Light, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

On Saturday, Rachel took care of the kids (God bless her!). Phyllis and I hiked down to Cataract Falls on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais. I carried a backpack of camera equipment and my Gitzo tripod (collectively described by Phyllis as “the other woman”).

On Friday, it had rained heavily and I was hoping that Cataract would be running hard. The rain was a bit unseasonally early, and the dry ground had absorbed most of the run-off, so the falls weren’t particularly impressive.

But deep in the folds of Mount Tamalpais, beautiful and bright sunlight glinted over the ridges, and struck fat remnant raindrops nestled in the trees. I pointed my camera up into a wet bough, directly at the water drops and sun.

[105mm f/2.8 macro lens, 157.5mm in 35mm equivalent terms, 36mm extension tube, +4 diopters close-up filter, 1/5 of a second at f/32 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]