Emeryville & Berkeley, CA Coastline (Cellphone Photos)

On the 5th June 2025, my parents and I went for a walk at Emeryville Marina Park, Emeryville Marina, and Point Emery in Emeryville, CA and the Berkeley Pier and Berkeley Marina area in Berkeley, CA. I took photos with my cellphone. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos!

My father and I's original plan on the 5th of June was to pick up our cameras from Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley, CA, which I dropped off a few days prior for sensor cleaning, and take photos of the bay area from Berkeley. Unfortunately that did not happen as they failed to clean the sensor properly (especially with my father's Canon mirrorless camera), you can see the results of the abysmal sensor cleaning here. While on the topic of camera sensor cleaning, I would highly recommend against going to Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley, CA, as you will not be getting the same service as before (I have been going to them since 2016).

After realizing the sensor cleaning was a complete failure, we brought it back in and showed them on our test shots just how poorly of a job they did and asked them to redo it. We went to IKEA afterwards for lunch and to shop around a bit. You will see later on in this blog post just how bad my Long COVID brain fog is... Also while we're on the subject of Long COVID, I normally post my cellphone photos on the same day or the next day, but unfortunately all these trips to Berkeley has completely drained me, and I have been crashing pretty hard recently from the ME/CFS and my brain is barely working (it's frequently mimicking dementia to be honest). Anyways after IKEA, we headed for Emeryville Marina Park in Emeryville, CA. 

A scenery photo of San Francisco, Bay Bridge (left), Golden Gate Bridge (right), San Francisco Bay, and clouds. 

The photo was shot at Emeryville Marina Park in Emeryville, CA.

A scenery photo of Richmond Bridge (left), Richmond (center), Berkeley Pier (right), San Francisco Bay, and clouds. 

The photo was shot at Emeryville Marina Park in Emeryville, CA.

A scenery photo of Bay Bridge (left), San Francisco (left), Golden Gate Bridge (right), San Francisco Bay, and clouds. 

The photo was shot at Emeryville Marina Park in Emeryville, CA.

A scenery photo of the Port of Oakland, San Francisco Bay, and clouds. 

The photo was shot at Emeryville Marina Park in Emeryville, CA.

A scenery photo of Oakland, CA, San Francisco Bay, and clouds.

The photo was shot at Emeryville Marina Park in Emeryville, CA.

A scenery photo of Emeryville Marina, Oakland, CA, and clouds. 

The photo was shot in Emeryville, CA.

Next we headed to Point Emery in Emeryville, CA.

A scenery photo of buildings and clouds shot at Point Emery in Emeryville, CA.

Afterwards we headed to the Berkeley Pier and Berkeley Marina Area in Berkeley, CA.

A scenery photo of Richmond Bridge (center), Richmond (right), breakwater (right), San Francisco Bay, and clouds. 

The photo was shot at the Berkeley Pier and Berkeley Marina area in Berkeley, CA.

That was pretty much it for the day and we went home after. I promised I'd show you just how bad my brain fog is. The next photo is notes I wrote down at the IKEA in Emeryville, CA.

A photo of a piece of paper with some notes and a half pencil from IKEA.

I got a free half pencil from IKEA! Yay! However it came with a funny story. All the stands in the IKEA were stocked up with paper tape measures and pencils, but no paper to write on. My parents and I were in the show room and we found something we wanted. In my mind, I needed paper to make note of the item and where to find it downstairs in their warehouse. I looked around, I could not find any note paper. I kept looking, which was when I came upon an unmanned employee stand, and saw there was a printer. I opened up the printer and took a sheet of paper out and went back to my mom. My mom was like "Where did you go?" I was like "I went to go find paper to write on, I don't know why they stopped stocking it at the stands." That was when I realized how bad my problem solving skills have gone due to Long COVID. My mom was like "You know you can just take a picture with your phone."

My mom doesn't really speak English, so I decided to write the same story using Chinese.

