Skeeter eater

was poking around in the garden yesterday when I noticed a strange new plant growing near the tomato seedlings. Turns out it weren't no plant at all. Nope, it was a doggawned skeeter eater (crane fly) birthin itself. Perty gross stuff.

Giant Fireworks

Last thursday was the San Francisco Giants first night game of the season which meant a post game fireworks show. Mir and I headed down to treasure island to see if this show would be as nice as the new year's eve show we saw in 2008. Unfortunately the sf police dept had barricaded the hole in the fence used to get in front of the tree line overlooking the bridge. Also the fireworks were set off south of the stadium which left a lot of empty space between the bridge and the show. To top it off the wind was blowing the firework smoke right at us so after the first couple explosions the smoke cloud obscured the fireworks from our vantage point. Here's the best angle Mir and I could find.



over an hour drive each way plus two bridge tolls but at least we tried.

Earlier in the day I didn't have to drive anywhere for a cool photo. While shooting the UC Davis softball game a swainson's hawk was circling overhead and made a pass less than 15 feet above me.

Boids

Several years ago my mom gave me a framed print of a group of native americans on horseback at a stream with the reflection of an eagle in the water. It was titled 'The Good Omen' and was one of the many gifts from mom that I thought I'd never do anything with. But Kyle was a big fan of it and I hadn't printed off too many of my own pictures at the time so it found its place on a wall near the kitchen. For almost six years now its been in plain sight but still easily forgotten. The message behind the painting, though, has been getting much harder to ignore.

Every road trip I've taken over the past few years my eyes have been drawn to the sky to find that solitary bird gliding along the same path as mine. While our destinations may be different, for at least a moment, our journey is the same. Seeing a bird perched on a lonely branch over the highway is both exciting, in that I'm sharing space with such a magnificent creature, and calming, as though it were watching over me in my travels. Although if I were a small rodent or reptile I'd probably feel different.

While I'd been able to separate my joy of photography and the joy of being in the company of great birds of prey, spotting a great horned owl out at Duck Days a few weeks ago has pushed me down the path of becoming a birder.


I'd really wanted to avoid this as I've found most birders, especially here in Davis, to be pretentious and annoying. But spotting a pair of Swainson's hawks while on my way back from an assignment in Clarksburg a few days later helped pushed me closer to birderdom.


Another Swainson's hawk on the way out to Winters sealed my fate.


Its gotten so bad that last week, instead of just stopping for birds between assignments, I went out birding on purpose. A bike ride thru the UC Davis arboretum found a double crested cormorant,

a nutall's woodpecker

and then a juvenile red shoulder hawk


Had it not been so windy the past 2 days I probably would've been out on the bike wrought with bird fever. Hopefully this disease will taper off soon because I'm already contemplating about what's more important, keeping my audi or buying a new super telephoto lens.

Big Sur, McWay Falls, and Monterey

While the trip to socal was okay, going it alone just isn't as nice when you know there's someone back at home who could make road tripping a lot more fun. So after a couple days of busy work for our reader's choice edition Mir and I packed our bags and headed out to the Big Sur Coast. Road tripping along the ocean should only be allowed if you're with someone you love, it is just too beautiful not to be shared together. Having a loved one there also makes for great 'i told you so' moments like when Mir declared "there are NO whales out there." Not 5 seconds after this proclamation, as if on cue, vindication was mine.

Not the most stunning whale photo, but to me, one of the most satisfying.

We headed first for Jade Cove in Big Sur. Mir's mom had big dreams of bountiful jade rocks free for the picking. There were plenty of rocks but no jade that we could find. Instead we found a few nice little seashells and this ugly dead fish.


After the unsuccessful jade hunt we headed back up to Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park and McWay Creek Falls. The falls had been on my 'to do' list for some time and it was nice to finally have someone there to see it with. Our timing was perfect, too, arriving just before sunset.

Our nice european friends took our photo. We called them our friends because we ran across them again the next day some 40 miles away. Still wish we would've gotten a photo of all 4 of us together just to be creepy. Some friends, though, in the photo I took of them you could at least see the waterfall in the background.


We headed back to Monterey for dinner and to bed up for the night. We found a nice hotel right next to the aquarium. A little pricey but it did come with a 6 inch deep balcony overlooking the bay that was big enough for two if we kept the door open.

It also came with a crappy $17 charge for self parking. Meh!

