Beauty in the Ordinary

Last week, I drove to Southern California for a family visit. It was wonderful to see my brother, nephews, and grand niece, but after about 3 days of family time, I was itching for some quiet time with my Nikon. I just needed a walking photo meditation. But what to capture? I was in a new housing development in Fontana, not exactly the sort of destination I usually seek out for my images. So I just started walking the streets, looking for anything - patterns, color, something unusual. It was dusk, so the light was nice and soft. Soon I found myself on a walkway connecting two streets, lined by a row of backyard fences on both sides. And what interesting fences they were! Over the years, irrigation has turned these fences into textural works of art. I went back to my nephew's house to grab my tripod and here are some of the results.

It is wonderful what beauty is out there in everyday situations, just waiting to be discovered by us when we slow down long enough to take it in. I hope you enjoy the results of my meditation walk and that you, too, will stay open to beauty in the ordinary. It is all around us!

I'm a Finalist in the Outdoor Photographer Contest!

Oh, happy day! There were 4,000 images submitted in the recent Outdoor Photographer "Your Favorite Places" photo contest, and 31 fnalists were selected and announced today. This image of Mt. Fitz Roy in Argentine Patagonia, taken last November, was chosen. I am very proud of this honor; it feels a bit humbling to see my image alongside the images of so many other wonderful photographers.

I had decided earlier this year that it is time to get my stuff "out there", so it does feel very rewarding to have my first effort acknowledged this way.

If you would like to cast a vote for my image in the People's Choice competition, you can go to the finalists page where you will find Fitz Roy on page 2. You will need to be a registered user of the Outdoor Photographer site, which is easy to do - you do not need to have a subscription to participate. Click once on the stars under the photo to cast your vote.

Contest winners will be announced in June and the results published in the magazine. Wish me luck!

Almost Forgotten

A bum knee has kept me closer to the computer than usual for the past couple of days. It has given me the chance to dig into a project I had set aside - the creation of a Blurb book of my Patagonia adventures. It has been fun to revisit these images and apply a few newly learned Photoshop techniques to them. I have discovered that "select:color range" can be a powerful way to do a pretty decent job of isolating colors that I want to brighten. I find that when I can do this, say, to the leaves on a tree or some colorful foreground plant life, it can really add depth to my image. Another trick that I have been using lately is to convert the background to a smart object, then go to "Image" - "Adjustments" - "Variations". In this panel you can work with midtones, highlights, and shadows to lighten or darken these select portions of the image.

I found two images in my raw collection from Torres del Paine that I had not originally selected for my gallery and spent some time with them. I am very pleased with the result - they show the moodiness of the scene, which was a pretty cloudy and blustery day. I had not orginally selected them because the Torres were obscured by the clouds. I hope you will agree that the result is very dramatic! A true lesson for all of us photographers about the importance of backing everything up and not discarding randomly. You may find a diamond in the rough on a future visit to your archives.

Back at Home

I am back at home after a wonderful week in Sedona with the red rocks. This morning, I decided to get up early, at 4 am, to chase the harvest moon with hopes that I might get a photo of it with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. I had been told by a friend that it was amazing yesterday, so, why not give it a try? I drove out to Emeryville and found fog over the gate, so I drove over the Bay Bridge thinking that I would see the moon over the City from Treasure Island. It was dark, I was not fully awake, so I overshot the turnoff, and what do you know, I was in the City! Keeping the moon within sight, I drove out to the Marina and ended up at the Palace of Fine Arts just as the setting moon slipped behind the building and out of sight. So, I set up my tripod and made this image.

I think my early morning foray into the City is kind of a metaphor for life, when you allow yourself to take each moment as it comes. Follow your instinct, follow your heart, follow the moon, and look what waits for you at the end of the road!

Continuing My Week in Sedona

There has been so much big fun and wonderful hiking since Tracy and I arrived here in Sedona. On Tuesday, we hiked on the West Fork Trail, which runs west along Oak Creek. This gorgeous canyon trail follows Oak Creek through a lush habitat framed by tremendously high colorful canyon walls - a magic place. The trail follows the streambed, crossing back and forth across the water. I spent much of the hike dancing back and forth across the streambed to catch photos of the amazing light on the red rock walls. We had planned to walk the full length of this trail, but there were so many photo stops that we were not able to finish it before dark. Another trip...

