High Tide

This rock along the Pacific coastline in Redwood National Park shows its wear from repeated tidal cycles.  It's taken on a surprisingly large variation in color!

Winter Field and Summer Sky

Inspired by Augustin's "Not Wheat" photo from a few days ago.  My version is not nearly so cool.  If I had time I would have driven out to Yolo where I could get a nice field and hills scene.  Around here fields are bordered by rows of trees, which I was trying to leave out of the photo, so it's sort of a ground-level perspective.  And probably "not wheat" either.  I would call it "winter wheat" but around here I think they grow a mix of oat, wheat, and barley called "oat mix."  Maybe that's what this is.  This is one of the last unharvested winter fields.  For the last two years this field has been planted with watermelon in the summer.  I supposed it will get baled soon, and prepared for a new crop. 

Redwoods

My artistic interpretation of the Redwoods.  I like it for a couple of reasons.  First, it captured the color of the Redwoods closest to how they actually look.  I really struggled with color balance in these woods, and this mix of colors came out just right!  And second, it retained a feeling of bark grain, which I think is really cool.  I was panning over a really long shutter speed (1/8 sec.) so I wasn't expecting to see so much grainy detail. 

Founder's Grove

Yesterday we hiked through Founder's and Mahan Plaque Groves in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  It's an easy mile and a half hike with wide path on level ground through a beautiful old Redwood forest.  Founder's Tree, which is the foreground tree in this photo, stands at about 350 ft. tall.  The tallest Coast Redwoods standing today measure closer to 380 ft.  Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Redwood National Park are so remote; it feels like forever getting there, but once you do, you're rewarded with almost complete solitude.  Even on Memorial Day weekend, this park was not crowded.  I really love these forests; it's so peaceful here!

High Tide at Klamath Cove

The weather was slightly overcast just before sunset last night at the Pacific shoreline in Redwood National Park.  It was pretty wavy too, with a good amount of sea spray in the air.  But there were so many rocks in the cove that patches of calm tide pools developed.  

I liked how the weak sunlight was reflected in the gray water.

Milkweed

The milkweed has just started blooming at the Friends of West Davis Pond Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden.  Hope to see some monarchs here soon!

Crater Lake

I'd love to take a vacation at Crater Lake!  Every time we drive to Seattle I see signs for it, but it's just too far out of the way, so I'm always promising myself that I will make a visit some time in the future.  After my flight this week, I can at least say I've "seen" Crater Lake.  Someday soon I hope to visit here...maybe next year :)

The Airport

I can't knock the convenience of air travel, but it always leaves me feeling so hollowed out. 

I'll need the rest of the day to recover...put my feet up, and then take Clover for a walk.

Crane Curtain

We reworked Anna's 1000 Paper Cranes into a room divider...just for fun :)

Past Lives

...or Time Flies.  

Egghead

Every Saturday I pick up my farm fresh eggs out off of County Road 96.  I leave the empty cartons in a cooler during the week, and on Saturday I pick up my eggs and leave my money.  Some mornings my eggs are looking back at me in surprise.

Things I Control

I went back to Sonoma early yesterday morning to try my poppy photo again.  I was hoping for less wind and better light, both of which I got.  I think there were about as many poppies as last week, but this week they hadn't arranged themselves so photogenically.  If only I could have last week's flowers with this week's low wind and softer light.  It got me thinking about how little I control in this whole nature photography equation.  It ought to be quite a bit: the decision to take the photo, of course.  The camera settings.  The angle. And yet, as a nature photographer, there are so many things out of my control!  I went to a gallery opening yesterday, and the photographer gave a talk.  He told about taking a photo of a piece of scrap metal in the desert in Nevada in high winds, and about coming back at a later date to retake the photo.  And because my early morning shoot was still fresh in my mind, I was thinking well yeah, you never know about the wind, but at least the piece of metal was looking just the same!  I'm so in love with the light here...I just wish the flowers were more open.  I might post one more photo from this shoot, but I don't think I'll head back out here again.  Time to move on.

MelissaLeady.com

I'm happy to announce that I've finally got my website going!  I have a few pages to work on still, but for the most part, it's up a running.   Please visit at MelissaLeady.com.

Poppies

Such an intense shade of red with the morning light glowing on these poppies 

at Kunde Vineyards in Sonoma Valley.

Oh the Wind

I don't know why I was surprised to find strong winds when I headed up Sonoma Valley yesterday morning.  We've been having these winds on and off for at least a week.  Hot, dry, sustained winds, and exceptionally gusty.  I had to photograph between gusts, but I decided to make the most of it, and try to photograph a windy spell too.  This was my best attempt; if it's too windy, the flowers hardly show up at all.  Thankfully we started a new weather pattern today, so things are cooling off, and maybe we will even get a little rain this week!

Sonoma Valley

I finally got back out to Sonoma Valley for a spring vineyard photo.  I was so happy to see all these poppies blooming, including so many California poppies.  We're having such a hot, dry spring that the California poppies are all drying up around here, but these flowers have the benefit of the vineyard irrigation system, so they should keep blooming for a while.