a photo a day - photos by Donald Kinney

June 14, 2013

Lagunitas Creek, once again

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Each visit is always a unique experience, but gosh, you'd think that after 7 or 8 years I would get tired of visiting the same old creek, seeking out the same old ripples and reflections and fast moving water in the morning light.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

On Tuesday while looking into this pool I spotted a school of perhaps 50 newly hatched Coho Salmon "smolt" swimming calmly in the shallows. Yes, the population of the endangered Cohos has been making a comeback since rip-roaring floods in 2005 interrupted the normal spawning cycle of the returning 2 year olds. Cohos are still endangered but now there is hope.

click photo for full-size image
photo (from January 2012) by Donald Kinney

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 13, 2013

Eucalyptus stumps on the hill

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

With overcast sky, snagging photos on Tuesday morning seemed like an unlikely proposition, but I just never know. So, while huffing and puffing my way to the top of the steep ridge that separates China Camp from Peacock Gap I was pretty sure I could save-the-day with the stumps that have been drying in the sun and "artfully" cracking for the past 20 years.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, Australia's gift to America; the lowly Eucalyptus tree... Okay, it grows fast, straight and tall, but comes with a bad reputation for being a major fire hazard in urban areas. It also makes poor lumber because of splitting, is messy, and excludes most other plants from growing nearby.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

But it does make good windbreaks--early in the last century California farmers planted rows of Eucalyptus along the windward edges of their fields. The pungent seeds can be fashioned into a necklace for dogs to ward off fleas--I had a friend who used to do that for her dog. Checking the internet here, the sellers of Eucalyptus Oil claim it to have the following beneficial properties; analgesic, antibacterial, anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, insecticidal, and as an expectorant.

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 12, 2013

Madrone -- wet and dry

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

(((welcome to wordless Wednesday)))

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 11, 2013

experimental, but not exactly new

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, that silly word--creativity--gets thrown about with reckless abandon, when I think the word--experimental--might be a bit more fitting.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

After all, man can convert and assemble objects as small as an atom or
as large as our environment; but outside the realm of magic we lack the necessary evolutionary or God-like skills allowing us to come up with something truly original on our own.

photos taken in 2008 by Donald Kinney

Not that our shortcomings should prevent us from experimenting. Technology has made the making of an image SO ridiculously easy.
An experimental smorgasbord with a slight flavor of art, so to speak.

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 10, 2013

making hay while the sun shines

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

My calendar is stuck on April, but 2013 is speeding by at an alarming rate.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I am apt to assume the hills will always be green, but they change quickly.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

So here's a little bit of Marin County agriculture. A horse might call it lunch.

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 09, 2013

Tomales Bay -- into the light

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Shooting towards the sun generally produces a strong image, and if done carefully the result can render a full range of tones from dark to light.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

And of course the technique can be taken to extremes, where middle-tones are few and where lights and darks become their own set of circumstances.

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 08, 2013

wilds of civilization

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

No shortage of wild turkeys here in Marin County. I found these at China Camp on the shores of San Pablo Bay.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

And a plethora of deer too... This year I have Mama and her two impeccably behaved youngsters hanging out in my yard and on the hillside below.

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 07, 2013

a little bit country

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I'm guessing the problem must have existed for a while and had gotten progressively worse. Then I suppose one day the farmer decided all he needed was a cable slung around his leaning silo to make it good as new.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

June 06, 2013

the wilds of China Camp

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

A seven mile bit of shoreline known broadly as China Camp has been preserved along the northwestern shores San Pablo Bay--the northern "thumb" of San Francisco Bay.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This area is a vast spread of tidal lands and islands, with soggy and spongy marshes hosting a curious salt-tolerant plant called Pickleweed.

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

For hundreds of years Coastal Miwok Indians lived here at China Camp in nearly-idealic conditions, leaving barely a trace.

CLICK for 40 new photos on my main website; www.photoarrow.com.

CLICK for preview of my exhibit at Mill Valley Library during July 2013.

June 05, 2013

Lagunitas Creek -- ripples and reflections

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

June 04, 2013

cloudless morning, just north of the bridge

click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I'll settle for fog, but I pray for clouds. And clouds and fog follow their own schedule, so when they fail to show-up I have to make-do without them.