Tag Archives: california

Surfing Contest

I will freely admit that I am a lucky guy. There are plenty of times when I can say that things have worked out well when there was no good reason for them to do so. One such occurrence was a recent trip to Santa Cruz. This was not intended to be a long stop but I was heading by en route to something else and I wanted to pay another visit to the overlook to Natural Bridges State Beach which has a large colony of pelicans. I had been there before as described here and was hoping to get some better light for another chance to get some shots. As it worked out, the weather was not to clear when I arrived and then I discovered that the pelicans were amazingly absent and the rocks were covered in cormorants instead. (No bad thing if you like cormorants as I do but that wasn’t why I was there.)

So, we turned and headed along the shore for a while and what should we come across? A surfing competition. We had watched the surfing here before but having a competition combined with a decent swell from recent offshore storms meant the there were a lot more surfers out and they were of a pretty high caliber. The plan was not to be here too long but we couldn’t resist catching a bit of the action. Finding a parking space was a bit harder due to the popularity of the event but we found a spot and walked along to catch some action. Some of the juniors were competing while we were there. The commentary from the event organizers was hilarious as they discussed the “squids” and some of them were surfing very well. Meanwhile, a lot of the locals were also out enjoying the conditions. I liked the idea that passersby could be in there with the competitors. It seemed a bit like playing football on the side of an NFL game!

The surfers could go either left or right the way the waves were breaking so we sometimes had them coming right at us which was cool. Watching them all trying to catch the wave as it came through and seeing who actually got up was good fun. One guy was out on his paddle board and he really did get some speed up as he surfed back in. As a lucky add-on to the day, this was certainly worthwhile.

Sea Otters

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In a previous trip to Monterey, I saw some sea otters out in the bay near the aquarium. I was interested in heading back to try and get something a bit better than last time and that included taking along a lens that was a bit more up to the task. I had done a little research online about places where he sea otters are regularly seen and decided to go to Moss Landing which is further up the bay from Monterey itself. There is a marina there which was supposed to be popular with the otters. I had no idea whether this meant they were always there or it was just a good chance that they might show up. Imagine my surprise, then, to pull up and see two otters in the water right next to the road.

We weren’t the only ones paying them a visit. There were a few people around with some long lenses on display. One of the otters was pretty subdued and seemed to be focused on grooming while the other was a lot more active. Lots of twisting and diving was going on and the constant movement made tracking for a good shot a little harder than might have been expected. They aren’t the hardest target by any stretch of the imagination but when they are active, they really don’t stay still for long. If they are lying on their back and grooming, things are a little easier.

I didn’t just pay attention to the otters near the road. There were a bunch of them out in the entrance to the harbor feeding on the local shellfish. It was fun to watch them come back to the surface, start to feed and attract the attention of the seagulls that saw a meal for the taking and decided to have a go. Of course, sea otters have some pretty healthy claws and teeth so were not an easy mark for the gulls. They seemed to keep their prize but it didn’t stop the gulls having a go. Sometimes, they just seemed to sit and watch. Maybe they were just envious.

Getting a good shot of the otters was harder than I expected. With them constantly on the move, they always seemed to be lined up in the wrong direction. The back of the head does not make a good shot and they seem to blink a lot so, without the eye, the image looks less interesting. A bit of patience was in order. Also, using the long lens in close meant that the depth of field was shallow so a sharp eye meant a blurred nose and vice versa. I looked at both types of shot to see if it mattered and, while when looking at normal size, it didn’t make a big difference, the shots with the eye sharp did appear better. I guess that rule is not a bad one!

Treasure Island

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There is a place in San Francisco that I have meant to visit many times but have never been to – until now of course. That place is Treasure Island. At the midpoint of the Bay Bridge, it provides a great view of the city. I nearly went there a while back. On a Saturday I was coming to the city to visit a friend and made an early start to be at Treasure Island for sunrise. Unfortunately someone was in a hurry that morning, wrote their car off ahead of me on the interstate and left a bumper in my lane which I hit at some speed. This delayed my arrival by a few hours while Hertz switched out the car for me.

That is a slight aside. I finally got there. This wasn’t a photo trip. Nancy and I were heading in to the city and I suddenly decided to make a quick detour. We weren’t there long. I did take a look at a great Art Deco building that has the look of an old terminal building but which was a Navy building I believe. The city now uses it and it was closed when we were there but it will be worth a second look.

I did take some pictures. I was shooting into the sun so the look I was going for was more silhouette and highlight but we did have a good view of the sailing boats out at Alcatraz. This was part of a great sweeping view. Again, panorama jumped to mind. As with Twin Peaks, I can only show a small portion of it on screen but it was a nice lookout. Another location to be added to my list of places to visit at a more appropriate time of day.

Nice Bird

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No story with this one. I just got a shot of this bird while out and about and I liked it.

Twin Peaks

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My niece spent some time with a friend of hers in San Francisco while she was staying with us. They went to Twin Peaks and Sara told me how cool the view was and that I should definitely go. I am an obedient guy so Nancy and I took a trip up there. Sara wasn’t wrong. Being at one of the highest points in the city does provide a great view and having a clear day made things even better. We weren’t alone enjoying this either. Indeed, it was quite fun seeing some of the footwear on women climbing up to the top of the hills!

