August 31, 2014

seeing double -- or maybe it is just me


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photo by Donald Kinney

Photography has rules, and a whole lot of them. Rules; all waiting to be bent, stretched, ignored, and just plain broken.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This image never saw it coming...


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August 30, 2014

clearing fog -- on the Mountain


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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm a bit ambivalent about this image--it probably would be a stronger image if converted into a black and white, but that would result in losing the nice blue sky. The dark rocks just weren't responding well to commands.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This might be a bit of a better image, but I think the moral of the story is not to attempt a subject like this in the full sun of mid-morning.


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August 29, 2014

reluctant clouds meet demanding, domineering sun


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photo by Donald Kinney

On Wednesday the sun, as usual, was victorious.



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photo by Donald Kinney

On Saturday the sun was having a more difficult time of it.


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August 28, 2014

Azalea Hill at 9am -- China Camp light-show at 6am


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photo by Donald Kinney

The sun fought a valiant battle on Tuesday… and finally won.



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photo by Donald Kinney

It had performed a light-show earlier that same morning at China Camp.


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August 27, 2014

late afternoon at China Camp, on San Pablo Bay


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photo by Donald Kinney

Don't tell anyone because we might want to keep this our little secret…
The western shore of San Pablo Bay, although a bit shallow and forgotten, offers quiet scenery--a retreat from the hustle-and-bustle of modern life.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Along the way I had to drive over huge shadows laying in the roadway.



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photo by Donald Kinney

One limb remained suspended in thin air. Defying gravity. Refusing to fall.


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August 26, 2014

shadow puppets -- morning and afternoon


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photo by Donald Kinney

Backside of the moon or backside of Big Rock--same thing, pretty much.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Approaching alien with whirring and snapping gizmo slung around neck.


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August 25, 2014

sunrise--somewhat like music being played, I suppose


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photo by Donald Kinney

Starting from slow darkness at the crack of dawn, sunrise can follow a thin but colorful sequence. Somewhat like music being played, I suppose.



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Building to a crescendo--beams of light spreading illumination dramatically.


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August 24, 2014

ashes 'n urns -- the Columbarium, San Francisco


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photo by Donald Kinney

The Columbarium is a round four-storied neo-classical structure built in 1898 with approximately 6,700 niches on four levels--believe it or not. On this latest trip to the Columbarium I noticed a sign indicating permission is now needed to visit the upper floors, but I'm sure permission is easily obtained.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Seems like this is one of San Francisco's best kept secrets, and you're probably going to need a map to find the place. 1 Loraine Court, S.F.
That's assuming you actually WANTED to go to the Columbarium.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Many of the niches contain objects that reflect the person's interests and personality. Some of the crypts are filled with the most wonderful objects.

The Columbarium was in great disrepair when the Neptune-Society assumed ownership in 1980, but since then the structure and interior has undergone extensive refurbishing and restoration.               more info


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August 23, 2014

from a popular bridge to a rather obscure lighthouse


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photo by Donald Kinney

The cables of the Bay Bridge move fluidly in waves of light and motion. Tinseltown razzamatazz…  It really is quite a mind-blowing light-show.



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photo by Donald Kinney

A lesser known landmark, Point Montara Lighthouse, is 25 miles south. The lighthouse isn't very tall--designed that way to shine under the fog layer. Most cars pass by on Highway-1 and few ever notice the lighthouse and other buildings, although there is a popular Youth Hostel located here.
The much larger and more visited Pigeon Point Lighthouse is to the south.

After numerous ship wrecks along the San Mateo coast in the mid-1800s, a foghorn was installed at Point Montara, near Moss Beach. First sounded in 1872, the horn eased the way for ships entering the San Francisco Bay from the south. In 1900, a short light tower was erected to work in tandem with the fog horn and ensure an even safer approach to the Golden Gate. Today, the light is still an active aid to sea navigation, visible for 14 miles at sea. (source: Wikipedia)

For years, vessels caught in the thick fog along the final approach to San Francisco Bay were forced to hug the coast, putting them in danger of the rocky outcroppings that provide the beautiful vistas to sightseers, but prove deadly to boats. Although by the mid-1800's almost 90 vessels had met the business end of jagged rocks off Montara, it wasn't until two high profile incidents in 1868 and 01872 that Congress was finally motivated into action.

On November 9, 1868, the Colorado, a large Pacific Mail steamship carrying hundreds of passengers and the US mail, ran aground on the unseen shoals off Point Montara. Although the ship eventually floated free and all the passengers--and the mail--survived, the near-disaster left its mark on public sentiment.

