drama in the sky -- or perhaps it may have been chaos

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photo by Donald Kinney

Yesterday the sky returned to to its normal plain-vanilla blue, but recently Mother Nature has been treating us to mind-blowing shows of dramatic tropical clouds. That little tiny mountain in the foreground is our beloved Mount Tamalpais. The little strip of water on the horizon is part of San Francisco Bay.



photo by Donald Kinney

Shooting "wide" is relatively new to me, and I like it. My new 24-70 Tamron has been working out well, and my old heavy beast--the 70-200 Canon f-2.8 II I.S. "L"--has probably been feeling a bit neglected. But there are instances when even 24mm on a full-frame sensor isn't quite wide enough. Occasionally I will turn the camera vertical and make a multiple image panorama to be able to capture it all. These (above) are the four images I started with. Since I wasn't using a polarizer, I darkened what was originally blue (except Lake Lagunitas in the foreground) during post-processing.


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an orangy-red sunrise -- a chorus of beauty

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photo by Donald Kinney

I've been noticing how excited and noisy our feathered-friends seem to get in those first brief moments when the sun pops-up on the horizon. The more dramatic and colorful the sunrise, the happier those birds seem to be. Next time you're up early [insert laughter here] take a listen. Yes, you can sing their song in harmony, or you can just whistle along.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
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Lagunitas Creek -- I may have lost my touch

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photo by Donald Kinney

Gosh, time flies, and it has been 12 years now since I reintroduced myself to the hobby of my youth--photography.  And for that same length of time I have made hundreds of visits to one particular stretch of my beloved Lagunitas (La-goo-ní-tas) Creek out in west Marin.

But its more difficult to get to my favorite stretch of creek now. To my ire, the County fixed and repaved the road through the area--putting up no-parking signs along a six mile stretch, so getting to my old stomping grounds is now quite a long walk along the road.

Additionally, the meander of the creek has changed its course just ever so slightly. Each year Winter storms turn the normally bucolic Lagunitas Creek into a raging torrent, scouring the creek bottom and ripping trees out of the banks. Although technically part of Taylor State Park, the creekside trail is not maintained and is now impassable in certain spots.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Anyway, I like these two vertical images better than the upper photo, but maybe I've lost my touch with the Lagunitas--maybe we have grown apart. But I DO have memories, and there is even a 2011 video (below) produced by my great and wonderful friend Diane Harrigan of Postcards from S.F. fame, showing yours-truly out at the Lagunitas Creek doing my thing.



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the Gee Gee Bridge -- 1 billion 1, and 1 billion 2

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photo by Donald Kinney

I've always thought that the massive structure supporting the northern approach to the Gee Gee is just as amazing as other parts of the bridge.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And I've snapped it before, and I'll snap it again…
One billion three and one billion four...


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late afternoon -- west Marin County

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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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it was Wednesday -- it was early in the morning

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photo by Donald Kinney

I would have to admit one of my favorite things is to stand around patiently at dawn waiting for the rising sun to put on some sort of grand performance.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Earlier on Wednesday morning I noticed Venus and a crescent moon. I would have LOVED to stand there in darkness and solitude, but I had to boogie--I could see fog lingering on the hills at Big Rock [first photo].


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Nicasio -- ducks swam, clouds flew

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photo by Donald Kinney

This image [above] is from Wednesday morning. Just kidding, but I phoned the Screen Actor's Guild ahead of time and arranged for some of their best birds to do their thing on cue.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And for real--I stopped by yesterday to see if anything was going on…
And no, not much, other than a large film crew shooting god-knows-what on the scenic country back-road that passes through the area.


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fog on Mount Tamalpais -- nothing out of the ordinary

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photo by Donald Kinney

The TV weatherperson gave me the impression that Monday morning would be obscured by solid cloud cover, so I slept-in all the way to 6AM.  Well, I woke to puffy clouds and I could only imagine what I had just missed out on. The rest of the day I chased clouds--to one degree of success or another.



