Scott Fin (aka Scott Finsthwait )

I love to explore hidden, secret, abandoned spaces and feel compelled to tell their tales though my lens.

[scott-fin]

#Oakland #SanFrancisco #BayArea #Urbex #StreetArt #Tunnel #Graffiti

[scott-fin]

#GATS #san francisco #sanfrancisco #bay area #bayarea #urbex #urban exploration

[scott-fin]

http://www.scottfinphotography.com/#!/index/G0000ZtPptP.Wgwk/I0000GWKO30UAubc

“GATS mentioned in an interview with Hashimoto Contemporary, ‘Over time the mask has filled up with more names, tears, cracks and other symbols. I’m not a religious person so this mask has become the ritual that I meditate on. The cryptic names that decorate the mask remind me to appreciate people in my life and those I respect. Every tear is to remember a specific individual who was murdered by the police. The mask becomes more and more cracked as it ages. It’s falling away as I lose attachment to the idea of a normal life and start to question which one is actually my alter ego.’“

[scott-fin]

"Albert's Exit" Scott Fin Photo on Aluminum Panel

http://finsthwait.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Tunnel-Graffiti/G0000ZtPptP.Wgwk/I0000VIeR8fJ1GXY

[scott-fin]

. . The second part of my drive home from Nicasio, Ca. to San Francisco was along Hwy 1.  I parked in a pull-out high above Stinson Beach and got to watch Andres Amador (http://www.andresamadorarts.com) finish one of his massive, magnificent sand drawings, which he does with the assistance of Ember and a rake.  I knew hidden Red Rock beach was nearby, which I have always been curious about, so I relocated in time to climb down and catch sunset from the top of a huge rock outcrop that had been magically festooned with a heart made of rose petals!  I was all alone except for a couple rock climbers figuring out problems on a bunch of boulders.

[scott-fin]

"Further: Nicasio to Hwy 1" I delivered a couple prints to a friend in Nicasio and made the decision to drive back to San Francisco on roads less traveled . . and that made all the difference. To make the photo of the Golden gate Bridge support, I put my 70-200 lens on F5.6 and pre-focused, then put the camera/lens against the windshield and snapped a few frames as I drove under the tower. This was my favorite frame, which is slightly cropped, but amazingly not-straightened. As I pulled off the road to meet my friend, the magically lit scene of the little wooden bridge and moss-covered big old trees greeted me, I believe foreshadowing the rest of my day : ' ) The barren twig-of-a-tree -- especially juxtaposed against that big oak nestled among a bunch of boulders on the hill -- caught my attention and inspired me to pull over for a few minutes in Nicasio to compose a few photos.

www.ScottFinPhotography.com

[“Furthur was a school bus purchased by author Ken Kesey in 1964 to carry his "Merry Band of Pranksters" cross-country, filming their counterculture adventures as they went. The bus was named “Furthur” as a kind of one-word poem and inspiration to keep going whenever the bus broke down.  Beat legend Neal Cassady was the driver on their maiden voyage from La Honda, California to New York for the publication of Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion.” ~ Wikipedia] 'The Road Not Taken' "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." ~ Robert Frost

[scott-fin]

"Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise Before the Storm"

It was one of those Mondays.

I woke up well before dawn to shoot sunrise at Crissy field, but the skies were almost completely overcast.  I got in my car anyway.  On the way to Crissy Field, I could tell there was a clearing in the clouds behind me and  and the sunrise was starting to happen . . but I didn't change course, hoping for a break in the dramatic skies ahead.  As I pulled into the parking lot, the sun broke through for about 4 minutes, just enough time for me to frame the bridge in the permanent puddle on the beach : ' )

[scott-fin]

Tuesday, December 9th

"Day 2 of a New Self-Assigned Project, 5x5x5: Five images each weekday for 5 weeks"

I try to get out as frequently as possible to watch and shoot the sunrise wherever I am; 80% of the time, I am surprised and rewarded well-beyond my doubtful expectations, and I come home with at least one or two images I am proud of.  In November 2013, I started shooting sunrises for many reasons:

- as a way to reason to get out of bed at a (un)reasonable hour . . because without a tangible reason, I tend to lounge about and delay the start of my day

- to get outside and explore different parts of San Francisco (or wherever I am)

- to mindfully watch something beautiful in nature that happens everyday and is free

- as a way to spark my creativity and challenge myself to grow as a professional photographer / artist

- to share something beautiful with people who may not otherwise have seen it.

