observation post at Battery Mendell -- Point Bonita

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photo by Donald Kinney

All is currently quiet on the western front, and only Seaside daisies--and maybe a bit of radar--stand guard.



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photo by Donald Kinney

These are remains of the observation post near Battery Mendell at Point Bonita. Not far below were two large anti-aircraft guns, part of the harbor defenses of San Francisco Bay charged with defending the area from enemy attack. Also rather critical was determining friend from foe.

By the early part of the 20th century the U.S. Army built Battery Mendell and four other batteries nearby at Fort Barry in the Marin Headlands. Mendell, which was completed in 1906, was outfitted with a pair of 12-inch guns on a "disappearing carriage". When the guns were ready to fire, they could pop up into position, fire a single shot, and then recoil down and out of sight for reloading. As I mentioned the other day--a shot was never fired.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

volunteer oats -- in the sun

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photo by Donald Kinney

Just like any other year, there seems to be no shortage of volunteer oats.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And of course, thank our lucky stars, the sun does volunteer work as well.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

modern-day cavemen

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photo by Donald Kinney

The other day while walking down to Kirby Cove I made a slight detour and re-visited Battery Wagner, just slightly off the beaten path with a commanding view overlooking the entrance to the Golden Gate. The Point Bonita area is peppered with the stoic remains of military emplacements, some of which, believe it or not, date back to the Civil War. A shot was never fired.

Of course, modern-day cavemen have chosen the surfaces of these bunkers as their canvases. It is a constant battle for the National Park Service to eradicate the graffiti, but since the mess here at Battery Wagner is mostly out of view of visitors, no cleanup has been done in the area.



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photo by Donald Kinney

In another area of Point Bonita is a restoration of a Nike-Hercules missile site, which was fully operational until the mid 1970's. These missiles were defenses against the threat of Soviet bombers, and were equipped with nuclear warheads capable of blasting a bomber out of the sky 90 miles out to sea. You can read all about them on a blog post I did in 2009 by clicking here.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

sand dunes -- Abbott's Lagoon, Point Reyes

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photo by Donald Kinney

Thump, thump, thump… One sure way to get blood coursing through a photographer's veins is to plop him or her down in the middle of an endless field of rippled sand dunes. Snap, snap, snap...



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photo by Donald Kinney

And although the dunes near Abbott's Lagoon at Point Reyes might not have as much variety, or be arranged in such dramatic hills as the dunes we might find in Death Valley or Oceano, their stripedness will do just fine for me.



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photo by Donald Kinney




Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

not sure -- but I call it wild wheat

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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm always duly impressed when some expert starts rattling off the names of plants. But since I am old and my mind is feeble, it is in-one-ear-and-out-the-other. I think my method is more fun anyway--I just make up my own names for all the mysterious plants and trees I encounter...



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photo by Donald Kinney

I call this plant "wild wheat". I don't know if that is even remotely close...


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

Nicasio -- more going on here than one might expect

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photo by Donald Kinney

Located at the geographic center of Marin County is the tiny town of Nicasio. We could probably count the number of homes in the "downtown" district on one hand (and have two fingers left over). Nicasio also sports a church and a popular rancho-style restaurant. Also in Nicasio is a volunteer fire department, a post office, a place to buy pumpkins in October, and a brand new cheese factory that draws quite a crowd on weekends.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Driving through most tiny towns is easy, but here in Nicasio drivers need to negotiate two 90 degree turns in order to navigate around the baseball field situated smack dab in the center of town.   [snapped: April 2012]



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photo by Donald Kinney

Heading out to the west of Nicasio is a lake (actually a reservoir) that serves as a backup for Marin's water needs. It also serves MY needs as a fertile place for photographs--I try to visit often.   [snapped: October 2013]


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

balls o' fire

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photo by Donald Kinney

You may have noticed I have been incorporating the sun into more of my images.



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photo by Donald Kinney

"Two stops down" usually does it. The other requirement is just "being there".


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

the famous GGB -- one billion and two

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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, it has been snapped a billion times, but I guess there is no harm in just one or two more. But actually, the really cool thing is that I ended up shooting that morning next to someone who's work I have been admiring in one of the Facebook groups. We compared a few notes...



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photo by Donald Kinney

An image I snapped the day before, when fog was a bit more abundant.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

ominous clouds -- damn little rain

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, we had some big and dark clouds pass over in the past few days...



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photo by Donald Kinney

...but they yielded precious little rain.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

experimenting with reduced clarity -- once again

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well folks, I'm back fooling around with the idea of "reduced clarity". Oh you know how this works--I run 'em up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

more of our flighted friends

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photo by Donald Kinney

I suppose that for some creatures, like this Turkey Hawk--with civilization somewhat distant--each day is just another day in the old wild west.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Not a new image ^^^ taken April 2010
I feel badly when I spook an animal--that's not the way I like to get my shots--but sometimes I suddenly find myself in close proximity to an animal. Two choices; 1) pick my nose.   2) snap the shutter.

Notice that with these two images today, I mixed black and white with color--something I'm not supposed to do, but I thought the coloring of that Blue Heron is so interesting that it would be even MORE of a crime to convert the image into a black and white.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

insistent honking, forceful flapping

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photo by Donald Kinney

The honk of the Canada Goose is insistent and probably even irritating, but once in a while they will fly directly overhead--silent--except for a ruffled sound from the forceful flapping of their wings.



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photo by Donald Kinney

The Sea Gull, a flighted acrobat in its own right--snapped September 2012.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

fully aware that I am breaking a rule here...

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, the big deal is we're never supposed to mix black and white with color...



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photo by Donald Kinney

...but I wanted to show this image also to point out the similarities of the clouds, taken on different days.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

an avocation -- not unlike Lion taming

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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh you know...



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photo by Donald Kinney

...trying to get a grip on it, after examining all of the possibilities.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book