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photo by Donald Kinney

On Wednesday I also got out a little bit late but didn't have to go far.
Our Sleeping Lady was gracefully peeling back her cover of fog.



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photo by Donald Kinney

With my fingers crossed I climbed higher on the mountain in search of fog.
I found some in trees at the drippy north end of Ridgecrest Boulevard.


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it was morning -- it was a blazing sunrise

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photo by Donald Kinney

it was morning…                     [taken July 16, 2014]



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photo by Donald Kinney

it was a blazing sunrise…                     [taken December 2011]


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finding the edge -- at Land's End

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photo by Donald Kinney




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photo by Donald Kinney



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a dearth of photo opportunities -- lord help me

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photo by Donald Kinney

Some people can't live a day without making music or singing a song.
Others find their lives are without meaning if they cannot communicate with their god and/or text with friends. But for me, I'm going to be an unhappy-camper unless I can be out there snapping the shutter of my fancy camera.

Some days the photo opportunities come easier than others. Usually it is either feast or famine, and currently I am in the middle of a dry-spell and the photos are not coming easily.

So, late in the day on Saturday I thought I would give it one more try--I motored out to Nicasio reservoir; played a few notes on my recorder, sang that dumb song that had been stuck in my head all day, prayed for forgiveness, and asked for a miracle. And yes--it happened--I heard the honking of Canada Geese in the distance. They were coming my way.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This set of "experimentally" processed images [above] is not new--they were snapped in September 2012. Maybe they will strike your fancy, and maybe they won't. I used Photoshop's "plastic-wrap" filter--something I only use on rare occasions, and purely for fun. Nothing serious going on here...


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view from top of Mt. Tamalpais

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photo by Donald Kinney

What you're seeing here is the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge getting caught up in a bit of incoming fog. San Quentin Prison is in lower left corner, and that boat is the Golden Gate Ferry on its way to Larkspur Landing.

So, here's the story:  I grew up (((if I EVER grew up))) on the Monterey Peninsula--famous for its own beauty, but Grandma lived in Kentfield here in Marin County. Our family would make frequent trips up the coast to visit. Unfortunately, my dad wasn't much of an explorer so all we seemed to do was to sit around Grandma's house. In these early years all I ever saw of Mount Tamalpais was a nice view of the mountain framed by Grandma's bathroom window.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Looking out that bathroom window I always wondered if it was possible to get to the very tip top of Mount Tamalpais. I would ask, and Grandpa would say there was a road going all the way up, but I knew I would have to wait several years before I had my own freedom to do such a thing. It became my goal--to get to the tip top of Mount Tamalpais, come hell or high-water.

I moved to Marin in the late '60's, and except for a two year stint in the US Army I have been living here ever since. And yes, the mountain is right in my backyard. I realize I am a very lucky guy.


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photography -- it's sort of a hit or miss proposition

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photo by Donald Kinney

No shortage of fog in the past few days, but it has been a heavy type of fog that has not been cooperative. I'm definitely not overly pleased with these two images [above]. What you are seeing here is not actual rain, but condensed fog dripping from trees.



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photo by Donald Kinney

THIS image [above] from April 2013 is more of what I was going for. I'll keep trying.


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light streaks in the sky

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photo by Donald Kinney

Occasionally I'll see something incredible going on in the sky, and I'll wonder if anyone else in the vicinity is seeing the same display of drama and beauty. No fun keeping it all to myself, so here you go...


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if you look closely and squint

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photo by Donald Kinney

If you look closely and squint, you might be able to see sunlight peeking through the leaves.


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Mt. Tamalpais -- legends, old and new

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photo by Donald Kinney

At 2574 feet above sea level, Mount Tamalpais isn't all that tall but it has a commanding beauty--especially when the elements take charge.

Our beloved mountain in Marin--we usually just call her Mt. Tam--was a spiritual place to the Native Americans who lived in the area. Out of fear of being sacrilegious, they normally avoided hiking all the way to the top.



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photo by Donald Kinney

[photo above not new -- taken in November 2011]

Since most of the Indian legends have been lost, we apparently thought we had to invent one of our own.

