Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Ginkgo Leaves

The hound took us for a walk this evening. After much debate we talked her into taking a little different path through our neighborhood. We found a quiet little street that had a nice row of Ginkgo trees. Just as we were passing the last one the sun was peeking through some trees in the distance to create a nice scene.

I did seem to freak one person out who was driving by in a car however, I think she thought I was taking her picture.

Friday, May 5, 2006
Bottle Brush

Well it is some sort of Callistemon anyway, there are quite a few and some of them are similar. Anyway, it seems to be from Australia. 'Course this particular one lives just up my street.

I was actually watching a bee, trying to get her photo, if you look closely on the right side of the flower you can see her through the red flower, and just make out a silhouette.

Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Cactus Feathers

Zoe took me for a walk today, as she has been known to do. We took a little different path than we normally do. We went past this beautiful Prickly Pear cactus up the street from us. It is about six feet tall and it is in a pot in front of a house near the street. It is pretty obvious by the health of the plant that the growth of the roots has not been slowed by the bottom of the pot!

I think the coloring on the petals makes them look like feathers.

Saturday, April 22, 2006
Little Purple Mums

Our next-door neighbors have a little girl that is just old enough to wander down the sidewalk with her grandpa. On a number of occasions we have seen her wander over to these flowers and examine them very closely. She seems to really appreciate the structure of them. I have never seen her grab them like you would expect of a small child. She seems to really love them and I can see why! Maybe she'll be a photographer when she grows up!

They were not the easiest things to identify though. They seem to be some type of mum, closest we could find was Chrysanthemum frutescens 'Vancouver'.

Monday, April 17, 2006
Spring Evening

The hound picked a nice time for a walk this evening. The light was beautiful. Finally a break from the rain and it actually felt like spring. For better or for worse the news anchors were excited about the fact that we should actually have three beautiful days in a row! Not exactly a long run for Southern California, but at this point I'll take what I can get!

Sunday, April 16, 2006
Honey Bee Hovering

This was actually from a Hound walk from a couple of weeks ago. I try not to chase too many bees while she is with me, but this guy was really showing off right beside the sidewalk.

Friday, April 7, 2006
Onion Weed

Yeah it's a weed, but it's a pretty weed. There is one little patch of them by the dog park here. The scarcity of them makes them seem less like a weed here, but from what I read on the Internet they sound difficult to get rid of if you don't want them.

At any rate, The Basset likes them, so we stop and check them out often.

Wednesday, April 5, 2006
The Agapanthus are Coming!

There are a lot of Agapanthus around our home and they are looking like they are about to burst! I took this one today on a walk with The Hound.

My botanist tells me that Agapanthus is derived from the Greek word "agapé" meaning love and "anthos" meaning flower.

And for those really interested in the botany, the group of flowers all radiating from the center with equal length "pedicles" (or individual flower stalks) is called an "umbel." An umbel is a kind of "inflorescence," which is a botanical term referring to a group or cluster of flowers and specifically the structure of that group. Ahhh the Internet, what can\'t it teach you?

Thursday, March 30, 2006
Backlit Stars

These beautiful little flowers are going wild around here right now. No wonder, it is one of the rainiest Marches EVER. They said on the news today that there has been record snow on the mountains in California, as much as 16 FEET!

As with so many of my nice nature shots, this one is credited to The Hound, during a nice hound walk.

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Backlit Bird

This is another shot from our neighbors yard. I like to walk by there and see whats blooming.

These flowers always make me think of my wife's watercolors. She likes them so much that she learned to watercolor specifically to paint them.

Sunday, March 19, 2006
Ready for Spring!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, doesn't feel like it right now (10:10 pm) but this was the scene just down the street this afternoon.

These trees are beautiful and in full bloom. They are some kind of Flowering Plum, not 100% sure which kind. There seem to be a lot of them!

Saturday, March 11, 2006
New Lily

When I posted a shot of a lily next to this one I said that I missed the snow this time of year. Well, I don't have to miss it any more! We had a nice dusting of snow on the Mountain here down to about 1000 feet. Didn't last long but there is supposedly more on the way!

Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Evening Lily

There is always something beautiful just around the corner. Sometimes I miss the snow this time of year, but there are advantages to our climate in Santa Barbara.

Saturday, March 4, 2006
Poppy Pollen

There are not may California Poppies blooming at the moment. But the ones that are sure do put on a nice show.

It was the pollen that attracted me to this particular flower.

Thursday, January 12, 2006
Yellow Winter Daisies

Don't get me wrong, I had an amazing honeymoon in Monterey. But, just the seemingly minor change in latitude made me appreciate how good we have it in Santa Barbara. These Daisies are just one of the flowers in full bloom right now around our home. I snapped this shot during a recent hound walk.

Monday, January 2, 2006
Hovering Bee

I love the pollen on her legs, and the tight blossom right below her. It looks like something from a beautiful cake. :-D

Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Bird of Paradise

My neighbor has a beautiful garden. It's amazing how many flowers you can get into a small space. (we only have a few feet to play with around the building.) This was snapped as I was taking the hound for a walk the other day.

