Photography

Bayshore Fire Creates Illusory Mt. Sutrito Eruption

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

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Neighbor Brandon made a comment about yesterday’s big industrial fire in Bayshore, to the effect that from the western side of Bernal Hill, the smoke from the blaze made it look like a volcano had erupted at the peak of Bernal Hill.

Brandon said:

The picture from 29th [Street] makes it look like Mount Sutrito has erupted.

True enough, And here’s a photo Tom Baker shared in the Bernalwood Facebook group that makes that illusion even more complete. Behold, the eruption of Mt. Sutrito, as seen from Diamond Heights.

Bernal Heights Sunset Is the Pantone 2014 Color of the Year

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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A few weeks ago, Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter and I visited the superchic Lowe’s home improvement store on Bayshore at the foot of Cortland. Inside, we noticed a display in the paint department celebrating the 2014 Pantone Color of the Year, a shade of purple called Radiant Orchid:

Radiant Orchid blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination. It is an expressive, creative and embracing purple—one that draws you in with its beguiling charm. A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid emanates great joy, love and health.

Right? Totally.

Now, fast-forward to Monday evening. Bernalwood pal @valjoy9 shared a photo of a spectacular sunset over Bernal Heights. And wouldn’t you know it… Bernal is soooo fashionable and soooo au courant that even our sunsets occur in the Pantone Color of the Year:

pantonesunsetPHOTO: @valjoy9

Young Photography Superstar Displaying Work at Cafe St. Jorge

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

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Neighbor David is the proud father of Neighbor Sarabeth Spector, who at age 13 has been dubbed the hottest new photographer in Bernal Heights.

So with understandable pride, Davis is spreading the word that some of Sarabeth’s photos are currently on display at Cafe St. Jorge on Mission near Cortland:

My Daughter Sarabeth has her first solo photo show from now until Mid-Jan 2014 at Cafe St. Jorge (3438 Mission St) Some very nice photos – please check ’em out … (and also, Andrea de Francisco has a great cafe – if you haven’t had a change to try it, please do: Good food, great coffee, great atmosphere and a friendly staff!)

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PHOTOS: Proud Neighbor David

Visiting Brother-In-Law Snaps Epic Photographs from Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

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Neighbor Deborah on Gates tells Bernalwood that her brother-in-law, Victor Dallons, came to visit during the Thanksgiving holiday. Victor was impressed with the views here in Bernal, so he took some photographs using his impressive long-exposure nighttime kung-fu techniques.

As Brother-in-Law Victor tells it:

We were in San Francisco for thanksgiving at Naomi’s sister’s house. We had a wonderful thanksgiving there. In the evenings, I went up on Bernal Heights, the hill up the street from their house, to take a few pictures of the city.

Here’s some more of Victor’s amazingness:

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Frankly, we think Brother-in-Law Victor should come visit more often.

PHOTOS: by Victor Dallons, 2013

Neighbor Photographs Dramatic Sunrise Exploding Behind Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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Neighbor Markus lives in northeastern Bernal Heights, in the Santana Rancho subdistrict. On Sunday morning, he got up ridiculously early to photograph the sunrise from atop Twin Peaks.

Cleverly, Nature conspired to place the sun directly behind Neighbor Markus’s house — and the rest of Bernal Heights — when he took this photo, which was then shared in the stylish Bernalwood Group on Flickr.

Frankly, Bernal looks pretty fantastic. We also look like we could use a cup of coffee.

PHOTO: Markus Spiering

Time-Lapse Photo of Venus and Crescent Moon Over Bernal Hill Is Space-tacular

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

Venus and Moon Sequence over Bernal HeightsLast month, Potrero Hill photographer Daniel Leu snapped a terrific photo of the moon and Venus setting over Bernal Hill.

This month, Leu ups the game with a new photo that shows the moon and venus in action again over Bernal Hill, in dynamic time-lapse mode:

I set up my camera to capture the sequence of the moon setting behind the hill. Since I didn’t know how much the moon moves in a given time span, I took an image every 30s. This was way too much. As it turned out, one image every 6 minutes is all I needed to create my little sequence.

Wonderful!

PHOTO: Daniel Leu

UPDATED: Epic Pink and Yellow Textured Sunset, as Seen from Bernal

/ Todd_Lappin

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We had some friends over for dinner last night, so I couldn’t sneak up to Bernal Hill to shoot last night’s amazing sunset. But I watched it with a drink in my hand from the back yard — an awe-inspiring explosion of rich pinks and yellows, with rich textures created by a layer of high clouds.

Fortunately, Brian Hollinger was in position to get the shot you see above, while Rachel Balik Instagrammed the one below:

sunset.balikUPDATE: Our friends at @VisualSF shared this bonus photo, with is super-pink and super-textured. Wowzilla:

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“Fake Dawn” on Bernal Hill Sees Sun Rise in Western Sky

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We all know that the sun rises in the east (over Oakland), and sets in the west (over Twin Peaks) — right?

Yes! That’s true! But during this week’s huge full moon, Neighbor David witnessed a trick of the light that looked an awful lot like dawn emerging from the west:

I got this shot while walking my dog yesterday…

The full moon looks like the sun rising in the west over Noe Valley, as seen from the southwest corner of Bernal Hill!

PHOTO: Neighbor David

Meanwhile… Bernal Heights Is Just a Tiny Rock Traveling Through Deep Space

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Moon and Venus over Bernal Heights

Amid the unpleasantness of current events, it’s good to remind ourselves where we stand right now…. in the grand scheme of things.

Photographer Daniel Leu snapped this remarkable photo of the Moon and Venus rising over setting above Bernal Hill last week:

 I saw the beautiful pastel colors in the sky, but didn’t have time to leave home to try to capture this. But a little bit later while preparing the BBQ to cook dinner, I saw the moon and Venus over Bernal Heights. This time I couldn’t let it go.

To assist our celestially-challenged readers, Bernalwood consulted with the experts from BASA’s Office of Astro-Navigational Cartography to provide this helpful orientation guide. Follow along:

bernalmoonvenus.X

PHOTO: Daniel Leu

Robot Creates Intriguing Composite Photo of Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

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Yesterday I heard a tip about a fun little web-based photo tool thingy called Average that automatically merges a series of images to create a single blended composite.

I then instructed the Average robot to select five recent images from Flickr that use the “bernal” tag, and the photo above was the result. Not bad! I’d hang something like this on my wall.

Thank you, Average robot.

Karl the Fog Wanted You to See These Photos of Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

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We don’t want to brag, so we’ll just tell it straight up: Celebrities dig us.

It’s just true. Bernalwood is very popular among the celebrity set, and this week we got a very special celebrity shout-out from everyone’s favorite low-altitude meteorological phenomenon: Karl the Fog.

(Fun Fact I: When he’s not tweeting at us, Karl the Fog even takes Bernalwood’s phone calls!)

Anyhow, Karl wanted us all to see the terrific photos of Bernal Heights (and Karl) posted at the Jellybeansofdoom blog:

One evening we were out and stopped by Bernalwood to walk around the hill and enjoy the sunset. It’s located just north of us here in San Francisco. It was a beautiful evening.

We were slowly headed back to the car when I looked up and saw that Karl (The Fog) was moving in wispy tendrils along the top of Bernal Hill.

(Fun Fact II: The only thing Karl likes more than making a dramatic entrance is making a dramatic entrance when there are paparazzi around to capture it.)

PHOTOS: Jellybeansofdoom