Skip Kuebel Photography

This is one of the many photographs I've taken at Fort Point, and the Fort Point Light underneath the Gate Bridge. It's an old Civil War army fort that guarded the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Beginning in 1852, the US government funded the construction of a chain of 59 lighthouses along the California Coast. The Fort Point light was one of 13 serving the San Francisco Bay. In 1934, The US Lighthouse Service keepers extinguished the Fort Point light for the last time due to the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. For awhile it looked like they may tear down the fort and the light to build the bridge but in the end they just built the bridge right over the top of the fort. This is a must see stop when in San Francisco. I removed the sky with OnOne tools and then added in the dramatic sky and then color corrected all so that it would look like it belonged. The tool work really well, even over the top rail and the circular staircase grill pattern. See more at:  http...

This shot is almost 40 years in the making. I went to college here when it was still called California College of Arts & Crafts. Yes, well before there were computers and most art was still done by hand. Imagine yourself back in 1970 fresh off the farm and in the city trying to learn how to make a living creating art. The faint, maybe not so faint smell of pot hung in the air. Shown above is the path to the library and the bottom picture is the administration building. Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

I've lived near San Francisco most of my life and had never taken the Red & White cruise to Alcatraz, although I had always wanted too, but it never worked out. Alcatraz started out as a Civil War era fort, then military prison and finally a Federal Penitentiary, for the worst of the worst, including Al Capone, the Birdman of Alcatraz, Machine Gun Kelly and more. When I was around 9 years old 3 convicts had escaped the island while we were visiting the city and were never heard from again. Most thought they were drowned and carried out to sea due to the cold water, powerful currents and rip tides that the bay flushes out to sea daily. But... they are not 100% sure they didn't make it. The man-hunt had always captured my imagination, so I throughly enjoyed my day on The Rock! :D I used NIK filters and OnOne software plus Lightroom on these. Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet on Flickr On the weekend I went aboard the USS Hornet Aircraft Carrier and Museum. This was taken standing on the flight deck near the "Island" and looking towards San Francisco in the distance. CV12 is docked at Pier 3 in Alameda near the old Alameda Naval Air Station. You can visit the USS Hornet museum daily or see more at:  https://www.uss-hornet.org . Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

Photo shoot at Touchin' Up – Hair Color Bar. They specialize in hair color touch-ups at the San Ramon store. Here are 3 of the technicians on Opening Day of the store. Learn more about Touchin' Up at  touchinup.com . See more from this photo shoot on my SmugMug account at:  https://skiptown.smugmug.com/TouchinUp/Grand-Opening/ . Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

A San Francisco cable car climbs California street to the top of Nob Hill by the Mark Hopkins hotel on the left. I liked the sunlight coming in from the top right corner and used that to focus the attention on the cable car by blowing that out some and adding a bit of glow. I used On1 Software Filters for this one. I also like how it's sharp at the cable car and then fades toward the upper corner. I also added a vignette called the Big Softy to darken the bottom edges. You can see this shot on my Flickr page at:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/97777205@N03/19951019005/ Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

I hiked out to Muir Beach one afternoon and saw this great view of the trees on the hill, the rocks in the foreground and the ocean slashing up on the beach. So, I worked my way around the rocks and was doing the photographer thing, you know, getting the best angle for the shot, focus etc. Little did I know that on the other side of these rocks is a nude beach. Felt a little creepy, with the camera and all, so I didn't stay long! LOL. I added in the sun and sky in post-processing and using NIK filters to bring in the orange/reds from the sunset into the rocks and ocean. Is it cheating to do this? What you think? See more at: https://www.flickr.com/x/t/0092009/photos/97777205@N03/19807160652/ Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net