| Author | Message | ||
     Spudman |
Dino, Awesome pics!!! The moon shots are inspiring, may have to get some of my own. I thought thunder, lightning, rain never happen there. All we have here is sunshine and blue skies, go figure. | ||
| Dino |
Spud - We do get weather on rare occasions. It's starting to warm up here as spring approaches. Can't wait. I'll be watching for your moon pix. | ||
| Dino |
A couple of weeks ago, Char and I took a little trip to the southeast view the spring scenery and to stop for a visit at the legendary Thunderdome. Well, conditions were a little more winter than spring, but here are a few pix taken on our way up thru the hills... Near the intersection of Old Stage Rd and Jack Ranch Road (you Oktoberfasters may remember this area) there was a profusion of wildflowers of all sorts. Here is a lupine on the road's edge, wearing its finest jewelry.  And a view up the hill, fiddleneck, lupine and popcorn flowers among the live oak.  I have no idea what this flower is. We only saw it in one place, but there it formed a veritable carpet at least thirty feet across. It's probably hard to tell from the pic, but these things are tiny...flowers about 1/4" across and the whole plant less than 6" tall.  Having crested Greenhorn Summit on the Bostrom Hwy, this shot is taken looking back up the mountains at the mists spilling over into the Lake Isabella basin.  | ||
| Dino |
A little more up to date...today, in fact: Dogwoods glowing in the morning sun -   I'd like to be able to say that these pix were the reward for a challenging hike in the surrounding foothills, but that would be a lie. The tree is just a few feet off of my front porch. I took the pix while perched on the roof. | ||
| Lornce |
Dino, Love your pictures. You see with kindness. thanks, Lawrence | ||
| Dino |
Not to say that we didn't venture into the hills today, however. Again, Oktoberfasters have a passing familiarity with this next local. Rather than to the southeast toward the 'dome (above), today we ventured northward up the General's Hwy into Sequoia National Park. Oktoberfaster's will remember our descent southward on this highway to our reward of ice cream in Three Rivers. Not that the you need to be rewarded for riding the General's Hwy, exactly. But for staying within spittin' distance of the National Park Service's speed limit. Well, my limited skill with a camera was not sufficient to overcome the really boring light from a midday overcast, so not much in the way of pix worth sharing. But here's a couple just to prove that we were really there. First a view from the trail above Paradise Creek, looking east across the lower slopes toward the high Sierra.  On the hike back I tried to catch a shot of this little fella. Unfortunately, the wind was up and the slender flower stem was blowing back and forth all the way across the frame. This was one of many attempts to catch an image of a rapidly moving target.  I know...just two? But the conditions really were pretty sucky. So sorry! | ||
| Dino |
"You see with kindness." Lawrence - Wow...I've had a lot of things said about me in my lifetime (mostly by ex-girlfriends), but that's gotta be one of the nicest. A sincere thank-you. | ||
| Lornce |
WOW! Gorgeous work, Dino. Just gorgeous. Thanks for taking time to share your efforts. Lawrence | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
very nice (big understatement), Dino. i gotta get out more.  | ||
| Dino |
Thank you again, Lawrence. Jerry, I thought you just were "out." Many miles of "out." Is there a story in the mill? | ||
| Dino |
BTW,while the spring blossoms may be quite lovely, if you look closely enough you may find that there is, as they say, "a fly in the ointment."  (Message edited by dino on March 27, 2005) | ||
| Pdxs3t |
wow Jim | ||
| Dino |
After having been so disappointed at the lousy light yesterday, I was pleased to see a brighter sun this morning. Before I could venture out to play, however, I had work to do. Char's paintings have been accepted by the Yosemite Western Artists for the inaugural showing at a new venue. That means that her framer has some work to do. That would be...me. Okay, so, chores done, in late afternoon I broke out the bikes to find that the sun was gone ... again. Despite the dreary light, I packed along a camera...not really expecting that it would see the (dim) light of day. I rode east out of town through the low hills at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. My bud, Jerry, probably could have found a photo op to get excited about. I couldn't. But just as I reach my turn around point, at the entrance to the Tule River Indian Reservation, there was a small area along the road that was so brilliant with flowers that the bad light was forgotten. These pix were taken within about 15 feet of each other.     | ||
| Unibear12r |
Wow Dino, great pics! Made a run through Glennville today and the flowers are not out here like there yet. | ||
| Dino |
Unibear - Head up Jack Ranch and turn east on Old Stage Rd. Trust me, you'll find 'em. | ||
| Unibear12r |
I did, I was!!!!! All the way to Panorama! OK I guess I need to slow down a bit then.  By the time I got to Jack Ranch I had quit looking. On the other hand the butterflies were so thick I couldn't see out my visor. | ||
| Court |
Great pics! I'm a sucker for the wonderful stills you get. Court | ||
