for just a brief moment

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photo by Donald Kinney

A twist of the z-o-o-m...
All very mysterious to me--and probably just a bit t-o-o much fun.



photo by Donald Kinney

And to figure it all out, perhaps we will need a set of clocks...
[at Computer History Museum in 2011]



photo by Donald Kinney

As for order--we have many mysterious ways to make the numbers line up.
[at Computer History Museum in 2011]


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

color vs. black and white -- you decide

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photo by Donald Kinney

Natural late afternoon colors, with just a bit of "reduced clarity" for that somewhat "dreamy" look.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Converted to black and white; with reddish tones boosted and blues darkened. This is Church of Saint Raphael which towers over nearby San Rafael Arcangel, a historic adobe built in 1817--the second most northern mission of 21 on California's "Mission Trail".

from Wikipedia:
The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of 21 religious and military outposts established by Catholic priests of the Franciscan order between 1769 and 1833 to spread Christianity among the local Native Americans. The missions were part of the first major effort by Europeans to colonize the Pacific Coast region, the most northern and western of Spain's North American claims. The settlers introduced European fruits, vegetables, cattle, horses, ranching and technology into the Alta California region; however, the Spanish colonization of California also brought with it serious negative consequences to the Native American populations with whom the missionaries and other Spaniards came in contact.

The government of Mexico secularized the missions in the 1830s and divided the vast mission land holdings into land grants which became many of the Ranchos of California. In the end, the missions had mixed results in their objectives: to convert, educate, and "civilize" the indigenous population and transform the natives into Spanish colonial citizens. Today, the surviving mission buildings are the state's oldest structures and the most-visited historic monuments.

Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

Marin -- the grand view

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photo by Donald Kinney

The sun hanging in a view across San Pablo Bay, towards Mt. Burdell.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Earlier at Big Rock; a cloud quickly passed over, almost unnoticed.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

a bright sunlit morning at China Camp

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photo by Donald Kinney

I went back and re-processed this image… I thought I had the sky at the top a bit too dark. When converting an image from color into black and white it is possible to individually darken or lighten the b&w output depending on the original colors. Here I selected blue and moved a slider about 30%.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Brilliant contrast will result ^^^ when shooting into the sun.


Just to check if I have "blown out my whites" this is a Histogram for this image. You'll notice that although I have a lot of black without much detail near the left hand side of the scale, the whites aren't bunched up against the right hand side of the scale, which is good. The light values and whites contain traces of detail and are not "blown out".


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

afternoon light at Big Rock

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photo by Donald Kinney

Late afternoon--at a shady place here along Big Rock (Cross Marin) trail.



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photo by Donald Kinney

As soon as the sun begins casting shadows, poppies fold shut.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit - the book       

zooming with an open shutter

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photo by Donald Kinney

Just a slight zoom here (above)... Enough to remove a bit of superfluous detail and give the illusion of a slight bit of movement. Even the wind whipping the blossom joined the experiment.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, you will probably be seeing WAY too many of these in weeks to come. I ordered an 82mm neutral density filter yesterday which will allow lengthy exposures--giving me enough time to smoothly rack the zoom.


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

yeah, lets go with serinity

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photo by Donald Kinney

F. T. suggested it, so I'm going with it -- "serenity"...



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photo by Donald Kinney

"pilings", Loch Lomond Harbor


Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

God sent clouds!

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photo by Donald Kinney

God sent clouds!



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photo by Donald Kinney

Huge hovering masses, landscapes in the sky...


Lagunitas Creek, [the book] by Donald Kinney       
Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

orange and yellow -- at Big Rock

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photo by Donald Kinney

Orange lichen on a large boulder in the vicinity of Big Rock.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Yellow wildflowers… A bumper crop of color this year.


Lagunitas Creek, [the book] by Donald Kinney       
Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

a soft morning light

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photo by Donald Kinney

The majority of Marin County's populace resides along the Highway-One-Oh-One corridor, and really, that part of Marin isn't too different from where you might live. But just over the ridge to the northwest is a vast area of green rolling hills--golden in summer, interspersed with cows and wildflowers. A substantial amount of farming and ranching goes on in west Marin. Best Sunday afternoon drives on the planet! This is Hicks Valley Rd.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Big Rock traditionally--and for decades--was painted, decorated, graffitied, tagged, brushed and sprayed by mindless youngsters that had too much time, beer/pot, spray paint and creative impulses. Big Rock was plastered bottom to top with initials and slogans. Nothing legal about it, it was just what dumb shitheads DID in Marin… When George Lucas (the filmmaker) established his first campus nearby he purchased the land Big Rock occupies. An impenetrable fence surrounds Big Rock; with night-spotlights and surveillance camera. It is just a coincidence that Lucasfilm is located in Lucas Valley, but it must have seemed, for George Lucas, like a nice fit.



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photo by Donald Kinney

George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch at Big Rock. Top of the hill, Lucas Valley. Taken in March 2013.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Big Rock, without graffiti…
Instead, a nice smattering of bird droppings.


Lagunitas Creek, [the book] by Donald Kinney       
Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

Tam from Azalea Hill -- just before sunrise

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photo by Donald Kinney

I really don't know why I do this to myself, because it is reminiscent of speeding to work in order to arrive on time, but mornings can get a bit busy around my place... There is a silly blog to do, and my hopes are always that if I arrive in time the skies will bring a colorful, and just possibly a dramatic sunrise.



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photo by Donald Kinney

So having woken up just a tad late on Tuesday, I realized I didn't have quite enough time to motor out to one of my usual spots looking out across San Pablo Bay--I was going to have to make a mad rush to Azalea Hill, just west of where I live. Snap, snap...


Lagunitas Creek, [the book] by Donald Kinney       
Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

ominous clouds over Point Bonita

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, for all the pomp and circumstance the ominous clouds that rolled in over Point Bonita and our Bay Area on Monday didn't spill a drop of rain.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Even the sunset didn't manifest itself--a bit of yellow is about all it offered.


Lagunitas Creek, [the book] by Donald Kinney       
Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

Angel Island -- once again

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photo by Donald Kinney

Maybe it is just copy-and-paste, but Wikipedia is my go-to source:
Until about ten thousand years ago, Angel Island was connected to the mainland; it was cut off by the rise in sea levels due to the end of the last ice age. From about two thousand years ago the island was a fishing and hunting site for Coast Miwok Native Americans.



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photo by Donald Kinney

No mention in the Wikipedia article that Donald Kinney is rather fond of this island. But it has been 44 years since I last set foot on her--a situation I really should remedy soon.   [not a new image--taken November 2011]



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photo by Donald Kinney

And this isn't a new image either, but I guess there is no harm in showing it again.   [taken late in February of this year]


Lagunitas Creek, [the book] by Donald Kinney       
Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book       

fast moving water -- Lagunitas Creek

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photo by Donald Kinney

Later on in the year the mighty Lagunitas Creek will slow and I'll be throwing around one of my favorite words--bucolic--quite a bit. But right now, depending on her width, which varies, she is moving fast and furiously.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Because of the expense, I would never be able to use this technique with film, but the technique I used here was just to snap a succession of images--a whole LOT of them--one right after the other. I call it mindless photography--snap them now and sort them out later.


Lagunitas Creek, [the book] by Donald Kinney       
Photographing Marin County - the exhibit and book