City Lights

This is a long exposure (120 seconds) with my 10.5mm digital fisheye lens photographed into night. Standing on my aerie, I pointed the camera in the opposite direction from Tennessee Beach Sunset.

In the photo, you are looking south. You can see the cliffs of the Marin Headlands, then the gap made by the Golden Gate, followed by the lights of south San Francisco. Airplanes and a ship have turned into trails of light due to the time exposure.

As I’ve said before, I think there is something very eerie about standing on an aerie in the dark wilderness photographing the lights of the city.

Posted in Digital Night, Landscape, Photography, San Francisco Area

Setting Moon

The crescent moon was setting. With the camera open for four minutes, I watched the moon disappear behind the black line of hills. My exposure caught the descending moon and turned it into an apparent cylinder of light.

Posted in Digital Night, Landscape, Photography

Night at Point Reyes Lighthouse

This is an image captured at the Point Reyes lighthouse well into night, although the sunset appears to linger in the Western sky. Park Ranger Craig Morgan leads night tours down to the lighthouse the first and third Saturday of each month (provided the wind speed is less than 40mph). If you get the chance it’s really worth signing up for this unique experience.

Craig was kind enough to leave the light on, facing the land side of the lighthouse for me to photograph. This is the old, mechanical lighthouse (here’s a peek at the inside from an earlier visit of mine), not the automated light that is used for real.

I exposed the photo for five minutes. You can see the trail this time exposure made with the stars in the sky. You can also see Craig’s flashlight,motion of light captures as though it were solid, along the railing as he came up the stairs to stand by me as I took the photo.

Related stories: Point Reyes Lighthouse at Sunset; Distant Shore; Mountains on the Beach.

Posted in Digital Night, Landscape, Photography, Point Reyes