SF Bay Area

SF Bay Area

Photos I've taking while out and about (or at home) in the San Francisco Bay Area

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Picture of San Francisco from across the bay, looking down from behind a ridgeline of trees. There's peachy hints of the sunset beneath low-lying clouds that barely touch Sutro Tower, up on the hills, but the water, the buildings, and the sky all fade close to grey in the distance. The Bay Bridge, closer to the camera, is partially obscured by the trees - a mix of dark, thick greens and lighter patchy canopies.

Muted San Francisco

Picture of a wide dirt path lined with twisted Eucalyptus trees, reaching to a dull grey sky. They loom over the path ahead, the sort of picture that - were the trees not pale - might otherwise be spooky. There's some small patches of short and vibrant grass off to the sides, alongside a couple shorter bushes and a singular bay laurel tree.

Eucalyptus Tunnel

Picture of a small propeller plane in flight. The sky's a clear light blue behind it, slightly faded a bit as the sun's setting. The lower edges of the plane are almost glowing orange where the sun hits them.

Sunkissed Plane

Picture of a row of residential buildings opposite a lake. They're lit slightly on the face from the setting sun, and the other buildings & houses behind them form overlapping layers as they go up a slight hill, with a small cluster of tall trees rising above the top.

Merrit Lakeside Row

Picture of a large group of crows flying towards the camera from a distance, set against a softly gradient sunset sky.

Murderous Skies

Picture of five geese flying in a tight line across a yellow-blue gradient sunset sky. The tops of trees and buildings are barely visible below. There's a few palm trees, street lights, and a large building with "SNEK" graffittied on it in block capitals.

Zoomed in picture of many crows sitting on some power lines. There's a small sticker on a cross-bar that reads "HIGH VOLTAGE", and the sky behind them is grey with the just the slightest tinge of pink.

Murderous High Voltage

Picture of five crows on a power line, against a dark sky. Behind them, out of focus and facing the other way, is a backwards american flag.

Picture of a large tree within the woods, with many seemingly independent trunks reaching out from the ground and spreading out as they go towards the sky. It takes up the entire frame, with a bit of bright blue sky bleeding through at the top. There's various smaller bushes around it, and some other trees visible behind it.

California Laurel Bouquet

Narrow picture of a tall tree beneath a bright blue sky. There's others in the foreground that are darker, in shadow, and the main tree has bright green almost-yellow leaves from the sunlight.

Picture of a very small waterfall (not more than a couple feet high), with the camera focused on the fern and rock just in front of it. Even though everything's in shadow, the water looks almost sparkly because it's out of focus. In the very close foreground, there's some other ferns jutting in, present as light green blurs across the edges of the photo.

Little Ferny Waterfall

Picture of a spiky fern, backlit and almost glowing at the edges. It has rows of parallel leaves, each with small spikes on them, with the body of the fern terminating in ever smaller leaves that eventually face their spikes towards one last outstretched point. Behind it are browns of fallen leaves, branches, and dirt - mostly not visible, as they're out of focus.

Picture of a sign in front of a manzanita tree, with bright hills in the background. The tree is mostly bare with only a couple leaves at the very edges. On closer inspection, the tree is dying. The sign is 7th on a series of information points, this one titled "Intermediate Succesional Stage". The text starts "Notice the tall, dense canopy of leaves here".

Tall, Dense Canopy

Picture of a Scrub Jay, holding an acorn in its beak and facing directly towards the camera. The scrub jay has white feathers on its chest and belly and kind of soft blue feathers on its wings, head, and neck. Both of its eyes are visible because of the angle, and the white highlights above its eyes make it almost look angry. It's also standing on a branch with some pale green lichen.

Picture of a Scrub Jay sitting on a branch, holding an acorn in its beak, and the side of its face visible to the camera. The scrub jay's chest and belly are white, with blue feathers on its head and wings. It's also got white streaks just above its eyes. The branch it's on has a couple bunches of pale green lichen.

