December 24, 2018, Sonoma County Coast. I took a walk on the bluffs on Christmas Eve. A little while before sunset, sunbeams drew a broad “A” behind a rapidly moving, billowing cloud bank. It looked promising. “Don’t quite like how it looks? Think it could improve?” I asked myself rhetorically. “Wait five seconds.” I did—and it just kept getting better. Over the next few minutes, many exposures were made. One was chosen. On this Christmas […]
I spent some time on the Holidays going over work from years gone by. I find that when I do this, I come across treasures that were overlooked the first time around. The first two were taken in 2014 on the Sonoma County coast north of Jenner and the third was taken in July 2018 on the San Mateo County coast near Pescadero. I wasn’t particularly in search of any of these scenes on the […]
Abstract comes from Latin abstrahere “to pull away, detach.” Abstraction pulls away and detaches from the representational and moves into the conceptual. These were taken at Point Reyes near Chimney Rock. The views are 180° apart, taken within minutes of each other. One looks back toward Drake’s Bay and the hills of the Point Reyes peninsula. The other looks out to sea. (Nikon D850, Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 G2.) More fine art photography at www.amagaphoto.com
Saturday, December 8, 2018. Point Reyes National Seashore. I probably shouldn’t give the secret away, but the Tomales Point Trail is one of the best walks it’s possible to take—anywhere. Best known for its Tule Elk preserve, the trail will also put you under the flight paths of Red Tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Peregrine Falcons, Osprey, and more. Here we have a Raptor on a Rock surveying its realm, which includes Point Reyes itself, some […]
Sunday, April 29, 2018. It was an overcast Sunday morning. The echium were in bloom and the hummingbirds were ecstatic about the easy pickins. The low clouds softened the light enough to reduce contrast while still letting the colors glow. A perfect time to try out my new 200-500mm lens. One particular breakfasting bird was darting from flower to flower on an echium branch that was set before a deep shadow cast by a nearby […]
Thanksgiving morning. November 22, 2018. On the first morning of clear air after the smoke from the recent Northern California fire washed away in very welcome rain, my wife and I took a walk by the marshes at the south end of the San Francisco Bay. As we discussed our immediately upcoming Thanksgiving chef duties, I tracked this Northern Harrier hunting for her own Thanksgiving meal. This series was shot over the course of about […]
Recently my wife and I went to see Cirque du Soleil’s Volta in San Francisco. Cirque du Soleil has become an annual tradition for us and every year they manage to jump over the bar they raised for themselves the previous year. Somewhat surprisingly they allow (non-flash) photography from the audience. They won’t allow a full DSLR, but a good pocket camera like a Sony RX100 or a Canon G7 X Mark II will pass muster. […]
Had today been a normal day, the sun would have set exactly mid-span of the Golden Gate Bridge as viewed from the North Berkeley Hills. Today was not a normal day. Today—because of the fire that destroyed most of city of Paradise—Northern California has the dubious distinction of having the worst air quality in the entire world. Still, as I said in an email to family members, we’re all alive and our homes are intact.
March 7, 1982. Point Lobos, California coast. My wife and I were out for a glorious day of photography back in the day when you could still get into the Point Lobos preserve on a Sunday without tripping over sixteen other people in as many square feet. (I’m reminded of something Yogi Berra supposedly said about a restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”) I went back to the car to change film […]
My fine art photography website, amagaphoto.com, has been growing for a while and will be open for business soon. Check it out and you’ll see that it’s long on images and short on words. I’m of a mind that individual works should speak for themselves — any commentary I might make would limit your own view. You have a right to see, or not, what you want. Yet I — as a photographer, artist, and […]
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