Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Bougainvillea Sunlight

This is a nice Bougainvillea that was growing on the outside of our fence. We have been coaxing it up into an archway over our gate. It is starting to bloom like crazy and it is quite a site especially in the evenings when the light shines through it.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Chinese Toon Trees

This is a beautiful pink tree at Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, in Santa Barbara. There was no name on it like most of the plants in the gardens, and every time we go lately we see people trying to figure out what it is. Thanks to the Internet we were able to track it down.

Apparently the bright pink foliage is a springtime thing. If you look closely at the plants you can see them starting to fade to green at places.

This plant is actually used as a vegetable and in traditional Chinese medicine. 'Course that would not be the woody parts. They use them as young shoots, or even smaller, like bean sprouts.

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 9, 2006
Palm Sunday

We decorated our Church yesterday for Palm Sunday. It was no small task to find nice palm fronds with all the crazy weather we've been having. March was the wettest one on record in California. Fortunately, when something needs to be done at our church it just happens. Someone always comes through.

Saturday, April 1, 2006
April Fools' Flowers

We had a nice walk today in Alice Keck Park Gardens. Been spending too much time in front of my computer and not enough time out enjoying life. (or behind my camera!)

Not sure what kind of flower this is though, my botanist will probably be able to tell me when she wakes up.

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!

Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Drops of Passion

Well yesterday was a really gray rainy day. It was starting to bug me. Then I took my camera into the back yard. Rain can be a wonderful thing for a photographer!

Recently, our Passion Flower vines made an incredible come back. We originally got them to attract butterflies and they were almost wiped out by their own success! The resulting caterpillars LOVED them.

This is an extreme close-up of one of the tendrils the vine sends out to climb things. It seems to have an amazing grip!

Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Bougainvillea Bracts Close-up

This is one of those plants like a Poinsettia. The red things are actually technically more like leaves than actual flowers, they are called "Bracts." The real flower is a small white bloom that comes out from the center of the groups of red leaves. You can see a couple of the buds in this photo.

Although they are not technically part of the flower the bracts serve an important role in the pollination of the plant. They act as kind of a beacon for pollinators that might otherwise miss the small white flowers as they fly by.

Daisies are another type of plant with a similar structure. What is commonly called a daisy flower is actually a cluster of small flowers (called the Capitulum) surrounded by bracts. In this image the bracts are white and the capitulum is yellow.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Ginkgo

I love these trees. I actually got some seeds once from my best friend for Christmas, but I was only able to nurse them along to about 6" tall. Given the right conditions they are supposed to grow to 70 to 80 feet and live for hundreds of years. They have remained virtually unchanged for 150 million years. Maybe next time we'll start with a little older tree. From what I read that would be a better idea anyway because most of the landscape trees you get are male, so they will not produce fruit. (they do this by grafting known male stock onto seedlings.) Apparently the fruit is not something you want to smell laying around on the ground.

Saturday, October 29, 2005
Serrated leaf

Extreme leaf closeup!

Friday, September 2, 2005
Purple Tiger

By request! (see yesterday's feedback) This is the only purple rose I could find, and even though they are named "Purple Tiger" they are a very red purple. But, at least I grew this one myself! :-D

Thursday, September 1, 2005
Yellow Rose

This is the same rose bush from yesterday's photo, just a little different angle. I like the other rose and buds falling out of focus in the background.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Rose Bud

Sometimes the plant is as interesting as the flower! Especially in the right lighting.

Saturday, August 27, 2005
Posing Butterfly

This guy was posing so nicely. I particularly like the color of the leaves he is perched on. They go nice with his wings.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Shadow Puppets

The Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens is a beautiful place. Never a shortage of subjects. But, I wonder if the plants get bored when the gates close and everyone goes home. At least they can entertain themselves making shadow puppets on the rocks.

The fern is doing his impression of a Norfolk Pine.

Friday, August 5, 2005
Lily Pads

This one, as with many of my photos, was only walking distance from my front door.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Poppies in the Sun

A couple of weeks ago I was in Ventura to meet a client that I am doing a little development work for. Fortunately, I try to carry my camera with me everywhere. While I was in Ventura I found these beautiful poppies in a parking lot. They are much redder than the average California poppy. Although, it is a little hard to tell in this image because of the backlighting. More to come though as I finish scanning the other rolls of film from that day (it was a good day for pictures!)

Thursday, July 14, 2005
Natural History on the Wing

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has a wonderful exhibit right now called "Butterflies Alive". It is basically a giant tent with thousands of live butterflies in it that you can actually walk through. It's really a great experience!

Thursday, May 26, 2005
Fern Curl

I'm getting ready for a really busy weekend of shows, Actually, from what I have heard, the start of a busy season. The Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts show is having another Saturday show at the beach for the holiday. So I have been organizing my photos in preparation. This is one of about 65 prints I take on the road with me. (of course I am always watching for the opportunity to increase my stock :-) and there are plenty of opportunities in such a beautiful place!)

If you are in the neighborhood of Cabrillo and Cesar Chavez this weekend, be sure to stop in and say hi!

Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Yellow Bearded Iris

Another subject that makes a beautiful photo no matter how you look at it. But the backdrop of the other Iris' leaves make the beautiful flower stand out more. After all, you wouldn't put a beautiful picture in an ugly frame.

This is another photo I grew myself... :-)

• The Orchid Cactus
• Canna Close-up

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.

Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Rose in the Clearing

This rose was in a small clearing surrounded by a man-made (or woman-made) jungle at Lotusland. There was just enough opening in the canopy to allow a nice shaft of light on the rose. The setting made the background much darker offsetting the vibrant flower.

As I have experimented with my photos I have found that the background is sometimes more important than the subject itself. The right surroundings can make a mediocre subject really pop, and it will make a beautiful subject something really special. Another good example of this and one of my favorite backgrounds is in the first image on this site.

Friday, March 25, 2005
Floating Pads

The thing I like the most about this picture is the refraction happening at the edge of the lily pads where they touch the water. the surface tension of the extremely still water is grabbing the bottom edge of the pads. Which is causing the surface of the water to bend. This creates a refraction, like light going through a lens, giving you the bright edges around the shadows in the bottom of the fountain.

Saturday, March 12, 2005
Morning Light

Well it's a very late image of the day. I have been preparing for tomorrow, my first time at the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show (more commonly known as the Sunday Art Walk on the Beach) in Downtown Santa Barbara. So I am a little behind.

This leaf is one of my earlier photos and it is just one of the prints that will be available for sale at the show and soon on my main site.

Oh and, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to... well, you know who you are!!! :0)