Four years later another ship caught on Colorado Reef was not as lucky. On October 17, 1872, the British sailing Aculeo collided with the rocks after being lost for more than three days in a blinding fog. As the ship cracked open and filled with water, the crew made its escape on lifeboats. For over a week, the abandoned ship was pounded by waves before a salvage crew could get to it.

The next March, Congress appropriated $15,000 for a fog signal at Point Montara, to be positioned at the end of a rocky bluff 70 feet above the ocean. Earlier signals had been installed to the south at Ano Nuevo, and to the north at Yerba Buena Island. Operational March 1, 1875, the signal was a 12-inch steam whistle whose five-second blast could be heard up to 15 miles away. The whistle didn't come cheap--it took betwen 150,000 and 200,000 pounds of coal to fuel it every year, depending on the number of foggy days.

However, the fog signal wasn't enough to prevent continuing disasters along this stretch of coast. Four years to the day after the Acuelo was impaled on Colorado Reef, a three-masted Welsh ship, Rydal Hall, crashed in the fog onto Frenchman's Reef. Only 21 members of the 30-man crew survived, and none of the cargo did. Salvage was impossible--the broken ship languished almost a month on the rocks before cracking apart, meanwhile spilling tons of coal into the water and onto the beach. Further wrecks of ships carrying railroad iron and lumber littered the rocky coast as more vessels met their demise on the rocks. (source: information signs at Montara Lighthouse)


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August 22, 2014

dark and moonless -- a midnight trip south


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photo by Donald Kinney

It was an exceedingly dark evening. No plan, but I headed south.



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photo by Donald Kinney

You may have heard... the early bird catches the worm.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Worms with artichokes make a great combination. Bon appetité.


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August 21, 2014

moon mass over Bay Bridge


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photo by Donald Kinney

All the ingredients for darkness were there; but a bright moon and pesky electric lights in the distance were not going to let it happen.


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August 20, 2014

more towards Santa Cruz--blithering middle of night


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photo by Donald Kinney

San Mateo coastline, more towards Santa Cruz and Greyhound Rock
in the blithering middle of night...


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August 19, 2014

Pigeon Point Lighthouse -- a photog's Mecca


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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, yes, thanks for asking… I DID take a little fast mid-of-night trip down the San Mateo Coast.

ALL photogs go to Pigeon Point Lighthouse. They just DO, and no reasonable explanation has ever been found. Some say it is a right-of-passage, and others go less for snaps and more to absorb darkness and salt-laden-air. A new excuse for each long, very long exposure. And often, I will admit in my case, it could be the bad-boy thrill of staying up past bedtime.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Not a new image^^^taken on another mid-of-night outing, Nov, 2011.

source of the following: Wikipedia
Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of the most picturesque lighthouses on the Pacific coast. The tower stands on a rocky promontory and has long been a landmark for ships approaching San Francisco Bay from the south. This headland, and hence the lighthouse, took its name from the ship Carrier Pigeon that wrecked here in 1853.

The lantern room of the tower is no longer equipped with the original first-order, 1000-watt Fresnel lens. No longer illuminated for demonstration purposes, the lens has 24 flash panels, is composed of 1008 hand-polished lenses and prisms and is capable of producing over 500,000 candlepower illumination. It was manufactured by the Henry-LePaute company in Paris, France and was first lit at Pigeon Point at sunset on November 15, 1872.

Originally the tower was equipped with a lamp that burned refined lard oil (pig fat). In 1888, that lamp was replaced with a mineral oil (kerosene) lamp. To produce Pigeon Point's assigned characteristic of one white flash of light every ten seconds, the one (1) ton lens rotated one time every four minutes. When observed from a distance, this resulted in the appearance of one white flash of light every ten seconds. The lens rotation was originally powered by a clockworks and 45 pounds (20 kg) weight. In 1926 the lighthouse was provided with electricity. Modern innovations were incorporated and the kerosene IOV lamp was replaced by a 1000 watt bulb, the clockworks by an electric motor and an electrically operated fog signal was eventually installed. The lighthouse has been designated California Historical Landmark number 930.

