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Drifting Natural Bridges State Beach Santa Cruz, California The beginning of May 2012 greeted us with 3 straight days of beautiful sunsets. I almost missed all of them. On this particular morning I checked the weather forecast and saw that it was supposed to be completely clear and decided to leave my camera gear at home, rather than throwing it in the trunk of my car. Later in the evening, when I left work, I looked up to see beautiful clouds. Willie sent me a text message with the same thing: "Lets get to Santa Cruz, NOW!" Oops, I had no camera gear! Willie left for Santa Cruz, I raced home to get my gear, and we decided to meet at Natural Bridges State Beach. The sunset didn't look like it would light up any of the clouds over the typical Natural Bridges composition, the "bridge", but I found a nice piece of drift-wood to use as a foreground and waited for the waves to recede to create beautiful lines. As we waited the sky went from a dull gold, to absolutely beautiful oranges, and lastly some pinks and purples slowly crept in. An explosion of color at Natural Bridges! Both Willie and I went home very happy campers! At the end of the day I had 2 photos that I really liked. I decided to post one right away and saved this one for the archives, to post at a later date when everyone forgot about the first one! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/9, ⅓ sec, ISO 250 HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad
Natural Explosion Natural Bridges State Beach Santa Cruz, California Lately my early morning routine has been wake up, check the weather, shower, eat, and then leave for work … either with or without the camera based on the weather report. On this particular morning I woke up, saw "Clear" skies (0% clouds) and sadly realized today wasn't going to be the day to find a sunset. I was kickin' myself because the sunset the night before was absolutely spectacular and I had my arse glued to my chair editing some portrait photos instead of out somewhere shooting. About to leave for work, I instinctively grabbed my gear, put it on my back, and was about to walk out the door when I remembered today was clear skies and I should just leave my stuff at home. After a full day of working I walked outside and looked up to see some beautiful clouds in the sky. Thinking I better not make the mistake two days in a row I immediately sent Willie a text message. Only … he beat me to it and I already had one waiting for me: "the clouds look awesome." I replied "should we go somewhere?" as I walked into the gym. I was scheduled to meet with a personal trainer to go over a new workout but as I waited for the guy, Willie wrote back "I'm leaving for Natural Bridges in a sec. You in?!" I typed "I'll be there in 10" but before I hit send I realized … I LEFT MY GEAR AT HOME!!! ARGH ::hair pulling:: I decided I'd skip the personal trainer, race home to grab my stuff and meet Willie at Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz. I managed to avoid a bunch of traffic and arrive at Natural Bridges with plenty of time to scout. Looking at the sky it was either going to be glorious or it was going to be awful. Willie and I scouted for a while, trying to find a different composition than the normal "Natural Bridge" that everyone shoots. The sun was setting in the wrong direction to shoot the bridge but if the sky lit up like it had the previous night (see Rich's photo) we might get some color. As the sun dropped I quickly realized I had to point in a different direction and decided I'd use a piece of driftwood as my foreground element. After a couple minutes I wandered away and then I looked back and Willie had picked up on my queue and was back at the driftwood. That's when the sky started lighting up right in my original composition! I raced back to the driftwood and setup, waiting for some big waves to give us some water motion. As we waited the sky went from a dull gold, to absolutely beautiful oranges, and then as the orange faded, the back left of the sky filled with pinks and purples. An explosion of color at Natural Bridges! Both Willie and I went home very happy campers! Color cast removed using D-Breezy's instructions. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/16, ⅓ sec, ISO 100 HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad
