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Glowing in the afternoon sunlight an artistic sculpture graces the end of the walkway next to the entrance of Antioch Marina. The artistic structure was designed and created by Ralph J. Alexander.
The walk leading to the structure is located at the end of a park next to Humphrey's restaurant. Humphrey's restaurant is named after the world's most famous humpback whale. He gained his fame in 1985 by entering San Francisco bay and swimming up the Sacramento River to Rio Vista. News media, spectators and rescue workers followed the whale up the delta and
eventually Humphrey made it back to the open sea. The restaurant that now bears the same name is decorated with paintings and etched glass artwork depicting whales.
© Darvin Atkeson
LiquidMoonlight Studios
Tags: Sunset Sail Sails Sailboat Artwork Structure Architecture Sculpture Artistic Humphrey Wayward Whale Humpback Lost Antioch Marina Harbor Delta Sacramento California Rio Vista Pittsburg Ralph Alexander Artist Darv Darvin Atkeson LiquidMoonlight.com
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The Milky Way and its sister the Andromeda Galaxy rise above an old windmill spinning away in a warm summer nights breeze. What looks like a sunrise to the east is actually light pollution from nearby towns of Brentwood and Stockton. Snuggling down in the little valley provided some protection from the bright city lights allowing the Milky Way and Andromeda to shine though. The old windmill added an interesting subject for the foreground as it whirled and creaked in the wind.
It was late and Matt Granz called asking if I wanted to head out and do some night photography. I had just picked up a new 24-70mm lens and was eager to give it a try. We rushed out to a small road just off Deer Valley. Mt. Diablo and its surrounding foothills shaded us from the major light from the Bay Area and the only light we had to contend with was in the east. It looked a lot like the sun was about to rise in the east but it was still several hours away. It was dark out there but the long exposure really paid off and with a little tweaking of the levels the foreground showed up.
Getting home and looking at the images from the new Nikon D800e was a blast but the only down side was that the huge 36 Megapixel RAW files brought my system to screeching halt. But on the bright side, I had time to clean my office up while the hourglass spun on the screen.
© Darvin Atkeson
LiquidMoonlight Studios
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Tags: Milky Way Andromeda Galaxy Stars Windmill Wind Antioch Deer Valley Night Long Exposure Nikon D800e Ranch Sky Glow Light Brentwood Stockton California Darv Darvin Atkeson LiquidMoonlight.com
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Within a few short days, maybe a week or two at most, the rain dries up and there is a rush of Summer Gold as it spreads across the foothills that make up California Coastal Mountain Range across and to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Since moving to the Bay Area one thing that always stood out was the deep rich greens of the California Oaks against the light tan two foot high grass that covers the hills from late to early spring like a golden shag carpet. The grass is only greener here for a very short time during early spring. A few streaks of green can be seen in the pasture as it gives way to golden fields that will remain for the rest of the year. In a few short days, that bit of green will be gone.
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© Darvin Atkeson
LiquidMoonlight Studios
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Tags: Golden Hues Grass Pasture Oak California California Oak Tree Stormy Sky Skies Spring Summer Clouds Gently Rolling Hills Green Darv Darvin Lynneal Atkeson LiquidMoonlight.com
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When you think about it, every sunset is technically nuclear powered so the title would fit almost any sunset. Granted this is a fission reaction and the sun fusion reaction. Without nuclear power, the Earth wouldn't be the paradise we currently enjoy.
We were returning from a shoot in the Sierra when I first glimpsed the towers. We were miles away but they were still massive in the sky and towered above the rolling hills of ranchland and vineyards. Few manmade objects really get my attention but there is something a little more than unnerving about the ominous towering structures that clearly define a nuclear reactor. Especially when one of the first things you notice is the massive World War II era air raid sirens you encounter long before even seeing the famous Rancho Seco reactor site. As we approached the road took a turn directly toward the site and I realized we would pass right next to the cooling towers. The towers loomed ever larger with each mile till the road once again turned right along the base of the towers. When you look at the safety rail across the walkway atop the towers it reveals the true height.
In March of 1978 the plant experienced a very serious power outage that disabled much of its instrumentation resulting in the steam generator running dry. This would be the third most serious safety related event in the United States just behind Three Mile Island. Though there was no release of radiation from the plant, the event sparked protests and the place was eventually shut down by SMUD following a vote to shut down the facility. To cope with the loss in power for the city of Sacramento, SMUD planted over half a million trees that now blanket Sacramento in shade. SMUD also has built a modern solar plant on the Rancho Seco site. The surrounding area became a recreational park, vineyards and ranchland. Though the facility still retains its low energy fuel rods under tight security, the plant is much more open to the public than similar site. The massive cleanup cost of nearly half a billion dollars hopefully will make us think before we decide on how we wish to generate the energy we consume and hopefully consume it more wisely.
Personally I have always been fascinated by nuclear power. It may someday be made fully safe and cost effective but when you consider the massive cost of cleaning up such a site, you realize there is little room for nuclear power with our current technical levels. We can even agree on what to do with the spent fuel rods. For now it acts as a landmark to remind us that we need to use our energy with care and knowledge about the long term effects and costs involved.
But the old plant, the only one decommissioned in the US, sure makes for a beautiful photo op with a glowing Sierra Nevada sunset as the backdrop.
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© Darvin Atkeson
LiquidMoonlight Studios
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Tags: Nuclear Power Plant California Sacramento Accident Disaster Future Storage Fuel Sun Solar Fusion Fission Hearald Towers Cooling Seabiscuit Emergency Air Raid Sirens Nature Trail Capitol Tree Planting Energy SMUD Environmental Movement Half Billion Dollar Site Cleanup Radioactive Radiation Reactor Critical Meltdown Toxic Superfund Darv Darvin Atkeson LiquidMoonlight.com
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As spring ends and California enters summer the grass quickly turns golden leaving a few spots of green. I took this on a short drive out across the fields on the North Eastern side of Mount Diablo. It is the tallest mountain in the San Francisco Bay Area and I can say for personal experience it is one of the first things you see when coming across the central valley. It will loom on the horizon for hours as you travel from Yosemite back to the Bay Area getting larger ever so slowly as you approach. It's always been a landmark for us in our travels across the state.
Shooting directly into a sunset while the sun is still above the horizon is one of the more difficult you can try. One method is to use HDR and take a bunch of shots but I typically don't care much for the results and it helps if you have multiple exposures so you need to use a tripod. You can use a Graduated ND filter on the camera to darken the sky but the straight line on the filter works best in areas where the transition from dark to light is fairly straight such as the horizon of the ocean. When working with mountains and trees it tends to make a black line.
This image is a single hand held shot. To do this you must shoot in manual mode and take the shot based entirely on the brightest spot in the frame, in this case the sun behind some high clouds. In the camera, this turns the entire scene nearly all black so if you haven't done this your first reaction is to delete the shot. However it is possible to recover very dark areas in post processing. You can usually bring blacks up but it's hard to recover anything that has become entirely white. It can take more effort to save the shot once back home but it usually pays off and has fewer problems than using a filter or trying to work with HDR tools.
This shot was processed on a new system and monitor so I would appreciate any feedback as to how it looks on your screen.
© Darvin Atkeson
LiquidMoonlight Studios
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Tags: Sunset California Mt. Diablo Diablo Mountain Tallest Bay Area San Francisco Antioch Brentwood Marsh Creek Grass Summer Spring Golden Gold Field Fields Contra Costa Oak Trees Foothills Darv Darvin Lynneal Atkeson LiquidMoonlight.com
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