My best friend was just wondering when Bird of Paradise bloom. I guess this answers that question. :-D

Saturday, December 17, 2005
Cosmos

So before I took the digital camera back (Canon EOS 20D) I thought I would really see how it compared to my trusty AE-1 and Velvia. I took it through some of my favorite situations, unfortunately it was a hazy day so the lighting was not the greatest. Then again, if it was perfect conditions that wouldn't make for a very interesting test would it?

This is the result of my flower close-up test, I'm pretty happy with it! And, of course, I already know it preforms nicely in low light with a moving subject.

I did, however, find a couple of weaknesses. Velvia is much more forgiving in high contrast environments, especially right into the sun. (Yes yes, I know, "don't take pictures into the sun". but that's something they just tell amateur photographers so they don't get frustrated) :-D     I do, however believe I would be able to overcome this limitation to a certain extent with a little more practice with the camera's finer controls.

The really interesting thing I found was the reloads. I liked not having to reload film, and I was dreaming about 4 Gig CF cards. Then the reality hit me. It is not the Card that runs out first, its the battery! I could not fill up the one gig card without killing the battery (and that's without the built-in flash). The only saving grace was the fact that the battery charged quickly. I assume it is the auto-focus that killed it so fast, and I can do without that in many situations so it is not a deal breaker. But this is an important bit of information for anyone trying to prepare for a long shoot, you have to invest in as many batteries as CF cards.

Lastly, I love the saturation of Velvia. But that is more personal preference. I would imagine that I may be able to compensate a bit for this too with enough experience with the camera. But I felt like my landscape and architecture shots were a little flat.

In the end, I am convinced this would be a worthy tool to add to my bag of tricks. I loved using it, and I believe it has some real strengths. But, as with everything, you have to choose the right tool for the job and in many situations that is still gonna be my AE-1.

(BTW Cosmos is from the Greek "Kosmos" meaning ornament.)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Purple Daisy Shadows

I like the shadows on the rock, they are as interesting as the flowers themselves.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Playing with Dolphins

I'm not totally sure if she was reaching up to hug the dolphin, or she was imagining it jumping through her arms. I think it was the latter. Either way, I can thank my hound dog for the opportunity to capture this scene. I would have slept in if not for the fact that she was in the mood for an uncharacteristic early morning walk.

Sunday, November 27, 2005
Monterey Bay Sunrise

The morning fog on the other side of the bay really made this image interesting. This is another image that I have to credit to the hound. I would normally have been sound asleep while this opportunity was passing me by right outside! And, as I post this now she is rolling over on the couch behind me and sighing, reminding me that at 4:30am it is waaaaay past time to hit the sack.

Friday, November 25, 2005
White and Yellow posies

Not sure exactly the variety of flower. They line the streets in Monetery. My botany expert is already asleep since it is almost 4:00am. When I figure it out, I'll post it here.

Friday, April 29, 2005
Sea Tree Mallow

At first I thought this was a variety of Hibiscus [Hibiscus syriacus] called a "Russian Violet". But on a recent trip to Home Depot my friend found a plant for sale that helped us identify this beauty. It is a Sea Tree Mallow [Lavatera maritima].

This is another shot from my last morning Basset walk in Monterey. I was wandering around looking for well backlit flowers. Which worked out well as long as they were in the same general direction of the good smells.

After spending all day yesterday rebuilding my system from a hard drive failure I am missing my vacation even more!

Thursday, April 28, 2005
Passion Flower

Yet another flower photo from a walk in Monterey. I love Passion Flowers, have a couple of them in my backyard, but until last night I had no idea there were so many varieties.

• Henks Passifloria Site
  One of the coolest and most complete Flower sites I have seen.
• Henk's Passifloria Hybrids
  More from Henk!

Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Monterey Rock Rose

This flower was from a morning Basset walk in Monterey. These bushes line many of the streets in the cannery district of Monterey where we were staying. There are several different varieties of them and I will have photos of the others in the coming days.

I just scanned a few more rolls of film from my recent trip to Monterey. It is a slow process. I am a bit fanatical about getting detail out of the slides. So I push my scanner to the limit and I only get about 40 scans on a DVD. But I think it is worth it. I catalog the images on my computer and when I am ready to make a print for a show I do not have to go find the slide and scan it again. (I am much more organized in cyberspace than real space) :-)

Incidentally, this is one of the main reasons I still don't use a digital camera for "real" photography. To get a camera that would come close to the resolution that I can get from film and a scanner would cost $8000. (that still would not compare to the bit depth, the number of colors. Which is what allows me to pull detail from the shadows) And really, I would rather have an $80 camera with me everywhere than an $8000 camera wrapped in bubble wrap at home.

The other reason I stick with film is I really like the film feel. I am planning on renting some of the new digitals in the near future just to keep up on what they can do and see if they are getting close. But I have not seen anything convincing so far. I also like to be able to encourage people to get into photography if they are interested. Most people think it takes a huge investment. But it is more an investment in time and love.