Dillon Beach & SR-1 Sunsets (Part 3) - SF North Bay Trip

Due to the news last month of the historical Point Reyes Shipwreck being burned down, suspected to have been done by an irresponsible photographer, I decided to take a trip up the San Francisco North Bay to see the historical shipwreck, and get a few last photos before NPS hauls off the boat and have it destroyed. The trip was taken on 2/27/2016. The photos will be split into 3 blog posts. If you are looking for my vlog, you can find it here.

If you have not heard the news, here is practically what happened. The incident seems to have happened sometime during the night between Feb. 21st to 22nd. Very early in the morning of Feb. 22nd, someone reported a fire at the iconic shipwreck, and it took the fire department 2 hours to put out the fire, and most of the stern of the boat (back of the boat) was destroyed. The next day, locals searching the internet found a long exposure light painted photo posted by Instagram user @imonlyjames that showed someone (possibly @imonlyjames himself, an assistant, or friend) spinning steal wool on fire to generate sparks to create light trails in the final shot. The photo seems to have been taken before the fire. While there isn't any proof (as Instagram does not keep EXIF data of photos), the locals and the photography community (after the news spread) suspect that it was the Instagram photographer who irresponsibly set the shipwreck on fire. The Instagram photo has since been deleted due to media attention (which in my opinion, is a sign of admitting to guilt). While this ship is considered by many locals to be a historic landmark, by tourists as a tourist attraction, and by photographers as a both an important landmark and photo subject, the fire department has said they will not further investigate this incident and won't be holding anyone responsible. Their reason? Apparently "something already damaged and abandoned can't really be damaged even further". It is rumored that NPS is currently considering hauling this shipwreck out to be destroyed as it is now structurally unsafe and people tend to go climbing on it.

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 San Francisco North Bay photos, use this link. To see all of my San Francisco North Bay photos from this trip, use this link.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 

After Hog Island Oyster Farm, I headed to Dillon Beach and then started to head home. For today, there are photos from Dillon Beach, sunset photos from SR-1, and Nicasio Reservoir. 

I was going to visit the beach at Dillon Beach, but it has gotten to the point in the day where the sun's angle didn't allow for any good shots from the beach as I would be shooting against the sun (you can hear me mention this in the vlog). Anyways, on my drive out from Dillon Beach back to SR-1, I found a really nice scenery spot on the side of the road. I pulled out at a turn out, walked a bit down the road (while watching for cars), and took this photo. It is of cows grazing on the hill. The spot is still considered to be in Dillon Beach. In my opinion, this is one of the best photos I've taken. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 15 08 N 122 56 58 W 

Black and white process of the photo above.  

 A photo of Keys Creek shot on the side of SR-1 in Tomales, CA. Keys Creek is connected to Tomales Bay. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 13 24 N 122 55 05 W

This is the beginning of sunset. This is a sunset photo of Tomales Bay shot at Miller Boat Launch near SR-1 in Marshall, CA. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 1 59 N 122 55 19 W 

Black and white process of the photo above.  

I pulled out on the side of SR-1 and went down to this tiny beach in Marshall, CA. This is a sunset photo of Tomales Bay. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 08 37 N 122 52 51 W 

Here is another sunset photo of Tomales Bay from the same tiny beach near SR-1. In my opinion, this is one of the best photos I've taken. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 08 38 N 122 52 53 W 

 Black and white process of the photo above. 

A sunset photo of Tomales Bay shot on the side of SR-1 in Point Reyes Station, CA. On the other side of Tomales Bay is Inverness, CA where the Point Reyes Shipwreck is (I will show you a touched up 100% zoom later in the blog post). 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 06 23 N 122 50 23 W 

Black and white process of the photo above.  

Here is a touched up 100% zoom of the photo above so you can see the Point Reyes Shipwreck in Inverness, CA. I shoot my photos in RAW so it is possible for me to bring back the details in the shadows of the image. I only noticed that I should be able to see the Point Reyes Shipwreck from this location after I got home and checked my GPS data. 

I walked down a tiny bit on SR-1 to a spot with a bit less foliage to get a wider shot of the sunset scenery at Tomales Bay. This is still at Point Reyes Station, CA.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 06 24 N 122 50 23 W 

Black and white process of the photo above.  

A long exposure sunset photo I shot on the drive home. This is of Nicasio Reservoir shot on the side of Nicasio Valley Road in Nicasio, CA.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 38 05 31 N 122 43 53 W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

This is all the photos for today and for this series! 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.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 

Scouting Out Treasure Island, CA

As you know, I recently got a DJI Phantom 3 Professional Quadcopter. Anyways, I have been planning a scenery short film of Treasure Island, CA. Yesterday, I dropped by Treasure Island to scout out potential take off and landing sites and I took some cellphone shots during my scouting trip. Here are the photos. I was planning on writing this blog post yesterday, but I didn't end up having time.

The Bay Bridge as seen from Treasure Island.  

 A photo shot towards San Francisco from Clipper Cove. 

 Here is a photo of Cosson Hall which is the abandoned Navy dormitories when the Navy still occupied Treasure Island. These buildings will be one of my subjects for my flight. If you take a look at the buildings on Google Maps, you will see that the buildings have really cool architecture. If you are looking to shoot photos of this spot, you should do so soon as they are starting the tear down process to use the land for something else.

A photo of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) shot at the Green Lawn near Cosson Hall. 

A landscape shot from Perimeter Road of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.  

 A photo of the Bay Bridge as seen from Perimeter Road.

This is where things get interesting. You see these abandoned apartments? These apartments are areas with unsafe levels of radiation. If you read into the history of Treasure Island, you will know this place was where the US government buried some of their nuclear test waste. Recently the Navy has found some apartment complexes that had unsafe levels of radiation. This lead to a further investigation that found a ton of other apartment complexes in the area had the same problem. The affected apartment complexes were cleared and currently the area is fenced off so the Navy can do clean up work.  

The road you see in this photo is fenced off. I shot this photo above one of the fences. The photo is of another fence that has a bunch of radiation warning signs on it.  

Another radiation warning sign on another section of the fence fencing off the affected areas.  

A panorama I shot with my phone of the view from the end of Treasure Island. Behind me (on both sides of this photo) is one of the fences fencing off the radioactive areas. There was a narrow walking trail outside of the fence. From the panorama you can see San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz Island. My phone did not do a very good job stitching the panorama and you can probably spot the errors at higher resolution. You can find the higher resolution photo here. 

This is a rotting pier at Treasure Island. As you can see the pier is fenced off with hazard warnings. In the background you can see San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. 

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.