Tag: California

Fire Road to Somewhere

Fire Road to Somewhere

I expect the fire roads of many back country areas are dirt, but perhaps a little more green, with a few more trees. In the dry mountains and hills of California, this is a pretty typical scene. However, when you are in the middle of it all, taking the time to look gives you an appreciation for the beauty of plant and animal life. Up here are lizards and coyotes, snakes and birds. The plants are adapted to a life in a dry land, so leaves are small and flowers appear with a small amount of rain, so the seeds for the next season can regenerate the species. The air, too, can be filled with smells, such as the scent of resinous plants.

If you like, click on the image for a bigger view. This is a panorama processed in LR5 and Photomatix Pr.

Another Sunday Hike

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Another weekend hike!  This one was a surprise to me – sort of like a kidnap party where you don’t know where you are going to end up.  I get picked up, and off we drive.  I knew we would be going somewhere in the next town over, Simi, but not the specifics.

Pano 4

We ended up in Tapo Canyon, which leads into the Santa Monica mountains north of the city.  Another dirt road with beautiful oak trees, wild grasses, and little if any poison oak.  About a mile or so in, the flat dirt road gives way to a short, but steep, climb.  No trees, just grassy hills so typical of the southern California landscape.

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The view from the top of the saddle looked into another valley, and down into the one we had just climbed out.  We could have continued, but not wanting to spend the whole morning hiking – or the whole day as who knows where the trail would come out! – we turned around and headed back to the car.

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Downhill is different that up hill, just as in is different than out.  Viewpoints change.  All of this makes for interesting photography opportunities.  For me, the most fun was seeing two different snakes, one short and stripped, another longer and mottled, both scuttling away into the grasses as we came down the hill.  Luckily, no rattlers!

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And this is all part of the art of living, eh?

Through the Weeds

Through the Weeds

Another picture, taken nearly 4 years ago when I was just learning how to handle a camera. I have no idea what camera I used – no raw data files in the directory. The colors in the original were pretty drab SOOC, so I tried to do something to them. The colors are less intense than what I like, but it does match the mood of that day. It was taken in November, when all the grasses have dried, but before the winter rains begin. The landscape has a neutral quality to it, yet, if you look, there is also color, though very subtle. What I did accomplish was contrast between fore and background, and an increase of textural detail, which is such a part of the California landscape in the hills.

Through the Window

Through the Window

Last Friday some friends and I went to the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, California. Wonderful acreage with multiple gardens, but very short hours! We spent most of our time there in the Japanese and Chinese gardens. The Japanese garden was installed 100 years ago; the Chinese garden is much newer – within the last 20 years – and more is being constructed as I write. A great place to visit year round.