Sunday, January 31, 2010

1/31/10 Tomales Bay Elk

We drove out to Point Reyes National Seashore today, where this tule elk herd grazes on the hillside, with Tomales Bay in the background. In this view I liked the reflection of the rocks in the bay, although you probabaly need to view large to notice this. The elk live in a protected, fenced in area of the park which has allowed their herd to grow quite large. If you drive through this area it is almost guaranteed that you will see some elk, and we probably saw at least 100 today.

01/31/10


My flower the next day!
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01/30/10


Spring is blooming in my kitchen! It is a rainy weekend, so i just had to focus on Springtime inside!
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1/30/10 Sonoma Coast State Beaches

The surf was up today so I headed for the beach. These wonderful clouds were just blowing out as I arrived, meaning that the some of the first pictures I took turned out to be some of the best. I need to remember how fast weather conditions can change (and maybe I should not have stopped to shoot the barn and the birds on the way to the beach!).

Friday, January 29, 2010

1/29/10 Bandit


Our dog Bandit.

01/29/10




OK, I looked up towards the sky and saw this............ What do you think? There was NO plane doing any cloud writing anywhere... I don't know what to say. Glad I had my camera...........
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1/28/10 Adobe Road Sunset

As the rain is tapering off, the mustard flowers are popping up all over the place, like this field I passed at sunset today.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

01/28/10


Another shot of Miami Beach..... Gotta love the life style....
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01/27/10


Our weather has been beautiful here lately. The clouds are taking on all sorts of wonderful colors. You have to love a pretty sunset.
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

1/27/10 Evening Sky


The rain finally let up tonight, just as the sun was setting. I noticed the colors in these clouds so stopped to take a shot.

01/26/10


I've got flowers!!! Thought this was fun to show the flowers and the buds...
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

1/26/10 Red Berries

Everyone around here seems to have these red berry bushes. Wish I knew what they were called, I should get one for my garden.

01/25/10


Typical day on Miami Beach. I should be spending more time on it!!
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01/24/10


Love parrots, well as long as they aren't mine!!! This isn't as sharp as I would like, but this bird was constantly moving!!!
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Monday, January 25, 2010

1/25/10 Tree in B&W

Since I did not really like the yellowish/green color of the grass in this photo, I converted it to black and white. It's been pouring rain here all day so not too many photo opps, but I have tons of photos to work on from Long Beach, where I ended up having a day of sunshine to visit the Queen Mary as you saw from my prior photo.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

1/24/10 Apples

The fruit and vegetables at my local organic market always look so beautiful and perfect, like these apples I saw there today.

1/23/10 Queen Mary

While in Long Beach, I visited the Queen Mary, which is docked there and is a huge attraction. The ship was once the most stylish way to cross the Atlantic and is still a gorgeous Art Deco beauty.

1/22/10 Long Beach Lighthouse

This is the Lion's Lighthouse For Sight in Long Beach, California, built in 2000. Having flown down there for some meetings Thursday night in stormy weather, I was delighted to find that the skies were clearing when I finished my meetings Friday night. I grabbed my tripod and headed for the waterfront, where I was rewarded with a beautiful light show at this lighthouse, which changes colors.

1/21/10 Porch

I have always liked the porch on this pretty Petaluma farmhouse.

01/23/10


South Florida is home of some of the most beautiful yachts in the world. I love watching the boats come and go. However I think I would prefer being on the yacht and looking back to the mainland!!!
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Friday, January 22, 2010

01/22/10


What can I say. I LOVE macro and for some reason I find myself drawn to flowers more than I ever would have thought.
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Thursday, January 21, 2010

01/21/10


At the Marina at Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. I love then patterns on the photo.
wish I could have stayed longer!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

01/20/10


the Hibiscus continues to open........ Life in the bahamas is good.....

01/19/10


The Hibiscus, starting to bloom...

