525 - Alviso Marina
Today I drove halfway across the state for a photo of a bush.
I should correct that. It was more like an hour south of San Francisco. But I had high hopes and dreams for this adventure, so it might as well have been. Let me give you some context.
For this shoot, I decided to try some good ole’ fashioned Google Earth scouting. I’d recently learned that Google Earth is particularly good for drones, because you can see what top-down shots look like before you even show up.
So naturally, I loaded up the Bay Area and started shmucking around. And what I saw was pure magic. Endless pink lakes near San Jose, all filled with abstract, geometric patterns.
More specifically, they were salt lakes. Similar to Las Coloradas in Mexico, minus the cute flamingos.
Imagine they had wild flamingos up in San Jose. Before you know it TikTok would be swarmed with LA influencers trying to pose with them. And imagine the news story where one fed up flamingo finally decides to peck some chick's eye out. Talk about going viral.
I decided to get my buddy in on the adventure as well, because he has a special love for drone photography. We hopped in the Prius about 2 hours before and were on our way.
The ride over was typical San Francisco traffic. I’m not going to talk about it because I don’t want to remember it.
And such, we arrived at the windy salt marsh precisely on time. As we got out of the car, we keenly took in the massive “No Drones” sign by the entrance. Lord have mercy on our souls.
I glanced around to see if there were any rangers in the distance. Our last experience flying drones together was quite ideal. And the more I fly drones, the more I realize that it’s illegal 99.9% of the time. So you mind as well just assume it’s legal 99.9% of the time. At least that’s what I do.
I loaded up my Mavic Mini from the inside of my Prius, perched it on top of the car, and flew it into oblivion. Pro-tip; the faster you get it in the sky, the faster you can avoid detection.
Not that it was worth it, or anything. As I slowly approached my height limit of 200m, I realized that the patterns I was looking at on Google Earth were from about triple as high as I was currently at. From my view, it wasn’t even pink. It was just a dark lake.
“Well, at least I tried” is a motto I sometimes must live by in this wacky world of adventure photography. Now I won’t have to spend the rest of my life wondering if I missed out on a trippy pink lake drone shot. Now I know I missed out on a trippy pink lake drone shot.
But, like any good photographer would say, “there’s always macros.”
I’m on one with the quotes today folks.
And such my quest began for the perfect macro. And before you ask me, what about a mid-range shot? You know, the shot between epic and macro. Well, there wasn’t one. It was a flat marsh with no clouds in the sky. So I continued my search on ground level.
And truth be told, there wasn’t much. Except for a brilliant blue flower bush- lit up by a traffic pole.
A strange combination of light, I must add. Orange reflection on the blue petals made for a nice pairing. COMPLIMENTARY COLORS, FOLKS. Look it up.
Here’s the photo I got:
“Blueberry Poison”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 2500 ~ 49mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/30s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Boom. The perfect wallpaper for a phone. So go ahead. Do whatever you want with it. Download it. Print it. Give it to a stranger on the street. I don’t care.
It’s not the only time I’ve driven one hour for bush.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
*Please note this page contains affiliate links.
