California – Page 50 – Circadianreflections Blog

At a Safari Rest Stop

May 6, 2010May 6, 2010Posted in California, UncategorizedTagged Birds, Safari West, Santa Rosa, Screamer CraneLeave a comment

I went to Safari West last week-end with 9 members of a Meet-Up group. We are photographers. Safari West is a little slice of Africa in Santa Rosa, CA.

What a neat experience it was to see so many different and exotic birds, and animals up close. Many of the birds and animals roam freely through the park where we drove. We stopped right next to a giraffe, zebras, and a we had a close encounter with a female ostrich. She didn’t want us to leave so she cleverly positioned herself near the gate so we couldn’t drive through. We ended up backing up and going out a different way. Which turned out wonderfully. I wouldn’t have seen the swan in this post if we hadn’t gone this way.

“Hope never abandons you; you abandon it. ” ~George Weinberg

April 29, 2010June 13, 2014Posted in California, Landscapes, Nature, Photography, TravelTagged Big Sur, California Coast, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, McWay Falls, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Seascapes, Travel and Tourism6 Comments

“Hope never abandons you; you abandon it. ” ~George Weinberg, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Big Sur
McWay Falls
Sunset
Pacific Ocean

McWay Fall
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
Big Sur
California
Pacific Ocean
Lagoon

For the history buffs:
After passing through the specially constructed pedestrian underpass, the overlook trail comes out onto the face of a steep bluff about 100 feet above the ocean. The view includes a large sweep of ocean, miles of the Big Sur coastline, and looks directly down into McWay Cove, where a delightful little water-fall drops 80 feet from the granite cliffs. Prior to 1983, it fell directly into the sea, but a major landslide a half-mile north of the cove deposited so much sediment in McWay Cove the the waterfall now lands on a sandy beach. The “new” beach is not open to the public because the surrounding cliffs are extremely unstable.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Tripod

“Go forth under the open sky, and listen to Nature’s teachings.”~William Cullen Bryant

April 23, 2010April 23, 2010Posted in CaliforniaLeave a comment

“Go forth under the open sky, and listen to Nature’s teachings.”~William Cullen Bryant, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004.

Rocky Point
Hwy 1
Cabrillo Highway
Monterey County
California Coast

A friend and I spent the day driving the down the coast scouting out locations for a Meet-up. We came home with a plan.

GRRR! I did it again. Forgot to reset my ISO from the shoot before. Thank goodness this camera can handle higher ISO’s sans horrendous noise.
Love my D300s!

“The Greatest Meeting of Land and Sea”

Big Sur is located along Scenic Highway One approx 150 miles south of San Francisco and 300 miles north of Los Angeles.
Historically, the name Big Sur was derived from the unexplored and unmapped wilderness area which lays along the coast south of Monterey. It was simply called el pais grande del sur, the Big South Country. Today, Big Sur refers to that 90 miles stretch of rugged and awesomely beautiful coastline between Carmel to the north and Simeon (Hearst Castle) to the south. Highway One winds along its length and is flanked on one side by the majestic Santa Lucia Mountains and on the other by the rocky Pacific Coast.
~bigsurcalifornia.org

Spring Is…

March 29, 2010March 29, 2010Posted in CaliforniaTagged Annas Hummingbird, Egg Sitting, Nature, Nesting, Spring2 Comments

…flowers, longer days, new beginnings, and baby birds.

A friend called me yesterday to tell me his mother had found a Hummingbird nest in her rose bush while pruning it. He invited me over to photograph the nest which has an egg, and perhaps get the mama bird in flight.
Of course I couldn’t resist. It was thrilling to see how tiny the nest and egg are. To get her landing in the nest was the cherry on top of an already pretty good day.

Here she is coming back to the nest! This was thrilling. I wasn’t even sure I got the shot until today when I uploaded them.

First I saw this…

Then she sat on her egg never taking her eye off me.

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.” John F. Kennedy

March 9, 2010March 9, 2010Posted in California, UncategorizedTagged Alter, Church, San Francisco, WorshipLeave a comment

Old Saint Mary’s was built in 1854 as the first cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. It is the first cathedral in California to be built as a cathedral, although other churches in the state served as cathedrals before it was built. It was used from 1854 to 1891 as a cathedral and was replaced by the first Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, as the archdiocese was in need of a larger space for the growing number of Catholics in the area. In 1891, Old Saint Mary’s became a parish church still using the same name that it bore as a cathedral.

Old St. Mary’s survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake,
only to be gutted a day later by the fires started by the earthquake.
The fires were so hot that they melted the church bells and marble altar. All that was left was the exterior brick walls and the bell tower. The renovation of the church was completed in 1909.

Alter in Old St. Mary’s Chruch, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004.

Gung hay fat choy!

March 1, 2010March 1, 2010Posted in CaliforniaTagged Chinese New Year, Parade, San FranciscoLeave a comment

2010 The Year of the Tiger.

I spent Sat. in San Francisco taking photos of Chinatown, and North Beach. Then headed over to Union Square early enough to get a spot almost dead center on Geary St. at the Powell intersection. The parade headed right toward me then turned the corner from Geary onto Powell.

These little girls were adorable. I love their costumes and colorful umbrellas.

It was a fun day.

Horse Tail Fall Sunset

February 20, 2010February 20, 2010Posted in California, TravelTagged Forest, Snow, Sunset, Trees, YosemiteLeave a comment

I got up at 2am on the 18th and left the house at 3:15Am to drive to Gilroy to meet-up with 4 other photographers. At 4am we left Gilroy to meet-up with 2 other photographers in Mariposa,CA before heading into the Yosemite Valley where we would meet 5 more photographers from the north side of the Bay Area.

The trip revolved around a sunset shoot of Horse Tail Fall. The sun sets on Horse Tail Fall twice in 2010 for a few days in Feb. and again in Oct. The peak day for the best sunset was supposed to the 18th.

We shot all through the valley, had a picnic lunch at Bridalveil Fall, and well before sunset got to a spot to set up. Our spot was off Southside Drive just past Cathedral Beach picnic grounds.

I had a lot of fun and met some pretty neat people. We left the valley about 7:30PM and stopped for dinner in Mariposa. I didn’t get home until after midnight on the 19th. It was a 22 hour day filled with stunning views, and the company of fun, good people.

The light spot on the face of the mountain is the sun setting on Horse Tail Fall. The Fall wasn’t running very fast or full on this day.

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