March 2010

Petal Tracks

March 31, 2010

Hugh saw these first . . . fallen magnolia petals, branded by Specialized Hardpack . . . or maybe Michelin.

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Mine!

March 29, 2010 Bay Area

This swan took issue with the duck’s proximity — a Blue-winged Teal just minding her own business, dabbling in the pond with her Blue-winged mates.

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Headlands Soup

March 28, 2010 Clouds & Fog

I’ll never forget the first time I drove the Golden Gate Bridge as the advection fog rolled in. You leave San Francisco under a sapphire sky only to be engulfed by a swirling cloud halfway across the gate.

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The Being versus the Getting

March 28, 2010 Philosophically Speaking

“Tell me — why do we require a trip to Mount Everest in order to be able to perceive one moment of reality? I mean, is Mount Everest more real than New York? Isn’t New York real?”

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The Ongoing Plight of Seal Pups

March 28, 2010 Marine Mammals

I wrote this post last year, but as we move into April 2010, the seal hunt begins anew. It’s been such a difficult issue for me to grapple with over the years, so I thought I’d re-post my comments from last year. The fundamentals remain the same.

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High Voltage

March 27, 2010 Structures

This photo is simply the result of looking for a different angle on an electricity pylon.

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Don’t Trust the Photographer

March 26, 2010 Turkey, Quail et al

Hugh is an exceptional mimic, so when we heard wild turkeys in the scrub ahead of us, I asked him if he thought he could mimic that call. He’s an ace at Donald Duck. How tough can a wild turkey be by comparison?

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Plastic Bag: A Low-Density Resin Love Story

March 24, 2010 Pollution & Trash

In the short film below, Ramin Bahrani and narrator Werner Herzog anthropomorphize a plastic bag. But it’s more than that…

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Bay and Beach Flotsam: Brunswick!

March 23, 2010 Bay Flotsam

Or, for “The King of Them All” . . . Roto Grip! I regularly shoot images of bay and beach flotsam, documenting the end result of our trashy habits. So, when I saw this bowling ball on a beach in Alameda, it was going to be just that — a quick documentation of San Francisco [...]

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Squirrel Girl & The Cherry Blossoms

March 23, 2010 Mammals

Squirrels don’t win popularity contests with gardeners and bird feeders. Tree squirrels, agile and clever, have been known to outsmart even the toughest mazes designed to thwart them. In fact, if you never saw the 1990s British documentary Daylight Robbery, check out the video clip at the end of this post. From there you can [...]

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Genealogy of a Flyer

March 22, 2010 Objectification

Reclamation, as I’ve said before is one of my favorite themes. But, alongside “nature reclaimed” is the joy of finding color, texture and balance in unlikely subjects. We were walking by a stripped down public board in Berkeley and noticed some hues and shapes just begging for a shot. Of the lot I took, this [...]

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Mudbath

March 21, 2010 Bay Area

I’m keen to see eyes peering out of mudflats . . . the creatures from the bog, the foraging carp, the bullfrog in camo, a Pacific chorus frog in a dewdrop. I shot this photo at Blake Garden, just north of Berkeley in the Kensington Hills. My vision is tuned to anomalies and, sure enough, [...]

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Deterrent

March 20, 2010 Doves & Pigeons

Pigeons just know. How many times do you see them perched between bird spikes or, as in this case, within talon’s reach of a fake owl? I appreciate the cleverness that is “pigeon” and when I saw this juxtaposition, I had to freeze-frame it. Owls can be effective for a time . . . or [...]

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Give Wildlife a Break: The Devil’s Rope

March 19, 2010 Wildlife Solutions

Barbed wire is just doing the job it was invented to do — keeping livestock in and intruders out . . . In the wildlife world, it’s an invention that’s caused injury, death and significant suffering for countless species.

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The Animal Rescue Kit

March 17, 2010 Rescue & Rehab

Our “gear” began with a collapsible pet carrier and some work gloves. At that point, we could still transport a few pieces of luggage and one niece or nephew in the backseat. Years later, in the same two-door Civic, we can barely get a turnip in the trunk.

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Brave New Poppies . . . and David Lynch

March 14, 2010 Flora

I appreciate spring this year. I didn’t in 2009. Our California sod is parched from recent drought — and the whimsy of a winter that flitted through last year felt like hope lost.

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Why Love the Uglies?

March 12, 2010 Raptors

This photo inspired this post: I uploaded it to Flickr — where one of my favorite Flickr people had this to say: It bothers me when people call them “ugly” or something like that . . . We have to learn and to accept . . . that all the living things are ok – [...]

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A Cat Illustrating “Frame Within a Frame”

March 9, 2010 Domestic Animals

Composition is complex. It’s not that the simple rules — like the Rule of Thirds — are so tough to grasp. It’s that the learning curve from first applying rules to then breaking rules is one chocolate mess of subjectivity.

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The Expanding Universe of Creative Commons

March 8, 2010 Birds

The biggest bennie of attaching a Creative Commons license to your work is the unanticipated adaptation of that work in a share-alike universe. What? That is to say, I love the chain reaction that ensues from a single act of licensing — seeing the places your work travels, usually with proper attribution and adherence to [...]

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Parrot City

March 6, 2010 Birds

I haven’t visited my parrot people in recent weeks. The last time I saw them was on a mission for Parrot Patrol, checking up on them, making sure people were behaving around San Francisco’s finest.

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Related Posts with Thumbnails

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