Alpine Dam on Mount Tamalpais

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photo by Donald Kinney

I suppose the thing I enjoy about photography is that there is sometimes a bit of assembly required. Positioning is important. Neatness counts.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And other times it is just a matter of being selective in the way the image is constrained and cropped.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Generally, there will be little time, however, to mow the grass...


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May peace shine on the day.

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photo by Donald Kinney

Confession time here... I painted each light that red color--the peace sign wasn't actually illuminated at the time. This is morning.



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photo by Donald Kinney

May peace shine on the day. Here you can see that I didn't bother to paint in the red lights on the peace sign.   (((click on image to enlarge)))



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photo by Donald Kinney

So, it might be worth saying again--"may peace shine on the day".



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the reflective Lagunitas Creek

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photo by Donald Kinney

I've been looking into the reflective water again at my beloved Lagunitas Creek.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Once in a while I'll spot a Coho Salmon or a Steelhead, but it's mainly reflections I've been seeing.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Sometimes the reflections are a bit surrealistic.



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While others percolate more realistically. Everything but a cup of coffee...


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showing up in the shadows

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photo by Donald Kinney

I never quite know what is going to show up in the shadows...



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photo by Donald Kinney

From the shadows might come the neighbor's cat...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Or something else, perhaps somewhat spooky and ghostly...


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Lagunitas Creek, once again

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photo by Donald Kinney

I hadn't visited this mossy creekside rock for a while, so on Thursday I decided to fall by.



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photo by Donald Kinney

It was early enough that the reflected light on my beloved Lagunitas Creek was still golden.



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The ferns were waving their arms as if to say hello. Out at Lagunitas Creek, a wave is usually as good as a wink...


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the color orange

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photo by Donald Kinney

I was hoping I would trick you into thinking this would be yet another post about sunrises, but it is not--this is about the color orange. Sunrises have brilliant oranges. Usually, no extra help from Photoshop® is required.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Lichen on a large rock in Lucas Valley. There is a bit of yellow Lichen mixed in with the orange.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And this is orange from the other morning after I had totally struck out on the sunrise. Tree shadows on a wall. A fellow needs a bit of orange in the morning, I suppose...


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Breakfast at Wig Store

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photo by Donald Kinney

On Monday morning the sunrise was non-existent and I realized I was going to return with no photos. With no header photo to display, AphotoAday would go temporarily blank and header-less. Horrors...



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But then I remembered all my GFs at the Wig Store in downtown San Rafael. They're very quiet but I think their poise speaks volumes.



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Okay, yeah, I know it's pretty pathetic, but I DO love well-behaved ladies. They're just easier for Don to find down at the Wig Store at 7AM. Perhaps no apologies are needed. Amen...


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sunset from Mount Tamalpais

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photo by Donald Kinney

By now you probably know that I prefer a good sunrise to most any sunset--they are two completely different animals.



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With a sunrise, most of the drama happens 10 or 20 minutes before the big fire-ball arrives. At sunset the sinking fire-ball (not shown here) is usually off-the-scale, presenting a myriad of tonal-range and glare problems.



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About 20 miles west of San Francisco are the Farallon Islands. These are remnants of ancient upheaval that occurred nearly 90 million years ago forming abrupt, sharp ridges that pierce the ocean's surface. Intense winds and powerful surf have eroded the islands, sculpting them into craggy peaks and arches.

These days only well-intentioned scientists are allowed to live and work here, but that hasn't always been the case.

The different groups came seeking profit from the island's inhabitants -- the birds and marine mammals. Historically, seabirds nested here by the millions, rising in cacophonous chaos as intruders first set foot onshore. Seabird eggs satisfied the gluttonous diets of San Francisco's Gold Rush denizens. The fur of sea lions was collected for sale in Russia. Elephant seal blubber was sold in New England. Different groups came and depleted the island's wildlife population, replacing it with people and domestic animals. The most recent use of the islands was as a communications center -- as a lighthouse and a radio relay station. Over time, however, advancing technologies and the enduring difficulty of Farallones life drove people back to shore.
(source: S.F.Gate)

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Palace of Fine Art, San Francisco

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photo by Donald Kinney

Early on Sunday morning I had a bit of a photographic crisis--I was headed towards my usual NorthBeach and Chinatown haunts when I decided I was totally uninspired by these destinations.



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Fortunately, the Palace of Fine Arts provided a convenient detour.



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The Palace of Fine Arts was designed by Bernard Maybeck, who took his inspiration from Roman and Greek architecture in designing what was essentially a fictional ruin from another time. The Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915 was held here.



