Yosemite and More

Some friends and I took a trip in separate vehicles to the Sierra's outside Fresno above the Bass Lake Area, 6000+ feet. It was a great trip, not only for the wildflowers but especially for the company of some great photographers.  You'll have to forgive me if some of the names I've used are not exactly correct. If you find an error please let me know in the comments. Comments are always welcome. Lupine is pretty common in the Sierra's, I liked this one because of the colors and the granite background. There are 70 species of Lupine in the Sierra Nevada. You don't always have to have a pretty flower to have an interesting subject. This one is called Miners Lettuce, it doesn't look like lettuce to me but that's what the book said. In a week or so it will have some small flowers. There are seventeen butterflies listed in my Sierra Nevada guide book that are similar in color to this one. So I just named it ...

I decided to take a solo trip into the Sierra Foothills, namely to the small town of Raymond about 25 miles from my house on a two lane road. The road offered a wide variety of surfaces from smooth pavement to areas that are in dire need of some TLC. My goal was to see if the wildflowers were blooming. There wasn't a wide variety but in many areas the hills were covered. Nothing really happened until a little before Raymond. This next one was taken just little way down the road. Popcorn flowers are pretty small so you can see it takes a lot of them  to fill a hillside. Down the road were a couple of old trailers. One of the flowers I was looking for were Fiddlenecks. At the beginning there weren't very many, then they showed up. Popcorn flowers and Fiddlenecks, oh yeah, a tree branch along  Ben Hur Road Here the Fiddlenecks have a friend. Last but not least. Stay safe a...

Before this current Covid-19 crisis three fellow photographers and I took a little  sojourn to the Merced Wildlife Refuge. It turned out to be one of the  most memorable ones I've taken to the Refuge, and that's  saying a lot. While there were a lot of geese I'm posting those a little later. This first one is of one of my favorite birds, the Black Necked Stilt. These birds are constantly feeding and usually move just as I hit the trigger. The birds in the Refuge don't seem to have any trouble mixing with each other. While the old saying 'birds of a feather, flock together' applies it's not carved in stone. The image above includes a Great Egret, below is a Snowy Egret, much smaller and there seems to be fewer of them at the Refuge. Note the longer bill. Another bird you only see a few of are the White Pelicans. While not a total stranger to the Refuge the most I've ever seen at once were  4 or 5 a c...

Hello, If anyone is still out there I apologize for the long delay. I had back trouble for many months which limited my mobility. About two months ago I finally had back surgery, however the doctor says that I need to limit my movements. I'm not allowed to bend, lean, or twist, nor lift no more than 10 lbs.. Anyway the little photography I've done is in my yard and one trip to the Merced Wildlife Refuge which I'll post later. The following photos are from my yard as I've said, some where taken through windows, some with a macro lens.  Just a couple of the different flowers that are presently blooming in my yard. With spring arriving there should be a lot more color to come. I've had these succulents for several years, never had them bloom. The flowers themselves are about the size or a dime. Went out this morning to chase the cats away from my bird feeders and happened to see the first ladybugs of the season. ...

The North Coast Redwoods are a contrast of very large/tall and  very tiny. The redwoods themselves are of course gigantic but many of the other plants are very small, especially the flowers that spot the forest floor. This first one is example of the 'large'. I changed it to black and white to highlight the texture of the bark. Next is a couple of the tiny. These flowers were less than a dime in size. Now the tall. Light hits the forest floor only where there is a break in the canopy and then it may last for a very short time as the sun sweeps across the sky. I didn't do anything the add or subtract the lighting. This is  probably my favorite of this set. The largest plants I saw on the floor were these leaves. They grew only where  there was trickling water in small creeks. There are a number of elk herds in the area. You see a number of signs along the way warning of elk crossing. I spotted th...

My part time job took me to the North Coast a while back. After fulfilling my obligations I took a little me time andphotographed the Eureka area, Redwoods and Lithia Park in Ashland Oregon. This bunch is of the North Coast. My first nights stay was in Eureka, I just finished dinner and decided to take a little drive. I waited about a half hour for this sunset to develop. Went back to work the next morning, afterwards I headed up the coast and stopped along  the way to take some coast shots. I'm not a sandy beach kind of guy. I like the rough and  tumble of the rugged North Coast. Okay so the following are of a fairly tame area of beach. I liked the contrast of this one large  rock in a large area of beach. Incidentally this is the only rock of it's kind that I could see and it was quite a bit away from any cliffs. Something else that surprised me was the fact that there were plants growing in the sand and had not been trampl...

Went to Yosemite Valley a couple of weeks ago with some great people. I can actually say I haven't had that much fun in a very long time. Stories were told, s--t was given and laughing was heard. THE FOLLOWING IS USED WITHOUT PERMISSION. I don't care. There's a lot of water flowing right now, the dogwoods were in bloom and people were everywhere. The Merced River was a little angry with all the water flowing down it. As I said the Dogwoods were in full bloom. I took a lot of photos and had to restrain myself when deciding what to post. Here's a 'few' I decided on. Definitely one of my all time favorites. I've seen a lot of Dogwoods over the years. This particular tree really grabbed my attention. I don't remember seeing such a large display on a single tree before. I liked this one in black and white. Something about the single flower against the grey and black background. If yo...