Despite the ongoing pandemic 2021 was a very good year for my photography despite mostly shooting near my home in California. I think I improved in several aspects of the craft like composition and post-processing, though I'm also aware I still have a lot to learn. I wanted to share a few of my favorite images from last year and a short story behind each of them.
"Flow"
Cars driving into low fog flowing through Golden Gate Bridge before dawn. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area fog is one of my favorite things to shoot. Especially when the fog is low enough that the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen peeking through the fog. As much as I love sleeping this was worth the 4am wake up call.
"Ancient" 
If you're not sure what's happening in this photo - this is a result of letting my camera take photos continuously for 3 hours, capturing the apparent movement of the stars due to Earth's rotation. When facing north the stars appear to be circling around the North Star.
This gnarly tree is an ancient bristlecone pine growing in the White Mountains of Eastern California at elevation of over 10,000ft (3200m). These trees are the oldest living non-clonal organisms in the world and some of them have been dated to be nearly 5,000 years old. That means they have been alive when the pyramids were being built in Egypt! Conditions in these remote mountains are very harsh, with cold temperatures, a short growing season, high winds, and barren soil. And yet bristlecone pines thrive in these conditions and attain their great age not in spite of their harsh environment, but because of it - the pines grow very slowly which makes their wood very dense and resistant to insects, disease, and erosion.
"Point Reyes"
That's the Pacific Ocean on the left, Drakes Bay on the right, the Point Reyes peninsula extending in the front, and if you squint, an elephant seal relaxing on the beach below. This dramatic landscape with wave battered cliffs and pristine beaches is usually shrouded by fog, but one November evening I was lucky to witness a truly spectacular sunset here.
Closing thoughts
This is only my second post in the community, so I am curious what kind of posts would like to see more of. Sharing images with travel or adventure stories behind them? Maybe more educational posts explaining how to take better images? Any other suggestions?
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That second image is insane!
Thank you! Letting the camera take photos for 3 hours definitely leads to interesting results.
That first image of the Golden Gate Bridge is really cool. This is the first image I have seen taken from this angle! Stunning work @mrcnzajac
Thank you! It's a sketchy hike to get that to that vantage point, but so worth it
I liked the first picture. That's a cool long exposure. You aim really well
Thank you!
You are welcome, friend. Greetings from me
Post like these are great. I love seeing photos with a display of technical skill. The information to delve further is always a bonus.
I know from past experience that educational, or simply settings of a given shot, can be useful to some as well.
Yeah, I'm thinking to post more about the process of taking and editing the images as I know that's always interesting to me.
Beautiful shots. And welcome to Hive!
Thank you!