1/20/10 Petaluma, California

Since we started this blog, knowing I must have a shot each day, I have been carrying my camera around more. Today, while getting my car smogged, I walked around the corner and got this picture of the newly restored Petaluma Visitor Center. I will be adding this to my Flickr set on Petaluma, in which I am adding photos of local architectural details, particularly the old Victorians. This is one of three historical buildings that are all together at this location, another being the town's new art center, all of which have been beautifully restored and painted in coordinating shades of golds, oranges and dark green trim.
In processing this photo in Lightroom, I pulled down the shadows under the Curves adjustment in order to darken the shadow under the arches, because there are two trash cans sitting there which I wanted to make much less noticeable by darkening these areas. I darkened the shadows and increased the Darks and Light adjustments to brighten the yellow facade of the building, increasing the contrast between these areas. Some folks might just lasso those trash cans right out of the shot with Photoshop, but I generally don't make such drastic changes to my photos.
Alternatively, I have some other shots that are vertical orientation (or I can also crop this view) that include the center portion, but exclude the adjacent archways. I kind of liked the archways included, because they add grace and style to the building. I also thought that the larger view shown here gave a better sense of this building by including more of it.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

1/19/10 Winter Vineyard


I happened to drive by this pretty little vineyard in Santa Rosa today, during a brief break in the storms.

Monday, January 18, 2010

1/18/10 Camel


First I stopped by the side of the road to take a photo of a pretty little barn. Then I looked over to the next field and saw a camel. Not a cow or sheep, a camel. Really. Here it is.

01/18/10


Crazy day. Left before the sun was up and got home after it sat.......... I am not a fan of taking photos with a flash. Not sure why, but just not. So was looking around the house for a shot and saw my salad preparations that looked pretty good. Believe it or not. The colors are correct and true. and the salad tasted quite good! Leaving for Marsh Harbor tomorrow on Tommy and Debbie's jet to stay at their house for a couple days. CAN'T wait! Island shots are always fun!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

1/17/10 Surf's Up


The surf was up today, so we headed to Schoolhouse Beach to check out the waves. I love to shoot waves with my little cable release. Just set up the tripod, watch and click when you see something you like.

01/17/10


It was a rainy, ugly day here today. So between raindrops I ran to the grocery store. As I walked in I saw they had pots of Hyacinths. Another of my favorite flowers. I chose one plant with only buds because I enjoy watching them flower. So today I am showing you how it looked when I brought it home. And in a few days I will show you how it is grown!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

1/16/10 Tomales Bay Fish Shack



Tomales Bay is one of the neat places around here, where you can eat some great local oysters or crab. Since it was rather cold and rainy out, the glow of the light inside this shack made me wish I was inside it, cozy and warm.

01/16/10


This is the famous Hibiscus flower that flourishes here in South Florida. I love how it looks and it just seems to represent that great tropical vibe. They grow easily, with very little maintenance. Another reason I love them!!!
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01/15/10


I know Denise loves Landscapes, however, I am more of a Macro girl. I like to try to find close ups that hopefully will make you wonder for just a minute, what or where they are. It just seems to be where my eye goes naturally. I love to walk along and look for some obscure object that hopefully will give the viewer some clue as to what the photo represents. It isn't always obvious. But that is what I try to capture.
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Friday, January 15, 2010

1/15/10 Olive Ranch


This is the McEvoy Olive Ranch, just outside of town. The rows that look like grapevines are really olive trees. I took this around 8:30 am, and so it was still pretty foggy out as you can see. So not the best light - this could use more color and contrast. Are you getting the idea that we have a lot of fog here in the winter? But the weekend is here so might head for the vineyards and coast this weekend!

01/14/10


This sums up Miami quite well..................

Thursday, January 14, 2010

1/14/10 Horse in the Fog

This horse looked kind of dreamy in the fog this morning. I converted the white balance to Daylight in LR to warm this up a bit. I wished for the barns in the background to show up a bit more, but that did not work, you can barely see them - maybe this makes the barns more of a distraction, I'm not sure.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

1/13/10 Petaluma Mill

When the clouds started breaking this morning, this feed mill is what was in the view below them. It is so typical Petaluma (sometimes known as the Egg Basket of the World)! It felt glorious to see the sun, even for a few minutes! If there is one thing I love in my photos, it is clouds (of which we are completely deprived all summer long when we get absolutely zero rain!)!

01/14/10


As Gary and I where taking an evening stroll around the Marina, I saw one of the largest sailboats I have ever seen. The water was so calm and smooth and the reflection was just amazing. However I wish I had come upon her about 15 minutes earlier, I think the light would have been better......
Oh well, probably shouldn't have poured that glass of wine before we left......
Still doesn't make me want to be with a man who has a sailboat, just have a man, whose BEST friend has one....
hahahaha. Words of wisdom to live by! Right, Denise?????
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