The modern legend started in 1913 in an open-air theater on Mt Tam with "Tamalpa", imagined to be a beautiful young Miwok maiden who fell in love with an Indian prince. True to life perhaps--when the prince abandoned her she walked to the top of the mountain and died of heartbreak. As she was dying she sobbed--the mountain heard her intense sorrow and took pity. This is kind of a stretch, but the mountain apparently was so moved by her distress that the mountain rearranged its form, taking on the supine shape of her body--and that, folks, is where the legend of the "Sleeping Lady" or "Tamalpa" originated. At certain angles and if we use considerable imagination, we can trace the outline of her sleeping form.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
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Madrones on Mt. Tamalpais

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photo by Donald Kinney

Usually I only get into these posterization effects when I make a last-ditch effort in dealing with an otherwise hopeless image. But I've been attempting to photograph this venerable Madrone tree for years now--usually without much success. While I was snapping away I knew I was going to have to give it a bit of an experimental flavor--or something.

This [above] was shot as a panorama of 5 wide-angle vertical images stitched together in Photoshop, given a bit of reduced-clarity, and then posterized with a limited palette of colors. You might like it, but then--you might not.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Madrones are like snakes--they outgrow their thin skin and shed it annually. Some folks call them "refrigerator" trees, and if you hug one on a really hot day you will know why.


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getting a focus on China Camp

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photo by Donald Kinney

As darkness started to lift, it became obvious that I was alone,



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photo by Donald Kinney

although I think I may have heard a few snores coming from China Camp's one and only resident...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Frank Quan who has lived here at China Camp his entire life, netting bay shrimp.   [this last photo taken July 2011]


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it was early -- it was morning

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photo by Donald Kinney

Swaddled in darkness,
the blanket of clouds, with great reluctance, finally opened.


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Lucas Valley -- the big and the deep

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photo by Donald Kinney

A few basic components--this is Big Rock with a streak of morning light,



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photo by Donald Kinney

and this is the valley called Lucas, below.


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a slender sunrise at China Camp on San Pablo Bay

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photo by Donald Kinney

A slender opportunity...



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photo by Donald Kinney

and a beam of light at China Camp.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
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Mt. Tamalpais, a grand morning view, 2 of 2

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photo by Donald Kinney

And I'll swear-on-a-stack-of-Bibles that the bird was not tinkered with.
Birds are often generous--more than willing to help out a photo-snapper.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
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Mt. Tamalpais, a grand morning view, 1 of 2

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photo by Donald Kinney

I'll be the first to admit it that the digital process makes it oh, SO easy…
Without a doubt, the basic requirement is just BEING there.
A bit of a challenge this time of year, with the sun arriving so early.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
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a friendly horse at McIsaac Ranch

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photo by Donald Kinney

I don't seem to take all that many horse photographs, although in west Marin the horses just might outnumber people. This friendly beast was rolling around in dirt when I arrived at the fence line, but came over to slobber all over my gear, give a few nose-bumps, and shoot-the-breeze for a while.



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photo by Donald Kinney

The same horse from May 2013 when I was able to snag the flock of birds swooping up at just the right moment. The image won a special award at the Marin County Fair in 2013. Thank you very much.


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sun up -- it happens every day

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photo by Donald Kinney

As sure as shooting... As sure as that garbage truck will be coming. The sun will be up soon.



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photo by Donald Kinney

So its ants in my pants... I'd love to stop and chat, but Id better get going. See you later.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
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i remember When -- on san pablo bay

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photo by Donald Kinney

Boats used to come and go here on San Pablo Bay, and some still do.



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photo by Donald Kinney

A closer look at the aging piers. Not a new photo--taken July 2012.


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fireworks, Marin County Fair 2014

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photo by Donald Kinney

as usual...



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photo by Donald Kinney

...it was a splashing event

I even won 2 honorable mentions and had 6 prints shown in the photography show and competition--as usual, it was some pretty stiff competition.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
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