I walked out the door early one recent morning with a clear intention – I’d been recently inspired by amazing landscapes from photographers I admire and wanted to try and capture a few myself. Plus, I needed to get OUT of my house to clear my head. I pulled on my boots, grabbed the dog, my camera and what I thought was my 35mm lens, and hit the road.

My first stop was Battery Spencer in the Marin Headlands overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. The Headlands are lush and hilly, the morning light was diffuse and lovely and as I walked over the ridge from the car and raised my camera …. I realized I had brought my 85mm, NOT the 35. A most excellent magic-making lens but not exactly what I was expecting on a landscape-seeking jaunt. I almost considered turning back – I had left the dog in the car so he wouldn’t yank me off my feet while shooting and knew he’d probably prefer to get to the fun part of this outing when I took him for a run on the beach. But I decided to carry on.

The Marin Headlands are littered with old concrete batteries and bunkers from the days when San Francisco needed fortifications to defend it from military attack. Now they are are graffiti’d and falling apart and a fun place to stroll and clamber around.

Since I wasn’t going to be capturing the wide landscapes I’d planned  (I couldn’t even get the whole bridge in my viewfinder!) …

… I decided to switch my focus to the fine details and graffiti.

Graffiti-wisdom or not, I’m glad going with the flow did afford me another shot!

And the dog, after patiently watching me out the car window at another couple of locations, finally got his run on the beach.  But that’s a story for another day.

cheers, and happy shooting!
kim