Photochrome Camera Club

Our members are a peripatetic bunch and when they were asked to name some of their favorite places for photography, the answers were varied. These recollections come from our 2005 newsletter, the Color News. From time to time, we will add more “Favorite Places” to this column. Naturally, we’d love to hear your favorite place too, so please send it along to the editor of the Color News. We’ll print it for others to enjoy.

Reprint from the May, 2005 Color News

Chris Kibre tells us:

My favorite places to photograph that are close to home are at the local botanical gardens:

- San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park,

- Botanical Garden in Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills,

- U.C. Botanical Garden in Strawberry Canyon above the campus in Berkeley.

The Tilden Park and Strybing gardens are free; the UC Botanical Garden is free if you are a member of Strybing, otherwise there is an entrance & parking fee.

All three have lovely California Wildflower sections and interesting cactus & succulent sections so there is always something of interest to photograph at any time of year. Golden Gate Park also has a duck pond and one may sometimes see Great Blue Herons or California Quail in the gardens.

The botanical gardens also have the added benefit of labels with common and scientific names for your nature titles.

Janet Stock checks in with this gem:

One of my very favorite places in early spring is Steep Ravine on Mt Tamalpais. Especially wet, flower filled years like this one! But then, where isn’t it lovely in spring in years like this one?

Jim Service is a fan of:

Mt. Diablo in the spring. Eastern Sierras in the fall.

Joyce Vanman, while saying she doesn’t really have any “favorite” places, goes on to say she looks for beauty wherever she can find it. She goes on to say: “I like the Mission a lot. Of course it is where I live. I love Ocean Beach. There are always lots of photos there. I don’t go out specifically to shoot as often as I would like, so end up taking the camera with me when I go places with friends. I do like Sutter Buttes a lot and all the orchards on the way. Oh! And Sacramento Wildlife Refuge and the whole string of refuges up there. Pescadero Marsh is a favorite place, although I haven’t been there in a while. I was a docent there a few years back.”

Alice Steele. Well, I promised at the meeting when I asked the Favorite Places question, to tell you of at least one of mine. It’s very specific: There are good, sometimes easy, shorebird shots in Princeton-by-the-Sea. Several kinds of gulls, other shorebirds, and occasionally brown pelicans, frolic and feed here. Find Prospect Avenue (it won’t be hard) and at Broadway, go left a few feet to the end of the road. There’s a low cliff, with a beach below. Not at high tide, and not at low tide, but in between, nearly always the birds use this as a playground. Besides, if you time it right, and the tides cooperate, you can stop for a nice lunch at Barbara’s Fish Trap, too. It’s just up the road.

From the 2005 April color News

“Stop that or I’ll hit you with my alluvial fan!” …Comment overheard at the conclusion of a Death Valley geology lecture.

That alluvial fan would be full of wildflowers now as a fabulous crop has developed following the Winter rains. Stacy Boorn was among the earliest to venture into Death Valley in 2005 and told us with words and pictures to “Go Now!”

Jim Service went early. After Death Valley, he toured Joshua Trees, Anza Borrego, Carrizo Plain and Antelope Valley. His extremely accurate accounts of his travels helped those who subscribe to the Yahoo Photochrome Chat-room plan their own travels.

Your editor can report that Antelope Valley this year is a blaze of deep orange poppies, set off by the goldfields that abound on adjacent hills. Joshua Trees, at the Cottonwood entrance, was full of yellow, white, pink, lavender, and blue blossoms. Even though most spectacular at the south entrance, the best of the bloom is yet to come at Joshua Trees as many wildflowers were up but not open at higher elevations. The buds were still on the Beavertail and the Cholla cacti. The Ocotillo were, however, in full bloom.

Joyce Vanman, at last report, is among the latest out there on the dunes. All this bounty assures us of shining examples of colorful desert beauty during our upcoming Nature nights and Pictorial evenings.

From the June 2005 Color News

From time to time, as members send them in and space permits, we’ll continue to include members’ favorite photography places. You are encouraged to send in your special place for this feature.

Bing Huey tells of a special spot: Rockaway Beach near Pacfica. Particularly the hill between Rockaway and Linda Mar Beach to the south. Bing says, “It’s amazingly rich and diverse in flora all year round.”

Jackie Lantheaume likes the Ferry Building with the inside cafes, shops and food stalls, plus the 2nd floor with good architectural shots and a good view of the California Great Seal. The Farmer’s Market is a great attraction. Nearby, there are vintage streetcars, the Vallaincourt Fountain, street vendors, and people, people, people.

From the 2005 July Color News

June, July, August – think about wind sports. Pay a visit to the kite sailors off 3rd Avenue in San Mateo. Afternoon or early evening winds seem to be just about right this time of year. The kite surfing activity is very close to the shore and even a 200mm lens should capture some good action. From 101, take the 3rd Ave exit, head East to the Golf Driving Range, go left on Lakeside Drive and park at the end of the road.

Other spots nearby to check out are Sierra Point near Candlestick, and Coyote Point, which I’m told have good photographic opportunities for kite and wind surfing.

To check for wind/weather conditions at any of these places, a good site is IKiteSurf.com or their sister site IWindSurf.com. You have to register but you get good charts on wind and tide conditions. – Alice Steele

From the September 2005 Color News

It’s almost time for many Photochrome members to head for the wildlife refuges for those elusive perfect bird shots. Snow geese, hawks, bitterns, ducks of many descriptions and the ubiquitous coot all await our cameras. (Grateful that we are shooting digital or film, not bullets, perhaps) In any event, if you would like to share your special refuge spots with the Club, send me an email or note and it’ll appear in a future issue.

I’ll start it out simply, by saying the Colusa Wildlife Refuge (off Rt. 20), very early in the morning, can be a bonanza for just about anything you want to shoot. The good, yet easy, trail as you arrive, is worth the walk, but even if you use the auto route, there are good finds. Williams, on I-5 is very close for motels/eateries.

– Alice Steele