Yesterday, Tracy's friend Greg took us up in his little Cessna for a scenic flight over the southwest. We were in the air for 5 hours, and we covered so much! Heading north, we flew over the Grand Canyon, keeping within the requirements for air space in this highly regulated area, and crossing back and forth across the canyon for wonderful vistas of the canyon walls and the muddy Colorado below. We then headed north to Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend, and the Antelope Canyon area. After a lunch stop at a tiny airstrip in southern Utah, we flew south towards Monument Valley, seeing Natural Bridges and Canyon DeChilly on the way. Flying through Monument Valley was amazing - Greg was able to fly close in to the monuments at a low altitude. Then we headed across the Painted Desert and a flyover of Meteor Crater on our way back to Sedona. We are so blessed to have Greg as a friend - he was so generous with his time. Now we are thirsting for a road trip to see everything up close and personal. The southwest is even more amazing than I had ever imagined!

Yesterday evening, Greg and I went to Crescent Moon Ranch for a photo opportunity in the middle of the creek to shoot Cathedral Rock at sundown. We and 5 other photographers stayed in the middle of the stream until 30 minutes after sunset catching the wonderful evening glow and reflection in the creek waters. I realized that I need to go back to this spot again on this trip, further downstream, and try this again. I loved the images that I got after sunset and want to try again in a more turbulent part of the creek. One special aspect of this photo shoot was how friendly and kind our fellow photographers were. We spent our 90 minutes together in silent communion with the light and the water.

Today, we hiked up the Soldier Pass Trail to the Soldier Pass Arches. A rocky scramble over the red rocks and a rather steep 180 foot climb took us up to the three arches. The photography inside these arches was amazingly like that in a slot canyon. The reflected light which filtered in from openings above the arches lit up the red walls in a golden glow. I was in my element and could have stayed for hours, but settled for about 45 minutes of photography while perched precariously on the rocks at the entrance to these arches.

We had decided earlier today to forgo a trip to Antelope Canyon for this trip (too much to do right here in Sedona!) and I felt like the "find" of the light in these arches was my consolation prize for skipping Antelope Canyon. But, I am ready to plan a road trip back to Northern Arizona in the very near future to get that magic canyon light. Seeing the photos of Antelope Canyon in the local galleries makes me lust for these pictures more than ever!

Vacationing in Sedona

Tracy and I are in Sedona for a week. It is a wonderful time of year to be here. Cool evenings and mornings and balmy daytime temperatures. I would like to see more clouds - we will see what the week brings. I was here several years ago; this is Tracy's first visit. I am once again awed by the red rocks, he is surprised by the beauty and the lush green in this high chapparal desert. We look forward to daily hikes on the many trails here.

On our first day, we hiked the trail to Devil's Bridge, which is the largest natural sandstone bridge in this area. We spotted several varieties of wildflowers still blooming alongside the trail, I especially appreciated the agave plants for their softly silver foliage.

In the early evening, we drove out the Verde Valley School Road to photograph the iconic Cathedral Rock, the most photographed red rock formation in Sedona. I found it challenging to get a good shot with the river in the foreground from this location, but like this image of the rock rising above the foreground of grasses along the creekside. Later this week, we will go to Red Rock Crossing to attempt a better image which incorporates the creek.

NOTE: Photos will be posted when I return...I am trying to keep this daily blog current and will add photos later....

An Easter Afternoon Hike in Briones Regional Park

Tracy and I drove out to Briones Regional Park on Easter Sunday afternoon for a celebration of spring hike through the green rolling hills of this amazing bit of wilderness which is tucked away

in between the towns of Orinda and Lafayette - only a 20 minute drive from home. Poppies, lupines and buttercups painted the hillsides with their happy colors, cows grazed contentedly in the shadows under the oak trees, and the air was filled with birdsong. For most of our hike, we were the sole wanderers - seemingly having the entire park to ourselves. A strenuous uphill climb leads to a vista overlooking the Sacramento River Delta to the east and miles and miles of rolling green hills in every other direction. We feel so blessed to live here, such a short drive takes us to such amazing natural beauty. Spring is here and the cycle of the seasons begins once again. They say that the camera looks both ways, that the images captured by the photographer are windows into the soul of the artist. See my happiness at welcoming this season once again.