Bay Bridge Photo Shoot

First things first: I got a new camera! Woo hoo! It's the Canon 20D, and this thing is simply amazing! It's a true SLR digital, 8 megapixel shooter. Here's a picture of it:

Quite simply, this is the camera I've always wanted, even before it was invented! Rather than try to tell you all about it (which is WAY too much!), you can click THIS LINK to an in-depth review of it, if you're interested.

Okay, that out of the way, I'm really excited about my first shoot with it. There's a shot I've been wanting to get for a few months, but got put off by one thing or another each time. It's a shot of the San Francisco Bay Bridge at dusk, from Treasure Island facing West (into the sunset).

Now, the easy place to get a shot of this bridge is from a parking area at the bottom of the hill. I've already done that with my Sony F717, and you can see the shot HERE. But I wanted something a little more dynamic and dramatic - from the top of the hill.

The only problem with that is, there's no place to park up there. It's two lanes, with a cliff wall on one side, a cliff drop on the other, and not even a shoulder to pull over onto - at all. I was going to have to work for it...

I parked down the hill in the parking lot, strapped on my backpack full of gear, and set off on a hike up the mountain. Half an hour later, and I was setting up my tripod at the only place I could get a view through the trees without going off the cliff. I spent a couple hours there, shooting from about an hour before sundown to about an hour after, then packed it up and headed back down. It's hard to tell from the small viewfinder on a digital camera if you got exactly what you wanted, especially when it comes to sharpness, but I had some good feelings about the shoot.

While I was up there, another fellow walked up with a camera and tried to take a shot or two, then lamented that he had no tripod, and knew it wasn't going to work out for him. Well, I always carry a couple of mini-pods, so I loaned him one to get his shot, and he was very thankful. I was glad to help. I hope it turned out well for him.

When I got home and dumped the photos onto my computer, I was very happy! Of the 225 photos I shot there (MAN, I love digital!), I chose this as THE shot of the session:

If you'd like to see the rest of my photos, you can head on over to my photo album. I recently went through it and gave it a whole new look and new functionality. If you've been there before, you may have to refresh your browser to see the new look, and the new photos since the last time you were there. An easy way to do that is to simply press F5 on your keyboard when you get there.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm still feeling great here, and doing fine. Hope you are too! See you next time!