Boatworks Golden Gate Bridge, 75th Birthday Fireworks Celebration Slacker Hill, Marin Headlands, CA The GGB is a special structure for many of the local San Francisco photographers and although I don't get up here as much as I'd like, I always admire the beauty of not only the bridge, but the landscape in which it was built into. Knowing that parking would be limited and photographers would be out for this special celebration I arrived early (9 hours early or so) with Zack and Wilson and hiked to the top of Slacker Hill. Shortly after Jave, Alan, Jared, Carl, and Toby showed up and a number of photographers followed. During the time we waited we hung out, got to know each other, grilled some sausages, and eventually started debating if there was a better spot for the fireworks. Alan disappeared and when he came back he swore that there was a better spot. So off Jared, Alan, and I go, down a steep hill and over to a bunker that was lower, further west, and hopefully had a better view. While "better" may be relative, we all decided to stay and shoot from this location instead of the normal Slacker Hill composition. We had some time to kill before the fireworks and as the sun set and blue hour began I could hear photographers all around me firing away. The color in the sky was behind us but blue hour is always pretty when you're looking at the Golden Gate Bridge. BY the time blue hour began I noticed a lot of boats had gotten into position waiting for the fireworks to start. I thought they might pose an interesting subject for a photo so I dialed the ISO down, set the aperture to f/13 for some decent light-stars, and clicked away. It took 90 seconds to get the exposure right and in that time the boats moved all around, creating an interesting abstract effect of color, movement, and an almost semi-firework in the water. I have another photo with much sharper boats (at a higher ISO and faster shutter) but I thought this was much more interesting. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/13, 90 sec, ISO 250, Tripod No filters used because I was too lazy. I under-exposed slightly to keep the sky from blowing out and then pulled the rest of the photo up.
Birthday Girl Golden Gate Bridge, 75th Birthday Fireworks Celebration Slacker Hill, Marin Headlands, CA For most people living in the SF Bay Area, the Golden Gate Bridge is one of those beautiful things that always takes our breath away, no matter how many times you can see it. For photographers, it holds an even deeper appreciation as we both love the challenge and beauty and hate frustration of not getting "the shot". Interestingly, despite living only 30 minutes from San Francisco, I first learned about the 75th Birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge while reading the Alaska Airlines magazine on the way home from my trip to Kauai. The plan was to honor the Golden Gate Bridge with a day of festivities and a fireworks display to finish off the birthday celebration. There were a lot of decisions that went into trying to capture the GGB fireworks: which side of the bridge do I want to be on, which location on that side of the bridge, how are we going to get there, how early do we get there, do I try to meet up with other photographers, etc. I know that I wanted to be on the Marin side, placing the San Francisco city lights in the background, and that I wanted to be high up, above any fog that might roll in. After emails went around with a number of photographers it sounded like a good number of us would be at Slacker Hill. I ended up meeting up with Wilson Ng and my buddy Zack and we left my apartment almost 11 hours before the fireworks were set to go off! We didn't know what parking would be like and we didn't want to risk missing the show! The drive to Slacker Hill was actually quite easy, despite a small detour after finding the main road up was closed. Parking was also easy at that hour: people were coming and going and spots opened up immediately. We huffed and puffed with all our gear: cameras, tripods, food, chairs, beers, extra clothes, etc, and got to the top. Shortly after we arrived, Jave, Alan, and Jared showed up and decided to grill up some amazingly delicious hot-dogs while we waited. A number of other guys, some from a G+ group, also showed up, and then went off in search of greener pastures. As we waited a number of people noticed there was a bunker a bit closer to the Bridge. off they went to check it out, and when they came back, half the photographers with us took off for the bunker. Shortly after that Alan and Jared decided they were gonna head there to. After a long debate I decided to join them and raced off after them. So much for Slacker Hill! This spot, which was closer to the bridge and further to the west had a better vantage of the city, but it was also more susceptible to fog and was an unknown, as none of us had shot it. An hour and a half more of waiting, a beer run back up the super steep hill, and some more waiting and the show finally began! Boy were the fireworks incredible! Not only did they launch from a barge, but they also launched from above and below the bridge! It was quite the spectacular show and a fitting way to celebrate the Golden Gate's 75th birthday! The Golden Gate Bridge is near and dear to many of us -- we've had some wonderful times, and some frustrating times with her, but like me, many of us continue to have our breaths taken away each time we see her. Happy Birthday old girl! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 40mm, f/9, 3.3 sec, ISO 200, Tripod
Drifting
Natural Bridges State Beach
Santa Cruz, California

