Yosemite and More

It's been a while, I have to get out more. These photos were taken on a great trip I had with Friedhelm to Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Parks. This first one is the view from the Forest Service Fire Lookout on Buck Rock. The road in was pretty bad, but the view once you got there was spectacular. Can you imagine being here during a thunder storm. That would be soooo cool. Unfortunately they don't allow anyone up there if there's a possibility of  lightning. If you look closely at the chair's feet you will see that they're protected by insulators.  I think the chair has been there since the  tower was first put in, in 1923.  They also have some very active Hummingbird feeders. During a hike I saw only two of these flowers, about 10ft apart. I kept a eye out for more but only saw the two. Not sure what the name is but it seemed to closely match a Bindweed. So we'll go with that. The area had ...

If you've ever driven from Merced to Yosemite you've passed this spot. I think it's called 'Bud's Place' or something like that. It's an old railroad station and has all kinds of old stuff laying around, mostly overtaken by weeds. I've driven by it tons of times and thought it might be an interesting place to shoot. Well finally the other day Friedhelm and I stopped and took a 'few' photos. We were lucky there were a couple of ladies there who had access and let us  into the bar area. There was a very eclectic decor, mostly cowboy stuff, but every nook, cranny and wall was filled. This was sitting on the end of the bar. Across the room was this guitar Outside was lots of old farm equipment.  I liked the blurred tines in the background contrasting with the single bar in the front. Here's a part of the same hay rake, I like the way it looked in sepia tone. I just like the cont...

Okay, so this post is way over due, I have a cold and finally did some editing. I took these on a trip to the Mt.Shasta/McCloud area of Northern California. Hope you enjoy. This is a budding Dogwood, taken near the Pacific Crest Trail south of McCloud. What we normally call the petals are actually specialized leaves. The flower is just the center part. And you know I like the sun shining thru leaves and such. This was taken in Castle Craigs State Park south of the town of Dunsmuir. Just can't get enough of those Dogwoods One of the reasons I was out photographing was to look for wildflowers and I found  quite a few. I decided to limit myself when posting. The leaf is about the size of a dime. Love my macro lens. I'm guessing this is some type of iceplant but couldn't find the name anywhere. If you know it please let me know. Love that macro lens, did I say that already. Spring is a ti...

I recently had to go to Seattle Washington on a business trip. It started out that I would work a couple of days and take a few off. Well work turned out to take a little longer. But that was Okay since it rained almost the whole time I was up there. I did take the time to go to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. The day was such that I could only shoot in the inside of the museum. That posed the problem of lots of busy things in your and your cameras sight-line. So closeups or looking up seemed the order of the day. I don't know if this is a distinction to be proud of but apparently the Italians were the first to use aircraft in combat during a war with Turkey. And the first to develop a fighter plane the Beriot. On one of my days off the weather report was cloudy but only a 5% chance of rain. I headed out to a Railroad Museum south of Seattle. Before it started to rain real hard I snapped a few shots, but not many. ...

Last week I went to Yosmite the day after a good snowfall. It was truly a winter wonderland. It was inspiring just standing there and taking in all the beauty, and of course I took a few photos. Looking up to the ridges and high country was especially beautiful. And to be honest I was happy to be where the temp was around 30°. Being in a valley you are of course surrounded by high country ridges and  wonderful views. Friedhem suggested we hike to the bottom of Yosemite Falls, I was honestly skeptical. But the short hike was very doable and I was able to get this view of Half Dome along  with several of both upper and lower Yosemite Falls. A new experience. should have  brought my tripod. This isn't to say the views on the Valley floor weren't just as spectacular. Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph. Dave

Since the Almond Blossoms are beginning to wane I thought it might be time to edit and post a few of my photos. I had decided that I had too much to do and had probably thousands of almond photos and so this year I would skip the annual blossom. Well that lasted until the other day when I was headed to Home Depot, turned around, got my camera and ............. What really caught my eye was all the water that had accumulated in this one particular orchard. While the water wasn't exactly clear it still provided a nice reflection. Then I turned around and saw this fence. While this photo doesn't have Almond Blossoms it does have trees and wonderful puffy clouds. And last but not least Blossoms and Puffy Clouds. Go, See, Enjoy, put down the tools and Photograph Dave

After the Tilden Botanical Gardens Friedhelm and I went to the  UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. While the Tilden Gardens featured plants from California, UC Berkeley had plants from around the world. This is a Banksia Oblongifolia from New Zealand, There were a lot of odd shapes and sizes.  While a large majority of plants were labeled, sometimes it was hard to tell what label belonged to what plant or if there was a label at all. I tried using  an app on my phone but I guess in doesn't include a complete list of  flowers from New Guinea and Korea, et al. The internet was a little help if I had some idea of where to start. Here's one I really liked but didn't get the name of. As I said some interesting structures. This one is from New South Wales, Australia Most did not have a 'Familiar or Common' name.  this one did. This beautiful Fushia is from Equador. All the photos were taken with ei...