After a grand slam breakfast it was off to Point Lobos State Reserve. It's a beautiful park with plenty of wildlife.

The native californian big eared tic-tac deer. They use the big ears to listen for the rattling of tic-tac's in your photo backpack.

The scenic view of the deer after I convinced it that its breath was fine and it should scurry along.


Midday isn't the best time to take photos but the area is just so photogenic

Even in the details it's pretty


Mir and I are planning a more ambitious road trip along the Oregon Coast this summer. Any recommendations?

Joshua Tree National Park Photo Expedition II

It's March Madness time again and that meant another road trip to socal for some basketball and joshua trees. I planned out my routes much better this time to avoid the nasty los angeles traffic and managed to get to Joshua Tree National Park with a couple hours to spare before sundown. Although, I'm still kicking myself for not stopping and taking a picture of the hills outside of Bakersfield that were completely covered in golden poppies except for a few solitary oaks. Maybe next year.

It was a full moon night which I thought would make for some good moonlit night scenes. But all that light reflecting off the moon wasn't enough to keep it above freezing. Here's a couple shots at sunset when I could still feel my toes.



After a few freezing hours shooting by moonlight, a rough night in the back of the audi (it was too windy and cold to set up the tent at 10pm) and a wise decision to skip shooting the 5 am moonset I awoke to a beautiful day. Here's my artsy attempt at ice crystals on the car window with a joshua tree reflection.


One thing I've noticed about Joshua Tree National Park is that the skies are a wonderful blue at any time of the day. Even though the midday light is a little harsh (and quick to sunburn a face during an afternoon nap) the deep blue sky compliments the gold tones of the granite and green of the joshua tree leaves very well.



Towards sundown the colors became more saturated


And what's the best thing to do with such vivd evening colors?, drop the color altogether, of course


My love of sunsets and fear of evening commute traffic in LA made for a good excuse to stick around for one last pretty shot


Even though the moon foiled my plans for starry night photos, avoiding all the terrible traffic that plagued last year's road trip made this an enjoyable prologue to a disappointing performance by uc davis in their tournament.

Mir's table

For Valentine's Day this year Mir asked for nothing expensive. And for the past year and a half she's been asking for a bigger desk for her computer. Sounded like a good time to put all those woodworking tools I blew last year's tax return and stimulus check on to good use.

table pieces disguised as meaningless garage crap

table top ready to be biscuited and glued together

legs and apron after a hasty glue job

Looks like it fits right

little touch of detail around the legs and apron

Mir at her table

It actually works. And you can barely see how I forgot to sand the edges.

Moonrise

In the days before I was paid to make the most boring subjects look somewhat interesting my photography was about 80% oriented around a amazing event that occurred everyday, the sunset. Much to my mother's chagrin, I would climb the chimney onto the roof every time it looked like there would be a nice cloud formation to the west. Our neighbor's palm trees would form a nice silhouetted frame for the photo. Even though the clouds would be different each time the routine got a little monotonous. So one morning I decided to shoot the sun on its way up instead of going down. I headed out to the marsh near our old home in Suisun to shoot the sunrise. As far as I can remember this was my first official photo expedition, where I went out and about with the sole intent of taking photos. Just coincidentally there was a full moon that morning that was setting at the same time. A few cattle grazing on a rolling hill in front of the setting moon became one of my favorite all time photos. It turned out to be a major catalyst in my path from a potentially wealthy chemical engineering student to a starving artist.

So when I noticed a few trees set on a very gentle hill (if you can even call it that) on my way to an assignment outside town last saturday I knew I had to come back there for the rising/setting of some celestial bodies. And luckily a full moon was on the horizon a day later. Even better, the current tilt of the earth on its axis lined up the trees to give me easy access to see the sunset on one side of them and the moonrise on the other. And so, about 14 years after my first simple trek outside town I headed out again, just at a more reasonable hour this time.

Sunset behind trees


There was a half hour break between the sunset and moonrise so I showed Miranda the old Stevenson's graffiti bridge. Just south of it was a young walnut orchard. I tried to get her to walk down a row for a photo but heals and mud don't mix. So just the trees


Finally, the moonrise. I ruined what should have been the best shots, when the moon was just peaking over the clouds, by trying to use a monopod instead of the tripod. The moon is also blown out compared to the trees. I might try some HDR blends to see the man in the moon but don't have the time now.



Looks like walnut trees in black and white might become a more frequent subject.