Small villages perch atop low hills, surrounded by rolling fields of sunflowers, wheat and beets punctuated with blue flax and other crops. This is the Gatinais region, not too far south of Paris. Nestled among the fields are river valleys, punctuated by pine and heather forests growing in almost pure sand interspersed with rounded, weatheredContinue reading “Gatinais landscapes, France”
Category Archives: Photography
Before the rain returns
After over a month of drought, the coming storm announces itself in the Western sky.
Frosty Abstracts
A cold night paints the garden with abstract patterns of frost.
New Year Sunset
A colorful sunset highlights winter tree branch structure.
A foggy day
This ethereal foggy morning is now gone, blown away by strong winds. Wet, dewy fog has to be enjoyed while it’s here, especially in fall when it intensifies colors and transforms an ordinary leaf into a translucent jewel.
Scary Monsters!
This is not, strictly speaking, a tomato worm. It’s the larva of Manduca sexta, the dreaded Tobacco Hornworm. Nor is it a worm. It’s a larval insect that could more properly be termed a caterpillar if not for the image of caterpillars being cute and worms being ugly. Anything capable of stripping the leaves ofContinue reading “Scary Monsters!”
California Native Plant Society garden
The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) hosted a fun, informal event in the native garden of the Historic City Cemetery in Sacramento (on Broadway). They’ve been working on this garden since 1997, so many of the plants are getting mature. Many dedicated volunteers work regularly to maintain the existing plants and add new ones.
Art photography
The technique is simple: get a white diffuser, place it behind the flower on the sunward side so that it shades the flower. Set your camera to overexpose by at least one EV, make sure that no sunlight hits the lens and fire away. You may still need to adjust exposure in your photo editingContinue reading “Art photography”