Photography In A Kayak: Sonoma County

We were just getting ready to lower the two man kayak into the Estero Americano when I glanced up and saw the color beginning to form on the eastern horizon. Drop everything and grab your camera! The light will be very fleeting and if you are not ready, camera, tripod, settings - all ready to go - chances are you will miss the splendor. This light had just come on and it was gone within five or six minutes at the most. But what a great beginning to our first adventure down the Estero Americano!

Paddling down this narrow waterway you are treated to a unique perspective on the ranches in the area. It of course is very quiet with only the sounds of nature and an occasional cow bleating.

And then you come across these unusual sights that make you wonder just what was here fifty or a hundred years ago. Like this fence sticking out over the estero, as if it were a fence to nowhere. Yet it must have served a definite purpose back in the day before the water claimed the bank. It was a strange sight that sparked the imagination.

These little fences were all along portions of the estero as if they were intended to keep the fish from swimming out of the channel into shallow water. Who knows?

All in all this adventure to the ocean was a wonderful experience. My son in law- and rowing and shooting partner - Francisco Montes, captured images of birds in flight and of deer jumping into the water and swimming across to, obviously, greener pastures. Wow! Once to the ocean we had time to rest up for the trek back to the car. All in all it was about a nine hours from start to finnish with five hours on the water. And yes we were both quite sore the next day but every ache was totally worth it.

If you enjoyed these images you may want to see more of Bob's fine art landscape photography on his website, by clicking here.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Comments

White Tailed Kites - A Family Affair

Perhaps you have seen birds fluttering in one place in the air. I have seen Northern Harriers do this as well as kestrels. But most commonly it is the white-tailed Kite. Three years ago there was a family of them in the Laguna De Santa Rosa and I had the privilege of witnessing their behaviors and capturing some of it with my camera. This first picture (above) shows a juvenile in flight and an adult on the branch. The juveniles are distinguishable by the brown markings. This Kite family had three juveniles and one adult, perhaps two adults but I only saw one at any given time. Late one evening I saw this scene with the adult holding a gopher or vole while the three juveniles gathered. I was particularly taken by the orientation of the juvenile's body on the bottom left. As it turned out I got several shots of juveniles in unusual positions. On one occasion I photographed one of the juveniles doing a somersault in mid air (topi...

The East Side of the Sierras is Beautiful

Why “Notes to My Mother”? My mother was the one person in my life who was always interested in what I was doing, what I had to say, who I was. She was never too busy to listen and take an interest. Never critical, always accepting. Even when I was wrong or misguided, there would still be a gentle interested listener present. Though she has been gone over 6 years, I still get the urge to write or call her, to share an image I am proud of or share my latest adventure to some beautiful place. I know she would love to hear about it. My mother was an artist. She painted most of her life, right up to her passing at the age of 96. When I was 4 years old we lived on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range. She would take me out to paint with her - she with her easel, me with mine - and we would sit together creating our art. While I gave up on the medium she kept at it. Then, in the year she passed I picked up a digital camera and began my adventure into the world of landscape ph...

Aurora Borealis May 10: A Northern Lights Extravaganza

As a quick update: All of these images were taken on the night of May 10-11, 2024. on San Juan Island WA. We were taken by surprise in the middle of our vacation when it was announced there was to be an aurora display that would likely be visible from our location. What an understatement! What we witnessed was simply out of this world. We saw colors I did not know existed in the auroras, especially the light pinks and, of all things, orange (neon). There were four of us on the grounds at the Trumpeter Inn during the "show". I was the only one with a DSLSR camera so the others would see something interesting and I would point my camera in that direction and take a timed exposer. Most were in the 15 to 20 second length. At one point, Jan looked up straight overhead and saw something that was quite unusual; it looked like some kind of convergence. I pointed the camera overhead and took this picture, which I find startling....

Notes To My Mother

Search This Blog