The Belmont Slough runs couple of blocks behind our house in Foster City, California. Before connecting to San Francisco Bay, it opens up and turns into a small delta like flat area that it’s perfect for Marsh Grass to grow.
There’s a walking path along both sides of slough that I often take my sweet Pittie named Shadow, for a late afternoon, evening, or night walks.
There is about there or four weeks window towards the end of summer and early fall, when the Marsh Grass has fully matured and is just starting to turn dry. The middle of the slough is too deep for them to grow but as the slough gets shallower towards the edges, it grows taller to shorter as it nears the edges.
I’ve been eyeing the entire slough for random shapes and colors every time I walk Shadow by there, and been trying to figure out the best season for colors and shapes variety, time of the day, and most importantly hight of the tied which provides the background canvas so to speak.
This was a cold and windy late evening as most of the Foster City evenings are, and I only had my 400mm lens with me which I didn’t think would be long enough. But I though to myself, what do I have to lose. So I stood up on the bench by the wider part of the slough, hooked up the monopod to the lens mount, and stuck the bottom tip of it between my belt and pants. I had to move fast since the daylight was fading, and putting the end tip on the ground would have restricted my choices.
This one was actually one of few first shots I took as a test shot, but it turned out to have the closest “lines” that I had in mind, how to best represent the simple beauty of Marsh Weed.