Winter in Sonoma County

I joined a group with photographer Lance Kuehne to some of his favorite photography locations in northern Sonoma county. This was also my first chance to try out the new Sony A7RV camera and its focus bracketing option. See the first photo below - this is a stack of 13 shots with different focus points. It worked well - the daisies in the foreground (about 15 inched away) are in perfect focus as is the tree in the distance. It’s not a great shot (the tree wasn’t really that compelling a subject) but it was good practice to learn how do it.

We were at the last location as the sun was setting. F16 got me the sunburst.

Point Reyes New Year's Day 2025

I joined a group of about 12 other photographers on a New Year’s Day photo trip to Point Reyes National Seashore. Subjects included Pierce Point Ranch, South Beach, the elephant seals at Drake’s Beach and the Cypress Tree Tunnel. I did cheat a bit and return to the tunnel the next week when there were fewer people and the light was better.

Point Arena, Mendocino Coast, CA

Another trip to try to capture Bowling Ball Beach. The tide was about right (2 ft low tide around sunset) and the weather forecast said clear skies with some cloud at sunset, but it was completely clouded over an hour before sunset.

Instead I shot the Point Arena lighthouse - not great light but OK. I then hiked the Pelican Bluffs south of Point Arena. It was also overcast but took one shot through the trees, and a couple more macro shots.

Full Moon rising over San Francisco

A couple of shots taken with the 400mm lens from Sausalito (approx five miles away). The Moon is rising behind the Salesforce Tower. Heavy haze means the Moon is is blurred.

Which one do you prefer?

Macro Shots

Here are a couple of test shots I took with my new Sony FE4/70-200 Macro lens. I bought this primarily as a lighter option than carrying the 100-400mm lens on long hiking trips. This lens has the added advantage that it is a 1:2 Macro lens - it focusses close-up on small items so that they appear as 1/2 size on the sensor. Usually a macro lens would be 1:1, but 1:2 is good enough for close-ups of flowers and the like. See the close-up of the lavender plant below.

I also managed to get a shot of a bee feeding on the lavender. Would be easier if they could keep still for a bit.

Hot Air Balloons over Napa Valley

These are launched from the parking lot of a Napa restaurant. Easy to get to and photograph the take-off, but surprisingly hard to follow and photograph the balloons once launched. I’m glad I wasn’t driving. Shot with mostly 100-400mm lenses.

Ospreys at Mono Lake

Another sunrise shoot at Mono Lake. The light was terrible though so no good sunrise shots. On the walk back from the battleship I noticed this Osprey nest on top of one of the tufas. I think they were incubating eggs since one of them (the male I think) would fly off and collect some more twigs while the other one would stay in the nest.

I used the Merlin Bird ID app to identify the bird species by their cries.

Tule Elk

On a fairly extensive hike on Point Reyes National Seashore, I took a few pictures of the Tule Elk. They were probably 75 to 100 feet from the trail, and they kept a steady eye on me as I photographed them with my 400mm.

Point Reyes Shipwreck

I’ve photographed the famous Point Reyes shipwreck before (in 2013). Since then it has been set on fire, reportedly by photographers doing light painting at night using burning steel wool. (Note: don’t use open flames to light old, dry wooden artifacts, or anything else where there is a fire risk.) I stopped by this week on my way to hike the Point Reyes seashore (and photograph the Tule Elk - more on that later).

Although the back of the boat is mostly destroyed, the front still stands, although I think on a more pronounced tilt than before. Then I noticed that someone has painted a trompe l'oeil effect on the front of the hull to look like a continuation of the damage, including exposed ribs showing through holes in the hull. It looks pretty good in my opinion. An example of one person’s art improving on someone else’s damage.

Shot with the Sony A7RIV, and my new Voigtlander FE 35mm F1.2 Norton SE for Sony lens. Not great light, but fun playing with the new lens.

Cactus Flowers - With Bees!

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The cactus in my back yard flowers at this time of year. They are quite spectacular, but they don’t last long: from dawn to about 10.00am usually. Then that’s it - the flower doesn’t appear again. “The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.” (Deckard. Also Lao Tzu.) This year though, there were so many (well over 100) that the cactus has been a riot of flowers for over a week now. Ten to 20 a day.

