Flowers - Murphys

Flowers - Calaveras County  2013

Poppies - Calaveras County  2013

Seen while walking the main street. Once again, had to manually focus on the poppies.

San Francisco Sightems

Three Umbrellas - San Francisco  2001

Mike, Coffee Cup - San Francisco  2001

Both photos taken with a Leica Minilux. I still have it!

Sequoias - 2

Branches & Sequoias - Calaveras County  2013

Tassels - Calaveras County  2013

This was still early Spring, so the deciduous trees were not yet in bloom. Many dogwood trees in the vicinity, so they would be nice to see later on. Still too early, however, but some new-growth tassels were in evidence.

Sequoias - 1

Three Sequoias - Calaveras County  2013

Hali & Sequoia - Calaveras County  2013

We've hiked here a number of times before, on one memorable occasion witnessing a large tree suddenly fall to the ground with a, yes, resounding thump.

The problem with photography here and in other forest locations is that if the weather is nice and sunny then contrast in the forest is excessive. This time, however, there was a high overcast in place making for pleasant hiking and photography.

Snow Photos

Snow, Overcast - Alpine County  2013

Forest - Alpine County  2013

Taken while it was snowing, although I guess that's not evident. Falling snow more obvious in this photo.

After admiring the snow we headed on back to the Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

Snow

Road Closed - Alpine County  2013

Mike and Hali decided to drive up Highway 4 to the road closure, just before Lake Alpine. And, as they drove, it started to snow. In California snow is - usually - an interesting and unique phenomenon, so they were quite pleased. There were parking restrictions in effect, so no time to tarry. Just a quick stroll and some pix.

Monday Squirrel Blogging

Squirrel - Calaveras County  2013

Seen on a hike. Managed to be perfectly still; other squirrels were chittering and complaining, but not this one. Emitted a very slight chirk every now and then, otherwise, quiet. Very alert, of course.

Hell's Kitchen

Boulders, Overcast - Sierra Nevada  2013

Don't know if I've mentioned this, but the early settlers who named the various geological feature in the Sierra were really enamoured of, well . . . hell and the devil.

Devil's Postpile. Devil's Bathtub. Devil's Peak. Devil's Punchbowl.

And here we have Hell's Kitchen. Hali and I visited it early Saturday morning, overcast. Earlier shot here.

Murphys Sightems

Native Sons - Murphys  2013

Limo - Murphys  2013

Seen in the gold rush town of Murphys, now the Carmel of the Sierra.

Photo note: there was an orange traffic cone in front of the motorcycle in the top photo. Part of it was easy enough to clone out, but the part in front of the motorcycle's front wheel . . . not so easy.

Pine Needle

Pine Needle - Calaveras County  2013

As mentioned yesterday, pine needles had been falling during the winter, some coming to rest hooked onto existing tree branches. Nice pattern.

BTW, the camera really didn't want to focus that closely. I had to turn off the autofocus and switch to manual focus. Huh.

At The Cabin

Pine Needles - Calaveras County  2013

Juniper Branch - Calaveras County  2013

The cabin near Arnold hadn't been occupied for a while, so there were a lot of pine needles, etc. scattered about in random pictorial arrangements.

Earlier cabin photo.

Oak Trees, Foothills

Oak Trees (Foothills) - Sierra Nevada  2013

Taken while parked on the side of Highway 4. Some high clouds created nice even illumination.

San Joaquin Valley

Fields & Clouds - San Joaquin County  2013

Mike and Hali took a mini-vacation earlier this month staying in the small mountain town of Arnold. The weather cooperated on the drive there, producing these very nice clouds near Farmington.

Monday Gull Blogging

Gull, Bay Bridge - San Francisco  2009

Taken with my Olympus C-8080. Took great pictures, but had build quality issues.

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco  2005

. . . as seen from the Marin County Larkspur Ferry on my afternoon commute, in January, 2005.

Taken with my first digital camera, a 4-megapixel Olympus point and shoot.

Valley Sightems 2

Fence Posts - Marin County  2013

Tarp - Marin County  2013

Black and white seems suited to Saturday posts. Don't know why.

Valley Sightems 1

Ranch Buildings, Rain - Marin County  2013

Luv It - Marin County  2013

. . . San Geronimo Valley, that is, in central Marin County.

Top: Photo taken in the rain. Neat.

Bottom: Photo taken on a Tuffy walk.

Flowers, Berkeley

Orchids - Berkeley  2013

Flowers - Berkeley  2013

Seen at Margaret's house in Berkeley. Don't know what kind of flowers those are in the bottom photo.

Update: Tech whiz cleek has identified the flowers as "Senetti Pericallis" using Google Image Search! Wow!

Flowers, San Francisco

Flowers on Steps - San Francisco  2013

Painted Flowers - San Francisco  2013

Real flowers on the steps. Painted flowers seen on Lombard Street.

SOMA Sightems

Knowledge, Susie's - San Francisco  2013

Airplane - San Francisco  2013

The mural was on the blog in February. However, the top photo captures not only the mural, but also Susie's Cafe!

Both photos taken on a recent late Saturday afternoon, just before it started raining.

Monday Dog Blogging

Dog & Owner, Bicycle Repair Shop - San Francisco  2013

Late Saturday evening, south of Market. A small bicycle repair shop still open.

SF Skyline, from Sausalito

Boat, Skyline - Marin County  2013

Taken in color, of course, but much nicer in black and white.

Barbershop

Barbershop - Marin County  2013

In Sausalito.

There was part of a parked car in the lower left hand corner; I used the clone tool in Photoshop to erase it.

Also: shot was taken at an angle, so the perspective is a little off . . . I guess that you could correct it in Photoshop, but . . .

Art Galleries (San Francisco)

Sculpture #1 - San Francisco  2013

Sculpture #2 - San Francisco  2013

On Geary Street, downtown, during the rain. Took these with the m43 Panasonic 20mm prime lens. Nice little lens!

Colibri

Carnitas (Colibri) - San Francisco  2013

Menu (Colibri) - San Francisco  2013

We had dinner the other day at Colibri, a Mexican restaurant on Geary St., right opposite the Curran Theater. It was good! Yelp people don't like their guacamole/chip options, but since we didn't order that, we were satisfied.

Dumpsters

Dumpster - San Francisco 2013

Dumpsters - Sausalito  2013

In San Francisco and Sausalito.

Road, Mt Tamalpais (HDR)

Road, Mt. Tamalpais - Marin County  2013

Traffic, Whites Hill - Marin County  2013

In the CS6 HDR drop-down menu there's a "Photorealist" option. Think I used it for the top photo.

And then, as long as I had the camera on a tripod, I took a "blurred traffic" photo.

Monday Crow Blogging

Crows - Marin County  2013

Crows hanging out at the Golden Gate Bridge overlook in Marin County.

Mt. Tamalpais, Indian Paintbrush

Indian Paintbrush, Mt. Tamalpais - Marin County  2013

Indian Paintbrush - Marin County  2013

Taken during a recent hike on the Loma Alta fire road.

Loma Alta Bicyclist

Bicyclist, Mt. Tamalpais - Marin County  2013

Early morning on the Loma Alta Fire Road. I was there to experiment with tripod pix, but didn't need it for this shot.

Golden Gate Bridge 2

Golden Gate Bridge #3 - Marin County  2013

People at Viewpoint - Marin County  2013

Telephoto shot for that jammed-together look.

Visitors using on-site binoculars.

Golden Gate Bridge 1

Golden Gate Bridge #1 - Marin County  2013

Golden Gate Bridge #2 - Marin County  2013

. . . as seen from the Marin County viewpoint. Taken on separate days.