Tag Archives: California

05-06-13 Alien Landscape

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2013 05-06 Alien Landscape

Of course, this view of the distant Los Angeles skyline, taken from the Hollywood Bowl overlook just off of Mulholland Drive, isn’t alien to the denizens of LA. But to a flatlander in a relatively rural state (with little or no air pollution) this landscape is certainly foreign.

That’s not to say that it isn’t enticing and interesting to me. In fact, once I played with an HDR setting in my OnOne software, there was amazing detail and texture in this scene. I see things here that I never see in my home state of South Dakota.

By the way, in researching this post, I discovered that California is our most populous state and it is the third largest. South Dakota is 46th in population (out of 50) and we are the 17th largest in square miles. California has twice South Dakota’s area but it has 35 times more people.

06-04-12 The California Coast

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I’m off on an adventure for a couple weeks and I’ll be off the wifi “grid” for much of that time. Thus, I’m auto-posting things that aren’t necessarily new or unseen. Most of the photos you’ll see are some of my favorite Instagram photos.

This photo, incidentally, was taken with my iPhone shortly after the plane I was in took off from John Wayne Airport. I had the perfect seat on a perfect southern California day.

Lil Ann

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Ann, Betty Howell's hair dresser

This is an informal portrait I took of Ann, who was a friend of my aunt Betty. Ann is 90 years old but looks, sounds and acts like she is at least 20 year’s younger. You’ve got to love Ann. And her red Ford with vanity plates.

And this photo was taken by LATI Photo/Media second year student Ashley McCormick. It was taken in one of the many famous New Orleans cemeteries. Here’s Ashley’s web site.

Serration

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Sooner or later I will run out of plants I photographed last week. Or I will clairvoyantly sense your boredom. But until then, here’s another plant.

I will tell you that the photographic challenge with this plant was trying to establish a focal point. I was shooting at 2.8 so I would get fairly narrow depth of field. The thinking was that rather than have the you look at the whole plant, I wanted you to see the serrations, the texture and the soft purples and greens.

Candid Camera

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A photographer at work in the San Diego Botanic Gardens

I didn’t take many photos of people while Deb and I were in California recently. But I couldn’t help taking this one. The photographer was “in the zone” and seemed oblivious to my presence.

The setting is in the Mexican garden at the San Diego Botanic Gardens near Carlsbad, California. If you are wondering about the brown figures, they are what I would call “plant people.” They are made of metal and moss and then implanted with a variety vegetation. Here’s a close-up of of the dancing couple, who are almost too camouflaged in this photo.

Congregation 2

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Large cactus leaves

Yesterday’s photo was a macro close-up of a plant I could have held in the cupped palms of my hands. Today’s plant is a likely relative of yesterday’s, though this is no macro. These leaves could be measured in feet, not inches, and would need a small room to occupy.

Everything about the cactus and succulent section of the Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar, California, was captivating when I was there with Deb recently. But I was especially struck by the beautiful, strong southwestern light. These leaves are almost glowing – in part because of the reflected light bouncing off of the leaves and also because the leaves are slightly translucent. But it was soft blues and greens of this plant that attracted me to this scene. The sun was warm but the hues were cool.

Incidentally, I am experimenting with a new app on my iPad and iPhone called iPhoto. To Mac users, it is nothing new. But it is new for our portable devices. One of the things it allows is the publication of something called “journals.” Here’s a link to my California journal.

Green Fingers

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Fern leaves

I took around 500 photos while I was in California recently. Most of them are of plants. Today, I post yet another example of the flora that grow in southern California.

I believe that nothing in nature develops accidentally and when I look at this I wonder about the purpose of all of the parts of this fern and of their design. Maybe a fern expert could chime in. Or maybe I could look it up on Wikipedia. . . .