shipping hub of the area, but I have no problem remembering the hustle and bustle of San Francisco's Embarcadero.

Long lines of trucks waiting to offload or be loaded. Forklifts and the slings of cranes unloading huge loads of commodities -- fat bags of coffee beans destined for the nearby Folger's plant comes easily to mind.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And yes, I AM as old as dirt -- I'll be 63 on Sunday -- so the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges are only ten or so years older than me.   And I CAN clearly remember when they were building the San Rafael to Richmond Bridge -- our family had a great view of the construction from below while riding the double-ended auto ferry on our way to and from Grandma's house.


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photo by Donald Kinney

The San Francisco Arts Commission has one goal in mind -- to confound the public into believing that if it's either really big or really far-out, then it must be something we should appreciate.

Sometimes I just shake my head with bewilderment.



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early morning at Pier39

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photo by Donald Kinney

No, didn't Photoshop that bee into the image -- the little bugger was more than willing to help out.   I must have snapped fifteen or twenty shots but this was probably one of her best poses.

And yes, that's Coit Tower bathed in morning light in the distance -- it's so out of focus that it may be difficult to tell.


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photo by Donald Kinney

Now, let me tell you that no self-respecting San Francisco resident or photographer ever goes near Pier39 -- the place is full of tourist oriented fluff -- tacky, tacky, tacky.

It was early, very early, so I don't think anybody spotted me.   The security guard told me she knew how to keep a secret. Lets hope she does.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Tourists who sign up well in advance and pay the required $26 can take the short ride over to Alcatraz (and back) -- I suppose it's really the cool thing to do when you're in San Francisco.   Go ahead -- buy one of those over-priced black and white striped t-shirts.

I've been to Alcatraz once, a year ago, but besides a few great photo opportunities, I found the whole place terribly disturbing. Not a fun place by any stretch of the imagination.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Wish I could tell you more about this curvy and twisted sculpture but there doesn't seem to be any nameplate or explanation anywhere. Incorporating Coit Tower into the composition is the obvious shot.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This is that same curvy and twisted sculpture taken in almost complete darkness. I was curious if I could get anything at all with such a low level of light but some of the reflections were really quite bright.

I used my highest ISO of 1600, braced the camera as best I could and shot at one-half second at f-4, the largest aperture on my 70-200 "L" zoom. The high ISO gave me an undesirable amount of noise (similar to film grain), which I mitigated with the Noise-Reduction feature of PhotoshopCS3.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Using such a high level of Noise-Reduction can play certain tricks with the image; resulting here in sort of a ghostly halo effect.



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Pet Cemetery - Presidio of San Francisco [part 4]

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photo by Donald Kinney

And yes it is true; love transcends death.
A big pink heart, hopefully to make the loss a bit easier.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Dallas is a long way away, but Dallas the dog is way out west -- here to stay.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Leo and ZsaZsa, together for eternity.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And yes, a few things may be falling apart around here.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And it's easy to imagine just how beautiful Kiska the Samoyed used to be.
I think the shell was a nice touch for Woody.   Aloha, little wiener dog.


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Pet Cemetery - Presidio of San Francisco [part 3]

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photo by Donald Kinney

O.k. folks, just today and tomorrow at the Presidio Pet Cemetery again and then I'll move on to something else, but I wanted to show all of these.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, there's old Stinky in the background.
Check out the beautiful patina on that wood.




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photo by Donald Kinney

And how appropriate -- Cutie's grave among a few pink Naked Ladies.




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photo by Donald Kinney

And with Louise, Judy, Raspberry, Tippy, Jerry, and Mr. Twister around; Polka is not going to be alone.



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photo by Donald Kinney

O.k. now, folks, this one is pretty spooky for me because this old bird's name is VERY silimar to the name of another old bird -- my mother!

My mother's name was Pauline but everybody called her Polly, and we spell our last name with an "i" instead of the "e" used here, but I thought it was a cool and sort of spooky coincidence anyway.

