Waves rolling in at Montaña De Oro State Park.
Montaña De Oro – California State Park
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Category Archives: Photography
Tall Ship Lady Washington
As a part of the WINTERFEST celebration, the tall ship Lady Washington is docked at Morro Bay.
It looks so serene and quiet. But in actuality, it is a scene mobbed with people. I spent most of my time trying to find a clear view onto the ship, and then waiting until there were no bodies present right around her. Am I guilty of deception? Or maybe just successful in catching and freezing that one moment in time? And why do I seem so often to wind up asking you a question in these, my missives?
Morro Bay From Black Hill
Under early morning light, looking west down onto Morro Bay California from the top of Black Hill.
Caught Without My Camera – Drat!
Following a dinner of Red Snapper at the Sea Shanty in Cayucos California, walking along the beach afterward the sky decided to do this. And of course, catch me without my trusty Nikon. So what can a guy do but grab his smartphone, shoot away, and hope for the best.
These pacific sunsets are in danger of becoming habit forming.
Los Osos Oaks State Natural Reserve
The Los Osos Oaks State Natural Reserve park protects 90 acres of coast live oak trees (Quercus agrifolia), some up to 800 years old. The park was established in 1972, and is located just south of Los Osos California off of Los Osos Valley road. A number of trails traverse the park for your hiking and viewing pleasure.
Morro Rock
Morro Rock (aka “The Gibraltar of the Pacific”) is a landmark feature on the central California coast. Formed around 23 million years ago as the plug of a now extinct volcano, it rises 581 feet from sea level. In 1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer, named the rock as ‘El Morro’, which means ‘the crown shaped hill’ in Spanish. The rock was an important navigational aid for mariners for over 300 years, and at least two tribes consider it a sacred site. Today it stands guard over the entrance to the sheltered bay of it’s namesake city, Morro Bay (pop. 14,950). Morro Rock was designated a California Historical Landmark in 1968.
Montana de Oro Sunset
Montana de Oro is a park located on the central California coast starting at the southern end of the small city of Los Osos. After walking the paths while watching whales spout and breach, seals swimming south a ways out from the shore, and porpoises gliding thru the water, it was then proven to me that you don’t have to go to Jamaica for a great sunset. At the rate things were going, I would not have been at all surprised to have seen the green flash thrown in as part of the sundown finale.
Sunlight on the Deck
What is it that makes something that you have seen every day for 10 years suddenly interest you photographically? Is it a different texture of light, or maybe a particular angle of the sunlight striking? Maybe you have some emotional attachment to the sight, and today your emotions get control, making the ordinary seem extraordinary? Or some new brain chemistry just happens, and you see something in a way you’ve never seen it before? Can you capture that? Will others see it as you did?
Sunlight on Side of Deck
On The Curb: New Beginnings?
Is this the picture of a family having been evicted from their home, possibly a casualty of the ‘great recession’? Have the children been forced to uproot their friendships and attend a new school where they know not a single person yet? Will their pets be allowed to live in the new residence, or must they give them up? Can the marriage survive the strains that financial insecurity and change place upon it? What psychological scars will be etched on both the young and the old from this wretching experience? How long will those scars last before they eventually fade away to the effects of time?
Or maybe this is the portrait of a family moving up the ladder as growth and financial security return to a hopeful and waiting United States? Are they leaving this rented residence on the way to a new house of their own that they were finally able to purchase? Maybe there’s a new car in the budget now too, or even a second car? A bigger back yard, better schools, safer neighborhood, quieter surroundings? Perhaps a little less time available for Dad to be around the house, but then there’s always some price to pay.
There’s a story behind this. I wonder what it is?
Supermoon
Like 3/4 of the worlds known population, I decided to shoot some photographs of the August 10th SuperMoon.
When a full moon occurs at the same time as the moon being closest to earth in it’s elliptical orbit, that’s a SuperMoon. It can be up to 14% larger in appearance and 30% brighter luminosity, than the full moon at other placements in it’s orbit.
I have been working on my moon shooting skills in the nights leading up to that event. I’m shooting with a 200mm zoom lens which is not known for stellar (HA!) performance at the long end of it’s range. Focusing is very difficult for these old eyes, but critical for the detail I want to show. What I wouldn’t give for a Nikon 300mm fixed length F4 lens right about now.
So everything goes swimmingly, and my results are improving, as I practice every night shooting a fuller and fuller moon leading toward the August 10th peak. Then, on August 8th, clouds and heavy rain move in.
And so it remains, until the night of August 11th, one day after the peak SuperMoon viewing. In the below shot, you can see a slight darkening toward the lower right of the Moon, indicating it is just past peak.
There is a lessor SuperMoon coming again in a month, on September 9th. I plan to be out there shooting it.
I wonder how the weather will be?