California poppies mean Spring! Combined with purple lupines, the mountainsides are a delight to behold. These poppies are in the local botanical garden, but they can show up anywhere. They vary from deep orange to yellow, some with orangey streaks in the center of their golden petals.
Taken with Velvia 100 film in a pre-WW2 Welta Weltur folder, 6×4.5. While out with the camera, it popped open twice – I had jerry-rigged a strap for it but if obviously didn’t work too well! The film was processed in C41 as a result at the local photo shop – to pay more for slide film and potentially nothing seemed ridiculous – so it was cross-processed. I was quite pleased to see a few out of the 16 survived. A bit of work made this picture salvageable. Below is the original cross-processed image, and then a variant in black and white.
I’m trying to reclaim my life in some ways – the hours I’ve worked have been awful, and since changed for a bit more humane schedule. So, to reclaim my life, it means I cannot let the whiney, lazy me take over and say, wah, not enough time! This morning, up at 6, coffee, pulled on my stinky clothes from yesterday, and went out, film cameras and phone in hand. What a delightful thing to do! No one around . . . the birds were singing their mating songs (especially lovely were the mockingbirds) and flitting about. Everywhere, the pungent scent of the chaparral’s resinous plants. The sun was still low in the sky. As I walked, I looked, and saw . . . a wild rose in bloom . . . quails running for cover . . . mourning doves within a few feet of me. A slice of heaven!
I always enjoy seeing the sandstone boulders and rocks in the Santa Monica mountains. How do they get the way they are? Who or what positioned them? These look as if they were cast down the hillside by some giant hand . . . These are yellow and red and make a wonderful background for the foliage and weeds of the chaparral.
Foxtails are the seeds of a local wild grass. They are sharp and pointed, and manage to disperse themselves on the winds or by transportation. They can work their way into your clothes without your knowing it, are uncomfortable against your skin, and seem to work their way into everything. If you have a dog, keep it out of the foxtails – they have been known to bore into skin and cause infections. Not pleasant to be around, but they are really lovely backlit, with their slender stalks and foxtailish shape.
