May 8, 2015. Sutro Baths, San Francisco, California. My general plan in shooting Horizons is to have water and sky and nothing more. In this scene I wanted the texture and pattern of light on the water juxtaposed with the soft clouds. Period. But without a crane I wasn’t going to get high enough to get the rock out of the frame and the light was changing rapidly and then this huge RORO (Roll On […]
January 24, 2016. Nepenthe, Big Sur Coast, California. We were celebrating my birthday with a day trip to Big Sur, and what trip to Big Sur is complete without an Ambrosia Burger at Nepenthe? Satiated, I turned to see what my prospects were for a sunset shot. Laminated clouds? Check. Sea calm? Check. No fog bank? Check. Free of shipping traffic? No. There was a ship on the horizon, heading south at a good clip. […]
I had been saving this image — taken from the end of the pier in Akaroa, New Zealand just after sunrise on an unbelievable July morning — to mark the anniversary of the trip to NZ that my wife and I took last year. I moved it up a few weeks because it is a fitting complement to a short message of thanks to New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Lots of people talk about […]
April 4, 2014. Marin County Headlands. My seascape horizon photographs are devoid of any vestige of land, for the most part; and they show no man-made objects at all. So this image will never be part of my Horizons collections. But this scene intrigued me in 2014 and it still intrigues me today. The first draw was and is the subtlety of color on the water. And the sky. But then there’s the ship. Container […]
A volunteer poppy at Filoli, easily as arresting as anything in the manicured gardens. Thanks to Oliver for the push. Not motion this time, but depth. (Nikon D850; Nikon 28-300 f/3.5-5.6G Zoom. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 2.2; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
November 22, 2007, 2:03 p.m. Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. We were visiting our sister-in-law’s sister in Portland for Thanksgiving. In that household’s tradition, complementing the turkey was a board of barbeque so nuanced that only years of practice can produce such a fine result. The feast lasted for hours. That plus a welcoming group of people would have been more than adequate, But I had more. In addition to the customary seasonal gratitude, […]
May 4, 2019. Crystal Hermitage Gardens, outside of Nevada City, California. When we went to visit our friends in the Sierra foothills, we were prepared for some landscapes. Alas, the sky was blue. From horizon to horizon it was utterly devoid of texture. Not the best for landscapes. But little did we know that our friends had something else in mind anyway. Two weeks ago, they were exploring Highway 49 and stopped in Nevada City. […]
All you can hear is the breeze, the waves, the birds. Silence promotes calm. Calm brings about refection and realization. Recognized many times before but confirmed through repetition: Although there are those who try to create chaos in the world, it’s up to me to decide whether I want to respond in kind or to disagree with an automatic knee jerk and maintain my own conviction that the basic good in the majority of people […]
There are almost 850 species of wildflowers at Point Reyes National Seashore. This Douglas Iris is one of them. More to come. (Nikon D500, Tamron 100–400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 2.2; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
Friday, April 26, 2019. Point Reyes Peninsula. One of the best things about living in the San Francisco Bay Area is that no matter where you are, you’re not far from nature. This is a place where you can finish your morning chores and still make it to Point Reyes for an afternoon of hiking and photography, have supper at the Inverness Park Tap Room, and be home at a reasonable hour. We went for […]
April 11, 2019. Mojave Desert west of Lancaster, California. Cause of death of this once proud (okay, probably never proud) shed was most likely neglect. But it might have been electrocution. We’ll never know. It is a little too close to some menacing power lines as it sits forlornly by the road that leads to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. So there’s that. This photo is possibly the first time in a long time that […]
Not one of the most influential rock bands of the ’60s. Not a denizen of a prison yard — after whom the band was named. No. These birds visited my yard on Saturday morning. Ever vigilant, I was there. I was particularly on the lookout for Anna’s hummingbirds, but the Hutton’s Vireo (I believe) above posed for me so nicely had to include him/her. But for the rest, I refer to — and alter — […]
And on the third day, The Land of Oz. Or was it The Sound of Music? In the southwest corner of the Mojave Desert is a hill that for about a month every spring turns retina-burning orange. The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve and the surrounding countryside. No wizard. No Julie Andrews. But lots of poppies. Other wildflowers, too. But mostly poppies. (And thirty mile-per-hour winds, so no florascapes.) And an occasional cloud. (Nikon D500, […]
On the first day, clouds marked the sky. And it was good. And we were wet with rain and frozen by wind and pelted by hail and splattered in mud, and we did not care. For the Earth was carpeted with yellow and red and purple and blue and we were soar amazed. Tomorrow: Poppy Paradise. (Nikon D500, Tamron 100–400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD. Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. RAW processing […]
Day Two? What happened to Day One? Day One has been postponed in order to save the best for last. The Carrizo Plain is known for many things. In the Spring, it’s known for wildflowers — especially this year, when it is the site of a super bloom. Super blooms happen in years that have had a far greater that average rainfall, and we certainly had that in California this year. When we arrived on […]
