The End of the Sea Shadow Stealth Ship

mothball fleet _mg_0313_14-edit-edit.jpg

The Sea Shadow is an experimental stealth ship built for the Navy in 1985 by the Lockheed Corporation for $50 million. She was built inside the Hughes Mining Barge which acted as a floating dry dock (and was eventually involved with Project Azorian, recovering a Soviet submarine from the ocean floor.)

Her purpose was to test naval vessel stealth technology to determine if radar-evading technology in aircraft was also possible in water. The experiment was a success, and used in secret for years until being exposed to the public until 1993, but the vessel was never reproduced. 

mothball fleet _mg_0320.jpg

In 2006, the Sea Shadow and the Hughes Mining Barge were relocated to Suisun Bay and placed in the Mothball Fleet where they have been moored since. 

Yesterday, news broke that a Bay Area company purchased the Hughes Mining Barge at auction. They will preserve the barge and use it as a floating dry dock, however, the auction required the purchaser to destroy the Sea Shadow. 

Photo: "North Tower Moonrise"

_MG_0096.jpg

On Tuesday night, I made the trek to the Marin Headlands to shoot the moonrise over the city and bridge with a few other Google+ photographers. Earlier in the day it seemed as though it would be a clear evening, but by the time we got to the headlands, it was fairly hazy. Interestingly enough, it gave the moon a very odd-shaped appearance at moonrise.  

Night Photography Test Shots (Eastern Sierra Mine)

When I shoot at night, I shoot a series of "test shots" to check exposure and make sure my composition is right. This means that I crank my ISO up to 1600 or 3200 and take a shot for between 5-20 seconds, depending on the light, and then multiply out my exposure as I drop it down to an ISO I prefer to shoot at. (Example: If my test shot is ISO 1600 @ 10 seconds, and I'm happy with the exposure, I could shoot it at those settings, or try: ISO 800 @ 20 seconds, ISO 400 @ 40 seconds, ISO 200 @ 80 seconds or ISO 100 @ 160 seconds.)

On this particular night, I shot this test shot at ISO 1600 and was pretty happy with the exposure, so I dropped the ISO down to 200 and shot a 60 second exposure.

IMG_7613.jpg

(6 seconds. f/8. ISO 1600.) 

IMG_7614.jpg

(60 seconds. f/8. ISO 200.) 

In the end, I actually liked the test shot better, because in the 60 second image, the clouds were moving quickly, which caused a lot of motion blur in the clouds. 

I used to delete most of my test shots when I shot with the 5DMkI because the noise at 800 or 1600 was so awful, I wouldn't share the images online, much less print them. Now with the 5DMkIII, I keep all test shots, especially if they're shot at 1600. 

Next step, do some test prints at night of ISO 1600 and see how they print at various sizes.

Happy Birthday Google+!

IMG_0710.jpg

On June 29 last year, I made my first Google+ post after receiving an invite from Googler +Cody Bratt. At the time, I never realized that it would have such an impact on my life. I know, it sounds crazy right? (The people not active on G+ definitely think I'm a bit loony for making such statements, but it doesn't matter.) I continue to say with conviction, that Google+ has made a difference in my life.

Before I joined Google+, I took one or two photography related trips each year, mostly to the East Coast to explore abandoned buildings, but I stopped spending a lot of time shooting locally after a falling out with a few photographers. I was uninspired for a while, but that changed when I joined Google+.

Within six months of joining, I attended my first photowalk in San Francisco, followed +Thomas Hawk and a group of 50 photographers down to Death Valley for an extended weekend, spent a weekend camping in Big Sur with a group of photographers and hosted a Yosemite photowalk during the full moon. During those 6 months, I was not only getting out and meeting people in person, but I was interacting with other photographers online, engaging in conversations, joining hangouts and planning shoots with new photographers in the area. 

I felt inspired again.

This week, I am attending three different photowalks. One of them involves a group of locals welcoming Canadian +Karin Nelson to California for the first time! (How cool is that G+?)

Sure, it might be crazy to spend a few hours everyday sharing photos, enjoying photos, laughing at the humor of friends and chatting with strangers on hangouts, but Google+ has completely changed the way I go about photography. If you put in the time and effort, interact and engage, you will find that there is a whole amazing group of people out there waiting to be discovered.