Seeing 2010 (#1)

Well, in a trivial manner an auspicious start to the new decade, posting-wise: hustled to prep the image below so as to publish it on New Year's Day . . . seems I just missed the strike of midnight for January 2nd . . . and in my haste an utterly empty entry went out. (Note to blogspot: bad idea to have the default mode for pressing Enter as "Publish Post" rather than "Save As Draft.")

Ah well, here's the first submission of the year nonetheless . . .

After a delightful evening of Thai food followed by enjoying comedian Louis Black with my wife at the Marin Civic Center Auditorium in San Rafael, I wandered around the Civic Center grounds.

The Moon was full (in fact, up until 11:59:59 p. m. on December 31, 2009, it was a Blue Moon) albeit slightly obscured by high, thin clouds. My initial goal was to capture a beautifully-lighted fountain set in the midst of a huge pond, but before I could equip myself with tripod and camera and get out to a workable vantage point the majority of the lights illuminating the various parking lots, sidewalks -- and fountain(s) -- shut off.

Still, beneath of La Lune's ethereal glow there were a few subjects of interest. I had the entire vast compound to myself, so far as I could tell, which made the scene below all the more eerie: it was utterly silent, with the glowing orb high overhead my only companion. These flag-topped structures reminded me both of turrets, and giant sentinels, providing a subtle sense of protection against the isolation and loneliness inherent in the dark expanse I found myself.

This offering is one of the first few photographs I took this New Year's Day (at 1:10 a.m., in this particular case). The scene presented here is quite removed from my normal mental image of Marin as a place of green hills thickly carpeted with foliage, boat docks, art shops and cafés. I rather like this disquieting juxtaposition . . .

San Rafael, New Year's 2010 (Midnight Sentinels), #5984

(c)2010 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: January 1, 2010; Canon 20D; f/8 @ 30 secs; -2/3 EV; ISO 100; 18mm.

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