Winter Beach Reflections - Black and White Photography

  Pinnacle Gulch, just a short hike through a little valley with a creek below. Well worth the hike :)

California Academy of Sciences, with the Fuji x100s

 

Nature is so amazing!
The CalAcademy must use use black lights on the sea anemones, they look so psychedelic.

A few years ago I was trying to find a camera a smaller than my D7000, but with great image quality, to bring with me on days where I may be doing alot of walking or traveling. After a ton of research I decided to take a risk and get a Fuji X100S. I had been using almost all Nikon cameras up to that point. So it was a big switch. It has been such a fantastic camera. I brought it with me to the California Academy of Sciences and it didn't disappoint. The Fuji x100s has a 2.0 f-stop but it can be soft for macro at that setting so it's is better at 4.0 for sharp edges, so I was surprised how well the pictures turned out since it was very low light and things were moving all over, either underwater or butterflies that don't stand still.

Partly Cloudy - Sonoma Coast

Seems like just about any time of year I check the local webcam for the coast (Bodega Ocean Observing Node)  BOON to see the weather, it's 'partly cloudy' which can be great in the summer since where I live inland about 15 miles, we hardly see a cloud all summer.

 The diffused light is great for capturing all the great textures of this rugged coast

 It started to rain as I was out, luckily it didn't last long

Thought I would just go with the mood a little more, it can be so gloomy in a beautiful way on quiet cloudy days at the coast.

 (Nikon D7000, 18-140mm)

Winter Beach - Sonoma County California

I love the gray misty winter days at the beach here, the rest of the world seems to sort of disappear and it's just this little  world of sea and mist and stone. Of course it can look like this on a summer day here too, and often does, but this time of year there are less crowds, just the hearty folk who brave the cold and drizzly weather ;)

Butterflies in the Garden - Monarchs and Yellow Swallowtails

some have been looking kind of tattered, on their migration

They are seriously so cute up close

It's been pretty magical having so many butterflies drifting and darting around the yard recently, sometimes they are in pairs or ones just drifting along at eye level doing their butterfly thing. There are two Buddleia bushes, one purple and one white which they love. It was a trick to keep the cat from jumping up at them when they were down lower, so far so good. Had to retrieve a couple out of spider webs also, since this time of year there are more webs from the garden spiders. Guess the monarchs will continue on their migration south and some all the way to Mexico. It's been a delight!

Butterflies

I just made it within the last few days of the butterfly exhibit in San Francisco at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park last month.  It was so magical having butterflies flitting about our heads and chasing one another, and to see the cocoons of butterflies in their transformation. It's so amazing how the caterpillar completely dissolves in the cocoon into a liquid then slowly develops little bit by bit into a butterfly. Nature is so incredible! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hot Air Balloons - Sonoma County California

I've been meaning to get to this hot air balloon event for the last few years. 

This year I finally motivated to get up at what felt like the middle of the night, when it was still dark, to get to get there by 6am, It was so worth it! So dreamy and magical to see these giant balloons fill with air from a huge fan and a giant flame to then just quietly lift off softly into the sky, with just the sound of the fire occasionally to keep it going. I imagine the passengers in these balloons had the loveliest view over the wine country in the early morning light.