Tag: 5d Mark II

Market Street Fog

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With the changing temperatures this week came some thick fog on Tuesday evening.  I snapped this shot on Market Street next to 100 Market as I was enjoying the foggy streetscape and the lamps marking the sidewalks when a car presented itself.  I have a love/hate relationship with this time of the year, when daylight is fleeting and the opportunities to shoot sunset are basically gone for months.  It’s a nice challenge to force myself out of the house…and it’s always nice when there’s some nice atmospheric conditions like warm weather and fog to make it a more enjoyable evening.

Thanks for visiting…stay tuned for an exciting announcement before the end of the week!

Sunrise at Yellowstone Lake

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A couple of my favorite images from the Saturday morning sunrise in Yellowstone National Park at Yellowstone Lake.  These images were taken with my 10-stop neutral density filter, with exposure times of more than one minute.  Going for an interesting and different look here….I like the softer and sunrise appropriate feel.

Lower Falls | Yellowstone National Park

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Today’s shot features the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River (I’ll feature a wider-angle shot of the canyon sometime soon).  This spot was incredible – we were up at an overlook perched just over a corner of a bend in the river.  Standing there and taking in the view was like watching the earth develop over a few thousand years.

When we first arrived we actually saw a bear climbing down the right side of the valley – which was just insane.  I can’t believe there is a creature on the planet that just saunters around terrain like that….it made it about halfway down the canyon before climbing back up towards the top of the cliff wall.  The Lower Falls is the tallest (at 308 feet it’s almost twice as high as Niagara) with the largest volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains.  It was quite peaceful and mindblowing standing and taking it all in (along with 20 other photographers armed with ridiculously nice equipment).  For a photographer, Yellowstone was really like being a kid in a candy store.

Sunrise at Yellowstone Lake

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Another gorgeous morning, and another sunrise captured.  This was taken on the shore of Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park.  It was a bit colder at elevation – a brisk 30 degrees or so, which can be a bit colder than you’d expect (especially without gloves!).  When we first got to the waterfront from our lodge just up the street, the sky was starting to brighten and the clouds were getting their first taste of pink sunrise color.  It was quite peaceful standing on the sandy shore despite the cold air, and waiting for the day to begin.

Golden Gate Sunrise

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Once again, I was fortunate to venture out in time to catch a beautiful sunrise.  As you saw earlier in the week – this time it was atop the Marin Headlands on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  The shot above was snapped before the sun rose over the horizon line – and the street lights were still lit on the bridge.  It gives the rich red colors of the bridge an eerie and almost ominous glow.

Contrasting against the strong darker colors of the early dawn light, the shot below was snapped once the sun reached above the horizon to the left of the bridge.  The water vista is to the immediate right of the bridge shots…in an area known as the Marin Headlands.  The softer pastel colors and the rolling coastal hills are such a cool contrast against the massive man made accomplishment of the bridge.

Transamerica Pyramid | San Francisco

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The Transamerica Pyramid is loved and hated pretty intensely.  The building was originally constructed in 1969-1972 and is easily the most recognizable and the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco, and drastically changed the skyline when it was finished.  You can see it from many places throughout the city – as you can see from the evening shot from afar above…and the sheer scale of the building as taken from the base (shown below).  I happen to enjoy the building, but it’s definitely not my favorite of the city.  While I’m featuring shots of San Francisco…it would be a crime to leave this one out.  What are your thoughts?

I’ve got ambitious plans to head out at sunrise to shoot another icon.  Looking forward to the early dawn light.

Coit Tower | Telegraph Hill

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Another San Francisco icon – Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.  The 210 foot tower sits atop the affluent neighborhood – with the land gifted to the city in the early 1900s by a wealthy socialite who enjoyed chasing fires (according to Wikipedia), Lillie Coit.  The tower is a monument to the city’s firefighters, who took on special meaning after the intense fires that followed the 1906 earthquake.

I’ll share this little tidbit of info from wikipedia, mostly because I found it quite entertaining: “Lillie Coit was one of the more eccentric characters in the history of North Beach and Telegraph Hill, smoking cigars and wearing trousers long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. She was an avid gambler and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the males-only establishments that dotted North Beach. Coit was reputed to have shaved her head so her wigs would fit better.”  Whatever the history and whatever Lillie’s true habits were, the tower is a gorgeous addition to the SF skyline.

San Francisco Fog / Portsmouth Harbor

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Today’s post is a double feature.  The first image is a treat from home base for the next few days….the view of San Francisco Bay.  This is the fog that San Francisco is so renowned for….once it blew over, you could see Alcatraz just about dead center in the frame.  I’ll try to snap a good sunset shot before we hit the road for Yellowstone.

Below is a treat from a Portsmouth Harbor Cruise from the summer….what had been the sunset cruise that set sail at 7pm became more of a city lights cruise as the light had retreated as we made our way under the Memorial Bridge.  I didn’t quite mind though – as there was a beautiful crescent moon and the planet Venus hanging out just to its right.  This shot is one of my recent favorites – as it silhouettes two of Portsmouth’s icons under a summer sky.  The Memorial Bridge and the North Church mark the city’s skyline.

An Evening in Pacifica

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As you may have heard – I’ll be spending the following week west of the Mississippi!  I’m in San Francisco for a few days and will be heading to Yellowstone (and driving through Grand Teton National Park).  My brothers and I headed out tonight with every intention of shooting the San Francisco skyline from Treasure Island (across the bay from the Financial District)…however the fog had different plans for us.  After exploring the area and some seriously windy roads, we decided to throw in the towel (thankfully – because my stomach couldn’t take it much longer).  We decided to head to a calmer spot south of the city – Pacifica.  Dave has some awesome shots of the pier at sunset….but we decided oceanfront and waves sounded pretty good….so today’s shots feature a couple night captures.  Above I went for a different black  & white treatment to play around with some different processing.

Below, I loved the evening sky and the stars and the stark contrast against our own planet’s beachfront.  Looking forward to sharing more from the voyage throughout the week.  Stay tuned!

Morning Light from Peirce Island

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This weekend had some gorgeous photographic opportunities, and thanks to some encouragement from Chris Lazzery for an early wake up – we headed over to Peirce Island to see what we might find.  There were all sorts of surprises for what was supposed to be a cloudless morning….from the pink clouds above the shipyard, to some gorgeous saturated orange sunlight that you see in this shot….and then, all of a sudden (as if a lightswitch was hit), the light became completely muted and lost its early glow.  It actually made for some awesome shots…and Chris snapped one of my favorite shots I’ve ever seen from the Boat Launch.

Featured in the shot is The Chandler’s Loft – which is open VERY early…and located on Pickering Ave at the former Pickering Marina.  You can stop in to grab your bait, tackle, coffee…you get the idea.  I’ll have to stop in for coffee soon – I wish them the best in the new endeavor!