Photo: "Downtown City Lights"

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San Francisco shot from Treasure Island.

December 2012

On this particular night, a few days before the beacon on the Trans America Building turns off for the season, the bay was fairly calm and the city lights were reflecting beautifully in the water. 

Technical:

To capture this shot, I used a 70-200mm lens at f/22 (to capture the starburst on the beacon) and opened the shutter for 60 seconds.

Photo: Babcock Corridor

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In 1828, the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum admitted its first patient, but the Babcock Building (shown here) wasn't constructed until almost thirty years later. It was built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style and completed in 1885. At the time, it was only the third asylum constructed in the United States, but it was not the first evidence of treatment for the mentally ill in the state.  

In the late 1600's, the Lord Proprietors of the Carolinas agreed that the mentally ill should be cared for by the local government. At that time, many had been jailed, abused, or chained down. Seventy years later, an asylum was established in Charleston by the Fellowship, but it took another fifty years for the state government to fund the construction of the asylum.  

Photo: "Another Day in Solitude"

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One this particular day, we had shot a cloudless sunrise at Zabriskie Point and feared we'd have the same cloudless skies for sunset out at The Racetrack, but we decided to go anyway. Thankfully, the evening turned out better than expected. 

By sunset, we were the only people on the playa and though it was chilly, there was virtually no wind. A few small clouds moved in over the mountains as the sun went down and lit up in hues of pink and lavender. Taking our chances definitely paid off. 

Photo: "Place of Peace"

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I grew up in Southern California and until I turned 21 and moved to San Francisco, I never lived more than a mile from the beach, where I spent many nights and weekends. Sometimes I was with friends, sometimes I'd go for a swim on a hot night, sometimes I read a book, and sometimes I'd sit and watching the waves, reflecting about something going on in my life.

The beach has always been my place of peace.