Fog City

I regret that I am not adept enough to fully capture what I see with my eyes. One particularly fascinating phenomenon I get to witness is the fog rolling in from the Pacific. Whether it creeps through the Golden Gate or oozes over the hills of Marin or slowly swallows the city of San Francisco, I find the fog and marine layers provide some of the most compelling views out my window. With our late winter season just now arriving, this is my first attempt to deliver the Fog City views for you. Hopefully our drought conditions will moderate and I will have more chances to film the fog.

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Night Landscape

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My first attempt at using the night landscape option on the camera. The photo above is of the new East half of the Bay Bridge.

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A bit earlier.

When they say 'night view' they mean it. The sun had long set but the longer exposer still captured the fading sunset.

Full Moon

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Two evenings ago I went out for a walk just after dark. I knew the full moon would just be rising over the Berkeley Hills. For non-locals, the hills are on the East side of my building. My apartment's view is due West, so I knew just before dawn the orb would be setting on my side of the world. Here are some photographic observations of the event.

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For locals and others, that is Mt. Tamalpais below the setting celestial body.

Dawn began to break as the Orb of Night slid towards the horizon.

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The orange of the atmosphere began tinge the view.

Morning pink arrives.

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see all shots in an expanding slideshow, double click on any shot in my Flickr account.

Golden Gate Bridge

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Some random shots of the Golden Gate Bridge. Still tinkering with the abilities of the camera and my lack of same.

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That's Alcatraz in the foreground. There's over three miles of open water between the old prison and the bridge. They just look closer from my vantage point.

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Marin Headlands on the right, San Francisco to the left.

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That's the SF to Sausalito ferry.

A Bit of Solar Perspective

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Sunsets behind the San Francisco skyline are dominating my view these days but that is changing. You see during the six or so weeks bracketing the Winter Solistice, the sun sets behind the City from my perspective. But during the course of a half-year the sun runs far, far North up the coast.

In just a few weeks the sunset will behind the Golden Gate and then off to the North behind the Marin Headlands and Mt. Tamalpais. 

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For now lots of City/Skyline shots but not for very much longer.

Cough!

We're in the midst of our second week of 'Spare the Air' days here in the Bay area. This is unusual for us, generally strong ocean breezes scour the air but for a fortnight we have been breathing under a layer of particulates more often associated with L.A. skies.

This does lead to some interesting color swatches, what we used to call 'artificial coloring added' down south. Hopefully the onshore winds will come back soon and the winter rains will finally arrive.

2013 was a very dry year. Reservoirs are low, the snow pack is miniscule. Come on rain.