Stephen Bay Photography

Stephen Bay Photography City and landscape photography focusing on San Diego and Southern California.

Got a chance this weekend to go hiking up in Mt Laguna area. Managed to catch a really nice sunset despite being June (J...
06/09/2026

Got a chance this weekend to go hiking up in Mt Laguna area. Managed to catch a really nice sunset despite being June (June Gloom and all that). Might be another nice sunset today.

Trying to figure out how to get my dog to come with me when photographing. He still very much in the puppy phase and can...
05/31/2026

Trying to figure out how to get my dog to come with me when photographing. He still very much in the puppy phase and can't stay still. Anyway took him to Fiesta Island to catch the moonrise behind USD Campus.

Balboa park tonight. I could tell the sky was going to be colorful but I couldn't figure out where to go. I was initiall...
02/03/2026

Balboa park tonight. I could tell the sky was going to be colorful but I couldn't figure out where to go. I was initially planning on going to Belmont Park to photograph the Big Dipper roller coaster but when I got there it was under construction. There was a giant crane and it looked like it was replacing parts of the structure. So I decided to go to the east side of Balboa park and shoot toward the sun. However when I got there, the composition I had in my head didn't really work. So I came to west side, parked, and rushed to this spot. It was already after sunset so I was afraid I'd miss the burn but I just caught it.

Yes I paid for parking. The machine was a pain to use and super slow. It spent like a minute trying to see if I was already listed in the system (I'm not). Which was frustrating because I could see the colors turning but I had to wait.

This is sunset cliffs yesterday evening. I guess it lives up to it's name.
01/28/2026

This is sunset cliffs yesterday evening. I guess it lives up to it's name.

As per my last post, I just got back from Borrego Springs / Salton Sea and then I saw all these news articles about a po...
01/20/2026

As per my last post, I just got back from Borrego Springs / Salton Sea and then I saw all these news articles about a possible solar magnetic storm that was going to hit G4 (severe) last night. Apparently we are in a peak of a 12 year cycle and there aren't many opportunities to see or photograph this so I drove back out to the wildflowers in Anza-Borrego. Also the dune evening primrose are at peak and I didn't get a shot of them on the weekend, so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone.

I found a pretty nice cluster of primrose after wandering around for an hour and setup to photograph that. They form these amazing circles with a ring of flowers on the outside. However, I couldn't see the aurora with the naked eye last night. So I thought I missed it completely. However, when I got back home and edited the photos, I was able to faintly see the aurora colors and edited the photos to make it more prominent. So it's definitely brighter than it was and I'm sure the colors are off a bit compared to if you could actually measure it with a spectrophotometer. Plus there was a lot of light pollution from palm springs that I had to remove.

Anyway, I'm glad I went even though it was a lot of hours in the car. Got a chance to meetup with some more friends in the middle of the night and have coffee and homemade apple pie (thanks Bryan!).

Roadtrip this weekend with photo buddies to the Salton Sea and Anza Borrego. This was my last stop at Henderson Canyon R...
01/19/2026

Roadtrip this weekend with photo buddies to the Salton Sea and Anza Borrego. This was my last stop at Henderson Canyon Rd. Bloom is still going strong and some spots look better than a week or two ago.

I was traveling for Christmas and then when I got back I came down with a stomach bug, so I haven't touched my camera in...
01/06/2026

I was traveling for Christmas and then when I got back I came down with a stomach bug, so I haven't touched my camera in a few weeks. I was going to stay inside today too, but I overcame my inertia to get out. Went to sunset cliffs to take advantage of the low tide.

I knew on a day like today, the big blowhole cave (the cave with the open ceiling) would be packed and a madhouse. I can't stand the crowds. So I went in a different direction and photographed this beauty.

The crescent moon tonight above the SeaWorld tower. From mission bay, around 5:20pm
12/22/2025

The crescent moon tonight above the SeaWorld tower. From mission bay, around 5:20pm

The full moon and king tides. What more could a photographer ask for? This is from this morning at the Pacific Beach Pie...
12/04/2025

The full moon and king tides. What more could a photographer ask for? This is from this morning at the Pacific Beach Pier (Crystal Pier) at 6:18 AM. Single exposure.

Fireworks at the Hotel Del winter festival tonight. A lot of green due to the Oz theme. Apparently the hotel was the ins...
12/04/2025

Fireworks at the Hotel Del winter festival tonight. A lot of green due to the Oz theme. Apparently the hotel was the inspiration, at least in part, for the Emerald City.

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