Camera Mount

I normally do not do endorsements, well this is not one anyway since I have not used or seen it.  The only reason to post is I'm willing to take a chance on this mount to help issues that I've had with ball and other type of mounts and I would like to see it happen.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/398172523/hitch-hiker-om-lightweight-balanced-tripod-head

Heck it can support more than just a camera.

http://www.hitchhiker-om.com/images/Hitch_Hiker_Bino_Rig_1_web.jpg

The above image is linked directly to their website and is not my own.

Thanks

President's Day Weekend

This is probably a first.  Posting the pictures within 48 hours.  Yeah.

This weekend was so nice that I had to get out and about.  First I ended up going to Pt Reyes and noticed that tide plus waves where coming almost to where we hold our annual beach picnic.  I only really expect it getting that high during storms.

Being such a nice day, I ended up in Bodega for a late lunch.

Then on Sunday I headed out to Half Moon Bay.  Not the weekend to go there since Mavericks happened on Friday, there seemed to be a lot more people around.  Also it was Valentine's Day, thus it seemed many more people where about.  First I visited Montara Beach where I caught this guy surfing.  He was waiting so long out there that I almost missed his ride.  Actually he rode this ride all the way into the beach.

Here is the surf sequence.

Now came Devil's Slide.  This is the section of Hwy 1 where they built a new tunnel bypassing a troubled section of the highway.  Both sides have a parking area and the old highway is now a hiking path along the coast.  It's a short 1.5 mile hike.  The first is a bridge leading to the tunnel.

Since the traffic was stop and go, I took a quick picture out the sun roof.  Just reached up.  The wide-angle lens gives a neat perspective.

Devil's Slide hike.

Old lookout stations.

Now for the fun thing.  I happened to be at the right angle to the sun and wind was whipping the waves into a mist, creating a rainbow.

Now for the spring picture.  I guess it has come, our pine trees are releasing pollen.  I saw the pollen cloud but could not get my camera quick enough but you can see the result when I stepped out on the deck to get the picture.  People normally do not believe me when I say the cars turn yellow in the spring.  (This is just one day and it is a good thing that non of us have allergies but I would hate to try and guess the pollen count. :-)

Filoli Gardens

This was the first visit to the Filoli Gardens.  Even with the California drought, the flowers where nice but the grass was brown.  Understandable.  We did not time the visit very well since we arrived about 13:00, thus harsh, direct sunlight in the middle of summer.  Thus it is a very nice place for the photo walk.

First off, even the bees where thirsty.

Some general pictures of the gardens.  The gardens are very extensive and rather varied, thus not just flowers.

Some of the flowers themselves.

Even the vegetables needed an umbrella.

Astronomy Events

I had the opportunity to photograph a couple of astronomy events last year.  First was the Perseid meteor shower.  I happen to be in Albuquerque and found this out of the way place.  (Well I thought it was but found that many people started showing up at the same location.  It was not that bad and was kind of fun.)

I was getting more shots of airplanes crossing than meteors.

These are a couple of meteors.

And some general night shots.

The second was the lunar eclipse and I really need to get a remove release.