Interesting Conversations

Live as I was shooting…

This morning (written on Tuesday, April 23, 2013) I was up early to shoot a sunrise timelapse of the Golden Gate Bridge from Horseshoe Cove.

You meet really interesting people in the early hours of the morning when you’re shooting solo, and this morning was no exception.

Bamboo

I’m not sure if that’s how he spells his name, but that’s how it is pronounced. He’s a young, friendly fellow who walked up and started asking questions about what I was doing. He was knowledgable about photography, asking informed questions.

He loves the outdoors and this gorgeous area. We probably talked for about 30 minutes. He refurbishes wooden boats at one of the area marinas.

Sasha

Sasha, visiting for a conference, feels like she has a lifelong bond to this area. She especially feels a magnetic attraction to the bridge, the reason she came here to eat her breakfast.

Incredibly fit, she spent Sunday paddling about 14 miles around the bay and talked about the challenges that poses with the currents. (I can only imagine, as I will certainly never know from experience!)

From San Diego, Sasha is a marine mammal veterinarian, specifically assigned to take care of the navy’s (and homeland defense–god, I hate that name!) dolphins and seals. I didn’t know the navy even “kept” such creatures. She explained how they are used very effectively to monitor the waters for explosives and objects that are “out of place,” like swimmers, small submersibles, etc.

Again, every time I shoot these I learn something. One of the big challenges with this timelapse was the birds flying in and out of the frame at high speed. I was shooting with a relatively long shot interval (5 seconds) which created a lot of jitter with the birds. Therefore, I had to remove the ones that were in flight in the foreground. I had no idea how many birds fly by!

Going from dark to sunrise is challenging enough and requires a longer shot interval to accommodate for the longer exposure time (b/w 3 and 4 seconds) in the darker portion of the time-lapse at the beginning. I’m not really sure what the solution is for this issue, but the shot interval was just too short, especially once the sun came up.

At any rate, here is the time-lapse.

Other related posts here @ tt.us:

1. A Really Interesting Day
2. Cool, Cute or Interesting Odds and Ends
3. Hmmm… This Will Prove Interesting
4. Interesting Article
5. Interesting Perspective