photography

September 15, 2013

Bag, Box, and Clubhouse

Warning: If you hate cute cat pix, stop reading now before you ruin your day.

Like all cats, the five in my household like to go inside stuff. It is the moments like these that persuade me to forgive them during times like these.

Here are Bop and Luna in a deep bag:

Bagful of cats.

Bagful of cats.

The kittens often play in a long narrow box. Arrow also uses the box when it’s time for her meds:

Ever tried to drag a cat out of a 6 foot x 5 inch box?

Bo, Leo, and Arrow spend many hours in a mostly dead bush that has become their clubhouse:

Entrance to the Clubhouse

Entrance to the Clubhouse

Can you spot Bo deep in the Clubhouse?

Can you spot Bo deep in the Clubhouse?

 

This is what one’s paws look like after a day in the Clubhouse:

Nothing is better than coming home filthy.

Few things are finer than coming home filthy.

 

Bop does about five times more cute stuff than any other cat I’ve known. This is likely related to her being such a jerk to the other cats. If she’s cute enough I won’t return her to the shelter? Hmm. May have worked so far. She likes to help me sort papers:

There. All arranged.

There. All arranged.

And in some situations she acknowledges the lowly human has the right idea:

PIllow and comforter enhance the nap experience.

A pIllow and comforter can enhance the nap experience.

For those of you who don’t know cats very well, an assurance: no cats were organized or arranged in the shooting of these photographs.

The Weekly Photo Challenge wants to see “Inside”.

September 11, 2013

If You Speak Spanish And You Survived, This Sign’s For You

When you enter Mandalay Beach in Oxnard, California you see a sobering sign:

Welcome to our beach. You're on your own.

Welcome to our beach. You’re on your own.

Now, millions of folks in California speak Spanish – and quite a few of them speak Spanish, only. Recognizing the need for a sign in Spanish, attached to the back of this sign is the same warning, translated to Spanish:

Just FYI.

Something to talk about as you head home.

Just one problem. You won’t see this sign unless you are leaving the beach. So. If you speak Spanish and you survive your day in the Oxnard waves, as you depart you will learn just how lucky you are.

September 10, 2013

Water Lines

When away from Oroville Dam in northern California, I can resent its intrusive existence and its destruction of the Feather River. Yet when I visit and walk across the dam, I see the beauty that remains. Currently, the reservoir is low on water, which exposes  patterns that disappear when submerged.

lowdam2photo

The current Weekly Photo Challenge wants photos from an unusual perspective.)

September 8, 2013

My Personal Space Telescope

On my recent walk across Oroville dam in northern California, clouds moved rapidly across the sun – all these photos were taken during just a few, rapidly evolving minutes – and created a spectacular scene that looked like star nebula photographed by the Hubble.

cloud7photo

cloud5photo

cloud4photo

cloud1photo

The current Weekly Photo Challenge wants photos from an unusual perspective.)

September 6, 2013

Repeating Landscapes

Reflections and shadows make the world more intriguing. This is true in people as well as terrains, but I don’t have photos that demonstrate this for personalities.

August’s full moon was so bright that it cast shadows on my car and produced enough light for me to take this photo:

That bright dot is the full moon, reflected in my car hood.

That bright dot is the full moon, reflected in my car hood.

An easy hike up Malibu Creek in southern California leads to duplicate images in this still and reflective pond.

Can you find the water line?

Can you find the water line?

Look in the pond and see the sky!:

Pond's-eye view of the sky.

Pond’s-eye view of the sky.

A tree’s reflection in the pond:

Another pond's-eye view

Another pond’s-eye view

The current Weekly Photo Challenge wants photos from an unusual perspective.)

September 5, 2013

I Had Better Get Busy

My “desert island” food is the blueberry. My “desert island” place is the ocean. Which proves convenient: I don’t have to bring my favorite place with me to the desert island, it will already surround me.

Desert island. Typing that phrase, I realize how comfortable I am using language when I don’t entirely know what it means. That must get me into trouble sometimes but apparently I don’t know when that happens.

Desert island. Somewhere remote and cut-off, I figure. Checking that infallible source of information, the internet, I learn that a desert island is an island that is not inhabited by humans.

(Sue’s first rule of blogging: start with a digression. Or four.)

Here’s the point: I love the ocean but I have only been to two of them.  Mostly the Pacific. Occasionally the Atlantic. Surely I need to see the others, and visit them from more than one location. Which means I had better get busy and travel faster.

Here is what the Atlantic Ocean looked like during my visit to a Florida beach:

The Atlantic Ocean from a beach in central Florida.

The Atlantic Ocean at sunset from a beach in central Florida.

At this beach it was not a good idea to walk while enjoying the view. There were dead jellyfish everywhere! I don’t know whether this was typical for this area. Perhaps I visited during a time of jellyfish affliction.

Dead jellyfish covered the beach like land mines.

It was a beach of dead jellyfish land mines.

(In response to this Weekly Photo Challenge.)

August 30, 2013

My Most Potent Energy Source

The ocean is my place. It’s where I go to revive, invigorate, find peace. At the shore I feel connected to all that underlies our everyday lives.

I love the way the shorebirds run out as the surf recedes, run back as it returns. They are so in tune with the pattern of the waves and the movements of the other birds. And it often feels like they are playing as well as eating.

Ventura Beach, California, 2008

Ventura Beach, California, 2008

(In response to this Weekly Photo Challenge.)

August 22, 2013

Insomnia Ain’t All Bad (And Don’t Forget the Rorschach)

One of my least favorite traits: when I get overloaded and face an upcoming crazy day at work, sometimes I can’t sleep.

So here I am, 2:42 a.m., alarm set for 7.

Full moon tonight on a warm and bright night. These photos are shadows of tree leaves, cast by moonlight on my car hood. Reflection of the moon also appears.

moon2photo.ps

moon1.ps

I tweaked the B&W contrast in Photoshop, with a bigger tweak in the second photo (hence my car hood looks like a poorly paved road).

And now, to bed. Perchance to sleep.

P.S. While we’re at it – impromptu Rorschach test! What do you see in these images? I see a cave painting of a chicken in the bottom photo.

August 14, 2013

The Gull, the Rocks, and the Sea

I don’t like seagulls much, but this one did nothing offensive during the brief time we were together. Anyway there can’t always be pelicans.

Ocean with gull, in landscape mode.

Ocean with gull, in landscape mode.

Ocean with gull, in portrait mode.

Ocean with gull, in portrait mode.

These photos show a glimpse of beach at San Clemente, CA, where it is always this beautiful.

(This week’s Photo Challenge wants to see one image shot two ways.)