When shooting landscapes here in the Bay Area, I’m usually in San Francisco wishing I lived there so I could respond quickly to changing weather. I often see what look like interesting conditions from Oakland, but don’t have time to get across the bridge and into position; the light and conditions change too quickly for much travel time to be part of the equation.
This afternoon, though, I could see from the east bay that the fog was coming in thick over the Golden Gate Bridge, too thick to make driving over there wise. I’d also been meaning to find a clear sunrise to do a panorama of the bay from the Berkeley Hills perspective. So I decided to head up to Grizzly Peak to see what it looked like at sunset. There’s a whole culture up there, most members of which arrive on two wheels, and some have even hauled old furniture up and left it somewhere along the winding route so they have a cozy place to sit for the sunset. The ground is sometimes littered with beer cans and such; sadly not all of those nature lovers haul their trash out.
But it’s easy to see why the vantage point attracts people. The view is fantastic. Last night I arrived as the sun has turned from hot yellow to orange, and was about to disappear behind Mount Tamalpais. The fog was coming in thick and heavy, pinched as it passed over the Golden Gate, then expanding sideways in each direction as it moved east. As the sky darkened, a sliver of moon appeared.
I had hiked a short distance from the road and my dog, Charlie, enjoyed a rare excursion out of the truck. Usually he stays inside to guard whatever gear I leave behind. But it seemed a good time to let him run a bit, and he was, as ever, a great photo dog, staying close to me as he explored, sniffed and expanded his domain. The moon crept slowly down and approached the city as it moved laterally toward the horizon.
As the ever-changing light swallowed it up into a dark blue above the still glowing orange from the departed sun, another blue swam over the foreground fog. I was glad to live it the east bay; who among my San Francisco-dwelling friends had any idea what I was looking at?
Info: Made with a Nikon D700 Digital SLR Camera