Polly the parrot lived to the ripe old age of 51 but fortunately my mother made it all the way to 87. Just to make Mom really mad I used to offer her a cracker at every opportunity and say "Polly want a cracker?"



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Pet Cemetery - Presidio of San Francisco [part 2]

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photo by Donald Kinney

It's a bit hard to read but that's Moocher's marker in the distance.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And how appropriate -- Tippy's marker is tipping.
EVERYBODY's marker is tipping.

Notice the cleanly cut pine tree stump? Well, the construction crews are carefully avoiding the cemetery and are doing their best not to disturb anything, but they did feel it necessary to remove three or four pine trees within the 200 foot by 200 foot cemetery plot.




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photo by Donald Kinney

Pumpkin Bird must have been fond of pumpkin seeds. No mystery here...




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photo by Donald Kinney

And most definitely, Brownie is missed.




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photo by Donald Kinney

Hey, there was a tree here a minute ago...



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Pet Cemetery - Presidio of San Francisco [part 1]

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photo by Donald Kinney

Not many people know, but ten points and a gold star if you know there is a pet cemetery in the Presidio of San Francisco.


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photo by Donald Kinney

And I know a few of you "locals" are scratching your heads -- wondering EXACTLY where this is, but first let me tell you that it's out of view but you've undoubtedly passed right by it hundreds of times as you made your way to and from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Painstaking efforts have been taken to protect the pet cemetery, but it sits smack dab in the middle of the massive one-billion dollar Doyle Drive reconstruction project (((okay, NOW you know))).

It's also a great place to take photos of the Doyle Drive project and I'll be showing you some soon (((I returned with some good ones, I think))).



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photo by Donald Kinney

The pet cemetery is actually part of the National Cemetery a quarter mile east.

These were the pets of military families stationed here in the Presidio as late as 1989, however I noticed several graves with dates later than 1989, like Sparky in the following photo.

Since military families move frequently I didn't realize that so many of them would have pets, but apparently they did, and their intense love for their pets is evident throughout the cemetery.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Now, Sparky's master didn't make total sense with what he wrote here, but the text sort of gives the impression that Sparky was a nasty little ankle biter.

I think it reads:
"Sparky - 1999 -- 2004
Loved by fear
Feared by many
San Francisco
Your ankles
Arf."




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photo by Donald Kinney

O.k. now folks, brace yourselves because I have a whole slew of these pet cemetery photos which I'll be showing here over the next few days.

This will also allow me a few extra days to get a bit more caught up with projects and my shooting schedule. Thank you for your patience and I'd like to give each and every one of you a big hug for visiting AphotoAday.



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more from Lagunitas Creek

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photo by Donald Kinney

Laugh if you wish, but back in the '60's we used the word "groovy" interchangeably with "o.k.".   Being "in the groove" was the place to be.

So just possibly that's the source of my affinity to the "groovy" waters of the Lagunitas Creek.   Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!



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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, what a "rush"...   These fast waters are a real "mind trip", man...



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photo by Donald Kinney

And here -- gather a bit of "galactic energy" from this colorful display.

"Peace be with you", brothers...


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drama in west Marin

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photo by Donald Kinney

The man-made lake at Nicasio is usually full of photo opportunities -- I suppose it's a bit like fishing.

I think I caught a "whopper" here, if I do say so myself.

And it was such an easy shot to snap -- a large lens aperture gave me a short depth-of-focus, and in Photoshop I was easily able to bring the tones up slightly to correct for a bit of under-exposure.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And no, this isn't any sort of ominous storm passing over -- it's just the heavy morning cloud cover breaking up.

I think about 90% of photography is "just being there at the right time". Some day I'm going to get this same shot with streaming sunlight pouring through the cloud-breaks. I can't wait -- today could be the day.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Same approximate scene, but a bit closer using the zoom lens.

Quite a bit lighter and not so ominous, although it was taken only about five minutes later than the previous shot.


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