Auto salvage yard



Visiting the auto salvage yard was not what I expected. I knew there would be really interesting photo opportunities, and there were, but at the same time, I did not want to stay too long either. I've been to salvage yards before and I never remember it bothering me. Maybe it was because the man running it told me he wanted to look over all my images before I left. I didn't ask why but he told me that some of the cars were involved in fatal accidents and they didn't want any images that might upset family/friends of those people to get out there. I know that made me a bit wary to peer too close into any of the cars with deployed airbags, collapsed roofs, and really smashed in fronts. Maybe it was that so many of the cars looked newer than my own two cars (and ours are not that old). Maybe it was knowing that every one of those cars, now slowly being stripped and decaying, was once something so exciting so someone, somewhere.

Despite the weird vibe I had the whole time I was there, I did get some pictures I like.

I really liked finding the handful of truly old cars. I found a couple of 1960s Thunderbirds at the very back of the yard.



I was amazed to find the chrome headlight of this old car still so shiny after 30+ years.



Then there were car parts you do not usually get to see on a working car.





I only spent a little over an hour at the yard. I hope to find another one with more 1970s and earlier cars.

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The beauty of rust

I drive by the auto salvage yard several times a week and last week the idea came to me that it would be such a great photo opportunity. I love old and rusted things as photographic subjects. I finally got my chance to go to the salvage yard this week.

The only picture I really had in mind that I wanted to get when I walked in to the yard was a close up of something rusted. I think rust patterns are so interesting. At first, I was worried I might not actually find what I was looking for. The cars near the entrance were almost all newer than the two we own (which was a weird thought because our cars are not that old). A little deeper in to the yard and I found it.

Here are a few shots:







What could be better than rust? How about rust plus fire damage.



I thought it was ironic that one of the most beautiful rust patterns I found was on one of the handful of operational vehicles in the yard. This is from the back of the yard's fork lift.



See them all plus the rest of the images from the yard (as soon as I upload them) here.

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The Huntington Library

While visiting LA recently, we decided to spend the day at The Huntington Library... well actually the Botanical Gardens. The Art Gallery was closed and it was too nice a day to spend inside. Plus we had 3 small children with us, which is no fun for being in anything called a Library.

I have always loved the Japanese Garden at The Huntington. I think it is the bridge that always catches my attention.







I have always wished I would have a garden that looked like this. I just need that $10 million invention to give me enough money to do it.

This time I took some pictures of some lotus flowers in a pond. I have looked at them many times but never really tried to capture them. I am glad I did because I got my favorite shot of the day there.



After the lotus we went to the cactus garden. I had never spent much time in this part of the garden before and again we caught it at the end of our day and had to rush through. It is too bad because there were so many amazing views.







Next time we'll have to start with the cactus garden and make it to the new Chinese garden as well.

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L.A. on a Sunday night

The theme for this year's fair is "County Days & City Nights". The girls and I plan to enter photos in the fair again this year. They do not require them to be in the theme, but there are additional awards for entries that are in the theme. The "country days" half I have plenty of pictures of... but "city nights" are pretty sleepy around here. It is a joke around here that downtown shuts down at 9pm, but it is 99% true. So, while in Los Angeles recently, I took the opportunity to borrow my dad's tripod and do some long-exposure night images.

I knew I wanted a picture of downtown. I also wanted an iconic piece of architecture. The best place to do both of those at the same time is Griffith Observatory. We got there, found a great view, got the tripod and camera ll ready, and were told by a security guard that we cannot have a tripod. We can use it as a monopod. Hmm... ok... it is not exactly stable that way so I leaned it against a low wall and crossed my fingers.



I was so amazed it actually came out clear with this 25 second exposure. We moved away from the main observatory and were able to use the tripod again.



On the way home, we stopped to try getting a shot of one of the freeways. The trick was working around the chain-link fence on every freeway overpass. I managed to get the camera close enough you can't see the fence but I was not able to get rid of the light artifacts.



I really need to get a tripod... I had too much fun taking these pictures.