You have a view around to the Golden Gate in one direction all the way to Candlestick Park and beyond in the other. The downtown is ahead of you and the line that Market Street cuts through the city is readily apparent. The whole outlook is made for panoramas and I have had to cut them down to make them fit on screen. Early morning and sunset seem like times when a return visit will be in order so don’t be surprised when this location shows up again in future posts.

Hunting Egrets

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They were hunting – not me! I was hunting too but it was a plane I was after. However, since there was time before the plane arrived, I was able to watch a pair of egrets busily feeding. They are hungry birds! They didn’t always catch something but their success rate was high and then it was straight back to the next fish.

Watching them stalk through the shallows and then strike at their target was a lot of fun. The speed of the entry is impressive and then to see the fish in their mouth before it is swallowed is a sign of a job well done. With the water so calm, they also made for some very symmetrical shots.

Chasing the MD-11

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I mentioned in a previous post that one of the few remaining passenger operators of MD-11s is KLM and they are currently bringing the jet into SFO on alternating days. I had previously missed it because the day I was there was the day that the A330 was running the service. I wanted to make an effort to see the jet since you never know how long it will be before the opportunity is gone. The draw-down of the fleet is underway but they can change routes with little warning. Therefore, I decided to make the trip.

This time it was a quick visit. We were heading over to the peninsula for other reasons so I persuaded Nancy to allow me to make the diversion. Since tracking flights is now so easy, there was little element of chance in this. We knew when the jet was coming so I didn’t need to make her wait long.

Sure enough, the MD-11 came into view overhead as it made the pass before coming onto the approach. There was some limited visibility out on the bay but the light was fine for the landing shot and I was happy with the result. I got a few other shots while I was waiting and then it was back to our previously arranged schedule. Glad to have shot this aircraft before the opportunity finally disappears. At least FedEx will keep using them for a while to come.

Night Shoot at SFO

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One idea that Paul had was for us to have a go at shooting some light trails at SFO after it got dark. This sounded like a good plan. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any tripods or cable releases with us. No matter. Target was around the corner so we popped in there and bought a couple of $15 specials. Hmm, these were quality items indeed. Given how much a good tripod costs, can you imagine what a $15 tripod is like?

However, we made the best of it. Getting perfect alignment was tricky so some post processing cropping to level stuff up would be required. The camera wobbled a lot on the tripod when touched so I chose to trigger it with the shutter button on a 2 second delay. This allowed some wobbling to stop and, on a long exposure, any lingering wobble would be lost.

We got some stuff but it wasn’t brilliant. However, a short while later, I had to go to SFO to pick up some family members arriving on an evening flight so I decided to go a little earlier and try again, this time with some more appropriate kit in the form of a decent tripod and a cable release. This time, I was able to control things a bit better and get a few shots of interest. There wasn’t a huge amount of traffic so I didn’t get too many trails but I did get a slowly taxiing British Airways 747 which left an interesting smear across the frame.

The alignment with the moving planes is not fantastic from where I was but it was okay. Coyote Point looks like it might be better but I think it closes at sunset so I’m not sure whether that will be possible or not. We shall see.

Bay Birds

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My recent trips to SFO have also allowed for the occasional bird to be photographed. The bay is very popular with bird life so, in the times between interesting aircraft movements, you can get a few extra shots. A lot of the birds are wading types wandering along the shore looking for life in the mud. You also get some egrets and obviously plenty of gulls. Some ducks life around the area and they can be seen diving for stuff on the bottom of the bay. A few pelicans will sometimes show up and dive for fish a little off shore.

This time I even got lucky with an osprey flying overhead. I haven’t seen one here before so was quite surprised. I grabbed a few shots as it passed overhead and then it was gone. Meanwhile, it was fun to watch some of the larger flocks flying together. The way in which they move seemingly as one is really cool and, with the low sun angle, their changes of direction made them appear to flash as their undersides suddenly caught the light.

Another SFO Day Out

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My friend Paul was in the area for work and we had a day to go out and shoot some aviation. We had a couple of options that we considered and one that we tried but that was not looking too productive so we ended up having a trip to SFO. With plenty of time to play with, we shot from a couple of locations. We started out at Coyote Point which is great early in the day when the light is good and also provides good light looking down the approach towards the runways.

Later we moved across to the bayshore area near the airport where you can get better views of the traffic on the airfield including the landings. The problem here can be that the distance, even on a coolish winter day, can result in some heat haze issues. These can be exacerbated by aircraft holding for departure when their exhaust plumes are in front of what you want to shoot.

There were a few things that we wanted to catch and then plenty of time between to take it easy, go and get something to eat or just chat about what we had been up to. The Air New Zealand 747 is now a rare beast so catching that was worthwhile. Cathay are also bringing theirs in which I can’t imagine will be the case for too much longer. We had hoped for the KLM MD-11 which is a rarer beast yet but, unfortunately, it alternates between an MD-11 and an A330 and that day was the A330 day.

The other thing to try and get at SFO is the parallel approaches. The two closely spaced runways can be used simultaneously and you can have two large aircraft coming down the approach in formation. Usually there is a bit of an offset but every once in a while, they are right alongside each other. Trying to get this is one of the goals. There were a few when I got them further out which made them appear closer than they were. Sadly, one approach was the Emirates 777 with a Gulfstream right next to it. I didn’t realize in time and was shooting with too long a lens. The 777 is fine but the Gulfstream was cut off so I blew it. At least Paul got the shot so we do have a record.