One More from Sunday

Muir Woods National Monument, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/5.6, 8s, ISO: 100

Into the Woods

Muir Woods National Monument, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/5.6, 3s, ISO: 100

Muir Woods is one of those places where everyone seems to be taking photos.  I've found that it's a tough to get satisfactory photos there.  That's one of the reasons I only go when it's raining.  Besides thinning out the crowds a little, cloudy skies (or in Sunday's case a thick fog layer over the park) evens out the light.  Basically the entire place is dark rather than having some spots being dark with spots of bright light mixed in.  I was able to use a three second exposure here.  On a sunny day, the creek and path would have been lit up but the trees would have quickly disappeared into black.  Well, unless I overexposed the creek and path, that is.  Point being, this would have been a very difficult shot to pull off on a sunny day.  With the thick fog layer overhead, though, it was fairly simple.  This was the brightest spot and shortest exposure I used all day on Sunday.

The other thing rain does to Muir Woods is a bit more obvious.  It makes everything wet.  The place looks like a rain forest when it has been soaked by a good rain.  This might just be the Oregon native in me, but this is what I think a forest should look like.  Green.  Wet.  Big trees.  Water.  Salmon even spawn in that creek in winter.  So I've read, anyway, I've never witnessed any fish in the creek.  It's muddy because it's running high from the rain.  The water is often much clearer.

Big Trees

Muir Woods National Park, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/6.3, 10s, ISO: 100

If you like big trees, Muir Woods is a pretty nice place to go.  It's got a beautiful selection of old -growth redwoods.  These aren't the largest redwoods you can find, but they're big enough to drop a few jaws and the setting with redwood creek running through the valley is unbeatable.  The vegetation is more dense than what you'll find in some of the Northern groves which adds to the beauty on a wet day.

Redwood Creek

Muir Woods National Monument, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/7.1, 10s, ISO: 100

Redwood Creek runs through Muir Woods National Monument.  Signs along the creek said that Coho Salmon were spawning in the creek.  I didn't see any and it seems like a strange time of year for it but what do I know?

Surfing Fort Point

Fort Point National Historic Site, San Francisco, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/4, 1/640s, ISO: 160

I went to a screening of The Great Highway last night at Fort Mason.  It's a film directed by my friend Mark, narrated by my friend Jim and co-authored by the two of them.  They are two of the guys I've been doing recordings with over the last fifteen years or so and we had a couple songs in the movie.  It's a documentary about the history of surfing in San Francisco.

What a thrill.  The theater was packed and vocal.  It was exciting to see that they had captured something of cultural significance that would have otherwise probably been lost forever.  Cool, too, to hear the voices of gratitude afterward from the people who lived it.

The shadows being cast in this photo are from the Golden Gate Bridge.  I was thrilled when this guy rode the wave up into the sun and then turned back around for a descent into the shadows.  This is one from a series of nice shots I got of this particular ride.

Cliff Dwellers

Cliff Dwellers, AZ
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, ISO: 100, f/10, 1/200s

I read a story online once about a woman who's car broke down on a desert highway near some strange rock formations.  She liked the rocks so much she built a house around one and spent the rest of her days selling trinkets on the highway.

I don't know if that's a true story or not, but if so well then this must have been the house she built.

I don't blame her one bit.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 153, image #4937.

Sea Lions on the Rocks

California Sea Lion -- Yaquina Bay, Newport, OR
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5, 1/1600s, ISO: 800

What this picture reminds me is just how close some of us live to wildlife.  Shoot, I live close to wildlife.  A pair of peregrine falcons have been nesting about a block from my house for a few years.  They're the fastest living things on the planet.  Can you imagine all that goes on under the water in this harbor?

I should learn how to scuba dive.