Day 2 - Foggy Bridge & Muir Woods
Above is my favorite image from Friday, January 26, 2018
Welcome to Day 2 of my San Francisco adventure with the Olympus Super Fans & Visionaries. There were 10 of us chosen as Olympus Super Fans and we were flown in from all over the country to shoot, try new gear and interact with the Olympus Visionary team.
There wasn't a lot of time for chatting at the hotel before we were picked up for dinner on our first night. Olympus and Mullen-Lowe staff were there to coordinate all of our meals and transportation. I was really spoiled on this trip (they even sent a limo to my house to take me to the airport!). After a terrific dinner, we headed back to the hotel where Olympus staff handed out cameras and lenses on loan during the trip. I chose the Olympus O-MD E-M1 Markii, m.Zuiko 12-100mm PRO lens, and the 25mm f1.2 PRO lens. I loved both lenses and they are now on order from Olympus. I joke that this was the most expensive free trip I've ever taken. But hey, I have free will and didn't have to buy a thing. However, well worth every post-trip penny!
Onward to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods...
Miles walked: 4.1
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark ii with m.Zuiko 12-100mm PRO, 8mm Fisheye f1.8 PRO
We headed out around 9am to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge from Hawk Hill at the Marin Headlands. We crossed the bridge to get here. Always a treat to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.
I spy with my little eyes...
Ta da! There it is! The Golden Gate Bridge in all its splendor! Oh wait...maybe not (you can see it poking out of the fog just under the sun on the left). Certainly this fog won't last too long, right?
Nothing to see here, except the other photographers. :)
Ahhh, so there is a bridge out there. LOL
I'm actually loving the fog now. It's so surreal.
It was crazy clear but just to the left of this photo the bridge was in a total fog bank.
Some people enjoying their birdseye view of the Golden Gate Bridge from a helicopter. I can only imagine what their pictures look like.
The conditions made for some nice silhouettes.
And there's a lovely view of the water below the bridge. ;)
Jaclyn with Olympus modeling some swag on the mountain.
In the middle of the photo you can just make out the parked limo-bus that drove us all over San Fran. The driver was fantastic, it was no joke navigating the twists and turns of the roads here. ESPECIALLY Muir Woods...coming up next.
Some of our group admiring the fog.
So the fog never cleared but I have zero complaints. I come back to this area the next day for sunrise. Those photos will be in the Day 3 blog post. No fog the next morning...
Onward to the Muir Woods!
Muir Woods National Monument is part of California’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area, north of San Francisco. It’s known for its towering old-growth redwood trees. Trails wind among the trees to Cathedral Grove and Bohemian Grove, and along Redwood Creek. It's quiet, moist and haunting.
I love the twist in the tree. This place is dramatic to say the least. Decided to pull out my own m.Zuiko 8mm fisheye lens for many of my shots. It distorts the trees at times but I loved the wide captures.
Playing with backlighting. This is with the 12-100mm PRO lens.
No one home.
Love the bokeh with this lens.
The tall gentleman is Derrick Story. He was with us for the day to document the event and write a story for his blog. With Derrick are Jerry and Dehan, part of the Olympus Super Fan group.
You can read Derrick's story here: https://derrickstory.smugmug.com/Events/n-hDkXr/Olympus-SF-Event-2018/i-7PVsPqj/A
Fisheye.
The Enchanted Forest. Needs a fairy.
Rectangular drop of water between two leaves. This is a very small branch and I'm able to focus extremely close with the 12-100mm lens. Almost macro like closeness. And the background is so creamy. It's cropped a little.
Same photo cropped even more - OMG the quality of this camera and lens is incredible! Usually when you crop this closely you start to see a graininess. Still sharp!
Had to snap this. They were coming out of a hole in the tree, right next to the sign that says don't go off the path and near the trees, you will damage the habitat. They were not with our group.
<3
This one and the next one are favorites.
The light really looked like this, dramatically streaming in from the left.
And that ends my time in the Muir Woods. Beautiful place, I would go back, maybe with my macro lens. There are only so many tall tree photos I can handle. Doing some close-up work was fun.
Our group on the ferry back to Sausalito. Photo courtesy of Derrick Story.
We ate lunch at The Barrel House Tavern in Sausalito. This is a view of it from the ferry as we were leaving Sausalito to go back to San Francisco. It was originally the ferry building.
I call this one Peek-a-Boo! You can see that bridge from almost everywhere. Weather was a bit droopy so the color in the next few photos is not overly cheerful.
Ah ha! This is Jeffery, he's part of our Olympus group. And I believe this is the moment that he captured a very fun picture of me. It's now my Facebook profile pic.
Jeffery's photo of me...
Alcatraz from the ferry. We visit Alcatraz the next day...photos to come! All those black speckles just above the prison are birds.
Katie from Mullen-Lowe, the firm that worked with Olympus to arrange the trip. Katie was amazing! There were a ton of logistics for this trip, over 2 dozen people, transporation issues, tickets for ferry rides, restaurants, special diet restrictions, etc. I don't know how they pulled it off because there were no problems during the entire trip. Kudos to Katie, Colin, Jaclyn, Jennifer and Eric!
Used the Olympus E-M1 Markii "dramatic tones" filter and then switched it to black & white in Lightroom.
Minimalist shot. Starting to love to take those.
We got back to the hotel and then a smaller group of us headed out for sunset. No rest for the weary. I'm not so much of a landscape photographer and don't own fancy filters. Filters help take a better sunset shot. But here are a few favorites.
At sunset the light changes every few minutes. And the sky can get really pretty AFTER the sun has set. It was windy and freezing so I didn't last super long.
There's that triangle building again. I shared a few images of the Transamerica building in my Day 1 post from this trip!
Love the silhouette of the city here.
Bay Bridge.
Bay Bridge. Light is getting more blue.
And that concludes Day 2 of this trip of a lifetime. The next day I get up at 4:30am to shoot sunrise from Hawk Hill.
Thanks for taking the time to look through my images. Leave me a comment below and I'll write you back!
xo,
~Megan
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