New Photos from Kehoe Beach

11/03/2015 by marty

Kehoe Beach, one of the most beautiful ocean shores at Point Reyes, is in the northern area of the park. Next to McClures Beach, it is my favorite of all the beaches in the national seashore. Over the years I’ve made scores of visits there. Some of these explorations have resulted in portfolio-level photographs. It had been a while since I had visited Kehoe, so I was all ears when I received a call from my friend last week.

Tidal Pool & Surf, Kehoe Beach

My friend and fellow landscape photographer, Bill Helsel, was on the phone. He invited me to join him for a late afternoon photo walk at Kehoe Beach. Bill had checked the tides and selected a particular day and time for our visit. (Besides being an accomplished fine art photographer, Bill is also an inspirational and dedicated teacher of the photographic arts.)

When we arrived, we were delighted to find that an unusually high tide had swept the sands clean. The afternoon’s surf had deposited several invitingly ephemeral tidepools on the high reaches of the beach. The late afternoon sun created brilliant highlights along the edges of these pools. We were at the right beach at the right time! Enjoying the views, we walked together for a while, stretching our photographers’ eyes, and then we wandered away from each other, following our own muses.

North Rocks, Kehoe Beach

As I wandered, letting the light lead me along the beach, I found several good photo opportunities. This is what I love most about landscape photography – the surprising discoveries, gifts if you will, that can come from peacefully wandering in the good light.

During the time spent at Kehoe, I made a few photographs I found worthy of adding to my website. Those six new images are at the bottom of the first thumbnails page of my Waterscapes Collection.

Sun-Blazed Tidepool, Kehoe Beach

Drakes Moonrise 25th Anniversary

10/26/2015 by marty

November 2, 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the making of Drakes Moonrise, my most collected and published photograph. I was fortunate to be on the beach that day when a setting sun, a rising moon and receding tide combined to create a lifetime photo opportunity. In this post, to celebrate the anniversary, I’ll share the story about the making of Drakes Moonrise.

Drakes Moonrise

The Inspiration
In 1989 I saw a color photograph of the full moon rising over the sandstone cliffs at Drakes Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. The composition was striking. Although I liked the photograph, I thought it would’ve been better in black and white. So inspired, I decided to see if I could capture my own moonrise at Drakes Beach using traditional black and white film.

Predicting
The bearing of the moonrise varies throughout the year. I used astronomical tables and detailed maps to predict a date favorable for a moonrise over the white cliffs at Drakes Beach. My first opportunity was on November 1st, 1990. I got there early with compass in hand. Unfortunately the landscape was flooded with sunlight and the moon was too high and too pale in the sky above the cliffs. I was a day early. I had been down this road before and knew I would need to try again the next day. (I wrote about that previous experience in the making of Mount Vision Moonrise. Things had turned out very well that time, so I was hopeful that I would be lucky again as I planned my return for the next evening.)

A Fortunate Moment
When I arrived the next day, the sun was lighting up the beach and the sandstone cliffs. The moon had not yet risen. Soon enough, though, the ghostly sphere made it’s appearance, gradually separating itself from the horizon line formed by the grassy bluff below it. The moon brightened as it slowly rose. The sun set, darkening the beach, creating a lovely contrast between the beach sands and the bluffs. Gradually, the shadow began rising up the cliff. As the moon rose slightly above the cliff, the sun’s last light glowed on the grassy hill below. This fortunate combination of sunlight, shadow and moon glow created the perfect moment for the photograph. This light lasted for just a minute – then the sun set, plunging the cliff and hillside into a darkening shadow.

Drakes Moonrise, in collections throughout the world, is available in a number of sizes and presentations. The following links will bring you to respective pages for secure online ordering at my website:

Archival Prints & Matted/Framed Gift and Numbered Editions (Contact me for prints larger than 16×20)
West Marin Moons Boxed Notecard Sets (includes Drakes Moonrise notecard along with 4 other moonrise cards)
Signed books: Point Reyes 20 Years (Photo and text) Both the standard version and the collector’s edition are nearly sold out.
West Marin Moons Print Folio (Drakes Moonrise collector’s print along with seven other moonrise prints)

Rusted Steam Shovel Bones

10/16/2015 by marty

Steam Shovel Bones 139
Last week while exploring a beach on the northern California coast I was startled to come upon the mammoth ruins of some ancient iron machinery protruding from the rocky shoreline. This rusted beast, a tangle of gears, wheels and girders was half-embedded and seemingly welded to its rocky graveyard. I guessed I was looking at either a train wreck or the engine room of a beached ocean-going steam freighter. As I walked around the other side, I found a large manufacturer’s plate that provided the information I needed to solve the mystery of these relics.

An online search of the text on the plate revealed it was an abandoned power steam shovel, manufactured in the 1920s. This equipment was used to mine the shoreline rocks, perhaps building the rock wall it was now buried in. Did a Pacific storm topple and trash it? Or, was it abandoned during the perilous economic times of the late 20s into the 30s? I wasn’t able to find out why it was buried where it was. Nearly a hundred years of storm and salt had done its work, creating a gorgeous patina of rust on the ruined hulk. I set up my camera and went to work. These rusted iron bones captivated me. I returned a week later to photograph it again in late afternoon light. On my second visit, I brought my macro lens to pull out details of the incredible textures and shapes within the rusted carcass. View the online collection from both days here: Rusted Steam Shovel