 
Berry Creek Falls - Big Basin State Park, California
B l a c k M a g i c
My Photostream on Black
A special shot out goes to my contact, The Man in Red, for inspiring me to go up to Berry Creek Falls in Big Basin State Park. Check out his stream if you haven't already.
So, I got up early, as in 5:45am with sunrise at 7:15am to gather a few last things and head up the coast in an effort to get to Berry Creek Falls before the light got harsh.
About three blocks from home, I realize I left my hot cup o' joe on the counter. Gotta go back and get my bean juice! But hey, maybe it's a blessing in disguise as the light is getting good and although I hoped to have time to shoot sunrise, I hadn't really planned on it. Now I could head to Capitola, a few minutes away, and shoot before heading to my final destination.
Sunrise was a fizzler. Good color for about five minutes, but the closer it got to the sun actually rising, the more the color faded. That's cool, it happens, I'm over it.
Off to Berry Creek Falls I go. Now, there are two ways to get to Berry Creek Falls. One is driving up through the Santa Cruz Mountains and then hiking a twelve plus mile trail with some decent elevation gains in both directions. If you go down, you gotta come back up!
The other way is to start at the coast and hike twelve miles. But, it's an easier twelve miles, albeit less interesting. I took the easy route and headed to the coastal access. I also used two wheels in the form of my mountain bike. I'm not much of a bike rider, but twelve miles on foot sure seemed like a lot.
Once at the falls, I had the place to myself, save for one passerby who snapped a couple photos with his point and shoot. He said "you better have your wide angle lens!" I assured him I did, and continued taking more detailed shots with my 70-200mm. The bottom of the falls is a muddy pooled logjam right now, and the top is not much more interesting. In the middle though, the mystical, magical, mossy falls are what it's all about.
Fortunately, I did not fall or hurt myself, especially since I forgot my helmet in the car. I did see plenty of newts crossing the trail, and as far as I know, i did not squash any of them. A successful trip if I do say so myself.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 70-200mm @ 78mm
3 exposures merged in PS CS3 @ f18, ISO 100
B+W Polarizer
Lee .6 Soft GND Filter upside down to hold back more of the whites in the water
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Uploaded on Dec 21, 2009
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88 comments
City by the Bay - San Francisco, California
2000 pixel version on my site
B l a c k M a g i c
My Photostream on Black
After shooting sunset, Steve and I headed to Yerba Buena Island to see if the clouds would add anything to the popular view looking towards the Embarcadero along San Francisco's city line.
We were both doing a lot of chimping, as the images on our LCDs were looking almost better than the real thing! It was pretty funny, in a geeky photographer sort of way. But hey, I'm a geeky photographer!
And if you'd like to learn about making your own images like this, the Aperture Academy will soon be offering a night time photography course in and around San Francisco. Keep your eyes and ears open for the announcement. It's coming soon!
Nikon D300
Nikkor 35-70mm @ 35mm
30sec @ f10, ISO 200 (3 image stitch)
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Uploaded on Dec 18, 2009
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112 comments
Gold-N-Blue Country - Lake Tahoe, Sand Harbor, Nevada
B l a c k M a g i c
My Photostream on Black
One more image from my Lake Tahoe trip over Thanksgiving. By the final sunset, the clouds had all gone away, and there was still a lot of wind on the lake. Yeah, I love it when conditions suck.
Well, since the Gold-N-Blue polarizer was pretty much glued to my camera on this trip, I figured I'd show an image where the polarizer's effects are pretty obvious. I got blue water and a gold sky.
I'll give that little polarizer credit, it can make something out of nothing when it comes to colors. The palette on this one is obviously "out there". Let me know what you think.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 12-24mm @ 15mm
2 sec @ f22, ISO 100
Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polarizer
Singh-Ray 3-stop Reverse GND Filter
Lee .9 Hard GND Filter
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Uploaded on Dec 16, 2009
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135 comments
In The Moment - Rodeo Beach, California
B l a c k M a g i c
My Photostream on Black
I get this email from Patrick Smith. "Yo, Jim, the storm could break at sunset. Get your butt up to San Francisco."
I look out my window and it's raining. I think "Yeah, right! Drive for almost two hours for this?!?!"
But it's Patrick Smith, landscaper extraordinaire, so I give it some more thought. What the heck, I'm heading to San Francisco!
As I'm leaving town, I call Steve Landeros, aka maxxsmart. I shot with him on Thursday, and his cell number was sitting at the top of my phone. "Yo, Steve, the storm could break at sunset. Patrick Smith says so."
Steve replies "Yeah, right!"
I convince him otherwise, and we meet above Marshall's Beach, south of the Golden Gate bridge. It's now 4pm and sunset is less than an hour away. Golden beams of light are breaking through the clouds off shore. My photographic juices are flowin' big time. I'm thinking, "Let's go!" Steve is casually discussing the options in detail, showing me sunset angles, azimuths, latitudes, longitudes on his fancy iPhone.
I point to the golden sunbeams, and say "those look good". Steve agrees, and off to Rodeo Beach north of the Golden Gate we go.
We hustle out to the beach, I rip off my shoes and socks, going full "toes to the sand" style. We set up, just as the sun is dipping below one cloud bank to the next. Three minutes into the shoot, I get this shot. Truly, living in the moment.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 12-24mm @ 13mm
1 sec @ f22, ISO 100
Singh-Ray 3-stop Reverse GND Filter
Lee. 6 Hard Stop GND Filter
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Uploaded on Dec 14, 2009
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4 notes /
228 comments
City at Night - San Francisco Bay Bridge, California
Big On Black
Met up with maxxsmart and MattGranz the other night to shoot a vantage point, that while once was unique, certainly is being shot with a tad more frequency. Still, it was my first time there and the view was gorgeous.
The overcast sky, and occasional sprinkles, didn't dampen my spirit, but it did dampen my camera gear. I would love to have shot this on an evening with a more interesting sky, but hey, you can't have it all, al the time. I'll just have to try it again some time.
Thanks guys for the fun night out!
Nikon D300
Nikkor 35-70mm @ 35mm (two shots stitched, I don't have a lens that goes between 24-35mm, the gaping hole in my focal lengths and it would have come in handy).
1 min @ f13, ISO 200
Lee .6 Hard GND filter
Check out my profile for links to my site, blog, facebook, and twitter pages.
All rights reserved
Uploaded on Dec 12, 2009
7 notes /
104 comments
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