Sunday, November 1, 2015

Still waiting....

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Nice to see some morning clouds in the sky on a day with rain in the forecast.



I set up the trail camera in a new place and hung out in the woods for a spell to get some inspiration.















Still no rain by the time I left, but at least the sunny skies were done.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Sculptured Beach

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I never got around to either Palomarin Beach or Sculptured Beach during my recently finished year of photographing Point Reyes, but I finally checked out Palomarin over the summer, and with a significant low tide due on Monday the 26th of October, I took a day off work to check out Sculptured Beach, about an hour's walk south of Limantour. The fog was so thick when I left the southernmost parking lot that I memorized landmarks on the beach so I'd be able to find the trail through the dunes on my way back. Even with the fog pretty much burned off by the time I got back, it was still tricky to find the exact spot where the trail comes out.



Santa Maria Creek, not making it to the ocean.



Heermann's, mew and western gulls hung out to bathe in the freshwater creek.



The reef at Sculptured Beach had endlessly interesting forms, and I easily spent four hours exploring a fairly small area, leaving only when my belly insisted I head home for dinner.





















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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Waiting for Rain

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What sounded like rain in the woods was just the pitter-patter of fog 
dripping from the canopy onto a carpet of dry leaves.



Sometimes a Douglas fir's rat tails show loud and proud. 
Sticky patches of sap pool among the cone's scales.



Hardly a drop of water in this little arroyo seco off the Benstein Trail.



Spotted this crime scene at my feet as I knelt 
to explore a small pool of water in the ravine.



A California Giant Salamander, here a juvenile sporting about three inches 
of length, chills in the bottom of a pool.



An excited mob of acorn woodpeckers and steller's jays called out 
from the vicinity of this coast live oak bristling with nuts, 
stopping only when a cooper's hawk swooped in.



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Friday, October 16, 2015

Fallen

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All images made on Cataract Creek at Laurel Dell.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Trinkets

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Drove up the mountain this morning to check on the game camera, 
and picked up a few trinkets presented by the sunrise, including "god beam" crepuscular rays, while I was at it.










Sunrise Timelapse

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Sunday, September 27, 2015

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Smoky Sunrise



I went up to check on the trail camera, which I recently placed in a new and untried location, and was surprised to see a colorful sunrise unfolding. Glad I brought my camera. 

It's been downright chilly in San Francisco the past couple of days, so I brought some extra clothes -- a pair of jeans, a longjohn top, a flannel shirt -- just in case. But the second surprise of the morning was stepping out of the car into extremely warm air and catching such a strong scent of burning fire that I looked upwind -- north -- for smoke. I felt sure the fire must be close, and I was poised to jump back in the car and git. It was only after I got home that Pam told me a huge new fire (the Valley Fire) had erupted in Lake and Napa counties, that hundreds of homes had already been lost, evacuations were being ordered, and a state of emergency had been declared.







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