“The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” ~ Ernest Hemingway I was a junior in high school when Earth Day was established. A group of us went to one of the local San Mateo County beaches and picked up trash. It was along about that time that an oil spill took place …
“Waves are the voices of tides. Tides are life.” ~ Tamora Pierce Take me to the beach. Just don’t let it be a crowded one; not a Santa Cruz, where hordes descend for thrill rides and corn dogs on the boardwalk or to build sand castles or play a game of Frisbee. I don’t need …
“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Everything has a price. I’m not giving away anything really tangible here. Everything has a cost. In this case the cost is your time. I hope that it’s time well spent.” I have a corrupt canine free to the first bidder. A felonious, evildoer who’s been …
“A year like no other.” That term became overdone sometime around April and now we find ourselves at the 2020 finish line. What a slog. They say that you hit the wall in a marathon at around mile 21 of the 26. If 2020 was a marathon, and it certainly seems that it was, we …
“Water is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth’s hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms.” Trust Wikipedia to take water and boil it down to a scientific dry gulch. Water is so familiar to us that we’ve allowed it to become unfamiliar. …
Get outside. Watch the sunrise. Watch the sunset. How does that make you feel? ~ Amy Grant There aren’t many subjects that move a photographer like dogs, kids and sunsets and I don’t mean to impose any particular order on this distinguished trio of subjects. Sunrise though doesn’t rate so highly. That’s not to rob …
My last post was a tribute to autumn and with the season FALLing towards winter here’s a last photographic tribute to this colorful season in the Golden State. Sonoma Valley. Established as a Spanish settlement in 1823, the town of Sonoma is located in the colorful wine country valley of the same name. The valley …
This week’s Lens Artists Challenge hosted by Biasini is Communication. My first inclination was to pass. How do you photograph communication? Turns out there are countless ways. The faces of children speak to us in their innocent and genuine way. Below my grandchildren Sophia and her cousin Jackson communicate the joy of a pool day. …
In honor of Labor Day, guest host Rusha Sams challenges us to describe examples of labors of love in pictures. Labors of love are often those physically demanding, difficult, repetitive jobs done by people who we often depend on for the returns their labor produces. Fishermen have a bond with their boats and with the …
This week’s Len-Artists Photo Challenge is hosted by Leya who challenges us to pick one or more words from the list below and illustrate that word (or words) with a photo. Comfortable Growing Tangled Crowded Exuberant Exuberant “To be full of being is to live as a body-soul. One name for the experience of full …
This week Tina of Travels and Trifles chose Creativity in the Time of Covid for our Len-Artists Photo Challenge. When Covid broke out I was just starting a project to photograph San Francisco’s Mission District and it’s gallery of murals. After one afternoon the project was put on hold but will be continued. Just for …
This week’s challenge from Cee is Anything to do With Trains and Railroads. While I had a few images in my archives I decided to do some trainspotting to come up with a few more. In nearby Martinez, California there’s a display of a steam locomotive and a short string of cars . Above and …
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge for the week is Anything to do With Jets and Planes. The photos in this post were taken at Travis Air Force Base and feature the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. The precision drill both preflight and post flight is impressive and stirring. The flying is amazing and heartstopping as the F-16’s …
This week’s Fun Foto Challenge is anything to do with boats. Happily boats and ships are favorite subjects so I have some archives to fall back on. Thank you to Cee for this week’s topic. To view her gallery and those of other contributors please follow the link to visit Cee’s site. Emeryville, California. The …
This week Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is: Anything to do with cars and trucks. Most of the images in this submission were taken at the Rodeo, California, Chili Cook-Off and Car Show last autumn. For a different take I concentrated on one of the features that’s a hallmark of vintage American cars – chrome. Above …
Plans to reopen are in the works but we still need to be vigilant, patient and in the confines of our domestic bunkers. In the meantime here’s another breakout from the outbreak. I went on a safari through my archives to find some photos of our animal kingdom. “Birds were created to record everything. They …
This week’s Lens-Artists Challenge posed to us by Ann-Christine is ironically appropriate for our current times. Presenting – CHAOS. To see Ann-Christine’s take, follow the link. chaos[ key-os ] noun a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order. any confused, disorderly mass: A walk-off is the chaotic moment in …
For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, the topic chosen by Amy is narrow. Water creates its own path through the narrowest of spaces, eventually eroding cracks and making them channels. Below are images of California’s Stanislaus River from a narrow rapid to the narrowest of passages. Below, a narrow section of waterfall cuts through Oregon’s …
I’m ending the year with my very first photo challenge entry, Patti’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #77, Favorite Photos of 2019. There’s not much rhyme or reason to my selections. As I scroll through a year of photos I’m not looking for anything in particular; just that brief recognition that something in the image strikes me. …
Cover photo: A tree reflects through debris and points of sunlight in a park puddle. Here in Northern California we’ve been having some prodigious rainstorms. According to the weather guy on TV (who is quickly becoming one of my least favorite people not living in Washington DC) we’ve been hydrologically pulverized by an atmospheric river …