Arrival

Sunset is a magical time to take photographs.  The light changes rapidly and in the growing darkness are a myriad of hues and tones that can turn an ordinary scene into magical.

I made my yearly trek to the Isenberg Crane Reserve wetlands outside Lodi to watch the Sandhill crane arrive at sunset.  It's a quiet and peaceful place occupied by a variety of migrating waterbirds and assorted other fowl.

As sunset approached the sky was filled with he cackle of the cranes as they returned for the nightly roost.  Their long graceful wings silhouetted against the sky and gathering storms clouds as they neared their destination.

Colors changed rapidly, the cool tones of the cloud filled sky slipped to yellow as the sun broke beneath the clouds rim. The late afternoon sun a warm yellow glow reflected in the moisture of the sky.  Nearer the sun a dark cheery red glow dominated the sky as the cranes wheeled about looking for a place to land.

The sunset which seems to take forever to arrive disappears quickly leaving a glow painting the clouds above the wetlands.  Dark, brooding clouds are tinged with red as they take the last fiery glow of the day's sunlight.

Eventually the sky grows a pale,cold blue and then maroon as twilight envelopes the sky.  The last glimpse of sunlight has surrendered to the night.

It may sound corny but it is a magical time, to watch the sunsets arrival.  The beauty of a sunset is a sight to behold and treasure and adding the graceful movements of the cranes is icing on the cake.

Sometime in the next month or so I will make a return trek to Isenberg but this time to watch the wonder of the sunrise over the wetlands and the morning departure of the cranes for the day.  It is a wonderful time to be looking through the camera lens and moments to cherish with others.

The fog line

Today's hike was a sign of the days to come.  Climbing near Brushy Peak Regional Preserve outside Livermore I wasn't greeted by vast grassland basking in the morning sun.   Today's hike was a fog-veiled trek as the whisperings of winter approach on the trail.

Crossing over the Altamont the sky grew gray as the line of fog stretched out towards the Bay Area.  It was going to be a cool hike, far from the last few months sweltering adventures.  Pulling into the Brushy Peak's Laughlin Ranch Staging Area I could see the fog nestle into the hills I would be hiking along.

I hiked a portion of Brushy Peak a couple of years ago as part of a story on two women who wrote a hiking book.  To give us a quick photo op they led us on a 3-mile hike or so of the hills on a blustery January day.  Today's hike would take me around the entire park on a just over 6-mile hike.

I had packed a sweatshirt just in case and it was a good precaution as the fog and wind made for a chilly start to my hike.  The route would take me up the West Side Loop Trail to Brush Peak Loop where I would climb near the top of the peak.  I would head back down along Tamcan trail and end up on the Laughlin Ranch Loop to return to the staging area.  The trail though mostly in grassland winds through the hills up and along tree lines with nearly 1,500 feet of climbing in the mix.

My biggest problem on this hike was going to be the fog.  A thick fog had settled around the preserve and in spot was a damp blowing fog.  Navigation wasn't that bad, I had about 35 yards or so visibility ahead of me on the trail and it was pretty wide but it was making picture taking difficult.  Between the water beading up on my camera lens and my glasses vision was marginal.

The fog gave an eerie look to the trail.  I seem to specialize in finding the creepy trees on the trail and a nice cloak of fog makes them even more sinister and ghostly.  The horizon line seeped away into the gray blanket enveloping the hills around me.  Fog lowers the contrast of the scene and the colors seemed muted for the most part as I walked in the mist.

Nearing the end of my hike the fog near the grand lifted and my trail was now a quiet road in the subdued light of the overhead fog bank.  A wind had stirred most of the ground cover off and dropped 

the temperature as I made the final turns for the parking lot.

This was the first hike of the winter season, it had that feel to it and there will be more to come.  Soon the rains will come and the hills and trails will take on a new life and view.  This hike also brings me closer to my personal goal of 200 miles  of hiking for the year.  I have just 4 more miles to go to hit the 200 mile mark.I think I'll reward myself with something nice for my efforts, I 'm thinking a cool set of Black Diamond carbon fiber hiking poles.  

My horizon line may have been been lost in the fog today but I still have my goal clearly in sight.

October sky

Some clouds greeted me at sunset last week at West High while I waited for the start of the varsity football game.  this is a sure sign fall is here.

Boxed in

I shot the annual Kids in a Box fundraiser for the McHenry House family shelter the other day and I noticed a trend.  As the school field began to fill with boxes it quickly became a story of who could build a bigger box.

The event has certainly changed from its early roots when one girl camped out in the Lincoln park gazebo with a plain cardboard box for shelter.

While there were still simple boxes to be found among the creative entries were a locomotive  ocean liner and horse and chariot.

Verboten

One particularly creepy sign i found on assignment in the middle of nowhere today.

Incomplete photograph

Someone told me a long time ago when i was just learning to shoot sports to always shoot in and out of a sports sequence.  Never wait for the peak moment of action, if you see it your too late.

I was covering Tracy High taking on Kimball High last Friday when a Tracy High receiver tried to make the acrobatic catch.  The pass was broken up by the Kimball high defender and the ball fell to the turf for an incomplete pass.

I shot this with my work Eos 1D MK II, an ancient camera by today's standards, and my well worn work 70-200mm f.2.8 zoom lens.  The ISO sensitivity was set to 3200 which gave me an exposure of about 1/400 sec with the lens aperture set wide open.

The image suffers from some Eos 1D noise and I did have to blow it up a little for the framing I wanted.  A 300mm f.2.8 and new camera is on my Christmas list at work but I make do with what I have.  Like they say in car racing, 'you run what you brung."