USS Nimitz

Yesterday was the celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th birthday.  For the celebration, the USS Nimitz made a visit.  Thus I tried to capture a picture of it going under the Golden Gate.
The weather was very hazy.  I also tried a different vantage point.  Probably a better place would have been on the San Francisco side but I was not wanting to brave the crowds.  (I also had a different birthday party that I needed to get to that I did not want to get stuck in traffic.)

If I was on the other side, I would not have been able to get this picture of the Nimitz with SF in the background.

On a side note:  This is the incredible story of an amateur photographer making history by documenting the Golden Gate Bridge construction.  This is the story of Ted Huggins.

USS Iowa departure

Very interesting couple of days.  First, the USS Iowa was suppose to leave the Bay Area to go to its new home in the LA area on the 20th.  That was cancelled because of rough weather along the coast.  (It is being towed, thus the safety of the tow vessels, doubt anything would affect the Iowa.)

Anyway, the exit was delayed until this Saturday.  It was a very nice day for pictures as it left.  Here is one taken from the Marin headlands with Alcatraz in the background.

Also a couple as it approached the Golden Gate Bridge.

And finally the Iowa going under the Gate.  Kind of sad since the Bay Area tried three times to get the Iowa here; twice in San Francisco.

Partial Solar Eclipse

Well the partial eclipse was Sunday and offered a chance for me to try out a different type of photography.  Always have to try new things.  To start and be on the safe side I needed to find a good solar filter.  That came in the form of Baader Solar Filter film bought from Agena Astro Products.

Since you are purchasing a sheet of filter film, they also include instructions on how to construct your own filter.  They are pretty easy to follow, you just have to remember to treat the film gently.  It can crease and crinkle very easily.  (Think of something like gold leaf, it's a bit stronger than leaf, but just as light.)

So, I just did a slightly different take on the instruction, I cheated in creating the cardboard tube, I just went straight to foam and mounted the cardboard sandwich on that.

Now that the filter was created, I can shoot some pictures.  (I actually created two filters, one for my spotting scope and one for my 300mm lens.  This worked out very well since I was using one and my wife and daughter could use the other to view the eclipse.)

So here are pictures, the spotting scope turned out a bit soft since I forgot to bring my remote release and I am still learning how to focus it.  It did not help that even through the filter, the LCD screen glowed a bit bright.

Here is at the start.  I like that you can see two sunspots.  (This is also the reason for the filters so I can start taking more photos of the sun and view sunspots.)  This picture came from the spotting scope.

So as the event progressed something fun happened, other people started to show up, some knew about the eclipse some did not but all learned and shared.  There was another father who brought a pin-hole camera in a box to show his son the eclipse.  He ended up sharing and talking with the group.  There was a young couple who brought some cardboard to do a projection and there where many just wanting to try and view the eclipse.  There was even viewing through the trees and leaves or 4 fingers crossed to case a shadow on the ground.  Overall, very enjoyable.

So here are a few more pictures.  This one is from my 300mm lens.  A bit sharper also cropped.   Also another getting close to maximum coverage.

Another from the spotting scope at maximum.

And now it is leaving.

Overall, I am happy with the results.  Always have to keep learning and practicing.  Also was a nice day out in the Marin headlands.  Enjoy and thanks everyone.

USS Iowa

Interesting day, found out that the USS Iowa was pulled out of the mothball fleet and is being restored at the Port of Richmond.  I guess they have been working on it for the past couple of months with unofficial tours of the ship happening on the weekends.  Well this weekend is the last weekend that it will be at the Port of Richmond since they will be moving it to San Pedro, CA.  Read more at: USS Iowa.

This was also the first time the public was able to go inside the ship.  There was very little open and there was still a lot of scaffolding up, but the one thing that I noticed is the head room was lower then even the carriers or submarines that I have visited.  Really strange.

So here it is.  This is a shot of 3 pictures combined together.  (See the panoramic post earlier.)

I also wanted to see how well the panoramic software worked.  Here I zoomed in a bit and took more pictures.  This is a composite of 46 photos.  I still have to work on how the software works to see how to fill in the sky since I did not actually take pictures of it.  (If I did take pictures of it, there where no features for the software to line up.  But there may have been tricks to deal with that too.)

This is from the other side.  Single shot.

Now for the on deck shots.  Only a portion of the deck was open and temporary boards where in place to help walking.
Now for the sizes.  Those turret are big.

The rooms are small.  This looked like a triage room or infirmary.  The room cluster here was a small head, office desk and a small room with this room off it.  My daughter can hardly stand in the room.

Overall it was fun.  It will really be neat when more of the ship gets refurbished.  Heck the turrets above still had 'wet paint' on them.  They where just finished earlier this week.