Zack Wormhoudt

Tags:   Mavericks Invitational 2013 Zack Wormhoudt

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This capture is the result of sheer luck!
I was driving home from a photo shoot that I had gone on with Nick Steinberg up along the Mendocino coast. I had slept in my truck the night before north of Bodega Bay, and woke up early. It was foggy, and rain was eminent, so I decided to drive home somewhat disappointed with the lack of light we got the evening before.
As I got closer to hwy 101 the thick fog lifted, and I saw all these crazy clouds with a gap of light off the horizon. Driving south towards San Francisco I was looking on both sides of the freeway for anything with a decent composition. There were some nice Oak trees that might work, but nothing was inspiring me. Looking south towards the city were clear skies. I felt like I needed to turn around and get back to the clouds. Just then I get a photo text from Andrew Louie of the Golden Gate Bridge with the fog at deck level. Below the photo read, “NOW!” I was fifteen minutes north of the bridge, and my driving speed went from 65 mph to 95 mph. The colors in the sky were starting to turn color, but I wasn’t sure the Marin Headlands would have the angle to capture the light.
As I popped through the tunnel seeing the North tower above the low fog, I couldn’t believe it. I raced up the headlands, and saw tons of cars parked below the gate to Hawk Hill. I figured the gate wasn’t open yet. The ranger had slept in, as they often do. I drove to the entrance of the gate staring at it closed in disgust. The sun was going to rise in about twenty minutes. I thought to myself, “Low fog, and high clouds are worth a ticket.” I put my truck in drive, and drove though the gap between the gates. So if you were one of the photographers wondering which idiot was driving through the gates; that was me. I picked up two hitchhikers trying to get to the top, and drove all the way up.
I was really happy to be at the top of Hawk Hill because I could capture a lot of the clouds to the north-east. Then out of the blue, literally, the leading edge of the storm front began rolling overhead. The sun was about ten minutes from rising, and clouds kept barreling in with virtually no wind. By the time the sun peaked, the clouds had traveled a good distance into the bay.
It was a surreal experience to say the least. I’m choosing to post this shot taken
at 15mm because it shows you the whole enchilada from Hawk Hill.

Thanks for looking.

FYI I did not get a ticket. The ranger just looked at me, and kept driving. YES!

Tags:   2013 Clouds GGB Hawk Hill Low Fog Marin Headlands San Francisco Sausalito September Sunrise High Clouds Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZF Carl Zeiss 15mm Distagon

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This was taken last Saturday evening after a mountain bike ride at Wilder Ranch with my son, and his two friends. During our ride high in the hills of Santa Cruz I could see a very low fog bank off the coast, and beautiful high clouds above. It was a beautiful day. After our ride we loaded my truck with our bikes about fifteen minutes before sunset, and raced up the coast passing the usual sunset spots, but the fog seemed to be getting thicker as we drove north. I stopped at the town of Davenport and was about to call it day when my son, Skye, pointed to the north, and said, “ You can see sunlight over there dad!” Not ready to give up, we drove north and headed inland up Swanton Rd. I saw these wild flowers and parked right next to them. I set up my gear and watched the fog move in and out. Eventually the fog floated away, and seemingly compress to about fifty feet; soon after the clouds began to change color.
It was windy, so it’s not that sharp, and there is a telephone pole in plane view, but I was really happy to find some wild flowers and some cloud color at the last minute.
Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm @ F/8 @ 1/6 sec @ ISO 100

Tags:   Sunset California Coast Wild Flowers Santa Cruz Spring Mountain Biking

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Here is another image from the April 8th late season snow in Yosemite Valley. There is something magic, as we all know, about the clearing storm in Yosemite. Watching the fog swirl, and cling to the granite cliffs is a mesmerizing event to watch. When these two blobs of fog caught fire from the first sunlight, I was awestruck. There were several sequences from this scene that I had captured, and it was extremely difficult to choose which one to post, but here it is.

Thanks for looking!

This is a 3 shot pano taken with a 100mm lens in the portrait position. The exif says, 20mm, but I have a few manual lenses with no CPU chip, and my camera doesn't know the lens or aperture settings. I think I was shooting at F/8, and not F/32.

Tags:   Yosemite El Capitan Snow Clearing Storm Tunnel View April 2015 Fog Sunrise First Light Clouds makroplanart2100 Carl Zeiss 100mm Yosemite National Park

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Bay Bridge
We finally had some weather come in to the bay area. This winter has been pretty dry with lots of clear skies. I was hoping to catch the moon rising on this evening, but I got this shot instead. The glow from the east bay lights, and fast moving clouds make for a surreal sky.

Tags:   Bay Bay Bridge Bridge Embarcadero rootswalker Matt Walker San Francisco Long Exposure Clouds Night Photography

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