old wine barrels entangled in the vines of the friut

On Sunday afternoon Anne and I decided to take a trip down hwy, 46 between hwy 1 and fwy. 101. We travel this road often and last year we did do a wine tasting at ROTTA Winery and a few others. This trip was on the 7th of March so the vines were still dormant and several vineyards were busy with workers grooming the vines in preparation for the years crop. As we drove up to one of the wineries tasting rooms we passed this stack of barrels entangled with vines. I told Anne that before we went into the winery we had to walk back up the road to shoot the old barrels before this black cloud passed over. This day the wind was strong and the clouds would briefly fill the sky hiding the harsh mid-day sun . We did need to wait a short time for the clouds to hide the bright sun which was now in front of us. This image started out as five exposures blended and tone mapped in Photomatix. Unfortunately the image lacked that strong contrast and rich color that I like to see in my hdr's so I decided to take this image into a different direction. My first choice was to turn it into a B&W so I brought it into Silver Efex Pro by Nik Software. HDR's can make nice B&W's as the strong rich colors can produce a good tonal contrast for B&W. After Silver Efex Pro I went into Vivenza from Nik software, then a special effect in Color Efex Pro. I most likely went backwards a few times as one treatment or effect wiped out the previous, but that's part of the creative process when you don't have a definitive direction. Each time my Macbook Pro would start to bog I would merge the layers until I reached a point where I said the heck with it added a few textures and called it done.

Black Sands Basin, Yellowstone NP.... WOW!!

One of our favorite places in Yellowstone was Black Sand Basin. The small geysers are really awesome and the Snake River running throughout. But what really caught our eye was the streams of color. Every direction we turned we could see floods of color as well as designs. I believe Anne and I spent more time looking, waiting, watching and photographing all the different colors as the light changed. We have so many images to process from Black Sands Basin, it will take time, you know I work with a passion. On our last day in Yellowstone we even had the opportunity to photograph Black Sand Basin in the snow, in fact it was snowing while we took pictures. It was an awesome surprise to experience the place from the extreme weather and lighting. A few times I was quite discouraged as the weather was less than corroborative. Most days were typical of home, cloudy with a chance of marine layer,lol. But during the week we were there we experienced heavy clouds, rain, fog, winds, and I mean WINDS, and a much enjoyed sun. We tried to take advantage of the climate to capture nature at it's extreme. I hope you enjoyed this artistic impression of this poor burnt lonely lodge pole pine in Black Sand Basin.

On May 13th Anne, myself, and our friends Skip and Maureen left Visalia California for a two week vacation, a trip that had been in the planning for a year. Much of our vacation would be spent in Yellowstone National Park beginning the next Monday and carry us until a Saturday morning checkout from the Old Faithful Inn. We had decided earlier that we would take a few days and make a detour to Arches National Park near the eastern boarder of Utah for a quick one day visit. So at 6 am on that Thursday we left for what we had planned to be a two day trip into Arches NP. In six hours we hit Las Vegas, we can’t stop here it’s only one in the afternoon. At five we stopped for a light dinner and decided “hey, we are only four hours from Moab, we’ve already done a ten hour stretch, what say we go for it!”. Yes, you guessed it, we rolled into Moab 14 1/2 hours and 830 miles later. Our first stop was a Hotel for the next few days, and then our next stop was a Hotel, and our next, well you get the idea, there were zero rooms in Moab available. What to do now, oh I know, let’s hit the local pub for some libation after our short drive through three states. We decided on a Mexican Restaurant on Old Hwy. 191 which was still open at the now 10:00 hour. At this time I really thought we were destined to spend the night in the car, which meant a few double bourbons were part of the menu. For what happened next I give all the credit to Maureen for she decided to ask the waitress if she had a friend, friend of a friend, even an acquaintance that was working a reservation desk at any of the hotels for a room and that there would be 20 bucks in it for her. We figured even one room for the four of us was better than the car and gas station restrooms. I had barely finished my first bourbon when the waitress returned telling us she had found a room. At this point I couldn’t get into my wallet fast enough to flash another 20 dollar bill for another miracle. She laughed and said she would see what she could and before we knew it she had a room for us at the opposite end of town. All in all we had a great two days in Arches, took hundreds of pictures even with the ugliest of spring storms hitting us over the two days was a memorable experience. I decided to process this image first as a tribute to the dramatic moods we experienced during our stormy days in Arches. Arches is one of those spots on this earth that can be enjoyed no matter what mother nature does.

