Yosemite and More

 I spent some time in various North Coast Redwood Parks. You won't  see any photos of the Giant Redwoods, kinda intimidating. But there is a lot of interesting stuff if you just look around. On this hike I walked in and out of the fog. A green carpet of ferns underneath 2nd growth Redwoods Lots of interesting flowers Then I came upon this old stump, about 15 feet tall, with a few very interesting and different fungi for which I couldn't find a 'common' name. The first four where on the same tree and I didn't find them anywhere else. And one little tiny one on another log. The head is about the size of a nickel. Go, See, Look Down, Stay Safe, Enjoy and Photograph Dave

 As you probably know California has had a lot of trouble with wildfires. I went to Yosemite when it was pretty well smoked in as I show in the first photo.  This necessitated that most of my photography would be more closeup than landscape. While I was walking along the trail above I walked right past  these fungi because I was too busy looking up. Coming back I spent a little more time looking down. As I was getting ready to make one last trip around the valley the sun was setting. The smoke is always more intense the lower the sun. Go, See, Enjoy, Stay Safe and Photograph Dave

My first post of 2019 coming in February is pretty sad. I have several photo excursions to post, just have avoided the edit thing. Friedhelm and I went to the coast the last Thursday. Our first stop was Point Lobos State Reserve. We walked in from the highway, a nice less than a mile hike on a paved trail. Along the trail were a number of fungi. Is it a mushroom or toadstool? The names are apparently interchangeable and there is no clear scientific distinction. Commonly anything edible is considered a mushroom and poisonous a toadstool.  We were lucky that there weren't a lot of tourists, however as every photographer knows, THERE'S ALWAYS THAT ONE, who gets in the way. The day was a little overcast and gloomy but it's still a great place to photograph I thought the dead trees, brush and gloomy skies deserved black and white in this one. It's amazing how tenacious nature can get. These succulents we...

Friedhelm and I went to Yosemite the other day. The weather was predicted to be in the teens in the morning and high twenties  in the afternoon. We were lucky, it was cold but nowhere near those lows. Yosemite can be like most places a little drab, colorwise, in the winter months. So you look for color and contrast where you can find it. This is  my favorite photos from this trip. It's a toadstool growing  out of the side of a tree.  This one is more interesting than artistic. At first glace is looked like some ice frozen to a small area of a tree. Closer look showed it was actually sap. We took about a 4 mile hike to Mirror Lake. Along the way there were a number of puddles with some interesting reflections. When you first look at this it's a little confusing. Remember it's a reflection. Here's a panorama of Mirror Lake. As we drove around after Mirror Lake we noticed that portions of the Val...