Notes To My Mother

It has been foggy in the mornings and I wanted to see if I could get above the fog by going up Pine Flat Road. I want to shoot the Lyrid Meteor Shower Thursday and I thought that road might get me above the fog where we would have a clear view. But on the way up through the fog I was so taken by the light that I had to stop and shoot. This tree brought me to a stop as the light was almost making it glow.  This was close to the upper limit of the fog and the light was coming through nicely.  You can actually play with the light by going to higher or lower elevations, the fog will lighten or darken. Aside from the atmosphere fog provides, it also evens out the light so that you do not have to deal with the high contrast between lights and darks. I found these flowers growing around the dead wood with the foggy background intriguing. When I got to the top of the mountain I was indeed above the fog and in full sunlight. To shoot these poppies I shaded them by sp...

Buddies are priceless. I have a good buddy, Jerry Huffaker. He rides his bike around Sonoma County traversing a innumerable back roads. He is also a budding photographer so he has been noticing certain things on his rides. Like wild flowers. Today he treated me to an excursion with our cameras, to one of the roads on which he has been enjoying wild flowers for the past few years. Our first stop was this little farm located along the road with a sweet patch of California Poppies in their pasture. We had to shoot through the fence to get some images and wished we had access to get in closer to the flowers. This was taken with a Sony 55-210mm lens at a 114mm 35mm equivalent focal length. Driving a bit farther down the road we came to wild flowers growing between the road and the vineyards.  This was taken with a wide angle lens at a 35mm equivalent 15mm. We spent the rest of our time shooting these flowers, experimenting with different apertures, lenses, fo...

We were in search of wild flowers and word on the internet was the Paso Robles area was in full bloom. So we loaded up and headed south. You might think that wild flowers would be easy to find, after all they are bright and showy and hopefully right along the road where they cannot be missed. We had seen pictures of them, carpets of yellow and white flowers, blues, orange, white. All lounging next to each other in wonderful arrays of color. As we discovered on this trip they are not everywhere. As we drove to the area where we heard they were blooming there were no wildflowers in sight. None. It wasn’t until we found our way to the exact spot where Shell Creek Road and Highway 58 meet,  that we final found carpets of color.  This is where the reports of an excellent bloom directed searchers to go.  And it was true, this was the place were the flowers were.   Unfortunately, as pretty as these flowers were, we missed the real bloom. It turns out that ...

I have been to Bowling Ball Beach three times. The first time I went it must have been high tide because there were no bowling ball to be seen anywhere. The next time I went a buddy and I researched when to be there and discovered it was to be a low tide, preferably a minus tide. So we timed a low tide with sunset and made our way to the beach. The bowling balls were so high up out of the water they were not worth photographing – they are not pretty at all when they are completely dry. So we did some more research, now having a little more insight into the situation. The best tide level to photograph the bowling balls is between a 1.5 to 3 level tide, preferably receding. Now timing this to happen at just the right time to take advantage of the golden hour and blue hour is no easy fete. And of course it would be best to be a week day so there aren’t so many tourists. And throw in a few clouds for some interest in the sky. Not asking much, just a confluence of ab...

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 wa...

It is time to sit down and write my blog. I have been very busy getting ready for some art shows coming up in April. At one of them, Day on the Green, I will have my own booth which means I will be able to have lots of images available. I have shown in galleries and at art shows before but I have never had a booth at an event. It is a completely new experience and getting ready entails a lot of preparation. One of the many things I have been doing is going through the archives of my images looking for ones I had would like to print and share. It seemed at first a daunting task to go through all of my old images, but I have come to enjoy it as it has become a walk down memory lane. Every now and then I find an image I had previously overlooked, like the image above which was taken in 2012 in Acadia National Park. I had climbed down the cliffs (at the far end) and had been shooting along the shore. When I was finished I climbed out on the near end and came upon this vantag...

Silent Witness Last October I ended a 45 years career in counseling. I closed the door to my office and three days later jumped in an airplane and went to Eastern Utah for two weeks. It was a rush, a total high. When I came back to Santa Rosa, I was only just beginning to get with the new program of being retired. It has some major differences as you might guess. Like on Sunday afternoon you don’t have to be thinking of the week ahead, you can actually relax and coast into Monday. For the first time ever I do not have obligations first thing in the morning. So I have been spending early morning hours out and about in Sonoma County, rediscovering it’s beauty and charm, and discovering for the first time places I had never seen before, at least not in this early morning light. First Light This was taken along Highway One at the beginning of civil twilight twilight. This is an area of farmland. Lots of dairies, green pastures and farm houses. I was captivated by the ...