The beginning of May 2012 greeted us with 3 straight days of beautiful sunsets. I almost missed all of them. On this particular morning I checked the weather forecast and saw that it was supposed to be completely clear and decided to leave my camera gear at home, rather than throwing it in the trunk of my car. Later in the evening, when I left work, I looked up to see beautiful clouds. Willie sent me a text message with the same thing: "Lets get to Santa Cruz, NOW!" Oops, I had no camera gear! Willie left for Santa Cruz, I raced home to get my gear, and we decided to meet at Natural Bridges State Beach.

The sunset didn't look like it would light up any of the clouds over the typical Natural Bridges composition, the "bridge", but I found a nice piece of drift-wood to use as a foreground and waited for the waves to recede to create beautiful lines. As we waited the sky went from a dull gold, to absolutely beautiful oranges, and lastly some pinks and purples slowly crept in. An explosion of color at Natural Bridges! Both Willie and I went home very happy campers!

At the end of the day I had 2 photos that I really liked. I decided to post one right away and saved this one for the archives, to post at a later date when everyone forgot about the first one!

Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
24mm, f/9, ⅓ sec, ISO 250
HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad
Drifting Natural Bridges State Beach Santa Cruz, California The beginning of May 2012 greeted us with 3 straight days of beautiful sunsets. I almost missed all of them. On this particular morning I checked the weather forecast and saw that it was supposed to be completely clear and decided to leave my camera gear at home, rather than throwing it in the trunk of my car. Later in the evening, when I left work, I looked up to see beautiful clouds. Willie sent me a text message with the same thing: "Lets get to Santa Cruz, NOW!" Oops, I had no camera gear! Willie left for Santa Cruz, I raced home to get my gear, and we decided to meet at Natural Bridges State Beach. The sunset didn't look like it would light up any of the clouds over the typical Natural Bridges composition, the "bridge", but I found a nice piece of drift-wood to use as a foreground and waited for the waves to recede to create beautiful lines. As we waited the sky went from a dull gold, to absolutely beautiful oranges, and lastly some pinks and purples slowly crept in. An explosion of color at Natural Bridges! Both Willie and I went home very happy campers! At the end of the day I had 2 photos that I really liked. I decided to post one right away and saved this one for the archives, to post at a later date when everyone forgot about the first one! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/9, ⅓ sec, ISO 250 HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad" href="javascript:openLB(2184469690,'',XLarge,'',1024,682);">Drifting Natural Bridges State Beach Santa Cruz, California The beginning of May 2012 greeted us with 3 straight days of beautiful sunsets. I almost missed all of them. On this particular morning I checked the weather forecast and saw that it was supposed to be completely clear and decided to leave my camera gear at home, rather than throwing it in the trunk of my car. Later in the evening, when I left work, I looked up to see beautiful clouds. Willie sent me a text message with the same thing: "Lets get to Santa Cruz, NOW!" Oops, I had no camera gear! Willie left for Santa Cruz, I raced home to get my gear, and we decided to meet at Natural Bridges State Beach. The sunset didn't look like it would light up any of the clouds over the typical Natural Bridges composition, the "bridge", but I found a nice piece of drift-wood to use as a foreground and waited for the waves to recede to create beautiful lines. As we waited the sky went from a dull gold, to absolutely beautiful oranges, and lastly some pinks and purples slowly crept in. An explosion of color at Natural Bridges! Both Willie and I went home very happy campers! At the end of the day I had 2 photos that I really liked. I decided to post one right away and saved this one for the archives, to post at a later date when everyone forgot about the first one! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/9, ⅓ sec, ISO 250 HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad
Drifting
Natural Bridges State Beach
Santa Cruz, California

The beginning of May 2012 greeted us with 3 straight days of beautiful sunsets. I almost missed all of them. On this particular morning I checked the weather forecast and saw that it was supposed to be completely clear and decided to leave my camera gear at home, rather than throwing it in the trunk of my car. Later in the evening, when I left work, I looked up to see beautiful clouds. Willie sent me a text message with the same thing: "Lets get to Santa Cruz, NOW!" Oops, I had no camera gear! Willie left for Santa Cruz, I raced home to get my gear, and we decided to meet at Natural Bridges State Beach.

The sunset didn't look like it would light up any of the clouds over the typical Natural Bridges composition, the "bridge", but I found a nice piece of drift-wood to use as a foreground and waited for the waves to recede to create beautiful lines. As we waited the sky went from a dull gold, to absolutely beautiful oranges, and lastly some pinks and purples slowly crept in. An explosion of color at Natural Bridges! Both Willie and I went home very happy campers!

At the end of the day I had 2 photos that I really liked. I decided to post one right away and saved this one for the archives, to post at a later date when everyone forgot about the first one!

Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
24mm, f/9, ⅓ sec, ISO 250
HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad
See photo in original gallery.
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