我在 IKEA 拿到了半个免费的铅笔！可是这个后面有个好玩的故事。所有的 IKEA 站上只有纸尺子和铅笔，可是没有写笔记的纸。我和爸妈在展览厅里找到了一个我们要的东西，可是要写下来是什么楼下仓库里才能找得到。我找了找没找到草稿纸。我在找了找看见了一个员工站有打印机。我把打印机里抽出来了一张纸，回到了妈边上。妈问了，“你到哪里去了啊？” 我说，“我去找纸去了，不知道为什么他们铅笔边上不放草稿纸了。” 我这时候才意识到长新冠脑雾有多严重。我妈说，“拿手机拍张照片不就行了吗？”

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Abysmal Sensor Cleaning at Looking Glass Photo (Berkeley, CA)

This blog post will stray somewhat from my past posts as I chat about another topic, camera sensor cleaning, especially the camera sensor cleaning service being offered at Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley, CA. I have been going to Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley, CA since 2016 for DSLR sensor cleaning (specifically on my Canon DSLR). They have always gotten my sensor mostly clean every time I went. Something changed this time. I wonder if they are under new management, or maybe it has something to do with their store break in sometime in February 2025 and them moving to a new temporary location. However their sensor cleaning service is now abysmal.

Due to the very good service I have had in the past, I decided this time to bring in my father's Canon mirrorless as well for cleaning, because he accidentally smudged a thumbprint on his sensor (it was relatively clean otherwise). For me, I had 4 dust spots on my Olympus mirrorless, however I introduced more as I made attempts to clean with an air blower, and on a few occasions left some smudges on the sensor too. $120 later, Looking Glass Photo made the sensors more dirty, granted they did remove the thumbprint, along with the smudges. They "recleaned" the sensors for after the first time, however all they did was make the sensors more dirty. I will never be back at this place again. I still have to buy equipment to clean the sensors myself, except I'm now out an extra $120 for the so called "cleaning".

When you look at these photos, please know that Google compresses them so you might not be able to see all the dust I see.

Canon EOS R6 Mark II (1st Clean)

Olympus Pen E-PL9 (1st Clean)

Olympus Pen E-PL9 (1st Clean)

Canon EOS R6 Mark II (2nd Redo Clean)

Olympus Pen E-PL9 (2nd Redo Clean)

Olympus Pen E-PL9 (2nd Redo Clean)

The quality of service at Looking Glass Photo clearly went down hill. 

Golden Gate NRA Night Photography (Part 2) - Marin County, CA

On 27 January 2024, my parents and I took a trip to Mt. Tamalpais State Park and Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County, CA. I took photos of scenery, banana slugs, Stinson Beach, Bolinas Lagoon, and night time photos of San Francisco. I split the photos into 2 blog posts. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos!

High Resolution Photos: If you want to see high resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To see my best GGNRA photos, use this link. To see my best sunset, sunrise, and night photography photos, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

<< Previous Part

This blog post features night time long exposures from Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I took a lot of photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, and San Francisco at night.

While the experimental treatment did almost completely fix my day time vision, my night time vision is only half working. My dad has recently taken up photography as well and I've been teaching him. He's also been assisting me with composition at night due to my poor vision. Night photography of San Francisco was actually not too bad for me as there are so many bright lights that I can see.

After Bolinas Lagoon, we drove all the way to Point Reyes Station, CA, but we didn't see much. After sunset, our first stop was Muir Beach Overlook in Muir Beach, CA.

A night time long exposure photo of San Francisco, Sutro Tower (center), Pacific Ocean, and clouds.

The photo was shot at Muir Beach Overlook in Muir Beach, CA.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 42" N 122° 35' 11" W

A black and white process of the photo above.

A night time long exposure photo of San Francisco, Pacific Ocean, and clouds.

The photo was shot at Muir Beach Overlook in Muir Beach, CA.

EXIF Data: 14mm (28mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/8 | ISO 200 | 2 minutes 1 second

The photo was shot at the same spot as above.

A black and white process of the photo above.

