Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sandpiper Lake Sunset

Sunset at Sandpiper Golfcourse in Goleta California. This little duck pond (or water hazard to the golfers out there) is one of the most beautiful places to watch the Sunset in the Santa Barbara area. The sounds at this time of day are amazing. You are over a hill from the roads and populated areas with so many frogs and ducks that it seems like you are far away from civilization. Although I have never spent enough time to get hooked myself, from this point of view I can really understand the attraction of golf.

Sunday, December 11, 2011
Santa Barbara Sunset from Butterfly Beach

The end of a beautiful Santa Barbara day as seen from the west end of Butterfly Beach in Montecito. The lights across the water are at the beach in Santa Barbara.

Monday, December 5, 2011
Amaryllis Christmas Flower

Blooming amaryllis flower. This is the biggest Amaryllis I have ever seen. The bulb is amazing, and as the first bud started to work it's way out I could see there were going to be quite a few blossoms. I loved the curves of the blossoms as they opened, and my timing was perfect. A few minutes after this shot was taken the inflorescence was completely open and the five buds were all pointing in different directions.

Sunday, November 27, 2011
Hummingbird Sampling Nectar

Last weekend the Hummingbirds were very busy at the local nurseries. This girl (an Anna's Hummingbird) in particular was spending a lot of time at her favorite flowers. She was not particularly excited to have me there at first. But it was easy to see she really loved these flowers, some kind of South African Lily I believe. So all I had to do was get a step closer each time she came by, and she eventually was pretty comfortable with me.

Sunday, November 6, 2011
November Butterfly

Our winter friends are back! The last couple of weeks have seen quite an increase in the number of Monarch butterflies around Santa Barbara. This one floated by as I was chasing a Hummingbird. The hummingbird turned out to be too shy, but there is always someone around who loves to have their picture taken!

Sunday, June 19, 2011
Cachuma Lake Sunset

Yesterday I had the good fortune to have the combination of a client who needed a good shot of Knapp's Castle and a wonderful "June Gloom" sunset. Our june fog always makes for the most amazing displays if you look for them. The fog itself is very beautiful especially when it is rolling in and out. But the sunsets can be spectacular. I actually thought I might not get much of an opp

Sunday, May 22, 2011
Winter Sunset

Watching the sunsets here really makes you aware of the drastic changes in the position of the sun through the seasons. This time of year the sun would already be over the hills at the right. This shot was one I had almost overlooked in a collection of early January images. It is actually part of a much bigger panorama. But looking closer I found the person standing in the surf watching the sunset which I thought made it much more interesting.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Sandpiper Duck Pond at Sunset

A view from the duck pond at the Sandpiper golf course. Of course if you're a golfer, rather than a photographer you might call it a water hazard. But at this time of day there were more ducks than golfers. And even more frogs for that matter!

Sunday, May 1, 2011
Poppies and Dasies Playing in the Sprinklers

I didn't intentionally put the water drops on these flowers when I was taking care of a friend's yard. But I did have my camera along for just such an occasion. I loved the way the light caught the huge drops of water. The beautiful curves of the drops complement the small ridges of the poppy petals nicely. And then the daisy decided he wanted to be in the picture and leaned in from the right and said CHEEEEESE. Ok, maybe I spend a little too much time in the garden, but I'm making up for a very busy year that saw my plants too neglected.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Icelandic Poppy

Although it's been a rough winter spring is just around the corner. Of course it's never far away here in California. The winter gives us beautiful sunsets, but now it's time for some amazing spring flower images.

Monday, December 27, 2010
Tendril in the Rain

The excessive ran we've had in California for the last week and a half has caused no end of problems. (Yeah, I know, if you're in the north east under three feet of snow, you probably can't feel much pity.) On the plus side the rain gives many interesting options for beautiful photos.

Friday, August 27, 2010
Translucent Santa Ynez Grapes

It's getting to be just the right time of year to start to wander around Santa Ynez. The grapes have just got to the point where they are starting to look juicy and delicious. They change fast this time of year. It won't be long before the leaves get some amazing colors in them. The day I took this shot I was looking for a nicely backlit bunch. This was the last shot of the day, when I saw the three grapes on top with their seeds perfectly visible in the afternoon sun I knew I had what I was looking for.

