2010-11-14 Roses

Greetings and salutations!
So, not too long ago when I posted a photograph of a rose on my Flickr account, I discovered a message attached to it inviting me to join the "il ROSETO" rose photo group. I viewed the group's photos and even though at least half of the comments attached to photos there were languages I didn't understand, or maybe because of that, I joined.
Seeing the really beautiful images there of roses, and how the ones that stand out get umpteen million comments on them-agreements that they are as exquisite as I thought, I've been inspired to improve my rose photography--which is why if you go to my Flicker account these days, you will probably be bombarded with roses. And now, lucky you, they are spilling over to the blog.
Fortunately for me, I only have to travel about 3 miles to get to an excellent rose garden, as the Westminster City Hall has sponsored the Orange County Rose Society for years---I think since 1969 actually.
So here are a few practice shots from yesterday afternoon.

Friday at the Aquarium of the Pacific

Saturday (Oct 16) was a workday for me, so I had Friday off. Friday was the last day that our free Chapman tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach were good, so after Don's doctor visit (he checks out in top shape after his ablation surgery two weeks before), off we went to the Aquarium. Many of the tanks are open at the top to the outside, so get natural sunlight. This being an overcast day though, lighting was a bit dim and my camera settings were set for the dimmest of conditions; with a "Hi1" ISO (equivelent to 3200) which I hoped would allow me some depth of field and reasonable shutter speeds--hee-hee, as it turns out though, silly me didn't notice that I had previously set the camera to a -2.3EV adjustment. Grrrrr.
So images are a bit dark, but here are a few, and later I'll post a few of Don's videos:

2010-10-18 Horses

Last weekend Don and I saw the movie "Secretariat", about a horse of the same name who was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, who in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in twenty-five years. The cinematography in the movie was so great that I decided it had been way too long since I'd photographed a horse. (Probably the last time was when I photographed a fund raising horse show as a part time photographer for Western Medical Center in the early 1990's)
So on my lunch a couple of days last week I went to horse stables.
This first place was listed as Hunters Pointe and is in Anaheim off of Phoenix Club Drive:





OK, it's not a horse but isn't he a cute kitty?

And this second place is at Irvine Regional Park. It's listed as Peacock Hill Equestrian Center:

I think I'll see if I can learn Photoshop well enough to eliminate those pesky flies.

Newport Back Bay August 21, 2010

A few weeks ago I visited Newport Back Bay to take some morning shots. I was surprised at how crowded the one way road was, with the occasional car, streams of bicyclists, and teams of runners. Happily this didn't do much to detour the wildlife from going about Summer as usual.
I managed a few shots of this little fellow. You'd think the chirps would help to locate him, but they only helped me generalize an area I might see something. I mostly had to rely on glimpsing the tip of a moving reed and then followed it half down the stock, tricky when most stalks were obscured by several more reeds,







According to The "National Audubon Society Field Guide to California", he is a "Common Yellowthroat" bird (technically known as a "Geothlypis trichas") of the Wood Warbler Subfamily.
They are 5".
"Male upperparts and sides uniformly olive-brown; throat and chest yellow; midbelly white; black mask over forehead and cheeks; broad white line above mask. Female and imm. olive brown above; pale eye ring; throat yellow. Imm. male has blackish cheek. Feeds low; often raises tail at wren-like angle. VOICE Song: rollicking witchity-witchity-witchity-witch. Call: flat chep. HABITAT Riparian thickets, marshes, shrubs. RANGE Resident in c and s CA on Pacific slope; inland valleys. May-Sept.: n CA, valleys east of Sierras. Apr.-May, Aug.-Oct.: all CA."

5-30-10 Honoring Dan Colby for Memorial Day

Westminster Memorial Park

05-14-10 Crystal Cove

I gave you a break from Crystal Cove for over a year. Yes, I know it's hard to believe---you'd seen so many pictures of that little beach you probably thought my camera had become allergic to it. Actually, we were getting our "beach" fix on the sail boat. Now that it's gone we must revert to the old methods. Sorry.
So this is Mothers day at Crystal Cove. The wait at the restaurant was an hour and a half, so we passed on that feature, but still enjoyed taking a few pictures. Don had purchased a new camera that had arrived mid-week and wanted to try it out here. Those pictures are still in his camera though, so it may be awhile before they make their way here. Meanwhile, here's a few of mine. (Smile)

Chicago?

In my last post I promised a posting about Chicago, yes? Well, it IS posted, but not at So. Cal. Day Trippin', because, in case you were unaware, Chicago is not IN So. Cal.. (Smile)
Also, I went to Chicago for work, so it's on the "All in the Name of Work" page. There's not much there yet in the way of photos, but there are a couple, and there are links to the photos. Eventually I will get a few more on the blog though, because they look better with a black border. :-)
Here's the blog where it's (kind of) posted: http://all-in-the-name-of-work.blogspot.com/

Just to avoid any possible disappointment though, I'll post ONE here. (smile again).

Before leaving Anza . . .

OK, it's time to move on from the desert to Chicago, but before we do...I just want to add a few more photos, lest you think that Anza is all about little stuff --i.e., Gnatcatchers, butterflies, beetles, flowers, sand grains, cactus needles, etc.
For some folks, Anza is about palm trees, streams, horseback riding, and four-wheelin'

Jumping Cholla (Cylindropuntia fulgida)

Looking up the identifications and locations of the plants we'd photographed our first time out, I happened to read that the desert was still in bloom, and expected to be through the coming weekend. Don was all for a return visit and read that many more of the Jumping Cholla, also known as Teddy Bear Cholla, were now in bloom, so off we went on April 3rd for another photo excursion.
According to Wikipedia, "It grows at elevations ranging from 300 to 1000 m (1000 to 3000 ft). While the name "jumping cholla" is applied especially to this species, it is also used as a general term for all chollas."









The previous weekend had also provided some good Cholla photo ops:

Blue Palo Verde

According to Wikipedia "Parkinsonia florida (Blue Palo Verde; syn. Cercidium floridum) is a species of palo verde native to the southwestern United States (southeastern California, southern Arizona) and northwestern Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California). Its name means "green stick" in Spanish, referring to the green trunk in which the tree does photosynthesis." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsonia_florida ). When they bloom they are smothered in yellow flowers. It's rare for me to like a tree sans leaves and flowers, but I find this one very attractive through it's entire cycle.