:Always Breaking

It’s the end of February and Spring is in full force. In typical California fashion, a few weeks of bad weather was followed by a week of upper 60s and low 70s, so all the plants have started budding and blooming. I drove by this house kind of on accident today and had to stop to take a picture.

Even though I didn’t plan the shot, it’s perfect for the 2008 Challenge for this week because the weather has been spectacular, as it usually is in February. Our town has a lot of flowering trees and several beautiful Magnolias. This tree, in particular, is stunning and the photo just doesn’t do it justice. So, no long blog post for this one, just enjoy the weather, if you can.

I used a polarizing filter, so the sky is really dark. I did some minor contrast adjustment, but this one is pretty much “as is”. This shot was taken as part of the 2008 Challenge at photochallenge.org. The photo is hosted on Zooomr, along with these others I shot this week.

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Taken at Helen Putnam Regional Park

I took my daughter out for a break from the rest of the family to take some pictures. It had been a hard day and she likes taking pictures, so I made her come with me. It was great just be outside, looking around for whatever caught our eye. I looked for Fall themed shots to add to the series and saw these trees. The sky was a deep blue and made a nice background for the tree branches with no leaves. Buckeye trees are the first to change colors and loose their leaves, at least in this area.

Today my trial of Lightroom expired, so I’m back to using Digital Photo Professional. It’s a fine program, just not as elegant as Lightroom and nowhere near as flexible. But, as Shelton Muller always says on the Shutters Inc podcast, “get it right in camera”, so that’s what I try to do. The processing on this shot was minimal, so I did get it right when I shot it.

This photo is hosted on Zooomr with a geotag.

Shot Details

Zooomr doesn’t read the EXIF data from Digital Photo Professional, so here’s the shot info:
Shooting Date/Time:10/28/2007 12:29:55
Shutter Speed: 1/250Sec.
Aperture Value: F5.6
Metering Modes: Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation: 0
ISO Speed: 200
Lens: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length: 18.0 mm

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We just don’t colors like this where I live, so to me the color of this leaf is impressive. Our maple trees turn sort of yellow-brown, then the leaves fall off. At higher elevations, like Yosemite where this was taken, it gets much colder much faster so the colors get more vibrant. I can’t image what the Fall colors must look like in New England.

When it’s 82 degrees F, it’s hard to imagine it’s really Fall.

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Taken in Yosemite National Park

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Well, Fall may have come but it seems Summer is trying to hang on a little longer. Today was beautiful - clear, sunny and warm. It could not have been a more perfect day in mid October. With the recent rains grasses have started growing, so in addition to the changing color we have new growth. That refreshing after a long, dry summer. The leaves on the trees are still turning and dropping, but this week will be warm so I expect Fall will drag out a little longer. We have yet to get our first frost, but the nights are getting downright cold.

This is one of two ash trees in my backyard. They both have a range of color from green to red, but are mostly red. In a couple of weeks the leaves will probably be gone, especially if we get a frost.

Until, I’m going to enjoy the warm weather. This shot is part of the Fall Series.

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Big Leaf Maple turning colors. Taken in Yosemite, October 2007

Yosemite isn’t really known for its Fall colors, but I thought they added some contrast to the landscapes. Yosemite has a lot of conifers that don’t change colors, but there are enough Black Oaks, Maples and Pacific Dogwood’s to mix in a splash of yellow and red. The colors make up for the lack of water at this time of year. The meadows with Black Oaks are really beautiful.

Another thing that makes up for the lack of water is the bears. We saw bears in broad daylight foraging for food to fatten up for the winter. Fortunately they are pretty tame and if you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you. But it’s good to keep your distance. I tried to get a picture, but wasn’t fast enough.

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Taken at Trinity Lake, CA
While camping I got a chance to shoot with my new 70-300mm lens. I loved it. It really brings things in, especially compared to the 18-55mm I’ve been using for the past couple of years. I figured after two years, I was due for a lens upgrade. So far I have not been disappointed with the new lens. At full zoom the images look great, although you do need a lot of light, even with image stabilization. I took some great shots of the kids from really far away.

Anyway, about the shot. Trinity Lake is a reservoir in the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area west of Redding, CA. It was farmland and forest once upon a time; the numerous tree stumps bear witness to the forest that once stood there. This year the lake is pretty low, so a lot of what is normally underwater is exposed. There were a few dozen of these stumps a short walk from our campsite.