| Usroute66 |
Dino, U have mastered that camera! Ebear and I were out yesterday looking for the Easter Bunny...at Cooks Corner, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, and Newport Beach. Never found him though. What we did see were lots of butterflies, and fields and fields of those little purple flower. I wonder how Harley riders handle Spring with their open helmets, LOL! BTW, didos on Dino being nice. | ||
| Dino |
Thanks much, Court & Scott. Scott, I spent a lot of time trying, and failing, to miss those butterflies this weekend ... apparently Glenn experienced the same thing down in Kern County. Those are Painted Ladies. According to the morning paper, they are headed for Oregon. This is the largest migration I've seen in quite a few years. And yes, if I have to smack them at speed, I'd rather get them with my face shield than my nose. | ||
| Unibear12r |
Oregon eh? Typical Kern County types here. Either they were lost or said the heck with it and headed to the coast for a good time!  They are thick here even out in the desert. The Glennville area should blossom soon. It's started but not thick yet. Had friends just come through Death Valley and they say its a sea of flowers and had gotten seven inches of rain this year. | ||
| Dino |
Last I looked the Death Valley area was at about 330% of normal rainfall. Anyone who wants to see the desert bloom should go now. | ||
| Lornce |
Dino, I'm looking at your pictures and I'm thinking you know ALL about the advantages of overcast lighting situations. Beautiful pictures, man, just beautiful pictures. Thanks again, Lawrence | ||
| Dino |
Lawrence - Well, I like a little overcast to keep the EV range within control, and it can work real well for macro shots, but, dang, it sure can make grand vista type scenes come out blah. Don't know what I'd do without Photoshop.  Those last few shots are unprocessed, straight from the camera. The tough one there was the last. Don't know about the shot that got posted, but when I first set up to take that shot the shutter speed was showing as 1/20. A little slow for hand-held, perched precariously on wet sloping rock with cars whizzing by below. I tried Nikon's BBS feature for the first time. The camera takes several shots and then saves the sharpest. Zooming in on the original 5MP file shows the flowers came out pretty sharp! I'd have liked a smaller aperture, though. I hear that scene calling my name. The next couple days may see me back up there with the Olympus. Storms are pushing thru today...I bet there are going to be some dramatic photo ops before the light fades! | ||
| Dino |
As I noted in my last post, a number of hours ago now, it was looking like today's clearing storm would produce some dramatic photo ops as the sun dropped toward the Pacific. Sure enough, when I left work the high Sierra were glowing in the early evening light under a blanket of fresh snow. Too good to waste, I hurried home, grabbed a camera and a scoot and headed out of town. I headed northeast over Lewis Hill (a great little twisty bit over the top) and then east into Frazier Valley (also the site of the moon pics on the previous page). As per my usual luck, in the time it took me to grab a scoot and, ummm, scoot, clouds had enveloped the high Sierra and all that snow clad glory was gone. Pretty much left with grassy hills and rocks, I salvaged what I could of the day. First shot: Grassy hills and rocks...what a surprise!  I included this next shot because (a) it shows the road and (b) it's a self portrait in the Jerry Haughton school of portraiture.  I just loved the sculptural quality that the evening light gave to these rocks.  Looking back to the north toward the road. Now, the astute among you will note the barbed wire fence between me and the road. After carefully slipping thru said fence I noticed a rough looking dude on a quad with a rifle slung over his shoulder had stopped along the road and was looking up at me. Turned out he was wondering what I was doing on his land. Despite this poor start to our relationship, we parted on good terms. By that I mean he didn't shoot me.  | ||
| Dino |
Now, for a change in pace, we have more grass and less rocks.  Back to the rocks for the next two:   The lowering sun began to paint with quieter, beautifully muted colors as the day slipped away.  (Message edited by dino on March 29, 2005) | ||
| Dino |
I freely admit that I didn't buy an FZ1 for its looks...but I think the bike looks damn fine in this shot.  One last shot of the grassy hills as the light fades.  And our intrepid photo dude rides home, into the sunset...what else.  (Message edited by dino on March 29, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
...it's a self portrait in the Jerry Haughton school of portraiture. ah, so you WEREN'T asleep in class. great pix, Dino. i gotta get out more. | ||
| Henrik |
Great photos Dino. Thank you. Henrik (so I take it you missed the sign on that fence: "trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again." ) | ||
| Dino |
Hey, Jerry, where ya'll been? I've been watching and waiting. Henrik - No, those signs were on the other side of the road. (As Jerry would say, "That's my story and I'm stickin' to it."  | ||
| Lornce |
Dino, Very nice stuff. Thanks for sharing, I'm really enjoying your thread. And really pining to return to California. Good on you, Lawrence |