Our next stop was the Fort Baker and the Moore Road Pier Area of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Sausalito, CA. Please note that this area is not safe. My mom saw someone that was most likely there to do smash and grabs, however got really spooked when he saw her talking to my dad and I on on our Midland GXT1050VP4 Two-Way Radios (Affiliate Link). My mom said the person had a thick jacket on and a large hood so you couldn't see his face. He circled our vehicle, and saw my mom talking on the radio and hid at the gated off private pier (next to Moore Road Pier) for a while. After 10 minutes, he circled our vehicle again, saw my mom talking on the radio, and then quickly walked off. 

My mom said another funny thing also happened. A woman who was fishing on the pier for some reason decided not to use the porta potties nearby and instead chose to pee in front of our vehicle (it was at night after all). My mom wasn't sure what she was doing, so she opened the car door to go get a closer look. Opening the car door set off the car alarm and the horn started blaring and the headlights started flashing. The woman panicked pulled her pants up and ran. 😂

A night time long exposure photo of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Sutro Tower (left), and clouds. The photo was shot near Moore Road in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 14mm (28mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/10 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 53" N 122° 28' 43" W

A black and white process of the photo above.

A night time long exposure photo of Bay Bridge, San Francisco, and clouds.

Also in the photo are Coit Tower (near center), and Transamerica Pyramid & Salesforce Tower (right).

The photo was shot near Moore Road in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/13 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 52" N 122° 28' 43" W

A night time long exposure photo with clouds shot near Moore Road in Sausalito, CA.

In the photo from left to right are Moore Road Pier, Oakland, Alcatraz Island, Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, and Yerba Buena Island.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/11 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 52" N 122° 28' 42" W

A night time long exposure photo of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Sutro Tower (slightly cut off on the left), and clouds. The photo was shot on Moore Road Pier in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 14mm (28mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/9 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 53" N 122° 28' 37" W

A black and white process of the photo above.

A night time long exposure photo of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, and clouds. The photo was shot on Moore Road Pier in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 16mm (32mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/9 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

The photo was shot at the same spot as above.

A black and white process of the photo above.

A night time long exposure photo of San Francisco, Sutro Tower (center), and clouds. The photo was shot on Moore Road Pier in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/10 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 52" N 122° 28' 37" W

A night time long exposure photo of Bay Bridge, San Francisco, and clouds.

Also in the photo are Coit Tower (near center), and Transamerica Pyramid & Salesforce Tower (right).

The photo was shot on Moore Road Pier in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/9 | ISO 200 | 30 seconds

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 53" N 122° 28' 37" W

A night time long exposure photo with clouds shot on Moore Road Pier in Sausalito, CA.

In the photo from left to right are Oakland, Alcatraz Island, Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, and Yerba Buena Island.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/11 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 52" N 122° 28' 36" W

A cloudy night time long exposure photo of moon rise over Berkeley, CA. The photo was shot on Moore Road Pier in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/10 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 52" N 122° 28' 37" W

A black and white process of the photo above.

The last stop of the day was Point Bonita Trail in Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Sausalito, CA. My dad and I wanted to get photos of the Golden Gate Bridge from a different angle.

A night time long exposure photo with clouds from Point Bonita Trail in Sausalito, CA.

In the foreground is Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Point (right), and Pacific Ocean.

In the background from left to right: Bay Bridge, Oakland, Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco, Coit Tower, Transamerica Pyramid, and Salesforce Tower.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/11 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

A night time long exposure photo of San Francisco, Sutro Tower (center), Pacific Ocean, and clouds. The photo was shot on Point Bonita Trail in Sausalito, CA.

EXIF Data: 42mm (84mm - Full Frame Equivalent) | f/10 | ISO 200 | 1 minute

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 49' 14" N 122° 31' 47" W

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

<< Previous Part

Berkeley Marina - Berkeley, CA

On December 15th, 2017, I visited Berkeley Marina in Berkeley, CA. It was a very smoggy day. Here are the photos I shot on that day. I have been traveling a lot lately which is why the blog posts are a bit late. I haven't had time to work on the photos.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To see my best photos from Berkeley, CA, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

Boats at Berkeley Marina.

Boats at Berkeley Marina.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 58" N 122° 19' 05" W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

Boats at Berkeley Yacht Club at Berkeley Marina.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 57" N 122° 19' 02" W 

 Black and white process of the photo above.