A simple picture of a dark-eyed junco (a small bird) sitting on a fence. Only the top of the fence, the bird, and the soft dark-green background are visible. The bird is looking slightly upwards, as if optimistic. It has dark grey feathers around its head, with light cream colored and light brown feathers on its belley and back, and some brown and black stripes on its wings.

Picture of a rabbit, alert and staring into the camera. It's halfway upright, only putting a little bit of weight on its front legs, and with ears perked up and catching the sunlight. It looks so unbelievably fuzzy.

Picture of communication towers poking out above thick trees. They're sitting on a bit of a hilltop, against a light blue sky. There's two tall and skinny towers to the right, a mix of white and red, with stabilizing cables reaching out below them. The one on the left is somewhat short, with larger circular disks.

Picture looking down on a winding highway through tree-covered hills. The highway is cut off at the bottom by a closer dead-grassy hill, and in the distance the slopes become bare with that classic california "golden" hills look of dead grass. There's houses nestled into the trees, and some power lines crossing the high way. There's also moderate traffic on the right side (moving away from the camera) but very little on the other.

Picture of a ridge from a distance, with trees, some pylons, and a communications tower. The picture is very wide. Over the ridge, in the far distance behind it, are faded hills and low clouds, alongside the slight tint in the sky that comes with the start of sunset.

Ridgeline Towers

Picture of two very tall and skinny communications towers, coming up out of the trees below them. The towers are a mix of white and red, with thin stabilization cables going down diagonally below them. There's also a small plane between and far behind the towers which, if you look very closely, has the southwest airlines colors.

Southwest Towers

Picture of street signs surrounded by leaves. The sign on top says "Prospect Steps", and is partially obscured by leaves. The sign on bottom says "Manchester Dr". There's a small patch of sky visible, and a string of lights leading from the signs off to the right.

Picture of bright green leaves, lit from behind by the sun, as if glowing slightly. The leaves are somewhat pear shaped, coming to a point at the tip. A patch of pale blue sky is visible behind the leaves.

Layered Luminescent Leaves

Picture of the top half of a palm tree, against a flat blue sky. The palm tree forms a sort of ball shape at the top where all the leaves are, with the bare trunk of the tree going down to the edge of the frame. The sky ranges from pale blue at the bottom to a deeper blue at the top.

Zoomed in picture of the top of a slightly-open white gate. There's a big black and yellow sign saying "CAUTION. Keep Latch Shut". The gate is framed by dark green, unlit ivy leaves.

Keep Latch Shut

Picture of a honey bee with its face buried in the lavender it's clinging to. The lavender is a soft violet-purple but more pale lavender is visible out of focus in the background. When zoomed in, the fuzz on the body and legs of the bee is visible, as well as soft fuzz on the lavender itself.

Picture of a Steller's Jay sitting on a white fence. Its body is facing away from the camera, with head turned around, looking at the camera from the side. It's got deep blue tail feathers, rear, and wing tips, with black stripes, and a dark grey (almost black) upper body. It also has a little tuft of feathers at the top of its head, and a splatter of light blue spots between its eyes.

Picture of 8 turkey vultures circling, behind them nothing but a flat grey sky. The turkey vultures are large but visible only in silhouette, each facing a different direction.

Picture of single turkey vulture against a flat grey sky. It's a large bird, and with this one occupying much of the frame, the notches in its feathers are clearly visible, along with the touch of pink at its face.

Photo, taken looking up at a pylon against a flat grey sky. Towards the bottom of the frame, the various structural bars criss-cross over each other chaotically. Further upwards, the pylon ends with the view of its isulators attached to the wires going out in either direction. Each of the three insulators is at a slightly different angle, each being slightly crooked.

Asymmetry of Power

Picture of a couple signs and a small paved path behind them. One big red sign says "No Tresspassing. No Dogs. No Bikes." and beneath it, next to the ground, a small one saying "Carts" pointing to the path. There's a golf cart on the path, behind the signs.