The honey bees have gone wild over these rare delicacies too. They must give off a scent that they like because they are all over the flowers and are going nuts.

Some pictures of the cactus and flowers below. Also a couple of videos of bees going wild. Shot with the iPhone XS. For reference, the cactus is about 11-12 feel tall.

Honey Bee

I think these are honey bees, anyway. Dozens of these in my backyard collecting nectar from the flowers. These little guys are less than half an inch long. I never knew they were covered in tiny hairs until I saw this blown-up photo.

Shot with the 100-400mm zoom. Not generally known as a macro lens, but at a pinch, with quite a bit of cropping…

Hawk in my backyard

Looked out the window and there it was, sitting in my tree. I think it’s a Cooper’s Hawk, but I’m no expert. Certainly a beautiful animal. More so than the vultures I caught last year.

Bodie Photos

I have finally got around to processing and uploading the images from Bodie taken in August 2019. See the new Bodie gallery. As well as a few new outside shots, there are numerous shots of the interiors, as well as some night-time images.

Bodie at night

I just got back from a trip photographing Bodie ghost town at night. We were also able to photograph the interiors of many buildings. Neither of these are normally allowed. More on this later, but for now here is a shot of the famous 1937 Chevrolet coupe under the Milky Way.

Palouse Red Barn

A couple of weeks ago I spent a week in The Palouse - an area of eastern Washington state known for its rolling hills, old barns and general old-world rural Americana. A beautiful part of the country. What with catching up with work, and filing my taxes, I haven’t had time yet to go through the 830 shots I took, but here is one from the first morning. Click the image for the full screen version.

Whale Watching in Monterey

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It’s taken a while for me to get to this, but here goes.

In May I visited Monterey California, to do some whale watching. Well, we did see one whale, so I suppose technically I can’t complain. The photo below is of a humpback. Also we saw a pod of Risso’s Dolphins leaping out of the water. The scars on this one’s body are thought to result agressive interactions with other dolphins in the pod.

Also, a picture of some Harbor Seals at Point Lobos.

Buzzards in my back yard

Actually my neighbor’s fence. Behold, the California Turkey Vulture. Beautiful plumage.

Looking out the window, I saw several of these birds circling low and figured they had probably detected a dead animal nearby. They are pretty common here in California, often seen effortlessly soaring the skies on thermals, but you usually don’t see them close to the ground unless they’ve found some carrion. So I quickly bolted the 100-400mm onto the camera and shot outside to see what they were after. It turns out they were just having a rest on next door’s fence.

At 2½ feet tall and with a six foot wingspan they’re quite big. Not the most beautiful of birds, but they serve a purpose by clearing the environment of rotting dead meat. It’s called the Turkey Vulture because its bald red head resembles that of a turkey, not because it’s especially closely related to one.

Crescent City, Califiornia

I cut my Oregon trip short by one day because the rain had started again (and was forecast for the evening and next day too). Almost as soon as I crossed back into California, the rain stopped and the sun came out. I stopped in Crescent City, the most northerly town on the CA coast, to snap the picture below with the new Sony 100-400 mm lens. Click the image for a full screen version. This lens is sharp!

Burney Falls

On my way up to Oregon, I decided to break up the journey by stopping at Burney Falls in northern California. The trouble is, I hadn’t been able to find any information about the best time of day (morning? afternoon?) to photograph it. Well, as I discovered, the falls face virtually due east, and so evening (when I was there) is not the best time as (1) the falls are in shadow and (2) the sky showing above the top of the falls is so bright it is mostly burnt out.

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Unfortunately, early morning isn’t much good either. This is because the falls are in quite a deep gorge (see where I took the above photo from) and so the falls are in shadow first thing in the morning too. My guess is that mid morning (say 10-11am) would be the best, as the sun would be high enough to light the inside of the gorge. I wouldn’t know, as I had to leave early, so I just took these two snaps with the iPhone.

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The young woman below was having some photos taken for her portfolio (so one of the photographer’s assistants told me). I’m not sure exactly who she was supposed to be, but it was different. I hope the pro shots work out for her.

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