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SLO Creek

One of my favorite places to take pictures is the creek in downtown SLO. It just makes for incredible backgrounds.

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Pt. Buchon Trail

One of my favorite local places is Montana De Oro State Park. It seems like we've been there so many times yet we've only scratched the surface of everything there is to see. Most of these places I do not even know exist. There was one trail that we were aware of and have always wanted to explore. It has been closed since before I moved to the area. It is finally open again and we were excited to spend a beautiful Sunday taking a walk.

After passing the guard station (the land is controlled by PG&E and is right next to a nuclear power plant), the first view is amazing.



Next we came to a great cove beach complete with cool sea caves.



The most amazing thing was the wildflowers.



Notice those funny white poles in the ground. They hold up the electric fence... yikes!! There are so many more flowers here than along the bluff trail just north in the state park. I wonder if the electric fence keeps animals (especially two-legged ones) from trampling them. Whatever the reason, I was in flower-photography heaven.





The only downside to the walk was the length. The whole loop is 5 miles and after 3 the girls were ready to stop, by 4 miles we were nearly dragging them back. Ah well, it was worth it.

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Last day as three

Back in late March I took some pictures of a friend of mine and her husband and son (and a couple with a friend's daughter). They were some last chance pictures of them before their new baby was to arrive. I had been meaning to come over and take pictures for a couple of weeks. She went in to labor the next day so I am glad I was able to make it that day. I was pretty happy with how it came out.

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An afternoon playing in flowers

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted a blog entry. I have been taking so many pictures since Spring returned but my evenings have been too busy to get to putting them online.

Rewinding back to March, the girls and I spent the afternoon romping in a field of mustard flowers. All of us except Mae had a camera to take pictures (and I am sure Mae would have loved to have one too).

It was the perfect afternoon for pictures. The clouds were fluffy and with just a hint of moody springtime grey, the sky was deep blue, and the yellow flowers were everywhere.





Laura had so much fun just running though the field and doing a sort of "drive-by photography"... I guess it would be more like "run-by photography".



Autumn was taking a little more time to compose her shots.



Mae was happy just to sit in the flowers and watch them wiggle in the wind. Her paci matched the flowers too.



We had a great time and everyone got at least one picture they liked.

Here is one of Autumn's:



One of my favorites:

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Carrizo Plains

On Monday we took a drive on Hwy 58 out to the Carizzo Plains National Monument. I heard the wildflowers were in bloom so we went to take pictures. We had a great day.

We were barely out of Santa Margarita when we had to stop and take pictures. The rolling hills were bright green and the flowers were everywhere.





Carizzo is an amazing place. The center of the plains is an ancient lakebed called Soda Lake. The hills around were covered in yellow, orange, and purple patches.





Even the highway was beautiful.



See the whole set here.

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Driving home from TJs

I happened to have my camera with me one Friday when Mae and I drove to SLO to go shopping at Trader Joe's. On the way home we stopped along Los Osos Valley Road a few times to take some pictures.

The cows were enjoying the green grass.



The side of the road is lined yellow mustard flowers and poppies.





There were also several fields full of the yellow flowers.

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Jellys

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Friday. It had been a couple of years since we were there last. I was mesmerized by their new Jellyfish exhibit. I had to try to take a few pictures. Despite curved glass, reflections everywhere, and some fast moving jellies, I did get a few pictures of these amazing creatures.









See the whole set on my Flickr page.

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Ahh... Spring

It's not like we really have "winter" here but I am so excited when the warmer weather returns and the plants start blooming again. We decided to get out and enjoy the day and, of course, that meant taking some pictures for me.

We thought a nice walk down the Bob Jones Trail in Avila beach would be a great start to the day. Right away I spotted a solitary tree on a cliff that I had to capture.



Not too far down the trail you encounter a strange looking forest of metal. A local hot springs resort started a building here years ago and never got any further than this.



The trees were all in bloom in Avila.



After our walk we headed home and enjoyed time in our own garden. All of our trees and flowers are in bloom too so I took a few pictures.







I'll have many more flower pictures as the season continues. :)

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