Month: March 2019

Concentrated Essence of Poppy

March 29, 2019
by Michael Scandling
comments 30
California / California Poppy / Floral Photography / Flower / Nature / Photography

For an all-too-brief period in the spring, California poppies proliferate. They’re just starting to appear here in the Bay Area. In a few weeks — maybe just a few days — there will be more patches, fields, entire hillsides of intense golden blooms shimmering in the breeze. There will be more in this space too. Here’s a preview of this year’s bounty. (Nikon D850; AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab […]

Betterists

March 17, 2019
by Michael Scandling
comments 33
Inspiration / Landscape / Nature / New Zealand / Photo Log / Photography

I started this blog only a short while ago — November 2018 — in answer to requests from friends to put my “other” photography on the Web. “Other” photography would be defined as images that go beyond the self-imposed limits of what I put on my formal website. I also intended this blog to be a way of making all my photography more widely known. That was my original purpose and that remains my purpose. […]

Now More Than Ever. . .

March 15, 2019
by Michael Scandling
comments 63
Inspiration / Landscape / Photo Log / Photography

Yesterday, forty-nine fellow inhabitants of our world were murdered while they were worshiping in Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The madness of this act is unfathomable. The fact that it happened in New Zealand is deeply saddening. New Zealand ranks number two in the Global Peace Index. At times like this our hearts can get very dark and the darkness can be infectious. While we mourn the loss, we must not succumb to a hopeless […]

Sunrise, Smoke, Spots

March 13, 2019
by Michael Scandling
comments 21
Landscape / Nature / Photo Log / Photography / Sunrise

September 12, 2015, 6:52 a.m.; West Shore, Lake Tahoe. When we arrived for our annual reunion of friends on September 11, the 2015 Butte fire had been burning for two days. It was about seventy miles (as the crow flies) to the southeast of us—the same direction as the prevailing wind. The smoke was ominous. No stars that night. When we woke up early the next morning the omen had fully manifested. A thick pall […]

And Then. . .

March 7, 2019
by Michael Scandling
comments 24
Landscape / Nature / Photo Log / Photography / Seascapes / Wildlife

June 20, 2018; Doubtful Sound, South Island, New Zealand. It was a beautiful day. First day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Bright sun. Not a cloud in the sky. Gorgeous. The air was crisp. Clean. Cold. Except this was our one and only day to photograph one of the most dramatic fjords in New Zealand. We wanted clouds. Mist. Fog. Dark dusky drama. Rain squalls. Rainbows. We got none of it. Mother Nature served […]

What Trader Joe’s Taught Me About a Plum Blossom Photo

March 3, 2019
by Michael Scandling
comments 26
Floral Photography / Inspiration / Photography

February 2019. My back yard and my computer. Every year there are plum blossoms in my yard. Every year — in homage to Japanese art — I photograph them, searching for The One. Over the past few weeks, many gigabytes died on this search. This blossom? That one? One blossom? Many? High-key? Low-key? Simple background? Mottled background? High contrast? Low contrast? Saturated? Muted? On and on and on and on. . . Images fell like […]