A Photo a Day by Bill Heller

Tree Photos
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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.

 
Friday, August 19, 2005

Sunset Tree Silhouettes

 Never a dull show!

 
Friday, August 12, 2005

A View from the Mission

 Most of the mission shots you see don't give you an appreciation for the beautiful setting of the surrounding Mission grounds. The beautiful color in this photo is from the setting sun which was behind me to my right. Although the moisture in the atmosphere makes it hard to see where sky ends and sea begins, you can see hints of the outlines of the Channel Islands at the horizon.

 
Saturday, August 6, 2005

Sunset Silhouette

 We are having some unseasonably beautiful sunsets. Usually the real show is reserved for the wet winter season.

 
Friday, May 27, 2005

Lake Los Carneros

 There are some places that you can live right next to and never know they are there. The Monarch Butterfly Overwintering spot in Santa Barbara is one of them, and this is another.

I know I am not the only one that is surprised by this place. Last week at the Art Walk I listened to a "Local" tell his friends from out of town that this was the bird refuge, right down the street from where we were standing (which, of course, it is not).

Where I was standing to take this picture, I had my back to the 101 Freeway about 50 feet away, right near the Los Carneros exit. But, due to the rolling land and the trees, you would never have any idea it was here. Fortunately there is a good adult education program here that has some excellent nature hikes.
 
Sunday, May 22, 2005

Butterfly Beach Sunset

 The weather around here in June is known as "June Gloom." The fog comes in over the water before dawn and we usually don't see the sun until about 4:00 in the afternoon. Sometimes the beach is totally covered all day. There can be a wall of fog right by the beach that looks thick enough to touch.

The fog in this image is not quite that crazy. It was an amazing evening. I had to wade pretty far out in the water to get the angle of the sun behind the trees. And, I was not really dressed for swimming at the time.

 
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...

 
Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Sunset Cloud Shadows

 More sky shadows. Like the shot from yesterday, this was a particularly interesting sky, and I was happy to have my camera with me. :-)

 
Monday, April 25, 2005

Moring Cloud Trails

 This was a particularly interesting sunrise. One of the times I was really happy I was carrying my camera with me everywhere.

This photo made me think quite a bit about the position of the clouds in the atmosphere. If you take a look at the contrails, they appear to be casting shadows up on the clouds. This is a result of an optical illusion.

The contrails are at a higher level than the clouds. They appear closer because they are much denser than the high altitude Cirrus clouds. The clouds are made of ice crystals, blown in the wind like grains of sand. And, being thin and wispy, you see more blue sky through them which contributes to the illusion.

All other things equal, your brain is wired to see a bluer object as being further away. Like a mountain in the distance, when there is more atmosphere between you and the object you are viewing, the object appears bluer.

There are actually two layers of clouds, one right below the trails and another, much thinner and hazier one, quite a bit lower. This accounts for the double shadow.

 
Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Hummer Tongue

 Hummers are very interesting. One of the things I find interesting is their habit of licking their beak after eating. This shot only got about half of his tongue.

Or maybe... they just don't like their pictures taken? This guy lives in the garden area of a Nursery in Carpinteria. Pretty cool place to live if you're a hummer. I have another shot of him online here.

 
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)

 
Monday, April 4, 2005

Laguna Beach Sunset

 I was enjoying the sunset with a good friend, talking about cameras and snapping pictures. It was a really good day!

 
Friday, April 1, 2005

Sunset Palms

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

 
Friday, March 11, 2005

Sunset Palms

 I guess this is why they call it Palm Desert!

The bright thing in the sky is a sliver of the moon. It appears small in the photo because it was taken with a wide angle lens.

 
Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Lantern

 Another relaxing image from Lotusland.

I think I was in a peaceful mood last evening when I picked this image because I spent some time out at the butterfly overwintering spot yesterday. It is about the quietest place I can imagine especially without leaving a populated area.

I mainly went to enjoy the butterflies with my best friend for Valentine's day. But, there are a few pictures to come from the trip, and I scoped things out a little to to go back for some more serious photo sessions later this week.

 
Monday, January 31, 2005

Arcada Ficus

 Another night picture in La Arcada Court. That is not the sun at the top of the picture, it's a light on the bottom of a foot bridge between the buildings.

 
Sunday, January 16, 2005

Secluded Birdhouse

 Another picture from my last trip to Lotusland. With all of the wonderful things to photograph there, this birdhouse is still my favorite subject. I took one photo of it on my first trip, when I returned I found that the Spanish Moss had grown down to cover it. I loved it so much that I took over half a roll this time.

I guess if I were a bird this is where I would live.

 
Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Encina Finches

 Our area had voluntary evacuations the night before last. So we stayed at our favorite place downtown, Encina Lodge. They have an aviary outside with a flock of Finches. This is a photo from an earlier trip.
 
Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Festive Bird House

 I like to think these birds were really in the Christmas spirit. The alternative is they are getting a lot of sleepless nights because of their neighbors' lights!

For Christmas my friend and I went to Laguna Beach. Right behind our hotel was a building that was totally decked out for Christmas. Their trees were amazing, after taking a few pictures of the overall scene I noticed the bird houses.

 
Monday, January 10, 2005

Courthouse Palms

 Last Thursday looked like it was going to end with a beautiful sunset. So, I went to the courthouse to get some shots of the city from the tower (it is one of the tallest buildings in Santa Barbara, since there is a limit of about three stories these days).

However, after realizing I had loaded the film incorrectly in my camera loosing all of the shots from the tower (no great loss, the clouds were too heavy at the horizon to make a very good show). I wandered around the grounds as the light was fading and got the best pictures of the day.
 
Friday, January 7, 2005

Sunset Tree

 We have been having some amazing weather in Southern California this season. (I know, we're not alone!) But it makes for some beautiful sunsets. This is another of my experimentations with my new fish eye lens from eBay!
 
Thursday, January 6, 2005

Santa Barbara Fireworks

 Fireworks on East Beach in Santa Barbara.
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