Boats at Berkeley Yacht Club at Berkeley Marina.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 51 N 122° 18' 59" W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

Boats at Berkeley Yacht Club at Berkeley Marina.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 51" N 122° 18' 57" W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

Boats at Berkeley Yacht Club at Berkeley Marina.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 54" N 122° 18' 45" W 

 Black and white process of the photo above.

Smoggy scenery down University Avenue at Berkeley Marina.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 52" N 122° 18' 41" W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

Smoggy scenery towards Emeryville, CA from Berkeley Marina.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 51' 48" N 122° 18' 41" W 

Black and white process of the photo above.

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

SF Pride, Berkeley, New Nitecore Flashlight - June 2016 Vlog (Part 3)

I was very active during the month of June and recorded a ton of video. I decided to split the videos into 3 parts. Here are the links to the other 2 parts: 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | 

Here are the rest of the stuff I've done this month! Main things through out this video is I went to San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration, took photos out in Berkeley, CA, and got a new Nitecore EC4S Flashlight.

In this vlog:

• Oakland Chinatown
• San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration. 
• My new maxi dress I got at Forever21 in San Francisco. 
• Berkeley Pier and Berkeley Marina. 
• My new Nitecore EC4S Flashlight bundled with Nitecore NL189 batteries and a Nitecore UM20 USB battery charger. 
• Some initial testing of my new Nitecore flashlight. 

Links:

• Berkeley, CA (Blog Post)
• CES Las Vegas 2015 (Blog Post)
• CES Las Vegas 2015 Vlog
• Nitecore TM16 Flashlight Overview/Beam Shots (Video)
• San Francisco Pride (Blog Post)
• Truckee/Tahoe Vlog (with Nitecore TM16 Beam Shots)

For entire product list of products shown in this video, please go see the video description on YouTube.

Warning: Hateful, rude, anti-LGBT comments will be deleted, and you may be banned from my channel.

<< Previous Vlog | Next Vlog >> (Coming Soon)

Subscribe to my Youtube Channel here.

Berkeley Pier & Marina - Berkeley, CA (6/30/2016)

Recently, I got a huge dust spot on my DSLR sensor. I found a great camera shop out in Berkeley, CA called Looking Glass Photo & Camera which offers sensor cleanings, had some great reviews, and had a turn around time of just a few days. I decided to go to them for sensor cleaning as I am too paranoid and my hands are way too shaky for me to get the job done myself. Anyways, they did a very good job and they even provided me before and after photos of after they finished cleaning. All they request is that your camera has a fully charged battery before you bring it in. I had a wonderful experience with this camera store and definitely recommend them.

So now, what does this have to do with anything? Well, I don't head out to Berkeley much because I live in Pleasanton. Sadly, I didn't find a local camera store here that offers the service. Since I was in Berkeley to pick up my camera, I decided to take my clean camera out for a spin out at Berkeley Pier and Berkeley Marina. I haven't been to this spot since I was a child. I still remember back then, I had a lot of fun walking on Berkeley Pier. The pier was so long, it seemed endless. I wanted to do this again, but was met with disappointment. Once I arrived, I found out Berkeley Pier is closed due to structural integrity issues. I was still able to get a few photos of the pier though, along with some photos from Berkeley Marina. In this blog post, I'm going to share the photos I took with you.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best Berkeley, CA, use this link. To see my best monochrome and abstract photos for 2016, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

A photo of Berkeley Pier which is closed to to structural integrity issues. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

View of the Bay Bridge, San Francisco, CA, Treasure Island, and Yerba Buena Island. Photo shot near Berkeley Pier.

A photo of the parking lot and walking trail along the coast near Berkeley Pier. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

A photo of Berkeley Pier. 

Black and white process of the photo above.

A photo of the yachts and boats at Berkeley Marina. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

A photo of the yachts and boats at Berkeley Marina. 

Black and white process of the photo above.

A photo of the yachts and boats at Berkeley Marina. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

A photo of the yachts and boats at Berkeley Marina. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

A photo of a boat with Berkeley Marine Center right across. Photo from Berkeley Marina. 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.