Friday, June 4, 2010
Romantic Santa Barbara

Sometimes you plan an image. Sometimes it takes months or even years to get exactly what you're looking for. Then there are the times that in the blink of an eye everything comes together. Just at this moment, the couple strolling on the beach turned to look at the spectacular clouds. A second earlier they were indistinguishable, walking so closely together. And a few short seconds later the waves had moved in, obscuring their silhouettes and hiding their reflections in the sand.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
UCSB Starry Night

Walking at sunset around the campus of UCSB during a holiday break I thought I might find everything too quiet to get the photos I was looking for. But like any small city, there is always something going on there. I was happy to see some lights in the windows and the beautiful landscape lighting still on. This image was the last of the evening and one of my favorites.

Sunday, January 10, 2010
Montecito Sunset

Yesterday was a bit overcast during the day. We had some things to do around town and later in the day found ourselves in a beautiful little nursury in Carpenteria. As the sun was getting low it started to break through the clouds so we found a nice spot in the Montecito hills on the way home to watch the show. What followed was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. It was truly one of those times you wish you had your camera! Fortunately I did!

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Leafy Sea Dragon

This guy is one of my favorite sea creatures. He's called a Leafy Sea Dragon. He's related to seahorses and pipe fish, and is from the waters of Australia. This one is living at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in their cool Seahorse exhibit. As I'm sure you can guess he is less of a sea monster than his name suggests. His beautiful fins camouflage him in the sea weed as he floats with the ocean surge like a plant.

This was the second time we tried to get to the exhibit, right after it opened in April it was almost too crowded to see anything, but this weekend was much less crowded.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Shipwrecked After Dark on Butterfly Beach

The clouds were beautiful the other evening at Butterfly beach. Just after sunset they looked almost like an aurora. This was an extremely long exposure, the last of a particularly beautiful day.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunset over Santa Barbara from Butterfly Beach

If you've looked around my sites much you probably already know that Butterfly Beach is my favorite beach in Santa Barbara. It's a beautiful place to wander and relax. Sunset is my favorite time, it's always beautiful, but Sunday (the day this was taken) was something truly special!

Sunday, October 25, 2009
Camino Cielo Sunset Over Cachuma Lake

Sunset is one of the most beautiful things that happens every day. It's so hard to take the time to enjoy it. Most people think of the sun setting over the surf in California, and that is the case in most parts of the state. Our little section of the coast is a little different. We look south when we watch the waves break and this is the view from a trail at the top of our mountains. Just in front and to the right of the sun you can see Lake Cachuma, a man made lake which is a beautiful home to all sorts of amazing wild life including bald eagles. Someday soon I'm going to go catch one of them with my camera.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Nojoqui Falls Rock Shelter

This little cave-like formation is common at the bottom of a waterfall. The churning of the water easily erodes the rock more quickly than the falling water down the face of the waterfall. I would imagine it would be a much more violent and dangerous place in the middle of a rain storm. But I'll bet it's a spectacular sight!

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Anna's Hummingbird

The hummingbirds are quite active around here these days. They seem to like to taunt me any time I'm outside without my camera. I have not had time to chase them down, this guy was from a walk at Seaside Gardens. Hopefully I'll get out with my camera to chase the hummers tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tentacles in the Sand

This is one of the first shots with my underwater housing for my camera. I've had it for a while and have not had a chance to use it. The extremely low tides this week were a good opportunity to go wading through the tidal pools taking pictures. 'Course, the water was so shallow they were all extreme close ups, but that's just fine with me.

These guys are really beautiful, they are related to jelly fish, but they stay on the bottom, usually anchored to a rock under the sand. The pretty colors come from a symbiotic algae living in their translucent tissues.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Streams in the Sand

Been trying to get more exercise. The best place to do that is the beach of course. (I feel like we are wasting the beautiful place we live when we don't spend enough time on the beach.) This week has been particularly fun because the low tides have been extremely low and at a good time in the afternoon to get there after the heat and for the good evening light.

I'm starting to experiment with an underwater housing for my camera and I'll get some of the shots from that online in the next couple of days. But there was something interesting going on that did not require any special equipment. The tide was so low, that ground water or just extra sea water was flowing from the sand for about four feet up from the water line. That slow flow lined most of the beach with these beautiful patterns.