I took this shot a few weeks ago of a hillside in Big Sur. I was struck by the focal points: a handful of evergreens at the top of the hill, fog, and deep green brush between the hilltop and wild mustard below. There is something about this shot that draws me in…and I think it is the focal points that together give the photo depth. But, in the end, it is regret for not putting more yellow mustard in the frame. Frankly, I didn’t realize the drama of this shot when I took pressed the shutter.
There it was as if it had forcefully claimed this spot on the beach for itself. I’ve never seen claws this large before. RIP!
You can cross the Sacramento River in Redding, California by walking on plated glass, all part of the $23.5 million, toll-free Sundial Bridge. The rear of the bridge serves as the world’s largest sundial, but that feature doesn’t match the structural design of what is truly a work of art.
Driftwood and ocean debris were fashioned into a message yesterday at Carmel River State Beach. This area is often used for wedding ceremonies.
I almost forgot that on our recent Oregon road trip, I took a few shots with my cell phone. This one, taken from a moving car, captures a field of round bales of hay. I accustomed to seeing the rectangular ones. But for big farmers–I read this–the round version is more cost effective and efficient than the smaller, rectangular bale.
But the story here is my SLR vs. a cell phone. I prefer the SLR but a phone camera is easy to carry and quick to use. And if I’m not going to enlarge the shot more than 8×10, the cell phone works great. The big downside is that sometimes I can’t see the phone screen in bright sunlight. But I assume there is a phone camera out there that takes care of this glare problem. Whatever.
OK, this isn’t the Swiss Alps, but Northern California’s Mt. Shasta casts a “magic” spell of sorts on motorists who see it from Interstate Freeway 5. I took this shot in the first leg of our Oregon road trip. We were following some big rigs with rows of evergreens in the foreground when at 65 mph, we rounded a bend in the freeway and there it was–out of scale and unexpected, a snow capped mountain on a hot day in June. Amazing!
We drove 1,400 miles, mostly through Oregon with great weather and little traffic. People were friendly, although there were pockets of anger: protests in Portland and “hands off my guns” messages on car windows. There was no sales tax: a $5 hamburger was $5 out the door. You weren’t allowed to pump your own gas–New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states with that rule–and the freeway speed limit was five to ten mph less than California’s. And it was green, green, green. We never saw the rain that locals say happens all the time. The parting shot, above, was taken from the dunes overlooking Cannon Beach.