In 1972, the United States Coast Guard mounted a 24-inch aerobeacon on the front of the tower (now replaced by a smaller beacon) and officially retired the Fresnel lens from regular duty. The First order Fresnel lens is no longer lit to celebrate special occasions, such as the annual lighting of the lens, which usually occurred in mid-November (closest Saturday to November 15) the date of the original first lighting in 1872. The lens was removed from the top of the tower in November 2011, to now be displayed in the fog signal building, adjacent to the base of the lighthouse. The light outside the lens room, mounted on a small verandah at the top of the 100-foot (30 m) tower, rotating with six beams, is still an active aid to navigation. Updated information, garnered from the recent lens removal crew, has produced new numbers for the weight of the lens...long reported to be four tons. In actuality that figure was the complete shipping weight of the lens and its rotating clock works. The correct figures are as follows: lens weight, one (1) ton; the clock works, one (1) ton; and the seventy-eight (78) wooden shipping crates to contain such, two (2) tons; total, therefore, being the reported four tons.

The tower has been closed to tours since December 2001 because of the collapse of brickwork supporting outside access metal walkways on the top of the structure. Cast iron was used rather than steel with the unfortunate result being that cast iron absorbs water rather than repelling it like steel, thus the walkways are severely rusted, as are the major binding ring bands at the base of the tower! The California State Park system has promised repairs, but it is estimated that even if funds were available, it would be seven to ten years before the repairs would be completed. In July, 2010, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) stated that of the $3.4 million she requested for her district through the Fiscal Year 2011 Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, $250,000 will be allocated to restore the upper portion of the lighthouse.


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August 18, 2014

Painted bridge, the wilds of west Marin


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photo by Donald Kinney

Out in the wilds of west Marin we have one bridge in particular that has been sprayed and brushed with a lot of paint over the years. The 130' concrete span was built in the 1930's and is on Pt.Reyes Station to Petaluma Road, crossing Nicasio Creek below Nicasio Reservoir Dam. Platform Bridge Road branches west. Thousands of cars cross this narrow bridge each day.



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photo by Donald Kinney

The bridge is now in an arty pleasant state in its long and colorful history of being sprayed and slathered with paint.



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photo by Donald Kinney

For now… the theme of this painted bridge in west Marin County seems to be about peace and harmony with our streams, trees, and air. The way our impact on the land and environment is supposed to be.


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August 16, 2014

on the road again...

I'm on the road today (Sunday)
--blog and the usual foolishness will return Monday morning.


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August 15, 2014

Mt. Tamalpais -- swaddled in a veil of fog


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photo by Donald Kinney

Our Sleeping Lady, Tamalpa, was particularly beautiful Wednesday morning.


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August 14, 2014

three nice photos, if I say so myself


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photo by Donald Kinney

Early morning, pointed east.


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photo by Donald Kinney

Camera turned west in the afternoon.


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photo by Donald Kinney

A burst of color, after the sun sank.


NOW would be the time to celebrate:

celebration sounds - mouse over keys --or click on key to repeat 3 times... drag keys to create key combinations -- I made numerous sound-effect keyboards when I was learning FLASH® about 8 years ago.

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August 13, 2014

stand-up paddle-boarder at China Camp


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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, the things I sometimes see while out there driving WAY too many miles and burning up WAY too much gasoline. The other morning I spotted a man watering a group of sunflowers towering over his head by more than a foot. I suppose I could have slammed on the brakes and approached the fence-line surreptitiously, like a hunter stalking game with a rifle; but he definitely would have seen me coming and the image would have ended up looking contrived. Or, he might have yelled a few nasty words in my direction to ward me off. Yes, it has happened before.

One morning I was in the Redwood studded area of deepest Lucas Valley when I decided on a nice shot of a beautiful home amongst towering Redwoods. I was hand-holding my monstrously frightening 70-200 zoom when the resident came out, approached me, and started accusing me of trying to shoot into her windows. Oh she was mad, and nothing I could say was able to assure her that I was NOT shooting into her windows. I wanted to photograph the general scene; which I believe I had every right in the world to do. With cellphone in hand she began screaming, yes screaming at me that she was calling the sheriff--fair enough warning for me to get back in my car and leave. I'm sure she got my license plate, but since she had forgotten to place me under citizen's arrest and wasn't packing heat, I thought the best thing for me to do would be to just get out of there. I never heard anything of it from the sheriff, and I hope I didn't spoil her day; but it did leave me a bit shaken and concerned.



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photo by Donald Kinney

On Monday I spotted this stand-up paddle-boarder paddling away from the shore at China Camp, and I figured that if I waited long enough she would return, passing through glistening waters. If I was lucky, I thought, she wouldn't see me trying to snap her. Fortunately, I heard no hostile words of complaint. She seemed to be ignoring me completely. Either she didn't see me, or just didn't care.