But what happens when it is completely foggy, overcast, or actually (thankfully) raining, or something happens and I am either unable or unwilling to get up, get out, and shoot the sunrise . . like today?  What do I do to maintain momentum and practice my art?  Thus was born this "5x5x5" self-assigned project, wherein I will get out and explore, observe, and document my environs during the Golden Hour -- +/- 30 minutes before and after sunrise -- irregardless of whether the sun is visible.

Of course for every image I "publish," there are oodles of images that will never see the light of day; it is not at all uncommon for me to take as many as 200 photos of the sun rising, of which I will only "publish" anywhere from one to five.  Thus, I will share the contact sheet of my nine "best" relatively unretouched images each morning, from which I will choose my five favorites that I might work on more extensively in post-processing (Lightroom > Photoshop > iPhoto > etc) and publish individually.

Enjoy the process : ' )

~ Scott

www.ScottFinPhotography.com

https://www.facebook.com/Scottfin.photography

[scott-fin]

7:21am, Monday, December 1, 2014

"Pier 96 Cranes, Ship Reflected"

(1/50, F11, ISO 100, 16mm)

I am reading Michael Chabon's 2012 novel "Telegraph Avenue," which I find to be both brain candy and mental floss.   On the flight home from Atlanta and a week spent with a bad cold amid family for Thanksgiving in New Smyrna Beach, I finally began to get my head around who was who and how they were connected by page 124 in the book . . so last night, I got in bed early and turned back to the beginning to start skimming it to see what had slipped by me last week while lying in bed congested with a fever.  Although I only made it a few pages before falling asleep, Chabon's richly dense prose set the stage for vivid bizarre dreams, which I woke from just after 6am to look out the window to check if there might be a sunrise between the overcast skies and scattered showers this week, for which we are grateful here in the Bay Area.

Although the sky was mostly cloudy, I figured there might be a break once the sun began to rise in less than thirty minutes; determining where to watch and photograph the show before I leave my house is always the hardest part of the process:  Where will the light be optimal? Ocean Beach or the Cliff House? Beneath or above the Golden Gate Bridge? At Crissy Field or in Fisherman's Wharf?  Somewhere on Treasure Island?  From aboard a ferry? Somewhere in Golden Gate Park?  From Twin Peaks?  Somewhere in the East Bay? How long will it take me to get there and find a photogenic subject? etc.

By the time I walked out the door this morning my options were limited by a fifteen minute countdown, but I had been wanting to revisit the majestic Pier 96 Cranes with my 16mm fisheye lens and new DSLR anyway, since the first time I had explored them all I had was my Sony NEX-5N with its 18-55mm standard lens, which I had used to take and stitch together over 40 frames to get this one: http://finsthwait.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Sunrising-Series/G0000aig_MsQF2YU/I0000JAL7yPbqrmc

Link to this photo on www.ScottFinPhotography.com: http://finsthwait.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Sunrising-Series/G0000aig_MsQF2YU/I0000dG_BRmf1bns

[scott-fin]

"What I am after, above all, is expression . . I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of expressing it." - Henri Matisse

02-04-14 6:58am Mt Diablo and Container Ship, Blend

This is another one of the blended Bay Area sunrise images I am printing for my upcoming photo opening at Bubble Pop Electric Salon (http://www.bubblepopelectricsalon.com) next Thursday evening, May 1, 2014.  My friend Elizabeth was standing next to me when I took this and can attest there were, in fact, no trippy bubbles floating around that morning . . but I kind of like them : ' )

Link to this image on my website: http://finsthwait.photoshelter.com/image/I0000UnRiOIZL1g4

[scott-fin]

6:42am 01/16/14 (Civil Dawn) New Bay Bridge from Clipper Cove, blended

I took this shot from a slender little beach hidden on the right as one drives down to Treasure Island from Yerba Buena Island.  The wooden access stairs can be found on the other side of the small barbeque picnic area among a neglected grove of palms.  I've marked the beach by circling a red "X" in the screen grab above.  After processing the morning's photo in Lightroom and Photoshop, I uploaded it to a few apps on my iPad and began experimenting with different looks.  The blended version above is a combination of three of my current favorites: Waterlogue (http://www.waterlogueapp.com), Repix (http://www.repix.it), and (http://www.the11ers.com/glaze).  I like these apps not only for the effects they produce, but also because one can save images at a high resolution, which is important when making BIG prints; I make 30"x60" prints on metal and canvas that look great.

