Tomorrow is Obsolete

Monday, April 19, 2010

Desert adventures, Part 1

(Moonrise over Las Cruces)

For Spring Break this year, we spent almost 2 weeks in the deserts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Our destination was Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas, along the Rio Grande River. Our 3-day drive out followed I-10, Highway 90 southeast, and then Highway 385 south to Big Bend NP.

The Colorado River:

Old Pinal County courthouse, Arizona:

Ocotillo flowers:

Ruins of the Langford house near the Hot Springs in Big Bend:

"The Window" in the Chisos Mountains:

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Gardens and umbrellas

The day after we got the umbrellas at Olvera St., we took the kids to Descanso Gardens to take pictures of them with the umbrellas.

It is tricky to get 5 little kids to look at the camera at the same time.

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4 - good enough

Next time I need to bring something shiny for them all to stare at or something.

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Olvera Street

I am in love with the metro lines in LA. It has made it so easy to get to places like downtown where parking is usually a major headache. One beautiful day in July we decided to take the kids for a ride on the Gold Line to Olvera St (the Union Station stop). Among the many treasures we found were those colorful umbrellas.

We also found colored eggs,

guitars,

and ceramics.

At the end of a long afternoon, the kids cool off in Union Station (did I mention it was an unusually humid July?)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

LA Arboretum in macro

I've taken pictures at the Arboretum many times but this time I thought I'd take only my macro lens. Since I was there with my dad & sister, who were also taking pictures, and two 2 1/2 yr olds, I took a lot of mental notes of spots to come back for another time.

I could have stayed in the cactus garden all day.

I love the patterns on the pottery.

Getting under this plant to catch the sunlight through the leaf was tricky (not to mention looked silly) but was worth it.

I couldn't get any closer to these orchids.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

My two hometowns

That's a view of my neighborhood. I can't imagine living any place else but that was not always the case. I came here from Los Angeles and when I first moved here I thought I would never adjust to such a small town after living in LA. I look at picture like this and all I can think of is how lucky I am to live here. Then, I go to visit LA and look at those pictures and remember how much I love it too. So, here's to my two hometowns!

Saturday, February 06, 2010

3-day weekend

All this rain was making me dream of warmer days. So, here are some photos from Memorial Day weekend in LA last year.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Flower macros

I feel like I have been blogging a lot of flower close-ups lately. I did not realize how many I had taken until I started to put them all together. They do say flowers are the most photographed subject. I know for me it was the excitement of a new macro lens, the bright colors, and the fact that flowers don't move away from you while you spend 10 minutes fiddling with tripods and camera settings.

So, here are a few miscellaneous flower macros and then I promise I'll put up pictures of something else.

A dying pink rose.

A dandelion clock.

Purple flowers.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Morro Bay

I am so lucky to have a place as beautiful as Morro Bay to call home. I have never had a day where I felt like taking pictures and was unable to find something amazing or stunning to shoot. The picture above is a view of sunset from Black Hill.

Some people don't like the fog but I love it. It always fascinates me how fog can make a place look completely different. On this morning I set out to take pictures of the bay at sunrise so I could capture the orange-pink glow on the rock, water and boats. When I left the house is was a completely clear morning. I was all set up and waiting for the light, which was minutes away when the fog came pouring in. It is hard to believe how quickly it comes in but within 10 minutes it had engulfed everything.