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August 12, 2014

standing in darkness -- a very fine occupation


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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, I've worked. Yes, I have worked. And I've had some rather interesting jobs, and I've worked with some even more interesting people. Yes, indeed, I've worked. I've worked hard. But oh, I suppose my employers might have had a different opinion.

In 1969 through 1971 I served in the U.S. Army at the undeniable request of the President of the United States; Richard Milhous Nixon. Oh, they sent me to Fort Bliss, Texas; to train on a mobile missile launcher system called Chaparral, and I even launched one $80,000 missile at White Sands Test Range in Arizona. But when I got deployed to Germany (yes, I somehow avoided Vietnam) the first thing they asked was if I knew anything about typewriters. Cautiously I responded YES, but my caution was based on a book I had been reading; "The Draftee's Confidential Guide" which related a story about a group of recruits who had raised their hands when asked by their sergeant if they knew anything about typewriters. Unwittingly, they had volunteered to unload a truck full of typewriters. Fortunately, for me, my job changed from Chaparral crew member to company clerk-typist, working in a warm office typing up voluminous Article-15's, Court-martials, and duty rosters.

--So, why am I telling you this Army stuff? To prepare you for THIS story about the honorable man I worked under in his orderly-room; Master Sergeant Carmen. One day after a particular hectic day of typing I remarked to Sergeant Carmen that I needed a vacation, to which he quickly replied; "Kinney, you've been on a vacation since you got here." 'Nuff said.



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photo by Donald Kinney

But at work I used to often look out the windows at interesting cloud formations passing over. And I'm sure my co-workers heard me say it a million times--"on a day like this Ansel Adams would be out photographing".



photo by Donald Kinney

But Kitty never worked, at least not in the traditional specter. She would often tug on my heart with love, but how could anyone confuse that with work--it was pure dedication on her part, but maybe she just didn't know any better. And she LOVED to play. Even if it was only from the living room to the kitchen, she would prance and run. A very fine cat indeed. One time I even saw her balance the moon on her nose.


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August 11, 2014

yeah, I had to wait for this one


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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, I knew it was gonna happen. And it did. But it sure took a long while.



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photo by Donald Kinney

444 snaps, and about an hour earlier this was the scene. Gray and ominous.


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August 10, 2014

at Point Reyes Station -- getting a bit "arty"


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photo by Donald Kinney

The town of Point Reyes Station had its beginnings when the railroad arrived in 1875. Originally known as"Olema Station", its name changed to "Point Reyes", then to "Marin", then back to "Point Reyes" again, and finally sticking with "Point Reyes Station" in 1891. Fifteen years later the town was almost completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake--as the San Andreas fault runs north and south, about a quarter mile west of town.



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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm not absolutely certain of this, but I'm guessing the bricks on the left are pre-1906--in part of the wall that survived the destructive quake; contrasted by the different size, misaligned, and newer looking brick on the right.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Getting a bit arty here… This new non-skid floor--suitable for slippery cow hooves--is part of the old barn shown in the top photo. The barn is part of public open space and has been undergoing a restoration by volunteers for more than a decade, with funding for materials coming from TARP funds.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Inside the barn this piercing design of light caught my eye. For a moment, but only briefly, I felt like I might need to replace my baseball cap with an artist's beret, or my worn out green shirt with a smock smeared with green paint. When I returned to reality I remembered that photography comes with its own set of baggage--no need for me to complicate matters with the self-inflated title of "artist".

Reminds me of a story about one of my idols--Edward Weston--who died in 1958. In the 1930's while a gallery in New York City was preparing for Weston's first major exhibition, he received in the mail a proof-copy of the exhibition's catalog for his approval. He immediately balked at the blurb beneath his name on the cover, calling him a "photographic artist". Angrily he fired off a terse note to the gallery instructing them to change "photographic artist" to simply "photographer".



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August 09, 2014

Nicasio -- Thursday afternoon and Friday morning


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photo by Donald Kinney

It was Thursday afternoon--and the sun was putting on quite a show.

Well, at the rate the water level is dropping with the drought, there won't be much left in Nicasio Reservoir soon. We "Marinites" are a thirsty bunch and the amount of rain we got this season hasn't amounted to diddly-squat.




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photo by Donald Kinney

Friday morning I decided to swing by the other side of the "lake" to see if Mom-Nature might be showing more of her tricks. I'll let you be the judge.


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