Trona Pinnacles

Don't fool around - go ahead and click the images to see the larger versions.

All of these were made using the high contrast black and white feature on my Sony Nex 5N.

Pretty cool, but I think the better practice will be to do the color to black and white conversion back at home.

Consolation Trip

When plans for a Presidents' Weekend trip fell through, I pursued a consolation trip. It's working out pretty well.  Nice skies over Kelso Dunes in the Mojave National Preserve.

 

More images on my Picasa page. If all goes well on Sunday, I'll add a few more shots.

SoCal Winter Day

Days like this are not exactly typical but they happen often enough that sometimes we Angelinos take them for granted. It's February 4 and there we were hanging out at the beach, poking around in tidepools, hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains and then supping on the patio of a beach cafe as the moon looked on. We'll pay for this later with dry, fire-prone hillsides and only a whisper of a Spring wildflower bloom, but today we rejoiced.

I went out with Susan to scout a potential location for a pre-dawn photo excursion. Our destination was the Castro Crest, but since we had tidepools relatively near by at the completely-accessible Leo Carillo State Beach and an early-afternoon minus-low-tide, we took a little diversion.
The tidepools held many sandy anemones (see my January 22 post about that), a few starfish, sea grass, urchins, and mussels. And still I had no polarizer. So, how about that clever "foot print" (at top) left by some sand celebrant!

When we turned our attention to Corral Canyon and the Castro Crest, I was glad we dawdled sea-side. The flat light at our arrival was much improved by the time we departed. While Susan was busy composing lovely images, I caught a casual panorama from the parking area.

Our last stop was Malibu Seafood where we had fish and fries while the sun settled behind Point Dume. It was a beautiful sunset but as you know, I'm a luna-tic. The moon was what caught my attention in her 89% full glory.

It was a super Saturday.