Winter Solstice Sunset Photo Contest

Rick Sammon, one of the best sunset/sunrise photographers around, ran a contest for a Winter Solstice Sunset photo.  The only rule was the photo had to be taken at sunset on the solstice.

http://ricksammon.com/blog2/2013/11/21/announcing-international-winter-solstice-photography-day

I thought this was an awesome excuse to go out and find the best place to take a sunset photo.  I made a whole day of it.  The winter solstice being just 2 days after my birthday, I thought I would just make a day with the family.  We spent the day in San Francisco, doing cool things at Golden Gate Park.  We ended the day at Treasure Island.  Treasure Island is a small island in the bay about halfway between Oakland and San Francisco.  You get to it via the Bay Bridge.  I think it's technically part of San Francisco.  It used to be a naval base, but was closed many years ago.  It's now very rundown and reminiscent of a ghost town.  We drove around the island checking it out.  There are some wine tasting rooms, a marina, an RV storage, a small residential community, and a couple small parks.  And a lot of rusty old buildings.

it was a little weird being there.  I could only imagine what it must've been like when it was an active base (if you ask my uncle, he could tell you.  Apparently he was there for a month in 1967 when he was in the Navy).

From Treasure Island there is a very awesome view of the San Francisco skyline.  The bay bridge.  On a clear day you can see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Richmond Bridge too.  And Alcatraz looks like a hop, skip and jump from the island.

There's a fantastic sculpture on the island.  From photos it looks to be about 15 ft tall.  But in reality it has to be 4 or 5 stories tall.  This thing is phenomenal.  It's huge.  I was absolutely in awe.

Anyway .... My plan/goal was to get a photo of the skyline with the setting sun.  Hoping for a decent silhouette of the skyline.

I took several (20 or so).  I took lots with a starburst effect due to a closed aperture.  I took some with an open aperture for a softer look.  Ultimately I liked the starburst effect better.

My favorite was one with some rocks from the Treasure Island shore in the foreground and the skyline in the background with a starburst sun behind a couple buildings (was hoping it would be behind Coit Tower, but it didn't happen).

I was really pleased with this photo.  Textbook silhouette landscape photo.  Almost panoramic, but wasn't really.

I am pleased to say that it won second place in the contest.   :D

Moon Rising

Having enjoyed my sunrise shoot so much the other day, and having discovered a local spot where the bay (and the hills in the peninsula) I was aching to get out and watch the sunset.

I chose a day based on what my schedule allowed.  The sky wasn't anything special that day.  There was a grass fire a couple miles east of me, so the sky was hazy.  But there were no storm clouds (I missed one heck of a lighting storm the other night ....) or anything spectacular.  Living in a valley, however, I've not been able to watch sunsets regularly like I used to growing up.  When I was in college I had a dorm room on the top floor of the tallest building on the hill looking west.  It was an ideal sunset watching location.  And I LOVED it.  But the last 8 years or so have really been lacking in sunset availability.  So any sunset is awesome in my book.

At any rate, I hopped in my car and drove to "my new spot."  Got there in plenty of time.  Due to high winds on this hill, I did not take a tripod.  My tripod isn't very sturdy to begin with, let alone with high winds.

I was waiting for the sun to do it's thing.  Got a couple "practice" shots in, set my exposure, got a feel for the location and waited.  I sat down on the bench, facing east, and saw this.

The slight hazy/smokey sky with the sun reflecting off it was pretty in and of itself.  But the moon coming up just behind the clouds ... MONEY!  I was excited to get it; kinda wish I noticed it a minute earlier when it was only half up.  I've been aching for a decent moon photo for the better part of 6 months.  I like this one enough to share it.

More Coast Pictures

Went back out to the coast to get some shots of the stormy waves and sunset. Well, the sunset didn't happen. There were way too many clouds in the way to get anything substantial.

It was a good opportunity to practice low light outdoor stuff. I learned the limits of my lenses and camera.

I did some with the wide angle, some with my telephoto, and most with my kit lens. I just needed something inbetween wide angle and zoom. The kit lens did the trick as far as focal length, but I would've liked something a little better to get rid of the noise I had. And my camera is a limiting factor there too. And I was trying to get fast shutter speed to get the cool wave movements, but it was too dark to get anything decent.

I started out in the rain, so I covered my camera with a trash bag and stuck the lens out of a hole. It worked well. Except that I had to keep cleaning my lens. That added a different challenge for me. I've never had to deal with water droplets on my lens before.

At any rate - here are some of my better shots from the outing.

The ending of the storm

big waves crashing on the rocks

Was trying to get the large waves and the people standing on the rock.  Disappointing with grain and lack of sharpness.

A few "God Rays" poking through

I thought the contrast of the gull in the serene tide pool with the raging waters behind it was funny.  

Hazy and misty view

Love the silhouette of the people on the beach with the waves in the background with the calming clouds.  The storm has passed and the sky was clearing up as the sun was going down and it was getting dark.

Photo A Day - Skyline

Day 2 of Photo A Day is Skyline

Homebound with a sick baby girl, can't get out to see much of a skyline.  But here we have the skyline from my from front porch.