California

Thumbnail image for Texturizing a Storm

Texturizing a Storm

November 18, 2010 Bay Area

Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory. ~ Kazuo Ishiguro I saw a crow yesterday, seized in midair by a gale. Just five feet from her tree, she paddled against the swell like a swimmer in an Endless Pool. I may not [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Favorite Flickr Moments . . .

Favorite Flickr Moments . . .

November 12, 2010 Bay Area

. . . when a Flickr comment captures an image better than you did . . . I shot this photo at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, during a break in one of last winter’s storms. The winds buffeted the bluffs so hard, the ravens were flinging themselves into the headwinds, stationary — suspended in [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Redondo Pelicans

Redondo Pelicans

August 20, 2010 California

On a last-minute work detour through Los Angeles (en route to the Northwest), I caught my favorite group of Redondo Beach pelicans waiting for fish scraps to drain into the harbor.

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for So Long, Lake Merritt

So Long, Lake Merritt

August 7, 2010 Bay Area

Lake Merritt was the first place I touched soil — or rather, marine sediment –after returning to the Bay Area from Los Angeles. We were perched above Oakland in a hotel room with just a sliver of a view, looking at the lake through what amounted to a castle loophole.

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for California County Lines

California County Lines

June 30, 2010 California

Driving an 800-mile loop that traverses a patchwork of California counties: Alameda –> Contra Costa –> Sacramento –> El Dorado –> Placer –> Nevada –> Sierra –> Plumas –> Lassen –> Shasta –> Tehama –> Glenn –> Colusa –> Yolo –> Solano. Time to sleep. Photo: Mt. Shasta, taken from Highway 299 just before McArthur [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Dragonfly or Damselfly? A Few Clues

Dragonfly or Damselfly? A Few Clues

May 25, 2010 Bay Area

Re-posted from last year — in tribute to burgeoning life on the springtime pond. In this melee of global strife and catastrophe, there’s at least one thing you can know for sure: dragonfly or damselfly. I blame the awesome macro of my telephoto lens for this post. I went to UC Berkeley Botanical Garden for [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for The Ravens of Ocean Beach

The Ravens of Ocean Beach

May 22, 2010 Bay Area

With onshore winds, Ocean Beach is my favorite place to photograph ravens. Along the Great Highway, these feathered balls of onyx launch into the wind like superheroes, hovering over the beach below with tails trailing like capes. I had some time to kill after an appointment in the Sunset. I grabbed my camera and headed [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for The Saucy Sailor Boy

The Saucy Sailor Boy

May 19, 2010 Bay Area

I have a weakness for bad lyrics, and 18th century sea chanties like The Saucy Sailor Boy probably take the prize. If you live here in San Francisco, you can take the kids (or just your own self) to Hyde Pier for monthly (and free) Sea Chanty Sing-a-Longs. You’ll get hot cider if you bring [...]

[read the full post ...]

The Wild Things Among Us (Wildcare Video)

May 4, 2010 Northern California

Saw this video at the Wildcare website today– about the local wildlife that shares our Bay Area habitat.

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Never Underestimate a Cattail

Never Underestimate a Cattail

April 14, 2010 Bay Area

Today, I watched a Marsh Wren collect soft fibers from the head of a cattail — and dive into the abyss of cattail leaves to build up a hidden nest.

[read full post ...]

[read the full post ...]

City On (and Behind) Hills

April 3, 2010 California

“I don’t know of any other city where you can walk through so many culturally diverse neighborhoods, and you’re never out of sight of the wild hills. Nature is very close here.”

~ Gary Snyder (poet)

[read the full post ...]

[read the full post ...]

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.

[see the full-size image ...]

[read the full post ...]

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, [...]

[read the full post ...]

The Great Newt Commute

February 8, 2010 Bay Area

The Great Newt Commute is what happens on the way to the Great Newt Party. From the first winter rains through early spring, California Newts migrate from their summer homes to their winter breeding grounds — to ponds and streams where they mate and lay eggs before trundling back up the hills and into burrows [...]

[read the full post ...]

Stormy Beach People

January 11, 2010 California

I’m a perfect fit with Northern California, loving the storm-whipped ocean as I do. From the shoreline, that is. Keeping my eye on that 7th wave. Wrapped in layers. Wishing I could still operate my camera while wearing gloves. Keeping the UV filter on for the saline mist. Loving every second of this El-Niño-driven swell. [...]

[read the full post ...]

Above SF From Twin Peaks

November 24, 2009 Bay Area

“It’s the magic towers of a steel fairyland — the beacon atop the proud Mark, the red, thermometer-like cap of the Drake, the sturdy, four-square crest of Mother Russ, the sudden, blunt end of Coit Tower — that make up the minarets of a metropolis . . .” “It’s the indescribable conglomeration of beauty and [...]

[read the full post ...]

Ahimsa at the Tidepools

November 16, 2009 Bay Area Faves

I swear, if I have to ask one more kid to stop throwing rocks at animals . . . It was an imperfect plan to begin with: super-low tide on a Sunday at the gorgeous but hardly-secret Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. I’ve been waiting for a daylight minus (-) tide for a few months. I’d even [...]

[read the full post ...]

The Unheralded Hulet Hornbeck

November 14, 2009 Bay Area

Until this week, I didn’t know how much gratitude I owed Mr. Hulet Hornbeck. The sign below marks the head of a commemorative trail at Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline — a park in the vast and lovely East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD). When Hornbeck began his tenure as Chief of Land Acquisition for EBRPD [...]

[read the full post ...]

Sir Sea Otter

November 4, 2009 California

I saw this otter on my way home from Morro Bay last week. He was foraging and grooming around the public pier at Moss Landing. The otter was awfully far away for my lens, so these shots are heavily cropped, not too crisp. But they capture the moment. He (or she) had repeated success diving [...]

[read the full post ...]

Hues of the Central Coast

October 28, 2009 California

Hugh and I spent the weekend in Morro Bay, attending a conference that included a dynamic keynote address from photographer George Lepp. It’s an admittedly geeky endeavor when you consider that a ball-head and a bubble level can get some rousing applause in this crowd. I love it. Events like this validate my gear brain [...]

Related Posts with Thumbnails

[read the full post ...]

← Previous Entries