This is an interesting image to me. … It evokes loneliness, and yet it is a colony of birds as well.
They are protected here in their lonely home on the lake. Land based predators cannot reach them through the shallows.
For me, sitting on the shore, they are unreachable, except by my long lens.
The Salton Sea is a wonderful place to visit.
It has so many good memories for me and there are new memories. This image is just after sunset.
While capturing the image, the sea was very quiet, no wind, and still warm from the heat of the day. I could hear birds singing their evening songs as they were going to roost.
It is a good day.
At the time, in any location on our planet, when the sun is sinking in transit from day to night, all the species of plants and animals prepares for their nocturnal or diurnal missions. Diurnal, to sleep, and dream of love, life, and events untold coming from the events of the past day. Nocturnal, to rouse, take stock, touch, feel, taste the blood coursing through the veins, to live again.
Here we stand, at a point of decision. We can look at a moment and decide. Shall we live, or shall we sleep?
These are my goals, “Reaching the moon,” “Helping lead mankind to the stars,” “Infinity, and …”
This is what I do, “Show what I see,” “Always moving towards better vision.”
This is my hope, “That mankind will evolve, and benignly spread from this planet to near space, and beyond.”
This image is that continued grasping.
San Diego is a beautiful city as most people see it. But, it has many nooks and crannies of beauty seen by very few.
Fiesta island, is one of those beautiful places that are hidden from a casual view. The island is ringed by a road that is frequented by cyclists in their drive for healthful exercise. Between the road and the interior of most of the island, stand berms, artificial ridges of heaped earth that hides the islands center from the casual view of those just driving around the island. You have to stop your car, get out, and walk past the berms to the magic of a Southern California spring.
I walk there with my dog quite often. It is a very dog friendly place for off leash walking. In this image, my dog Gypsy is having a very good day.
You have to hurry down there to see it, because it is our spring, and it does not last long.
The last desert trip was full of cool sights. … Some of them are semi-frozen in time.
I caught this image as the earth was turning, bringing the sun lower to the horizon, watching the shadows growing longer. This little moment is frozen.
But, the horses are rusting. The color of rust makes them beautiful, specially beautiful in the ruddy light of a low sun, but it is rust, and being rust it is an indicator of decay.
All things have a lifetime. These horses are just past the prime of their lives. As long as they are able, they are committed to being in this fight for a very long time.
Spring in the desert of Southern California is full of beautiful things.
This particular Friday evening, was no exception when I went for a ride with a friend to the desert. Warm winds moved the branches, and hair, but did not chill the body. It was evening, and the sun was very low, creating long shadows, and a little later, as the sun dropped behind the mountains, no shadows at all.
I have several favorite images of the evening, but I always come back to this image of Jenivive looking at this large, and beautiful Ocotillo.
I like to walk my dog in different places. Part of the reason my dog goes along with me on these walks, is to give me the excuse to go somewhere she has not been.
This day, I took her down to Tecolote Canyon, not far from our normal route, but off the normal path. I was following the sound of laughing, and voices in good humor. The sound was coming from a hidden area. When we moved between trees, and next to the creek, we found six young men drinking beer, and having a good time.
These three were up in the tree, drinking. I thought the light looked very cool, and I asked them whether, or not, I could shoot this image. They said yes.
So here we have three young men, standing in a tree, drinking beer.
Heading West is not just a direction on the planet, it is a direction for the future. …
Horace Greeley did say this, “Go West young man, go West!” But, he lifted the intent from John B. L. Soule, an Indiana journalist, phrase, “Go West, young man, and grow up with the country”
To me, Heading West is heading to the future. In this image it is a railroad track leading to clear blue skys, out from under a dark cloud. … But, the track is set, you cannot vary from a track. With luck, our track will lead mankind to the stars.
One day a friend, Margaret, called. She wanted to take her dogs for a walk on Coronado Islands Dog beach.
This is an image from that day. … Two happy dogs walking, and playing on the beach.
You can see; it was a beautiful day.
I love colors. We see with colors. The world is colorful.
This little canyon along interstate “8,” just a small distance outside San Diego, caught my attention one day as I was driving towards the mountains. It is the life experienced in transit that matters, not the target of the transit that matters most. “Journey verses Destination”
By being open along the journey, I found this wonderful little place that captured my eyes for a short time. If I had been focused on the mountains, I would not have seen the trees.
I love life, and the travels.
Enjoy what I have captured in transit.
Why do I talk about a sextant today? I have always loved tools. And a sextant is one of those magical tools of the mariners, but that is not the whole reason.
Most people know the sextant as a tool to find ones latitudinal location on the planet, it does do that. But practically, it is a measurer of angles. Usually, it is seen used in the upright vertical position measuring the angle of the sun, or a star by navigators of the ocean, but it can also be used horizontally on its side to measure the angles between known things, like a couple mountain tops, to find a precise location on the planet.
So this posting is really about location. … My location, where am I going, and what am I doing?
Today, I am thinking about this sextant, and plotting my course for my future in photography. … I could use a few hands along the way. … And for all my friends, “Fair Winds and Following Seas.”
This lone Saguaro looks across the land of the petroglyphs of the Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site east of Gila Bend, Arizona USA.
Because Sentinel has one branch and is as tall as it is, the age of this cactus is estimated to be between 40, and 70 years old. This cactus could be my age, having seen what I have seen, and knowing what I know of life. But, this cactus is far smarter than I will ever be. He stands in the sun, year after year, watching the world, smelling the seasons as they move through time. This lone sentinel watches the stars at night, as they mark astronomical time.
This sentinel marks the shadow of the sun across the desert floor, while I run around scraping together things needed for my life to continue. He feels the water course down his flesh, pool at his base, and swells when it is ingested, expanding his structure so that he can pass the dry times. … I cannot go more than a few hours without water.
But, Sentinel cannot drive my Toyota.
I was wandering around Gila Bend, Arizona, and saw this rusted old water tower that was standing right beside the railway lines.
It no longer functions as a tower, but it surely does look good in a photograph. The light is from mid afternoon. And the clouds are the remnants of last nights rain.
I am getting ready to head out to the desert this week and shoot whatever the spring has brought to the Southern California deserts, usually aiming at the new growth.
Ahhh But! I am also a very opportunistic photographer. This image was from a previous spring jaunt into the barren land with a friend who also possesses the eyes of an eagle. He spotted this group of Big Horn Sheep from quite a distance, pointed them out to me, like a hunter siccing a dog onto a prey.
So I started walking towards these sheep, at an angle, moving closer towards them every step, but not directly towards them. That angled approach kept them from being spooked, and hightailing it for higher ground. In the end, this is the best I could do.
Notice the flowers, and the green all around the sheep. The flowers were the target of the day, the sheep was the true bonus, and best images of the day.
The very smallest crescent moon just moments after sunset, called the Cheshire Moon after the infamous cat in Alice’s Wonderland.
My friend, April, mentioned the Cheshire Moon in one of her Facebook status updates. I had forgotten the special name of this moon with the upturned smile. I renamed the image after April’s posting.
Lena, my niece’s daughter, was with me when I shot this in Pacific Beach. She kept saying, “Let’s go home!” and “I have to go to the bathroom.”
I kept saying, “Just a moment.” And, “We will be leaving soon.” Half an hour later, I had this image, and she had relief.
Santa Catalina Island, as seen from the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
The reason Los Angeles was clear, and as beautiful as it was on this day, is that a gentle off shore breeze had pushed all that normally obscures the city out into the sea. There it sits, as a golden haze, obscuring the plane where land and water meets.
Still, it is a pretty picture of a wave wrapping itself around a small point of land.
