John Wiley
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By John Wiley
As we approached the Channel Islands, they appeared as gems out of the mist. San Miguel’s dune stripes were subtly magnificent shades of greens and blues. The ranger station and airstrip beckon any pilot can land there*, you just can’t ever fly again as the joke goes. All the islands are verdant from the rains, and already there are traces of an approaching bloom. At the East end of San Miguel, a few pinnipeds large and small found a quiet inlet away from the innumerable crowded beaches and coves. Many minor miracles away, we looked past the Anacapa Light where San Miguel was a mere hint in the moist distance.
*[EDitor’s Note: A representative from the Channel Islands National Park contacted us to remind our readers that the island’s airstrips are not public and are not open to landing by private aircraft. But you already knew that.]
It’s amazingly beautiful from the air, and I wish cameras could capture what our eyes do instead of the haze that’s difficult to eliminate. •Details: My compromise is to make it look similar to what we saw, without spending much time on it. All this to say, the overall colors are shifted but not deliberately altered. I’ve shot a few pix w/polarized filter and that cuts the haze a lot, but introduces its own color shift that’s even harder to eliminate. Color shift and haze are also both affected by the sun position relative to camera position and angle. While landscape photographers are aware of all this, there are additional factors in aerial photography that add a lot of difficulty. In the end, it’s great that people can experience some of the beauty we endeavor to share. 🙂
Photoshopping blue is hard to do, i.e.
“The ocean looks blue because red, orange and yellow (long wavelength light) are absorbed more strongly by water than is blue (short wavelength light). So when white light from the sun enters the ocean, it is mostly the blue that gets returned. Same reason the sky is blue.”
I found notes from my trip to Anacapa Island long ago. Our biology teacher said the turquoise colored surf that we could see surrounding parts of the island (very different than the color of the rest of the ocean) was due to a kind of plankton called a dinoflaggelete. They exhibit bioluminescence when threatened or agitated in waves. It’s easy to see at night but also during the day when there are lots of them. Boaters and surfers report this often. Here’s a night-time video …… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMz86z5NTWY
John, In the 1930s George Hammond flew to San Miguel and landed in a sheep pasture. The Lesters who lived there were astounded as there had never been a plane landing before. They welcomed George and became lifelong friends. George would fly their mail as well as eggs and vegetables from the family estate, Bonnymede, and special treats George’s mother, Esther Hammond, had their chef make. George would take Mrs. Lester and her little girls into SB for a day of shopping and take them home the same day. Previously Mrs. Lester had only been off the island 2xs, to have her babies on the mainland, the Coast Guard had transported her on the hours long trips.