Like Living in Paradise

I took a drive along the seashore at the point where the Monterey Bay opens to the Pacific ocean.  It was such a dramatic afternoon.  I didn't have my camera, but just like everyone else, I had my cell phone with its camera. Remembering the adage that the best camera you own is the one you have with you, I stopped and took a picture.  I hadn't seen the kites until just before I snapped the shot.  Lucky me!

In bocca al lupo. m

January Landscape

I have been starting up with a new job and haven't been out with the camera much lately.  So, the other day I took a short trip over to the Fort Ord National Monument to check out the light near sunset.  The clouds actually darkened most of the scenery, but I was able to catch some silhouettes of these branches.

In bocca al lupo. m (no v)...still miss him

Red Sky

An incredible sunset during that beach shoot we did a couple of weeks ago.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Boxes

Continuing with the framed and captioned theme.  I've been looking at these boxes out in the field for a week now and have wanted to get a picture.  I used the photo merge in Photoshop to get the full panorama.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

An Experiment in Presentation

Another slightly different veiw of an earlier photo from this month. I attended a talk by Ted Oland the other evening and he was showing some of the various styles he's used for his work. I was struck by some of his images presented in a take on the 19th century engravings, so I thought I'd see how some of my work fares with this style. I like it.

In bocca al lupo. m (no v)

June 27 Sunset

We had some good light last evening and I actually pulled myself up, grabbed the camera and headed out to catch some of it.

And I always have to indulge my love of black and white:

Farms of the valley.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Barn #7

The broad side of a barn framed by its surrounding landscape.  I chose an optic center, or weighted center for this "mount".  I choose black and white for gravitas. These barns are iconic.  Although they are used in nearly every culture, a barn of single wall, plain board, on a farm is somehow associated with Americana.  A symbol of the heart, of ideals, of solidity, home, security, love.  It at once reaffirms independence and an encompassing community spirit.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 5/21/15

Building the portfolio

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 5/10/15

On the way home tonight...

Playing with post processing to make the photos look vintage

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 4/15/15

Now I'm getting into landscapes...

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

More Fog

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 3/26/15

Before first light. The neighborhood is just waking up.  I'm learning about long exposure shots and this is so fun!  A few days ago I posted a color shot of a gas station along the Monterey/Salinas Highway.  I have a black and white version that I like a whole lot better:

It's just timeless.  I can see Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts stopping to fill up their truck before heading out

A group of us took a tour at Asilomar the other day.  It's a beautiful and unique state park. 

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 3/15/15

I couldn't resist this night time scene in the heart of Steinbeck Country.  A gas station at the edge of the fields.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

The Dunes

We finally found the entrance to Ft. Ord Dunes State Beach along Monterey Bay.  On the spot where I took this from there used to be an enlisted mens' club that was commissioned by General Stillwell.  It was an elegant place for the soldiers to relax and escape for a time during the wars.  The interior was beautiful with large well lit rooms, huge fireplaces, reading rooms, and beautiful murals painted by WPA artists.  In 2003 the building was torn down. The cliffs were eroding and the building had been battered by recent storms. The army tried to save the building, but nature won.  I don't know if the murals were preserved.  I know it was discussed. It will take some looking into.  One would hope that, at the least, there are photo documents. Stillwell Hall was the first enlisted mens' club built. Prior to that only officers warranted such grand accommodation for their relaxation.  The views of the bay were stupendous.

As we sat on the bluff a large school of Risso's Dolphins swam playfully by.  They leaped behind the waves and surfed within them.  For some reason every shot I took of those lovely dolphins came out extremely under exposed.  Must have been my excitement at seeing another creature at play.  We will just have to keep going back.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Working Together

Today v and I had a job in Carmel Valley.  Good light in the manzanitas.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Maybe....?

We're being considered for a calendar photo!  I submitted this shot that I featured last February after a great hike at Elkhorn Slough.  My first time submitting and getting a "consideration" notice.  Whoo-Hoo!

I have no idea when we'll finally know the outcome, but I will keep this site posted for anyone interested.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Breathe!

Fall is in the air and today was the perfect day to be out on the bay. Mystical October. There is something about the light and the quality of the air.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Three Beach at Sunset

Have I mentioned that we live in Paradise? I have been working on a photo assignment over the weekend and was not taking the digi along with me, too much of a distraction and temptation.  My 365 project is falling woefully behind already.  To make up for it I am including 3 shots from Big Sur where v and I went to relax and shoot.  I'm so loving black and white that I had to start with this one.  The colors are pretty nice as well.

Sunset, not morning!

When Edward Weston was photographing Big Sur and Pt. Lobos, he was most assuredly photographing late in the day and sunset.  Morning shots are blocked by the mountains.
Right now our weather is perfect! If we didn't have a commitment this afternoon we'd be back down there shooting away and just loving the sun!

In bocca al lupo. m & v

Waste(d)land

Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula covers the same square mileage as the city/county of San Francisco.  There are hundreds of these barracks and many other buildings being allowed to stand useless.  A few years ago a few buildings were sold for $1 to churches and other foundations.  Those buildings have been restored, painted, and landscaped and are beautiful as well as functional.  Why, why, why do we continue to pave over open land, reduce fertile land for farms in order to build more and more housing units?  The Fort Ord Reuse Agency could sell the units for that same $1 with a stipulated time limit for improvement and habitability and lease the land the units are on.  These building would make terrific townhomes, studios, and businesses.  Across the road is a shopping center.  Access to Highway 1 is only a few hundred feet down the road, and the view is the Monterey Bay! There is a high school right in the center of all of these derelict buildings and believe me, the kids have no trouble getting inside these places. Doors stand wide open, windows are shattered and signs of less than legal activity is everywhere.

There they stand on their hill overlooking the bay and the new shopping center.  The barracks and other abandoned buildings go on for miles along paved roads winding maze-like over the vast expanse of the former military base. They need to be restored and re-used and we need to reduce the waste of land that once gone cannot be brought back.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

California Wildflowers

Last month, on a really nice spring day, v and I took a drive out to see the Mission San Antonio. One of his nurses at the chemo clinic clued us in on where to find fields of lupin and other wildflowers.  I've always loved to visit the old California Missions.  I've been to almost all of them now.  Mission San Antonio is one of the more remote.  It's also on an army base and army vehicles are frequently seen passing along the road just above the mission grounds.  The property used to be owned by William Randolph Hearst.  He sold it to the army.

There is a lot of lupin, but I hadn't seen such vast fields of California Poppies ever before.

As remote as this mission is there is a parson living there.  There is an entire section gated off for privacy, with a garden that is only open for a few hours a day to the public.

This was as close as I could get when we visited.  

The columns are much newer than the old adobe columns in front of the church

This was looking back toward the mission over the fields of lupin.

We'd been informed, before our drive, that this has been a bad year for wildflowers here.  What must it look like on a good year?

In bocca al lupo.  m & v