HDR Photography
The hills that rise above Berkeley and the east bay are home to some of the most spectacular vistas — when the weather is nice. On this particular day we were just lucky enough to get a patch of blue sky peaking through the bleak grey clouds, which was enough to completely light up the east bay while leaving the gloom looming over the city.
Once you venture even a few miles from the suburban world of the East Bay into the hills surrounding, all sorts of weird little “model train set” vistas appear. On a rainy, gloomy day, with low cloud cover penning in the view, you could almost be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into a giant’s basement hobby space.
The Marin Headlands overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge are more than just a viewpoint to take great pictures of the Bridge. They’re also honeycombed with bunkers and gun batteries that once defended the West Coast. Long abandoned, these solid and imposing structures are now decorated with enormous amounts of graffiti. This small bunker is just the beginning of the incredible art at these batteries.
The Napa and Sonoma vallies are just filled with an odd mixture of beautifully manicured lawns and working farms, sometimes even coexisting on the same property. This embodies the reality of viticulture, that it all starts in the fields.
Pictured here I’ve got a picture of the Ram’s Gate Winery on a beautiful spring day. The nice cloud detail and blue skies are contrasted with the simple architecture and field in a, I feel, particularly compelling manner.
To the adults at the beach, it was December: the light was fading fast, the wind was a bit chilly, and every surfer had a wet suit. To the kids, though, it was summer. A day at the beach is always a slice of summer, with the wave splashes and ambitious sand construction projects to prove it. With the camera down at “kid height,” the beach stretches on forever and I faced a contest in which serious consideration was given to who had created the most imposing edifice.
A recent trip to San Diego gave me a chance to wander around the gorgeous La Jolla Shores neighborhood, home of UC San Diego and the Scripps institute. The salty air on the beach really speeds the degradation of structures; when you take that in combination with the minimalist concrete structures favored by UCSD, you can get some really dystopian looks. When you combine this with the traditionally “idyllic” beach, it makes for a disturbing contrast.
Decaseconds 