Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Evening Fog

The thing that looks like a large cloud on the ground between the palm trees and the mountain is our evening fog. It is caused by the marine layer. A warm cushion of air from further out in the Pacific that slides in across the cool coastal waters. The water is cool here because it follows the pacific currents down the coast from cold places in the north.

Given the right conditions, the fog slides in as the sun goes down and will not leave the beach till around ten in the morning. Of course, in June, the fog covers the whole city and only leaves for about ten minutes in the afternoon. We call that "June Gloom".

As long as you can stay back from, or above it, it is actually very beautiful. My office at UCSB used to sit at the perfect point at the limit of the fog. I could watch it swirl outside my window, but it never really got to my office.

Saturday, November 19, 2005
Santa Barbara Sunset

There is an artist in the Sunday Art walk on Cabrillo Blvd. (where this shot is taken) who does woodcut images, silhouettes with a gradient color in the background. These evenings, the beautiful cloudless sunsets remind me of those.

Thursday, November 17, 2005
Backlit Poppy

I had fun getting this image. I actually had to lay on the ground to get this perspective. (and it was a very HOT day to lay on the sidewalk)

This is one of my favorite subjects, in fact it was the subject of the first image on this site.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Poppy Profile

So I have been building this site for a while, but this evening was a first. I went to Google to search for the scientific name for Icelandic Poppies and this is the page I found.

Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Hibiscus

There are a couple of blocks in downtown Santa Barbara that are lined with beautiful Hibiscus. Lots of bushes as you would expect but this one in particular was on a tree well above my head.

Monday, October 31, 2005
Santa Barbara Sunset

We live in an odd little spot on the coast. If you look at a map of the California coastline there is a small area that runs from east to west. That is where Santa Barbara is. As a result, the sun does not set over the water as you would expect it to on the west coast. Moving straight out from the coast, once you pass the channel islands about 25 miles out, the closet land is Antarctica.

Thursday, October 20, 2005
Old Sea Center

Just went to the new Sea Center recently, it is very cool. This one burned down but they had been planning on remodeling anyway. If you are ever in the Santa Barbara area this is a great place to learn about the Ocean, especially if you bring kids!

This shot was taken the same evening as this one.

Friday, September 16, 2005
Backlit Monarch

This flower seems to be a favorite of the Monarchs, and this was almost a tree. So, it made it easy to get a great backlit shot.

Thursday, September 15, 2005
Abstract Julia

The filters I use to take my close-ups are a combination of several lenses. This particular combination gives me an extremely low aperture, so there is only a very specific distance that is in focus. In this case only a couple of millimeters.

The effect ends up looking like a painting, especially when enlarged.

Thursday, September 8, 2005
Julia Heliconian

Yesterday I went back to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. It is almost the end of the butterfly season there. Each year for the past few years they have had a live butterfly exhibit called "Butterflies Alive". Something that is done other places too, but from what I have seen their exhibit is particularly nice.

In addition to getting some shots I am very happy with, I was finally able to identify this guy. He is from Texas or Northern Mexico. And, I found out that it was not that they are not documented well online, it is just that I did not recognize the images on the butterfly sites. Most of the images are taken with the wings stretched out making them look more of a classic butterfly shape. But, with the exception of a few basking in the sun, they seem to rarely hold their wings that way. They have a more stealth appearance in real life.

Sunday, August 28, 2005
Stearns Sunset

Ahhh, the end of summer. I don't have to go to school tomorrow, but I can't believe it's over already.

Monday, August 22, 2005
Sunset Run

This was a nice evening. We were still recovering from yesterday's adventure, building a sand castle. I wanted to finish a roll of film so I can get some images of our winning castle online! We spent the evening wandering around the Mission Rose garden and the Stearns Wharf areas. This image is from a previous sunset walk near the Wharf. There were less clouds tonight, but it is always a beautiful area.

As for the castle, our church entered an annual sandcastle contest on Leadbetter beach this year benefiting the Music Academy of the West's scholarship program. My best friend was in charge of the design. After a few iterations, she settled on "Gracie the Musical Dragon" (a distant relative of Puff) in honor of our church "Grace Lutheran". Our dragon was playing a keyboard made of sand and driftwood. It was a lot of work, all together I estimate we carried 150 gallons of water, but we were rewarded with a first place ribbon in the adult category! There was also a professional and a childrens' category, both of which came up with beautiful designs too.

Come back tomorrow to get a look at Gracie.

Friday, August 19, 2005
Sunset Tree Silhouettes

Never a dull show!

Friday, May 20, 2005
Blazing Sun

What strange weather! Santa Barbara is now doing it's "mid-summer" impression. Looking out at the thermometer I see about 95° F. I guess that should not be surprising considering the winter California has had. But the timing is a little unfortunate. This week they decided to repave our street, so we cannot have the windows open. And, Santa Barbara is one of those places that wants you to believe the weather is so consistent that they do not need Air Conditioning (or insulation for that matter). Someone once told us when I we were looking at his apartment to rent... "Air conditioning!? Well you must not have ever lived in Santa Barbara before, you don't need air conditioning here!". Well you don't need air conditioning in the Mojave Desert either, but it sure makes it a lot more livable!

Still, I gotta think I am more comfortable than the guys out there running the asphalt spreading equipment! Perhaps I should go see if they need something to drink...

Saturday, April 9, 2005
Autumn Sunset

I was just flipping through some older scans when I found this image. It reminded me that I have about a thousand rolls of slides that I would like to poke through and see if there is anything else interesting lurking in the files. (I'll do that in all my spare time) :0)

Thursday, April 7, 2005
Sunset Reflection

This was taken from East Beach in Santa Barbara. The strings of lights are Christmas decorations on Stearns Wharf.

Friday, April 1, 2005
Sunset Palms

I particularly like the texture of the clouds in this one.

Monday, March 21, 2005
First Blossom of Spring

I thought this was a fitting image for the beginning of spring. Of course, with the crazy weather we have had, it looks more like the middle of spring here. Most things are already in full bloom.

Thursday, March 3, 2005
Mission Sunset

We don't get a lot of clouds around here. But when we do it's quite a show, the whole sky was lit up like this.