Sausalito, CA



Morning two of my trip found me waking up at 4:00 am to get from my hideout on Point Reyes (officially, there is no camping allowed) down to the Sausalito. I had slept really well with the sound of rain falling on the roof of the Suburban all night. The temperature was perfect for car camping at about 55 degrees, so I was really excited and anxious about my prospects. It is only about 30 miles from where I was sleeping to San Francisco. I am always amazed at how few people get out of the city. I noticed the same thing when Jack and I went to the Everglades. The suburbs of Miami are jammed right up against the boundary of the National Park, and yet on a beautiful March weekend, there was only 3 tents/campers in the entire campground right on the Gulf of Mexico! 

As you probably noticed with my last post, and with this post, I am concentrating on a black and white. I am drawn to two kinds of film right now - monochrome and Fuji Velvia 50. This trip was a monochrome trip. To force myself to stick with this, I only brought black and white film but still managed to keep things complicated by bringing three types of film. Kodak TMax 400 and Ilford HP5 and FP4. In the past, I've been a little disappointed with the TMax, but a very experienced photographer told me that TMax requires longer fixing than labs normally provide. If I want to see what a good TMax negative looks like, I will have to develop it myself.

I arrived in Sausalito about an hour before dawn and started walking along looking for good shots. It's weird how I both love and hate urban life. Early morning Sausalito was lovely. Bakeries and fisherman - joggers and dogs - ...and it was quiet. Also, I'm easily affected by food (I still love Virginia because of Eggs Benedict I had there once), and the smell of salt air, fresh baking breads, and other foods was floating on the breeze. The rain and wind had made everything fresh. After wandering around, I found this little opening in a thick hedge. Through the opening was a well worn and slick stairway down to little beach. I really liked what I was seeing, so as the sky lightened I set up my camera under my umbrella and waited.


Sausalito Sunrise, Sausalito CA. Mamiya RB67 ProSD, Mamiya-Sekor 90mm 3.8 C, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak D-76 developer. 

Sausalito Trash Can and Stairway, Sausalito, CA. Mamiya RB67 ProSD, Mamiya-Sekor 90mm 3.8 C, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak D-76 developer. 
After I was done at the Beach, I drove a short distance to Mt. Tamalpais State Park. I was trying to find a composition that showed the San Andreas fault, the oaks, and the Pacific. The sun was rising quickly and the light was getting away from me. This was a little more difficult than I thought, but I'm happy with the composition I found. After taking this, I continued to wander on these paths for the rest of the day waiting for sunset. I planned to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands at night. I did burn 2 rolls of film that night, but 40-50 mph winds coupled with 2-4 minute exposures do not produce acceptable results. Next time, I'll know better.



Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Marin, CA. Mamiya RB67 ProSD, Mamiya-Sekor 90mm 3.8 C, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak D-76 developer. 

Golden Gate and San Francisco, Marin CA.  Mamiya RB67 ProSD, Mamiya-Sekor 90mm 3.8 C, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak D-76 developer. 
When I developed the roll of film from Sausalito, I made some errors in loading it on the reel so only was able to save two negatives, (the ones above) and the rest were garbage. I'm a little sad about that because it was the best roll.

Chris

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