Picture of a wide flat trail, surrounded by trees and small plants on either side. The dark greens and browns of the trees loom over the light brown path. The camera's focus is in the distance (where there are even more trees), leaving the foreground at the bottom of the frame out of focus. There's also a steep bank on the left side of the path.

Closeup photo of some light blue berries (not sure what they are exactly). They're hanging out against a light off-grey background with a very out of focus branch behind them adding some light brown shades. Some of the berries have been eaten, but there's still maybe a hundred left in this little bunch.

Picture of a female Nuttal's Woodpecker clinging to the side of a tree, partially obscured by long, thin leaves. This woodpecker is kind of a round bird. It's got a white belly with black spots, a back black with white spots, and a black-and-white striped head.

Nuttal's Hangout

Picture of three pelians, flying across the frame against a flat grey sky. They're large, white birds with darker grey at the tail of their wings They're all in roughly the same pose: wings with a slight bend, heads tucked back into their necks, and feet tucked up against their tails.

Picture of a chestnut-backed chickadee (a small white, and brown bird) hanging from an upright stem of poison oak, eating the berries. The poison oak doesn't have many leaves on it, but the ones there are red (along with the other stems, creeping into the bottom of the frame). The chickadee has mostly its belly towards the camera, so all that's really visible is its white belly, the dark brown across its head, and a bit of that chestnut color on its wing.

Poison-berry Chickadee

Picture of the criss-crossing metal frame of a pylon, with a small black-and-white bird perched in the middle. I think the bird is an Acorn Woodpecker, but it's a little hard to tell from this angle; the bird is looking up and away. Behind it all is a flat grey sky.

Picture of a young Steller's Jay, a vibrant blue and black bird, perched on a branch with rich green and teal lichen.

Close up picture of a Dark-eyed Junco, a small light brown bird with a darker off-black head. It's sitting on the branch of a bush, and the light's just barely catching its leg.

Picture of a power pylon rising up above trees, with San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid visible in the distance through a gap in the trees.

Transamerica Power

Picture of power lines going from just above the photographer towards a nearby pylon, before dropping behind a hill. In the distance behind it, the normally yellow-gold hills are tinged slightly orange from the beginnings of evening light.

Picture, looking up at a sign attached to metal bars, reading "DANGER. High voltage above. Keep off". Behind it, the power lines are visible, set against a brilliantly blue sky.

DANGER! High voltage above!

Picture of a raven, far away but zoomed in. It's sitting on top of a pine tree, looking at the camera with its head tilted.

Quizzical Corvid

A brilliant pink and white-ish magnolia flower, backlit by the sun and framed between two branches on either side. A couple other flowers from the same tree are visible in frame but out of focus.

Sunstruck Magnolia

A clump of tall, thick grass - olive green with red tips, and backlit by the sun as if on fire.

Not quite sure how to describe this, but I'll try. The photos of a handful of large daisy-like flowers, maybe African Daisies? They stick out from the rich greens of their stems, leaves, and budding buddies. There's two kinds of flowers here - both with the same circular shape with many long petals: One kind is a rather plain, light and almost shiny purple; the other comes as a gradient, barely purple at the center before shifting quickly towards red, orange, or yellow at the edges.

A weathervane of a small copper plane, slightly oxidized, glowing in the sunset. A large cotton-candy cloud spans the frame behind it, with the plane just poking above.

Flight above the Clouds

Picture of a cluster of wilting African Daisies, an upright flower with each petal making a beautiful gradient from purple to magenta, orange, or yellow. Some of the flowers are curled over on themselves, fully yellow and turning grey, and the others left look almost as if the color is draining from them. Below, a couple petals are on the dirt.

Picture of a black cat staring into the camera. It's got pale green, marble-y eyes and piercing vertical pupils. At first glance, its fur looks well groomed - black and brown, with a white patch on its chest. But looking further it's clear this cat has had a rough time, with a wart below its eye and on its nose, and dust and dirt across its head. And yet it stares, expressionless.

