Pre-Dawn Golden Gate Passage

As I was hunting around for objects to rest my camera on in lieu of the tripod I'd forgotten to pack, (See previous post) I noticed a container ship heading into the bay. I knew that it would be hard to capture in the early morning light. I finally found a wooden recycling box on the edge of the lookout area that had a decent vantage point. Meanwhile, the area was really starting to fill up with photographers eager to catch the sunrise over the bay. Some had vintage cameras or an assortment of fancy gear. All had tripods and I was envious... But, with the camera resting on the box and steadied by my hand, I clicked away several "brackets" of shots to merge using HDR techniques. Here is the final compsition.

 

Golden Rays Through the Gate

We took a trip down to the San Francisco bay area for Christmas this year. We stayed North of the City in the small but charming town of Petaluma. The last full day of the trip, we got up very early and decided to take the 30-45 minute drive down to a lookout area on the Northwest side of the Golden Gate bridge for sunrise. I somehow managed to forget to pack my tripod for this trip which I seriously regret. It didn't stop me from taking photos, but did limit what I was able to do. I had to find solid objects I could rest and stabilize the camera on for longer exposures. Even then, it was a challenge. I did come away with two shots I really like. The first one, posted here, is a little after sunrise. We had started back down the hill after shooting some wider shots from higher up. I noticed the way the sun's rays were shining through the North tower of the bridge and we stopped to snap a few more pictures. I believe I was resting the camera on a park bench for this shot. I'll post the second photo later this week!

Valley of the Giants

I went on an excursion to the Valley of the Giants today with some friends. It's a relatively short drive from home, up into the Oregon coast range west of Monmouth. The last stretch is approximately 20 miles of gravel road, winding through the hills and patches of clear-cut forest. It is a beautiful area where loggers had dared not go because of the rough terrain. So, there are a fair amount of original growth trees standing tall, with trunks as wide as any I have seen in this part of Oregon. We hiked a trail that took us deep into the forest to a spot where one of these massive trees blew over in a wind storm. It was raining most of the time and it was difficult to protect the camera and lenses from the water. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of this massive tree. However, on the way in, we crossed a bridge over a small stream and I risked the camera and myself (slipping on the rocks) to take some long exposure HDR shots. The best of which is posted below. I did take a few more pictures along the trail that will be up on Flickr soon.

Update on Monday, May 21, 2012 at 6:21PM by Anthony Sheler

This image is now available as a free wallpaper here. Or, buy a print from the store under Oregon Scenery!