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The struggle seems to be ongoing. Bold men battle intimidating creatures for the "prize". For the loser and when the truth be told, there's generally some sort of reward somewhere near the bottom of every box of Cracker-Jacks!


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the best art is kid's art

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photo by Donald Kinney

The best art is kid's art. Let there be no discussion or debate. Case closed.



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I found these on the walls of a playground early one Sunday morning at John Yehall Chin Elementary School on lower Broadway in San Francisco.



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Rope jumping was a popular theme in the exhibit.



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photo by Donald Kinney

About 32 going on 10?   And an ominous crack.   Uh, oh...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Toys for boys and adventurous little girls.



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photo by Donald Kinney

We are what we are...



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Keep smiling...


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San Francisco on a Thursday afternoon

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photo by Donald Kinney

Ten days or so ago my good buddy Surfer-Dude-Robert and I found ourselves in San Francisco, hitting a lot of the hotspots, like the church at Mission Dolores here (left), while walking across the Mission District.



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The contemplative lion at the Legion of Honor could probably...



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photo by Donald Kinney

...teach Rodin's "Thinker" a thing or two about thinking.



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photo by Donald Kinney

One of our destinations was a particular fruit and vegetable market in the Mission District. This is a thin slice of some of the standard offerings.



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photo by Donald Kinney

It couldn't have been any nicer of a day at Ocean Beach.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And the local foam was digging it...


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sunrise over San Pablo Bay

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photo by Donald Kinney

Although magicians never reveal their tricks, "Photoshoppers" are usually more than willing to show what they have up their sleeves. In this case I "squashed" the photo to about half it's height using one of Photoshop's new tools--Content Aware Scaling. If a particular section of the image contains little information, it is allowed to be compressed.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Another "squashed" image. Those clouds were way higher than they appear here.



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photo by Donald Kinney

But I only had to "squash" this sunrise a little bit, as the section I wanted to crop wouldn't fit my standard 5616x1872px "thin" rectangle.

Sooooooooo, here's the deal with these "thin" photos...
Several months ago I bought myself the luxury of having my portfolio and "body of work" reviewed by one of the world's most highly respected photographers, Brooks Jensen, editor and publisher of highly regarded Lenswork Magazine.

Brooks was holding a full day of one-hour portfolio reviews in Monterey. Brooks is a popular guy and in high-demand, but I somehow managed to get a spot due to someone else's cancellation. The review went well and Brooks liked my eye and what I was doing, but of course we talked lots about technical issues. I found out about my shortcomings--no shortage there--but Brooks gave me a plethora of ideas and suggestions.

But the largest thing I learned with Brooks was having him show me how many of my images could be cropped into a "panoramic" style. With print after print, he would cut off the top and bottom and the result would be the actual "meat" of the image. Apparently I see panoramically. And I didn't even know it...



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photo by Donald Kinney

I suppose a tall vertical image would be considered a panorama.
Tallness for emphasis. A lot of emphasis going on here, for sure...


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Petaluma Abobe

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photo by Donald Kinney

Not far north of where I live (Marin County) is the historic Petaluma Adobe, originally an outpost and home to politician and rancher, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and his private military command.



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General Vallejo's troops did not receive sustenance from the Spanish government, so they were industrious at raising cattle and rustling their own food. But they were also soldiers, and theoretically were defending this area against an inward push by the Russians who had established an outpost and colony at Fort Ross on the coast to the west. (really)



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Following its separation from Spain, the Mexican government began to secularize the missions into parish churches. The vast mission holdings were divided and sold as land grants. In 1834 Governor Jose Figueroa ordered Lieutenant Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, commandant of the San Francisco presidio, to secularize Mission San Francisco Solano and start a pueblo at Sonoma [about 50miles] north of San Francisco Bay.
(source:  park brochure)



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General Vallejo's main and extraordinarily opulent home is in Sonoma--the more primitive adobe in Petaluma was used more-or-less as an outpost and western ranch headquarters.



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These two photos (above) aren't new, but they are from the interior of General Vallejo's fashionable home in Sonoma, about 15 miles to the east of Petaluma Adobe. The well appointed and nicely preserved home is located about a half-mile west of Sonoma Mission. General Vallejo was obviously a very wealthy man.

Oh by the way, I have a set of 15 photos -- California Missions -- if you'd like to take a more in-depth look at photos taken at missions in Carmel, San Juan Bautista, San Francisco, San Rafael, Petaluma, and Sonoma.


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