Picture of a bright white pelican in water. With its face pointing down and pale eyes staring ahead, it looks grumpy. The water's a kind of brownish green with soft waves reflecting the pelican in its ripples.

Pissed off Pelican

Picture of a brown and white sparrow, perched kind of sideways on a stick that curves upwards through the photo. The background is soft and blurry blobs, as if just the ideas of grass and bushes and trees. The sparrow has a little grey beak and brown streaks on its head, with brown streaked wings and black-on-white spots on its chest.

Closeup picture of a California Towhee in the rain. It's a light brown bird, and at this distance, the lighter browns of the feathers around its eye are visible. Its beak is poking out of the fluffball that comprises its head, with a couple pieces of birdseed still stuck to the end. Behind it, the ground has the swirls and soft reflections of a thin layer of water dotted with birdseed. The little towhee also has a couple tiny droplets of water balanced on the feathers at the top of its head, with a sprinkling more across its back.

Rainy Towhee (1 of 3)

Picture of a California Towhee in the rain, a small brown bird. This one's tilted its head sideways, looking upwards and eyes bright from the reflection of the sky. The tiny feathers around its eyes are a lighter kind of orange-ish brown. There's also a couple drops of water on its back, out of focus.

Rainy Towhee (2 of 3)

Super closeup picture of a California Towhee - a small brown bird. It has a small seed in its beak and a couple drops of water on its head. The super tiny, orange feathers around its eyes are individually visible!

Rainy Towhee (3 of 3)

Picture of a yellow-rumped warbler (a small bird) hanging off the side of a single dry reed. This picture has a handful of reeds scattered across the foreground alongside the bird, but most of the image is taken up by soft, out-of-focus reeds in the background. The water of the lake is just visible through the reeds; it's got a kind of yellowy glow to it at this hour. The little bird is plump, kind of brown with a white chest and a splash of yellow in front of its wings and atop its head.

Yellow-rumped Warbler hanging out (1 of 2)

Picture of a yellow-rumped warbler (a small bird) perched in the middle of a dry, bent reed. There's a clump of reeds in the foreground, with a splash of green from a plant much closer to the camera. The bird is plump, kind of brown with a white chest and a splash of yellow in front of its wings and atop its head.

Yellow-rumped Warbler hanging out (2 of 2)

Picture of the illustration on the back of a gate. It shows a little... something? Kind of potato-like. Text beside it reads "We were all born with wings. Use them..." - and the potato thing has its own little wings. Through the two painted metal pipes of the gate, a man is walking across the road in the background.

We were all born with wings

A picture of a cluster of eucalyptus trees at sunset. There's hints of blue in the sky behind them, but the trees truly fill the frame towards the top of the photo. The trees are all-encompassing, but comforting - like a warm hug. Soft yellowy lighting from the setting sun speckles across the leaves.

Photo of a sidewalk at night, with a "15 MPH" sign in front of a leafless tree that sweeps across the path. A wood plank dangles from the tree, low to the ground — a swing, almost. The scene is backlit by a lantern far behind, casting long shadows in the foreground.

Closeup of a large green succulent with waterdrops all over it. The rosette fills the frame, with tiny, pointed leaves tightly layered around the center and larger leaves spreading toward the edges, growing wider as they get further away from the center.

A white-crowned sparrow, slightly hidden by bushes in front of it. It's a small bird, with white-and-black stripes along the top of its head, a short yellow beak, and brown back. It looks out into empty space - just a blur of a background.

White-crowned Peaks

Nighttime picture of the porch outside a shop. It's lit by a big light up front pointing in, and a couple others out of frame leave the storefront a patchwork of illuminated poles and vertical shadows. A handful of signs cover the railing, half in shadow and not very legible.

A picture of the San Francisco skyline at sunset. Sutro tower is clearly visible atop its hill; The port of oakland lines the bottom of the frame, visible only as silhouetted against the light blue of the bay. The majority of the picture is taken up by the sky, which is cloudy but still has enough room in the center to show off shades of orange and yellow. The clouds are all variations on a theme - some look more like cotton candy, large blobs with wispy edges; others have that classic "distant, impossibly shaped mountains" look. The setting sun is directly visible, just barely touching the top of a shorter building in downtown SF.

