Tonight's Sunset on the Upper Niagara

You should have been here....   

The sunset and the clouds were almost perfect tonight on the upper Niagara River. It's been quite a few days since I've taken my camera with me to see the sunset since I've been working almost nonstop reviewing and archiving image files, though this exciting work has been going on for well over a decade now. I just love being parked in front of a monitor for so many endless hours each day!!

Who wouldn't enjoy such a golden cloudy sunset like this?

The last few weeks have seen empty skies above a setting sun, and I don't even use my camera when the skies are clear like that. Tonight however, was not the same as previous evenings, and I totally enjoyed it, except of course, for the 1,205 flying insects that were buzzing in and out of my camera view, and around and on me! Yesterday, as was the case during the last few times we went out for the sunset, the wind was blowing quite nicely, save for blowing insects onto our clothes and into our faces! The tiny dark spots visible in some of the pictures are the insects flying around with a model release in their little paws......

Nicest sunset in these parts in many days!!

Here's a few images snapped with my S5 of tonight's sunset. These pictures were not edited at all.

Enjoy these golden moments, and leave a few words if you really DO enjoy them!! Remember, you can click on these to see them in a bigger size!

Sheila loves these cloudy fiery sunsets as much as I do!
But she's smart enough to bring a camera when I don't!

Leaving soon after this moment, but not before
we saw the golden light backlighting some
wisps of cloud high up. Soooo lovely!

 I think the upper Niagara River has some very nice sunsets often. There are, of course, many occasions when WE enjoy some quite fiery sunsets. Here's one sample from years ago while I was still new to the area. This is posted at my site at redbubble and will take you to another website. 

click here to fototaker's older image of Fire on the upper Niagara 

New Years Blues

The last setting observed was from Bernal Heights ~ was amazing to see the glow looking west toward the Pacific, above the fog approaching over homes on San Franciscan hills. On the other side of the bay, Mt Diablo was gorgeous surrounded by the glow of the sunset, as windows of homes in the East Bay reflected the sun, lighting up the windows like sparkling little tree lights.

So today it’s a bright cloudy day in the City, and I’ve been running around on the third day of this new year with so many things to do and capture with camera before I leave. I took pictures recently at Twin Peaks, a place I’ve never been to as a teen or an adult, but amazingly haven’t had the time to see the first sunset of the year.

Many sunsets prior, I started a personal routine of photographing the last and first sunset of the year. Last year – just a few days ago – I wasn’t able to see the sunset due to a thick fog that came in and even thought it was wreck havoc on the fireworks, and the next day was the same. I hate missing my routine habits that help me to exist from one year to another – when one is alone, these things keep things sane and tolerable.

I went with a photo buddy to take pictures of the fireworks, and that almost didn’t happen due the fog and my friend’s work schedule. Luckily he was able to join me and we got to the
Embarcadero near the Ferry Building two hours prior to stake out a good spot. Things changed and we walked around snapping pixs and changing locations till the last half-hour, when we parked tripods and cameras in front of the Ferry Building. As it was with this huge crowd, one must think of the mass of moving people, plus where to set up a tripod where it won’t interfere with people passing, yet still be safe enough for us to work.

After the final countdown, the fireworks actually started about 200 feet to the right – south – of where we stood!! Shocked and surprised that the exploding spirals was closer to the bridge, we both folded up the tripod in one sweep of the arms, and ran at break-neck speed toward the bridge and into a loud, noisy and full-motion crowd where one would normally have difficulty walking slow!! I found a spot about 150 feet from where I stood just minutes before, and of course, inside the sardine can there was NO space to set up the tripod. I instead kept the legs extended but together, and used it as a monopod. I also had to change my camera settings, configured for a tripod-still relaxed shoot but now in the mist of a jumping crowd and walkers. It was still pretty amazing and I did get good shots, though not as many as I thought
I would have liked. Looking at a map predicting where the fireworks would be, I see I had confused the location of the Ferry Building and then of course set up wrong.

