By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea!

I took a brief hiatus from my job last week and spent 4 days visiting the central coastal area of California.  I flew in and out of San Francisco and meandered down Highway 1 from Half Moon Bay to Big Sur over the course of my stay.  My home for three of the five nights was in Pacific Grove at the Old St. Angela Inn. 

The time was far too brief but I got enough of a taste to wonder why I waited so long to visit.  I had never seen this part of California before.  I've long been interested in seeing the Steinbeck Center in Salinas, for instance, and who isn't curious about Carmel-by-the-Sea, Big Sur, and Pebble Beach.  I remember first reading about Carmel in the book "The Parent Trap" and of course the movie with Hayley Mills...  it sounded so glamourous (by-the-sea...  sigh...)

Below are a few photo highlights from the first day of my trip.  They are all handheld - no room for the tripod this trip.  I visited some beaches, and stopped briefly in Pescadero for lunch at Duarte's Tavern.  Duarte's Tavern was awarded the James Beard Foundation's America's Classics award in 2003.  It has been in the family for three, going on four generations.  Just this little stretch of Hwy 1 held so much interest and it's a shame I swept through in a matter of hours.  I could have spent days meandering through the small towns, hiking, taking photos.  This is what happens when you can only spare a few days off work. 

I spent the most time at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, which are the bottom six photos.  There is actually a hostel there, which is apparently quite a nice place to stay.  It has the location down, for sure!  The name comes from the wreck of the ship named Carrier Pigeon in the 19th century.  It holds a tie for the tallest lighthouse on the west coast of the US.

TGIF

A toast to Friday!

Above:  from the Eremo Gaudio in Varenna, Lake Como.

Below:  from the Vecchia Varenna in Varenna, Lake Como.

All photos taken in Italy.

Rocky Mountain High... Colorado

In honor of the three year anniversary of my first/only trip to Colorado, enjoy some photos I took on that trip.  It's a beautiful part of the world and one I hope to return before too much more time passes by.  The slideshow for the whole trip is far below. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalkerbeth/sets/72157602458502247/show/

Where there's Smoke, there's Fire

I am so pleased that I have blog followers!  This means I have to try to be creative and not boring (or silent) on my blog.

Here are some photos of some real cuties.  I took them in early June and haven't gotten around to posting them yet (other than on Flickr).  My photo club sponsored an outing to photograph several raptors and the ones I've highlighted here were the most adorable.  I wanted to hug them, which probably would have been met with some consternation! 

They are both Eastern Screech Owls, just different colors.  They are tiny - I bet no bigger than a Yorkie dog.  One is named Smoke, the other is named Fire.  Down below I've included the entire set of raptors from flickr. 

The flickr set of 49 photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalkerbeth/sets/72157624209402796/show/

Capturing the Monarchs of fall before they fly to their winter home

Yesterday was a hot day and you know how butterflies love that.  I am glad to have spent some time at Meadowlark Gardens yesterday afternoon because today is cooler and much less promising for capturing butterflies.  For all that I spent an hour in the gardens, I spent significantly more time than that sorting photos on the computer.  Sorting through them all and getting them finally to the blog is akin to ripping off the blue tape after you have spent all day painting your living room:  Voila and Tada!

My flickr set is linked below the photos, do take a look:  I promise you there are only 34 total photos. 

Enjoy the photos of my favorite butterfly (and another one I cannot identify, but isn't she pretty?) and look out next month for photos from their winter home in Pacific Grove, California (on the Monterey Peninsula).  The East Coast Monarchs go to Mexico for the winter, whereas the West Coast Monarchs fly to Pacific Grove. 

Picture roving gangs of butterflies, traveling at 10,000 feet, buffeted by the winds.  How many will make it?  What if the East Coast Monarchs crossed paths with the West Coast Monarchs?  Would there be a brawl?  Would tiny rap songs be written about the event?  How would they even know which coast was home?  So many questions to ponder.  hahaha

And here are all thirty-four of them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalkerbeth/tags/meadowlarkbutterflies/show/

And now for something completely different

More flowers!  Fooled ya with the title, huh?

I set up my Canon 30D on my Gitzo tripod near my kitchen window (IE sidelighting).  Canon 35mm F1.4L lens, set on F2.0.  I let the camera select the shutter speed when I started shooting then did some bracketing/viewfinder viewing to see where the best exposure was.  Then, I set the timer (10 seconds) and each time I tripped the shutter I would run around behind the flowers with a different colorful dishcloth (all bought in Provence) and hold it up behind the flowers as a backdrop.  I even used a big sheet of tinfoil as a backdrop for one photo. 

Please vote!

I had a great Saturday morning!  I was part of a fun photo outing which involved only my club but many photographers around the world.  Scott Kelby (a renowned photographer) started the annual Worldwide Photo Walks three years ago. 

The entire concept inspiring the walk is fantastic - to think that on the same day in numerous communities around the world photographers were wandering around, on the same mission, on a photo treasure hunt.  Immediately afterwards everyone meets for lunch and then in the days afterwards the bounty from the treasure hunts trickle in.  Each person submits the one they like the best to Scott's website and also the flickr website for their gallery.  I especially like the random group shots of the photographers taken around the world. 

Some of the subjects were lower on the list of things I gravitate towards shooting so it was a little stretch for me. For instance, I rarely take photos of people because I feel shy doing so - I either feel intrusive or just plain funny taking candids of strangers... whereas this time some of us had a pair of delightful little girls to photograph. I think this exercise made you look harder at familiar surroundings.  At any rate, which of my photos do you think I should submit? 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalkerbeth/sets/72157624468654509/show/

Thanks for looking!

I chose this one to submit.  I did not win.  Nonetheless, this was fun. 

Yes, it really is that blue!

More photos of scenic Switzerland... These photos were all taken from an ICN train - IC stands for "Inter City" (which means FAST) and the N must stand for "tilt" because that is what it does. The regular IC trains do not tilt around curves but the ICN trains do lean into curves. Not quite like a motorcycle (there was no scraping of knee pads) but the effect was quite noticeable. Hang on to your drinks!


The train ride was beautiful but when we got to Lake Lucerne we all gasped. So blue! I assume this is due to glaciers, because the last time I saw water that blue was when I flew in a little Cessna 172 over Whistler, British Columbia, to see the glaciers in those parts. Glacier Lake Blue I called the color then, and it is stupendous.

Enjoy!

Hiking in the Alps - a perfect ending to our trip

 

These were all taken at Schynige Platte in the Berner Oberland. Dad is pointing out the hash marks on the trail which warn of difficult conditions. He is a trouper!  He had broken his hip four months before we left on our trip and he went hiking in the Alps with me!  Whatta guy.

The mountain you can see through the flowers is, I believe, the Eiger.