San Francisco Bay Vista, a photo from California, West

Photographer's Note

For almost a year all of my spare time has been spent hiking, most often with my camera at home in the bag. Yesterday after four days of rather heavy rain that dropped over five inches of the wet stuff on everything, including yours truly as I hiked, the weather was so fine I knew I needed to take my camera with me as I hiked around the side of Mount Tamalpais. I realized from earlier hikes on this particular fire road that vistas are dramatic. Seeing the clean air and wonderful clouds this seemed to be the day to capture a few shots of my beautiful home.

This photo was taken about two miles into the hike. Mount Tam is behind me as I peer toward the east. In the foreground you see another fire trail I've hiked before with the towns Kentfield, Greenbrae and Larkspur in the mid-ground. San Francisco Bay lies beneath the gorgeous clouds with the East Bay in the distance. You will note the Richmond San Rafael Bridge just beyond San Quentin penitentiary. All in all it was a glorious day that I wish to share with everyone at TrekEarth, including the many friends I met over the years in which I was more active on the board.

Hope everyone is well. I likely will be back on the trail today, this time without my camera since it is raining once again. Perhaps this summer I'll find time for photography and will find my way to these pages again, though I have to admit the trails are awfully enticing.

Enjoy the view everyone.

Isabelle, jpinkham, pamastro ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

Isabelle (9046) 2007-02-13 5:03

what a pleasure to see an image from you, Curtis, and a cinematographic landscape!
the greens, the trail crossing the frame provide a lovely foreground then the cities at distance and the bridge followed by a gorgeous sky.

I tried landscapes too 2 weekends ago (I bought a better cam, now I have a rebel xt) with a boy from your area, and as soon as I come back from my holidays I´ll upload one. Still learning to think big ;)

As for TE, well, better you see for yourself...
big kiss to you. Rinie is in Istambul with 6 sister (!!) these days, Bert is here in Sao Paulo :)
Stay well. Don´t forget us :)

peter1892 (1681) 2007-02-13 6:45

Hi Curtis - great to see some more work from you, I hope you're keeping well & that we'll get to see some more shots from your travels & hikes.

The viewpoint is great, high above the bay with an interesting & cloudy sky. A fine view indeed.

jpinkham (870) 2007-02-13 7:52

Spectacular, Curtis! I love the breadth and sharpness of this photo, the big sky and huge, puffy clouds, the sweep of the landscape, the ribbon of trail, the vista of slope and city and bay. TFS!

dmarizz (2796) 2007-02-13 11:16

Hello Curtis,
you are sharing quite a stunning postcard, with those 3D-sky and hills with the bay on the middle. I would really curious to see a large print of this picture of yours. I'm sure that it has to be a great touristic poster of SF. Congratulations, Dario

pamastro (7296) 2007-04-26 22:59

That's really beautiful Curtis... What I really like are the low clouds that are just low enough to feel like being in them. But at the same time not in them. And then there's the ground dropping down to the bay. With the perspective of the pretty level cloud bottoms and the perspective of the ground I'm put into this tight volume between the two. It creates a nice 3-D space that shoots me through it and to the left and right, really rounding out the image. And it's so nice and green for a February. It's not your Michigan or Minnesota February, that's for sure. Perhaps you should get a small weatherproofed camera that you can pocket on your hikes so you don't have to lug around the big 5D but can still get a few shots in. I don't think I would tire of seeing where you hike.