That aside, after the fireworks we started walking down the empty streets, previously closed off due to the special event and the mass of walkers. The sight wasn’t pretty: drunk adults teetering on high heels or even being carried by their men-friends. The sight of many men and women puking their old year’s stomach contents and being held by friends…. This is one of the many reasons why normally I quit going out at night in the many places I’ve lived around the world. Otherwise, it was a nice walk at night with the great architecture of the City lit up in all its eerie glory, and I
stopped often to snap a pix. Luckily I parked far enough away and avoid most of the traffic that bottle-necked immediately after the fireworks.

The next day I went around the City to get some 2009 pixs, this being the HOW of how I ended up in the Twin Peaks area…. I had no idea there was even a lookout point up there!!! I also went to another spot not much farther from there, and discovered a San Franciscan spot that overlooks the Market Street and Castro area, but seems it could be out in the boonies in rocky, mountain terrain. I love little discoveries like this and is one of the few reasons that San Francisco is so unique to me…. more picture are displayed at my foto site if you care to see them.

Today I finally went out and got a little remote controller for my camera so that I can finally snap away in a night-time situation and not worry about touching the camera itself to release the shutter. I originally wanted to get it later after returning from Spain but oh well…. I’ll now take it to Spain with me! I now just discovered that when used for long exposures, the camera displays the time of the duration by counting UP the seconds the shutter has been open!! How cool is that? While in the Marina District to buy the remote at the photo store, I walked on the street without my jacket and as I've been wearing men's suspenders for some months, I noticed a lot of interesting looks from women, and stares & giggles from men. I actually like wearing the suspenders, helping keep my pants up without the binding restraint of belts. But I usually use a belt-held lens holder when traveling and wonder how I'll be able to "carry" that now without wearing a belt. hahahaaa

My two suitcases are packed and just within ounces of being over the weight allowances for my flight. One suitcase has been opened twice now to pack yet more things within, and amazingly enough with the assistance of a friend, was even able to shut it!

Just two and a half days more and I am on that plane, and it’s going to be a very difficult decision for me to return in February…..

a running fool's life

... imagine seeing someone running through the streets... obviously not dressed to be a jogger since he's wearing street clothes. Another indication he's not a jogger could be he's holding in his hand a very big camera with a long lens.

Not a jogger!!!

Well, if you thought that scene to be out of a flick, think not! That would be me, running about two miles Tuesday night as this idiot wanted to catch the almost full moon rising over the East Bay hills.... then after waiting 20mins realized that the moon's angle is wrong and want it "lower" in the sky, so now I decided to run from about Union Street and Vallejo to the Embarcadero and Pier 14. Gasping for air, snaps a bunch of the Bay Bridge with the moon above, then decides to run back toward Broadway and ~ seeing the Transamerica Building ~ stop to capture that in the darkening night sky, then on a sidestep, spies that green Sentinel Building and now distracted, spend twenty minutes snapping that too..... after all, it's not often this lad with a camera gets out at night to discover the night! And all this without a tripod!!

Pooped to hell and back, he rests till today when he spies a great cloudy sky as sunset nears, and decides on a whim to get the sunset from a different spot, so he runs up Greenwich Street to Telegraph Hill, where ~ out of breath again ~ encounters a tourist couple whose boyfriend is busying "watering" the green bushes by the walkway leading to the top of the hill... I detected a spanish-sounding accent and in Spain it's commonplace for males to look for any place to urinate.... I was going to ask if he was from Spain but thought better of it as I was in a hurry to get the sunset which was minutes away.... gasp, pant, gasp....

Near to the top, I see a spot not blocked by tree limbs or bushes. I stood there for about ten minutes while not even two feet away a man dressed in dark clothing burned a small stove in the bushes, crouched below the bush-level. As I started to capture the setting sun, he started banging a spoon on metal chant-style, and I wondered if what he was doing was a spell to shoo me away from his camp location for the night. I left in a few minutes, running again to the top of the hill, only to see trees and even taller bushes blocking any possible view, but I did see the statue of Columbus there backlit by the setting sun's golden glow upon the clouds.

