Nature Light Photo

OC Register Contest

I made a resolution to enter more photo contests this year. I made that resolution in January. It has taken me until now to get off my behind and start doing what I said I’d do.

The first contest I entered is the Orange County Register’s Wildflower Photo Contest. There are three categories; Nature Open, Flower and Man, and Nature. The images have to have been taken in Southern California. I picked two images and entered them into the contest.

The first one I entered was one I took on the Santa Rosa Plateau. It is a California Poppy that is  just getting ready to bloom. I entered it into the Nature Open category. I picked it because I liked the way that the poppy in background points to the main subject and the orange/pink of the flower seems to pop out of the green background.

Birth of California Poppy

The second image I entered was one that I took on Highway 58 while driving home from my parent’s house. It was an incredible year for wildflowers and as I drove past this ranch I saw the road going away from the gate and lined with bright yellow flowers. I immediately thought of the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz. I entered it into the Flower and Man category.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

I think both of the images are not bad. They probably won’t win because I didn’t go out looking to take an image specifically for the contest, which in many cases I think should be done. But I think they stand a chance.

You can vote for them at the OC Register site by clicking the link above, just don’t ask me how to find my particular images. Their system leaves a bit to be desired. If I find a direct link to my images, I’ll post it here.

Please feel free to leave a comment of let me know if you have any questions.

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Death Valley Redux – Pt. 3 – What is That Orange Bush?

As I was driving on the paved roads of Death Valley looking for wildflowers and other photographic subjects, I noticed areas that had a large number of “orange bushes”. The sight of so many in many places made me think about a possible photo opportunity.  I finally stopped to take a closer look and try to capture an interesting image.

I had never seen a plant of this type and was curious as to the details of the organism. Looking closer at the plant, I had two thoughts. One, it was a very unique flower of the bush (sage) that it was growing out of or, two, it was some kind of parasite.

After some research it turns out that my second thought was correct. It was Cuscuta californica, California dodder or chaparral dodder. It is a parasitic vine that grows throughout the south western United States and lives on small shrubs and other plants.

That information is all good and well, but the bottom line is that they are a small, bright spot of orange in the middle of the desert and have tremendous photographic potential.

Below are two examples of the plant. I would really like to take this picture when the sky is more interesting.

Cuscuta californica

Cuscuta californica

Please feel free to leave comments or let me know if you have any questions.

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Elephant Seals on the Central Coast

I spent yesterday at Piedras Blancas near San Simeon on the central coast. I got these images using my 70-200 f2.8 with a 2x teleconverter.

I hope you enjoy. I’ll post more later.

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Grasses at Mono Lake

On my trip to Bodie last month, I stopped at Mono Lake on Friday evening to shoot the tufas. While there, I turned around and saw these beautifully back-lit grasses. Working with different focus points and depths of field, I tried to capture the beauty that I saw. These are the results.

Also, while I was there, I ran into a Nikonians workshop group under the direction of Michael Mariant. I spent some time talking to him and he offered some much appreciated tips on shooting in the snow at Bodie. It was nice to see some fellow Nikonians out & about. They were nice people.

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