Road trip - Day 2

Sacramento to Ashland, OR

Our first full day on the road was Saturday. We got out of Sacramento a bit late but we're on vacation so there is no real schedule to keep. The drive up I-5 between Sacramento and Redding is much more interesting than the drive between Kettlemen City and Sacramento. The landscape is covered with farms and fields. I could have spent all day just taking pictures of rural decay. Stopping constantly is hard on the kids so I had to stick to taking pictures of what you can see from the rest areas.





We stopped for lunch (Japanese, yum) in Redding. When we were in Sacramento, Stan told us about the Sundial Bridge in Redding. I never would have looked for such an amazing piece of modern architecture in Redding. I know, never assume. It spans the Sacramento River at Turtle Bay (which is another really interesting place I wish we'd had time to explore).







2:45pm



It was really hot outside for us coastal folks. It was about 100 degrees according to our car, probably much hotter in the sun. Once we got across, we enjoyed the shade of the span and cooled our feet in the river.





Just north of Redding is Shasta Lake and Dam. We stopped at the dam visitor's center to let kids have a cool place to play for a bit before we drove on.



The next stop was Ashland, OR. On the way, we paused at a view point to take a quick picture of Mount Shasta.



I am sad I did not take any pictures of Ashland. Tom is always giving me a hard time about living life through the filter of a lens so I left the camera in the hotel while we went out for the evening. I thought Ashland was great. If I could wrap my head around the colder winters, I think I could live there.

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Road Trip - Day 1

Los Osos to Sacramento

We left on Friday for our two week road trip to Washington. Even though it was only a half-day on the road, it was the hardest since there is really nothing to see on the drive and no place interesting (or cool, it was in the upper 90s the whole way) to stop. From LO (well Morro Bay actually), we take hwy 46 & 41 to I-5 and then just drive north.

On the side of 46, 41, and I-5 are these little yellow flowers. I have always wanted to get a picture of them and I finally got my chance.



The most interesting thing (and I have to say it is pretty amazing) to see on the drive is the California Aquaduct. Laura kept asking what river it was.



When we got to Sacramento, we spent the evening with Tom's aunt and uncle. They had a tasty dinner waiting for us. It will be our last home-cooked meal for days. We had a great evening.



And last, but it really deserved its own blog entry... Mae turned one the day we left. I still cannot believe the "baby" is one.

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Elfin Forest, 8.17.07

I've been enjoying the Friday photo shoots we've been doing. Last Friday it was just me taking pictures so I decided to stay close to home and go to with my family to the Elfin Forest. I often find myself looking through pictures on flickr and wishing I could go to those places. I think it is too easy to forget how amazing the places that are right here can be. Since our current theme is "low light no flash" we went close to sunset.

It gets its name from the dwarf oaks that grow there.





The views from the Elfin Forest are great.







There are all sorts of other neat plants that grow there too.







The whole set is here.

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Mae's birthday party.

On the 12th we had Mae's birthday party. She is not one until later this week but every weekend this month was already busy. I opted to do the park again. I made the mistake of doing a party at our house once. It was such a headache plus we had a huge mess to clean up. The weather could not have been more perfect. Living next to the ocean, you never know when it might get foggy.

I took pictures with the 50mm f1.8. I wanted the aperture all the way open but it was so bright out, I had to put my polarizing filter on to stop it down enough.

















The whole set is on flickr as usual.

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Laura won!

I am so proud of Laura. Her black and white picture won 1st place at the county fair! (the pict she entered is in an earlier blog entry) She is just old enough to enter so for her to win is pretty amazing to me! She got 2nd place for her color picture.

Autumn also did well, getting 2nd and 3rd places for her two pictures. I can't wait for next year!

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Downtown SLO, 8.10.07

My photography club met in downtown SLO on Friday afternoon. I decided to shoot with my 50mm f1.8 lens. I want to learn what I can and cannot do with it. This shoot was the first time I worked with the aperture wide open. I am pretty happy with the results. Hmm... maybe I should reword that. I can see that my pictures overall are improving and that makes me happy with what I am doing. I still have a long way to go before I can say I really am happy with the images I am producing. I think the ratio of decent pictures I am getting is going up too.



















To see the rest of the collection of picts from that shoot, click here.

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The world through the eyes of a four year old.

I love the pictures my 4-yr old takes. It is so fun to see the world through her eyes. She loves taking pictures. I think someday (soon) she will be a great photographer if she keeps up with it.

One of her favorite shots is looking straight down. She always catches her feet, and often legs too, in the shot. I think we have pictures of her feet for every time she's gone out with the camera. This is her legs and feet at the LA Zoo.



Going down the tube slide at the park:





A wooden suspension-bridge at a park:





A sandwich-board sign at Cal Poly:



Her shadow:



When your eyes are only 3 feet from the grounf, you tend to pay attention to it more.





Trying to take a self-portrait:

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