I looked skyward; a BIG mistake and decided (I'm really crazy when I go snapping away and I've had an otherwise boring few days standing for hours for four days shooting the roaring jets) to go DOWN the backside of Telegraph Hill to the Embarcadero (ooooh no, not again!) and snap Coit Tower against the red flaming clouds above...... so I ran down the 300+ steps and was shocked I didn't fall not once - usually I fall when I have camera in hand) and started snapping away yet again at street level....
....then I see a lighted water fountain and those glimmering lights and that dark and shiny reflections of light caught my eye...... if you're a technie type, the data on the fountain pix is about a four-second exposure without a tripod, the camera on the ground, me lying next to it and keys and whatever else I had in my pockets to level the camera and angle the lense down to my subject.... wot fun!!

An hour and a half later I got home..... I think I'll stay away from my camera for a few days. Maybe if I moved everything around again, I'll lose my camera and I won't have to run anytime soon.....

yea right!
This is a picture captured with my cell phone camera, showing my camera on the ground (without me) as I snapped away at the fountain to get the picture above.... neatoooo tripod, huh? hahahahaaa

I saw an interesting scene during that chase for the full moon: I am walking ~ slow for once ~ down the street and notice a man loudly talking in chinese but holding at shoulder-height a square object in his hands. As I near, I can see that object is a laptop, and instantly, I know what he is doing... I've done it myself! He is holding the laptop equipped with a webcam toward Russian Hill and the dying golden glow of that night's sunset. Through this modern technology that we so take for granted these days, this man is probably talking to friends or family in China and using his wireless net access, walk outside with his laptop and share that sunset with his friends a world away.....

Then, on the other hand, why can't people direct their thoughts in one precise direction? Why does someone have to talk using this same technology but act in such a confusing matter that it's a headache foir both that individual and myself? To make matters worst, this individual acts as if they are talking to someone else. Nooooo, this person doesn't say my name, but refers to other named persons. Not only is this insulting that they cannot say my name, but it's confusing.

I don't get headaches often.... maybe once every two years, and this is the first one in probably that period.... and I don't like having a headache caused by someone's tactlessness.

grrrrrrrr

.... and still, as in every country I've lived in... why am I still watching sunsets alone? I hate being in this place and wish I were elsewhere. Anywhere but here.....

Oh... double crap!!!

Just back from my second followup at the San Jose clinic where they advised me my eyes were healing quite nicely. The protective clear contacts were removed ~ or should I say they were peeled off my cornea and was I ever glad, though my vision went lousy again in having to readjust yet again. I'm still very happy with the progressing results and I realize it'll take time before my vision gets as "good" as it'll possibly get. I've driven a few times at night now and I don't see any of the halos some have been warning me about, and though bright daylight bothers me still after decades of being protected from that, I'm even getting used to that!

To "celebrate" this milestone, and quite satisfied by my first camera test Sunday, I went out with my camera to shoot the sunset tonight, though possibly I might have overdone it.

Not like an overdone steak on a sizzling grill, nor a too baked potato in the oven...

Sure, that golden sun was bright, but it was also so beautiful... I've blinded myself many times previous, even after I warn friends and others not to look at the sun until it is lower in the sky....

Did I possibly harm myself or worst: did I harm my new vision and the still healing cornea?

But look at this image; was it worth it?

If just to capture one last glimpse...
One last soft kiss...
one last tender embrace...

Would I?

Should I slip from this golden paradise after such a vision
                after your loving lips
                        after this last farewell embrace

Would I?

If my eyes could etch into my memory the ocean wide
remember that last look upon the beauty before me
                        and many other delights previous
would I sacrifice my vision
                       my eyes
for such beauty not otherwise seen in a life so simple?

and if that were to be my brief death....
then be it so
take my eyes,
for I have often stolen that delightful scene
  the unforgettable view
  that splash of color so vivid

my desire for such glory has smitten my soul
                              my mind
                                  and my eyes

and I in my darkness ever more
stay this the last beauty my unseeing eyes spy ever again