Author: Melinda

Ahhhhhh . . . sunshine and sand and ocean waves!  We spent a lovely hour and a half at Salmon Creek Beach on Saturday- just watching the waves, the gulls, and the people.  I don’t know the official temp, but I’m guessing seventy something- shirtsleeve weather.

We got there early, set up a blanket, and just enjoyed the scene.  I had a camera battery with a distressingly low charge  (yes, I had charged it- no, I didn’t see that it was actually not charged when I put it in the camera- no, I won’t be using that tricky outlet again), but had decided that I would just take whatever photos I could and would shoot “intentionally”- one of my 2013 goals.  No snapping away.  And definitely no seagulls- I can photograph them any day of the week in my own town.

Of course, I couldn’t resist the seagulls- they were everywhere. But this photo is the one I like the best- the light, the clouds and the expanse of beach.  I’m not convinced the footprints add to the photo- but they were there, kind of leading to nowhere.  I am using the photo in response to a Flickr challenge about using leading lines to guide the viewer into the image.  But the lines I was seeing when I composed the photo were the stripes of clouds and the surf.

I think this photo also works as a black and white.  What do you think?

UPDATE:

I took out the footprints! What do you think?

I thought I’d share a couple more photos from our drive last Saturday.  After our walk in downtown Suisun, we drove some of the backroads between Fairfield and Vacaville.  These two shots were actually taken right across the road from each other in the fading light, as the sun had already dipped down behind the hills.  There is a haze in the first image from smoke we could see in the distance.  I reduced clarity to blur the image a bit, enhancing the hazy quality.

I liked the shapes of the bare branches and fence on the hill across the road silhouetted against the cloudless sky.  I converted it to a black and white in Lightroom and then added back some color on the tree and hill using a texture.

Last Saturday I was itching to get out and shoot some photos.  It had been a fairly stressful week, as weeks go, and, I felt a drive and some new scenery would be good for both of us. I thought of the little town of Suisun, which, although it is nearby, we hardly ever visit.  I looked online and noticed there was a lighthouse.  Lighthouse? In downtown Suisun? We drove over and and discovered the Suisun Harbor Lighthouse. Built in 2006, it is just 52 feet high- and does not guide ships.  It instead is a beacon leading people to the harbor area of the newly revitalized downtown.

I was drawn to the stripes.  This shot, converted to black and white, is my favorite.

The  cows were out when I walked over to the edge of our development at sunrise.  They stared me down while I photographed the barbed wire fence and eventually moved on. I was concentrating on a shallow depth of field- so you might have to take my word for it that these are indeed cows.

 

And here is a shot of the same fence- but looking toward the sun.

 

What a peaceful way to start the day!