I planned a photography club shoot-out on Treasure Island for the first Sunday in December. As often happens in the winter, it rained and the shoot-out was postponed. The following Saturday, three club members and I made the long haul (70 miles) up to San Francisco hoping for better weather. Traffic was heavy for the last 10 miles of the approach to the Bay Bridge, so it took some time to get there. As we inched our way up the incline of the bridge, we could see that the city was shrouded in fog, but we were hopeful because we could still see the tops of the buildings. When we exited the bridge and drove down onto the island, we were a bit dismayed to find ourselves in the fog, with both the bridge and the city completely hidden. All that way and we couldn't see a thing.
We considered driving back up toward the bridge to find a vantage point above the fog, but sunset was only 25 minutes away so we didn't have much time to explore other options. We stayed put. I learned from Gary Hart that sometimes when the weather is difficult, be patient and wait. It was a good lesson to learn. First we spotted the top of one of the bridge towers, then the top of the Transamerica spire. As we unloaded our gear and set up our tripods, the fog thinned and the city gradually came into view. This was just the beginning. Wait til you see what happened next.
The fog cleared, the sun set, and we were rewarded with the most spectacular sky I have ever seen. Words cannot do it justice, so I will let the photographs tell the story. Please note that these colors are real. I did not increase saturation in the computer.
Click on this panorama to get an idea of what we had the privilege of experiencing. Even this photo doesn't show the whole picture. We were quite literally surrounded by a display of color. At one point I stopped looking through my camera so I could just soak in this extraordinary light, go beyond being a witness, and become part of the experience.
As the sky darkened, the city lights began to shine. This is what we came to photograph: the holiday skyline. Only during this season are the buildings along the Embarcadero outlined in lights.
This is the shot I wanted to get and
it is my holiday gift to you.
I wish each one of you who take the time to read/view my blog, the very merriest of days, and may you have many extraordinary experiences in 2011. You can see more photos from this shoot on my Flickr photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/
"Oops"
"Some Gifts May Not Be Delivered"
My brother took this photo. Click on it to enlarge
Merry Christmas
We considered driving back up toward the bridge to find a vantage point above the fog, but sunset was only 25 minutes away so we didn't have much time to explore other options. We stayed put. I learned from Gary Hart that sometimes when the weather is difficult, be patient and wait. It was a good lesson to learn. First we spotted the top of one of the bridge towers, then the top of the Transamerica spire. As we unloaded our gear and set up our tripods, the fog thinned and the city gradually came into view. This was just the beginning. Wait til you see what happened next.
The fog cleared, the sun set, and we were rewarded with the most spectacular sky I have ever seen. Words cannot do it justice, so I will let the photographs tell the story. Please note that these colors are real. I did not increase saturation in the computer. Click on this panorama to get an idea of what we had the privilege of experiencing. Even this photo doesn't show the whole picture. We were quite literally surrounded by a display of color. At one point I stopped looking through my camera so I could just soak in this extraordinary light, go beyond being a witness, and become part of the experience.
As the sky darkened, the city lights began to shine. This is what we came to photograph: the holiday skyline. Only during this season are the buildings along the Embarcadero outlined in lights.
This is the shot I wanted to get and
I wish each one of you who take the time to read/view my blog, the very merriest of days, and may you have many extraordinary experiences in 2011. You can see more photos from this shoot on my Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/
I came to this decision while viewing the photos of this month's full moon. Every one was ordinary and I realized I took them just because I felt I had to take something. The experience and the results were less than satisfying. Both of these were taken from the private road leading up El Toro. (It is still fun to trespass.) In this one, the lights on Dunne Avenue point directly to the moon.
I am now a bit enchanted with the crescent moon,
The clouds created a perfect reflective surface for the colors of the setting sun. This red sky was not created in my computer. I purposefully under exposed the shot to draw out the color and render the distinctive skyline as a silhouette.
There is a time after the sun sets that the sky turns dark blue. For photographers, this is magic light. And fortunately on this night, the clouds thinned enough for the blue sky to make an appearance.
Once the sky was completely black, I started to play with the city lights. I set the camera controls and then twisted the zoom lens during a 2 second exposure to get these exploding effects.
Cool, huh?
The clouds had been hovering all day. I thought they would make for a beautiful sunset so I drove to one of my favorite spots, Chesbro Reservoir, hoping to get gorgeous sunset colors reflected in the sky and water. I wanted to practice a few of the techniques I had learned on the workshop in the Easter Sierras. Alas, it was not to be. By the time the sun was low in the sky, all clouds had vanished. I set up my camera and tripod anyway and took a few shots that I knew were ordinary. Then I shifted my gaze to the left and there was a pretty, little crescent moon just wanting to be photographed. This was so uncanny. I had been thinking about photographing the crescent moon for several months, but had not actively done anything about it. And suddenly it presented itself. If the clouds had held, I wouldn't have seen it.
This may be my new lunatic project.
The first two I took at Moss Landing. 
I used my macro lens to photograph a dahlia
On Halloween the downtown portion of Monterey Road in Morgan Hill is transformed into a pedestrian only thoroughfare of costume-clad trick 'r treaters. Most of the people parading past the candy-dispensing merchants didn't realize that genuine ghosts were striding along with them. Since ghosts are not visible in photographs, I attached a special specter intensifying filter to catch these three postmortem revelers. I like photographing ghosts.