I have already posted on my Flickr page a few of our favorite American Bison images from Yellowstone NP ahead of this blog and we have many more stories to tell as I process more images.

Our weekend Burrowing Owl trip to Joshua Tree, California

For those of you that know Anne and I you know that of all the species of owls the Burrowing Owl tops our list of flavors. At just under 10 inches long, with a wingspan of 21 inches and a weight of 5 oz. these guys have a personality and clown like behavior that instantly grabs your heart. So when my brother calls me Friday morning to tell me he spotted 15 to 20 Burrowing Owls a few blocks from his house in Joshua Tree California my first reaction was, “we’ll be there tonight”. Now, Morro Bay to Joshua Tree is 350 miles and 6 1/2 hours of cross country semi trucks and impatient drivers speeding to reach their destination. You start by going over the Coastal Range and Cascade Mountains to Bakersfield, over Tehachapi to Kramer Junction, straight to Barstow, then down Hwy. 247 to Joshua Tree. I only mention all this because Anne was so busy at work Friday her first call to check in was at 3:15 in the afternoon when I broke the news that we were leaving for the desert as soon as she could get home. Before we knew it the car was packed the dog was at her favorite weekend retreat and we were heading for the desert at 4:30, just 45 minutes after Anne called me. I ramble on because I am confessing that I will never again drive that route on a Friday night, not even for a box of twenty dollar bills.
After arriving at my brothers house just after 11:00 pm we exchanged a few hugs and settled into a glass of wine to relax. The conversation quickly changed to the Burrowing Owls when my brother informed us that he had decided to check out the burrow that afternoon. He said that when he looked into the burrow he could see several eyes looking at him just inside the hole. It was then that we knew our hopes to photograph a colony of juveniles and adults numbering 15 to 20 was now but a dream. If there was one or two clutches of fledgling owlets and adults the adults had most likely already relocated their offspring to a safer secondary burrow or location far from the threat. My brother not realizing it had himself become a predatory threat just as if he was a Desert Fox or Coyote. We did however stay with the plan to arrive at the burrow site just before dawn in hopes for a successful morning of photography. Unfortunately our suspicions were indeed correct and by the end of the morning our only sightings were the two images I posted here and on my Flickr page. Just before wrapping up the morning we did spot several perched in and under a Creosote bush about 200 yards away but at that distance could not tell if adults or juveniles. We reluctantly decided to be there again on Sunday morning but this time we did not have a single sighting or even hear the familiar sounds of the morning calls. I am indeed happy with the two singles I captured and only disappointed that the 15-20 were not around. The moral of this story, if there is one, is to inform those not familiar with the behaviors of the wild to stay clear and be curious from a distance only.
We did have a great visit with my brother making the trip a success.

Roses' Grove

For those of you that have visited the Elfin Forest before dawn, watched the sun as it peaked from behind the hills, experienced it's beauty as the sun illuminates the Live Oaks, native shrubs and budding flowers. For those of you that have not visited the Elfin Forest for a dawn experience are missing out on what I will call the "Beauty of Natures Light". Last year SWAP decided to build a walk path to the inside of Roses' Grove. Prior to this, the path was a narrow sandy path that you stepped down to from the main walk path. As many of you know was not doable for me. I must thank the SWAP (Small Wilderness Area Preserve) group for their concern that all should enjoy the beauty of Roses' Grove while preserving all it's natural beauty at the same time by building this beautiful walk path into the grove. My only wish was that they had included a ramp to the upper deck so myself an other wheelchair users could enjoy being in the heart of the grove. Here is a link to their website with a Day-by-Day slide show on the building of the walkway by the California Conservation Corps . And you can visit their main page.
If you click here you can go to my Flickr Site to enjoy this image in larger sizes