San Francisco Sunset

Picture through some trees, backlit by a setting sun. Much of the image stands out in sharp relief against the bright white background, but still maintains a kind of ethereal quality - whether it's: the glowing bundles of pine needles at the corners of interesecting branches; the smooth bubbly shape of branches just a bit further back, reaching out for the last few minutes of evening light; or the dusty gold light peeking through the bottom where a hill has, for now, left some shadow intact.

Some kind of a communications tower emerging from the trees on a hill, as the sun paints an array of oranges and yellows across the sky behind it. A distant hill is visible only as a blood-orange shadow of the setting sun. Earlier in the day, it might've been possible to see the ocean in the background, but now it looks like just an unusually well-defined cloud layer. Higher up in the sky, it seems the last remains of a blue sky are trying to peek out, but they're thoroughly drowned by the omnipresent shades of sunset.

Tower Above a Sunset Sea

A hiker reaches up to catch the light. They're wearing a hoodie with the hood up, and the sunlight hits only the fingers on their raised hand. A large tree in the background similarly bends towards the light, its branches lit from below -- it won't be long before the sun sets. Much of the trail is now in shade, but the dead grass and shrubs nearby still have a bit of warm glow.

Catching the Light

A pastel colored sky above a narrow slice of the bay, framed by the leaves thick trees poking in from all sides. Light light blue water turns into darker blue hills, with fog of a similar shade hiding behind them. A lonely little cloud sits above them, camouflaged into the briefly-purple sky that journeys through rosey pink, orange, and eventually yellow as it gets further from the horizon and towards the rows of clouds above. Off in the corner, an empty container ship drifts idly by.

Cotton Candy Cookie Cutter

No Public Access

No Bicycles Beyond This Point

Hazardous Cliffs Do Not Enter

Sparkling Water with Iceplant

Some things never change

A tree trunk with the shadow of a hummingbird cast onto it. The tree's a bright, light brown with lichen spotted across it and a little bit of moss on the side. A not-quite-as-bright blue sky is visible poking through the leaves behind it.

Shadow of Flight

Trail Stops Warm

The Photographer

Watercolor Seagull

Stairway Daisies

Droopy Glowy Leaves

Purple African Daisy (1 of 2)

Purple African Daisy (2 of 2)

Budding Bay Leaf

Mountain Vulture

Pano Iceplant Flowers

Claremont Blue-belly

Skyline Gardens Gear

Skyline Silver Lupine

Look! Ladybugs!

Skyline Dwarf Checkermallow

Friendly Fiddleneck

Skyline Blue-eyed Grass

Grizzly Peak Ridge

Skyline Cow Parsnip

Rolling Grizzly Fog

Sneaky Sunset Sutro

Fox Sparrow (1 of 2)

Fox Sparrow (2 of 2)

Already Dead (but he doesn't know it yet)

Teucrium Ladybug

Succulent Spikes

Ladybuggy Grass

Golden Hour Turkey Vulture

Garden Magnolia

Teucrium Bee (1 of 3)

Teucrium Bee (2 of 3)

Teucrium Bee (3 of 3)

Cloudy Land's End Sunset

GGBird (1 of 2)

GGBird (2 of 2)

Remote Ridgeline

Boat Passing Under

Downtown SF Nighttime Skyline

Crack in the Sky

Golden Duck (Hiding)

Golden Duck (and Friend!)

Merrit Sanctuary Bird

Turkey Vulture from the top of Mt Tam (1 of 2)

Turkey Vulture from the top of Mt Tam (2 of 2)

Downtown Oaktown

Golden Hour Grass

Temescal Poppies 1

Temescal Poppies 2

Contra Costa Rose

Buena Vista Rose (1 of 2)

Buena Vista Rose (2 of 2)

Inattentive Monarch

Eyes in the Dark

Succulent Sunset