anywhereSF

Day 26: January 26, 2014: Slacker Ridge

I see a ton of great shots coming out of the Marin Headlands, and have meant to check out the view for some time now, but the distance from home and the toll to come back is just enough to keep me from making it out there very often. Today, however, the bike was calling to me.  It was time for an adventure.

After circling the city, I found myself in the Presidio, watching the waves of fog creep in across the bridge, pull back, then roll in again. Visions of low-lying fog at sunset were dancing in my head, providing all the motivation needed to head for the hills. As the sun sank lower in the sky, I ended up cruising through the headlands, trying to settle on a spot to stop. All the while, the fog danced around the hills, revealing beautiful, ephemeral slices of light that would disappear to gray in an instant: far too short-lived for me to get a camera out.

Settling on Slacker Hill for it’s iconic view, I abandoned the bike at the bottom and set off hiking/jogging to the top (Pro tip: aging motorcycle boots not recommended for hiking..). Finally emerging from the fog at the hill’s crest, I found about a dozen other photographers setting up tripods for timelapses and long exposures and settling in for a long photo session. Karl the Fog had other plans, however, and right as the sun went down, the clouds rose to wash over the hill, leaving us a moist gray hike back to the parking lot.

But, my, the views were fantastic while they lasted. 🙂

On another note, while I was up here, I watched a helicopter make a few low passes over the bridge. I was lucky enough to take a helicopter ride over the Big Island of Hawaii a couple years back, and thinking back to those views, I found myself wishing I could see what those people in the helicopter were seeing as they soared over the rolling fog.

Conveniently, it just so happened that I could. I found out later that there were three fantastic photographers/videographers, Toby Harriman, Michael Shainblum, and Marc Donahue on that helicopter, when I came across some of their photos posted around the web (Check them out here). That’s just one more way that the 365 project continues to fascinate me.  I’m left with this crazy photojournal of everywhere that I’ve been in the year. With the delay in film processing, I’m always looking back at least a few weeks if not months into my history. I keep finding myself pinpointing exactly where I was on a specific day, and matching that with other happenings around the area.

(Shot with Portra 400 in the Canon 650. I’m loving the way film handles bright skies and shooting directly into lights. Digital just hasn’t ever given me anything like this from a single photo, with such definition around a bright light, like the sun. Loving it.)