A few of these will be in my next show, at Bubble Pop Electric Salon (http://www.bubblepopelectricsalon.com).  Opening reception is the evening of Thursday, May 1st, 2014.

Link to download or purchase:  http://finsthwait.photoshelter.com/image/I00009zOhGWUej9k

[scott-fin]

"7:21am - New Bay Bridge, Sailboat, Repix'd Mosaic"

Link to this image on website:

http://finsthwait.photoshelter.com/image/I0000csf0coHizZY

Moving forward in a new direction with my "Sunrise, Sunset" series of photos, which takes about 6 hours per image: 6:00am-7:30am: Wake and go somewhere to watch and shoot sunrise. 7:30-9:30: Go home, select, and post-process images. 9:30-11:00am: Repix an image as a pseudo Impressionist watercolor. 11am-12pm: Save it, open it in Photoshop, chop it up into 48+ separate pieces, reprocess each piece differently, restitch the pieces together, and open THAT image in "Perfect Photo Suite 8" and resize it so it can be printed at up to 30" x 60" at 300dpi. I LOVE the way these look printed BIG on metal : ' )

[scott-fin]

Monday, April 14th, 11pm (PST)

Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

[scott-fin]

7:17am, Monday, February 24 '14

Buena Vista Park, San Francisco

My idea Monday morning was to get a sunrise photo of an iconic Haight - Ashbury street sign, but there are MUNI wires going every whichway, the signs are about twelve feet off the ground, the skies were grey and overcast, my head was still foggy from the night before, blah blah blah.

So I frantically tried to catch a bus to another location nearby, but I ran in the wrong direction as the bus was coming around a corner and missed it . . then I watched as a different viable bus drove past me to the bus stop from which I had just previously erroneously fled.  At which point I "gave up," by which I mean I let go of trying to control and manipulate the situation and decided to simply enjoy having the luxury of strolling around Upper Haight with my camera.

Flanking one end of the Haight is world famous Golden Gate Park, with all of its nuances, idiosyncrasies, beauty, and grandeur.  Flanking the other end of the Haight is Buena Vista park, Golden Gate's steeper, darker, less-famous, seedier cousin.  It is toward Buena Vista that I headed because, well . . "buena vista."  Right?

Glad I explored it.  Sun beams streaked through the canopy and I think I only saw three or four people (thus: seedy), not one of whom was my dear good friend, who relishes running hills and eats stairs for breakfast, and for whom I stopped to take this photo.

Now I think I need a refresher course on "who" and "whom."

[scott-fin]

Wow, what a light show over San Francisco this morning. I was sitting at home in my pj's after haven given up on sunrise due to the completely overcast, cloudy sky. Luckily, I checked out the window again and saw blue sky and sunbeams, so I threw on an outer layer -- yep, still in my pj's -- grabbed my camera and a couple lenses, and hustled up the hill.

[scott-fin]

7:13am, February 24th '14

Nautical Dawn 5:50-6:21

Civil Dawn 6:21-6:47

Sunrise/Golden Hour 6:47-7:44

I'm frustrated with this morning's sunrise images; my head was feeling pretty woozy, though.  Some mornings are like that, aren't they.  I wish I knew Photoshop better.  More precisely, I wish I knew how to make, refine, and work with a tricky selection (the sky, in this photo).  I've read "How To" books and magazine articles, watched online video tutorials, and asked a few people . . but I haven't figured it out, yet (obviously).  Once I figure it out, I'll probably go back and reprocess a bunch of photos so they look more the way I see them in my mind.

[scott-fin]

6:37pm Wednesday, February 19th, '14

[Link to this image on website: http://finsthwait.photoshelter.com/image/I0000wHQ.xFCAFpU]