Desperate to come up with a photo idea, I finally set myself a task: take a series of photos of one still life from different angles. I grabbed a Longaberger basket, which, during the course of my photo session, I discovered has a signature and date on the rim. I used my 85mm in my favorite afternoon light- on my kitchen table by the window. I ended up liking so many that I made a collage in Lightroom (easy as pie!).
We said our good-byes to the seals and pelicans this morning and headed back home along the Russian River and through the vineyards along the River Road. The trip was broken up by a fun lunch in Santa Rosa with Joan and Rudy, who have been our closest couple friends since before we were married.
And now, alas, we are back home- until our next adventure.
Dozens of seals were relaxing on the rocks every morning when we took our early walks.
Today there was some fog rolling in from off shore.
I spotted this vineyard on our way to the coast on Thursday and remembered to stop today to capture a shot of the golden grapevines.
We spent a lot of time today walking the trails along the cliff tops- and then an equal amount of time recovering. . .
There were many views like this one
and this one
and this one!
There were plenty of tree tunnels.
I left my tripod at home, so this is probably the only photo you will see of us from this trip. . .
And, btw, my camera seems to be working fine today- no problems!
A lovely day- a walk before breakfast along the bluff overlooking the waves slamming into the rocks below and a beautiful drive up to Mendocino for a late lunch. Dinner is cooking, a light fog is coming in and it is time to look through my photos.
Here is my favorite so far: the Point Arena lighthouse (with pelicans flying toward us)
I took way too many photos- and I got an error reading on my SD card. This happened in Twin Falls, Idaho also (EVERYTHING happens in Twin Falls, Idaho). At that time, I updated my firmware, bought a new SD card, and a card reader. I haven’t had trouble since. I may have to bite the bullet and send my camera to Nikon (trying not to panic . . .).
We are away at the coast for a long weekend! My hard-working husband needs a break, and I need a change of scene. Blog readers- there will be something different for you to look at beyond the four walls of my house!
We arrived an hour ago, and I am checking BLOG off my to-do list while Lonnie is at the grocery store. We have no plans other than walking, reading, sleeping, and eating. And I will be taking photos.
We had awe-inspiring views as we drove up Hwy 1, but we wanted to get here and THEN do the photo thing. So, I have no ocean photos for today.
The road into our vacation rental:
The view from the house:
Where I will be sitting in a few minutes:
All of the photos were taken with my 18-200mm and have textures added in Photoshop. The last one also has some de-saturation and split-toning (those chairs are pretty bright in real life!).
Although the weather is warm, the leaves are starting to litter our deck. The leaves on the glass table seem like a good response to today’s theme for Our Daily Challenge, minimalism. I used my 50mm1.4 (at 1.8 and 2.0) for a shallow depth of field- and did a bit of split toning on the first image. The last photo is my favorite- I think it looks like the leaves are floating in water- and is probably the most minimalist.
I love beginning a new book- especially one by an author that is new to me. This month my book club is reading The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. I admit to a few misgivings about this one, because it’s about baseball. I like going to baseball games and watching baseball movies, but I’m not so sure about reading a baseball story. I’ve heard this one is excellent- I’ll be starting it later today. Watch for my review on Goodreads! 🙂
I love October and have been looking for signs of Fall. I found these little things on a walk recently and am not sure what they are. Acorn caps? Shells from nuts? Anyone know what they are?
I took this with my macro lens- and added a bit of a texture in processing.
Because the topic was gnarly, I ventured out back this morning, knowing there were all sorts of gnarly things out there. To be clear, I was thinking of gnarly as in gnarled or nasty or hairy- not in the sense of extreme coolness. When I came upon this spider busily completing her web, I couldn’t resist going back inside for my macro lens. I think she is extremely cool, but kind of nasty and hairy as well.
Today’s theme is dessert. I don’t have anything except chocolate covered almonds left over from a get-together the other night- so they will have to do. They are dark chocolate, which is actually a health food. So… life is short, eat dessert first!
Gotta shoot these flowers while I still have them!
I love my new Fiesta dishes! Years ago when I first started collecting Blue Ridge Pottery, I fell in love with the Fiesta pitcher (but, out of loyalty to Blue Ridge, never bought one). A week or so ago, my husband surprised me with a red Fiesta pitcher to go with our new dishes. I have a feeling this is only the beginning. . .
In the kitchen is one of the themes this week for Our Daily Challenge on Flickr. My new Fiesta pitcher- and salt and pepper shakers- are in the background.
There were so many choices for me to photograph in response to today’s prompt- old-fashioned. I do have a lot of old stuff! But since I have flowers, I couldn’t waste the opportunity to photograph them.
So- flowers in an old-fashioned Mason jar on top of an old-fashioned garden table (that belonged to my parents- maybe my grandparents!):
My friend, Debbie is leaving today. The visit has been all too short, but she wants to get home to see her daughter who is flying back to The Hague and to take care of her husband, Dale, who will most likely be starting another round of treatment for lymphoma soon. But we expect another visit from both of them, because they will soon have a new grand-baby here in town!
This photo was layered with Kim Klassen’s texture, partings, for Texture Tuesday.
It’s flower macros today!
melinda anderson photography 