Another beach image for you today! This one was edited with Topaz Simplify (and an added texture) to give it a bit of a painterly look.
Sea Life
You will probably be seeing even more of my San Diego photos over the next week. I came home last week with some kind of bug and am not quite able to work on Lensbaby or still life shots this week. My friend, Carol, was also showing allergy or upper respiratory symptoms when she was here; we made quite a pair!
So, with no further ado, here is a gull (he stayed on this perch forever!).
And- here are what I assume are orcas. Someone on Flickr said they are NOT; they are just bottlenose dolphins. I looked up bottlenose dolphins- and did not find any black and white ones- but I don’t claim to be an expert.
Meanwhile, Back at the Beach. . .
Three Views, Three Styles
One of the highlights of our trip to San Diego was Point Loma, an area we had never visited before- and we certainly plan to return. In fact, we visited it twice this trip! There is a spectacular view of San Diego, tidepools, trails, and a view of the ocean that goes on forever. And there are TWO lighthouses- the current one operated by the Coast Guard, and the historic one, built in 1855. The old lighthouse was only operational for 36 years, because its beacon was often obscured by fog. The newer lighthouse sits much closer to the water for better visibility.
Today’s photos are of the historic lighthouse- 3 views, 3 styles.
Beach Blur 2
A couple more lensbaby photos from Pacific Beach in San Diego:
Beach Blur!
We’re not in Arizona anymore! We are . . . o n v a c a t i o n !
And these photos are from my brand new Nikon D7100! My camera ended up having to be sent to Nikon after all; the shutter was replaced, but there were still problems. So, I now have a second camera, which will, of course, become my first camera. It is the newer version of my old camera- basically the same, but with a better sensor and a few other tweaks. It’s on sale right now, because the even newer version comes out next week.
I had so much fun today using my new toy with the Lensbaby Sweet 35. Of course, many of my lensbaby photos didn’t turn out, but my ratio is getting better. These shots were both taken at Pacific Beach in San Diego.
I love Arizona, but it is sooooo nice to be taking photos at the ocean!
Vail Memories
I spent a bit of time going through my photos from our trip to Vail last month and found I had quite a few photos that I didn’t post. I’m sure that this month’s Vail doesn’t look like last month’s Vail; all these spots must be covered with snow. And I might as well mention that this week’s Prescott trees don’t look like the trees I photographed last week; our fall color has mostly GONE! So autumn is becoming just a beautiful memory, as is our trip to Vail.
So. . . THIS week’s Friday Find is LAST month’s photos!
Desert Monochrome
Because I am such a fan of black and white photography, I just had to edit some of my Utah photos in black and white.
Somewhere south of Moab (cannot remember the name of this arch):
And here is Monument Valley:
Big Orange Rocks
On our recent trip through southeastern Utah, my husband and I were overwhelmed by the beauty of the rock formations. We visited Arches National Park during the middle of the day, not an ideal time for photography, but I managed to get some interesting shots.
The occasional pop of autumn foliage made an interesting contrast with the rocks.
The arches themselves are HUGE- hard to see the size in this photo.
We were only able to photograph Delicate Arch from a distance, but some people hiked all the way over to it.
I think the rocks on the left were called the Three Gossips.
See the shadow of the hiker on the rock? I never saw anyone up there, so have no idea if it was from a rock or an actual person!
And more orange rocks!
Up at Sunrise
After a day of acclimating to being home from our road trip, I began to look at some of the lessons I’d missed in BeStill 52. One jumped out at me right away, because it featured photos of cows. Cows! It turned out that the lesson challenged us to change things up, to do something different. For Kim Klassen, this meant cows; for me it means traditional landscape photography.
I am pretty intimidated by the kind of photography that involves neutral density filters, polarizers, higher f-stop numbers (deep depth of field), tripods, composing a landscape shot, and, especially, getting up early to find the perfect light. This is the kind of photography that the people in my camera club are good at. Upon reading the lesson, I realized that I had been dabbling in that on our vacation, well, actually on most of our vacations. I always excuse my mediocre results by explaining that I never get up early enough to get the perfect light. Well, this time I did.
I didn’t have to get up especially early, get in the car, drive to the scenic spot I had scouted out the day before, hike in, and then set up among other photographers all with better equipment than I have. All I had to do was roll out of bed, grab my camera, and walk out the door of our hotel room in Moab- because this is what was outside:
This is the same scene that I photographed in the sunset shots I posted Friday. What a view!
I didn’t use any filters (although my ND ones would have been useful if I’d brought them!), but did bracket my shots just in case. So. . . I think this foray into early morning landscape photography qualifies as changing things up. Next time, maybe I will actually drive somewhere!
Sunset Shadow and Reflection
The last stop on our 11 day journey was a beautiful lodge along the Colorado River outside Moab, Utah. Watching the ever changing reflections and shadows of the red cliffs at sunset is an experience we’ll never forget.
Linking up with Friday Finds today- because this view (and this part of Utah!) was the best find I’ve had in a long time!
Autumn in Vail
11 Days, 7 States
We have just returned from our 11 day road trip, during which we managed to drive through 7 states: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. Another relevant stat: we have only been home 5 days in October so far. I am pretty tired, even though I did none of the driving.
I didn’t think that I would do a ton of photography this trip, except for some family photos in Kansas and some shots of the fall foliage in Vail- and random shots along the way. Although I was very busy and actually had two days where the camera was not brought out (almost unheard of in my life), I had some fantastic photo ops- including during an unplanned brief sojourn in Utah! I have lots of photos to cull and edit, and you will be seeing many of them over the next week or so.
That’s Arches National Park in the photo- and no, that’s not our car. 🙂
Covered Bridge
Another photo from our weekend in Vail- textured with Kim Klassen’s kk_chill for Texture Tuesday.
Vail!
I’ve been taking a lot of photos- but we’re having so much fun that it’s hard to find time to post photos. Here’s a couple from beautiful Vail, where we’ve been living it up and, unfortunately, getting used to a luxurious lifestyle. Back to reality as we head home!
Here are a couple shots of Vail Village, where you feel like you are in the alps:
View from one of at least two covered bridges crossing Gore Creek in the village.
The village in the golden hour
melinda anderson photography 