The soil is a red dirt, so when it’s stirred up by boats or swimmers in the water you can see red clouds floating along the shore. The mud has stained all the stumps, giving them a red hue. Over the years of being submerged, the soil has eroded away from the stumps, leaving the major root structures visible. It’s a pretty cool effect with red tones and the stumps seemingly hanging in the air. Even more so when there are groups of stumps. I’d hate to see what happens to a boat that hits one of these when they’re hidden by the water.

Here’s a macro shot of a stump farther up the shoreline:

Trinity Lake is a wonderful place to camp. We don’t boat, but if you do the lake is great for water sports. It’s big, warm, and the surrounding mountains are spectacular. This year the lake is really low because of the low rainfall in Northern California. The lake was so low that the boat ramp near our campground was closed. The cement ended about 30 yards from the water. Here’s a shot of the walkway that runs along theramp:

The main image is hosted on Zooomr with a geotag. There are some other shots of the trip there as well.

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As summer warms up, manzanita bushes in Northern California start shedding their bark. Having grown up in the middle of these bushes, I pretty much ignored what was right in front of me until I started taking pictures and the ordinary became extraordinary through the lens. Last week as I drove up my in-laws driveway I noticed the bark peeling off the bushes and thought “How cool”. Something I grew up with became the focus of my shooting. For this shot, I converted to Black and White in Picasa and adjusted the brightness and contrast quite a bit. It’s hosted on Zooomr. Most of the year the bark is a deep red color, almost burgandy. In the summer it peels off to expose fresh green bark. I have an alternate shot that shows the colors.

As I wrote this post I started remembering scenes from my childhood. I clearly remember peeling the bark of the bushes during the summer and trying to see how big of a piece I could get. I spent many hours every day in the summertime amongst the manzanita bushes on our property. They made excellent forts. At my grandparents house in the Sierra Nevada foothills the manzanita bushes were much bigger and provided a canopy for taking walks in the summer. More on Manzanita bushes can be found on Wikipedia.

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Last week our family went up to Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa so my wife could scope the place out. She’s doing the flowers for a wedding there next week and wanted to be sure she planned adequately. Anyway, it’s a pretty cool place that I didn’t really know existed before she got this job. It’s up on a hill overlooking the southern Russian River valley and has great views. I imagine the sunsets from up there are pretty spectacular. The wedding next week is in the evening, so maybe I’ll get some shots while I help my wife.

This shot is an oak tree in the middle of a deck at the entrance to the tasting building. The tree is pretty spectacular - large, old, and majestic, the kind of tree you almost hate to photograph because you can’t do it justice. I figured my best shot at a decent photo was to make it a little abstract. The thumbnail above doesn’t really do it justice, check out the large version on Zooomr.

The winery is small with simple, but elegant grounds and decor. It fits in with the surrounding hills and doesn’t try to be overly pretentious. It was laid back and classy at the same time. The winery also has a very cool outdoor sculpture gallery. We walked through and the kids just loved it. Lots of great sculptures in a variety of mediums and from many artists. The best part is that it is free to walk around. The sculptures are spread out in an grove of oak trees on a hillside, so the surroundings are quiet and peaceful. If you’re in Santa Rosa, take an hour and visit. It’s worth the small effort.

I have a few more shots from the winery and sculpture garden on Zooomr. I’m going to blog at least one of them in the next day or so. You can view this shot with a geotag on Zooomr as well.

Off to a completely unrelated topic, Zooomr Mark III is shaping up to be awesome. The Zipline and new Discover page are both cool new features. I’ve run into some bugs, but I’m sure Kristopher will work them out soon enough. I’ve run into problems trying to GeoTag more than one image at a time and some of my old images are smaller than the size I uploaded, but since the Markk III upgrade I’ve spent a lot time finding many amazing photos. Zooomr is fabulous, and the community is incredible. If you don’t have an account, join. Now.

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I have to credit my wife for this shot. We were walking around the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco and I was looking all around for things to shoot, then she said “Look up”. This was the shot. I decided I liked the black and white version better than the color version, although both were good. This shot is on Zooomr with the geotag and exif information. There’s also another, similar shot on Zooomr as well. Additional pictures of the Japanese Tea Garden are on my Picasa Web Album, including the color version of this shot.
The Japanese Tea Garden is a really cool place. It’s only a few bucks to get in, our whole family went for I think $11, and we spent a few hours there. The kids love it, with all the paths and foot bridges. I love the architecture and design. Mostly, I like seeing something not Americana. We live in an old part of town with lots of Victorian and Craftsmen homes, which I like, but sometimes a taste of another culture is refreshing. The Tea Garden gives you that, along with some tranquility. I’ve only been on weekends when there are crowds, but even then it is worth it. If you live near San Francisco, this is a great, inexpensive day trip.

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