Travel – Page 5 – Circadianreflections Blog

P52 15/52 Carnivorus Pitcher Plant

April 12, 2014April 12, 2014Posted in California, Flowers, Macro Photography, Photography, TravelTagged Berkley Botanical Garden, Carnivorus Pitcher Plant, Macro photography, San Jose Nature Photographer1 Comment

Nikon D700| AF-D Nikkor 105mm micro| Hand-held| Berkeley Botanical Garden, Berkeley,CA, USA

P52 14/52 Tunnel View in Golden Hour

April 7, 2014April 7, 2014Posted in California, Landscapes, Photography, Travel, US National ParksTagged Golden Hour, San Jose CA Nature Photographer, Travel and Tourism, US National Parks, Yosemite National Park1 Comment

I ventured North-east to look for Wildflowers then went into Yosemite National Park to photograph the river, and waterfalls, but couldn’t be in the park and not go up to Tunnel View. I swung by here earlier in the day to see how it looked and thought it would be a good place to shoot the sunset since the clouds were getting thicker by the hour and by 3PM Half Dome was covered in clouds.

I made two images up here a cool version using my Singh Ray LB Color filter then removed the filter and made the warmer image you see here. I’ll share the cooler image soon since I like them both.

This is all the color we got this evening. More clouds rolled in obscuring the sun and blocking any more color. By 7:40pm I was in Pearl (my car) with the heater on thawing out my very cold fingers still hoping the color would come. There were only 3 photographers set up waiting and hoping outside on the observation deck; everyone else had left. Shortly after that all the color faded completely and He-Man and I headed home relaxed, and very content.

Travelerette on the Wildflower Trail

April 6, 2014April 6, 2014Posted in California, Photography, Travel, WildflowersTagged San Jose Nature Photographer, Spring Wildflowers, Toys in photos1 Comment

Myself and He-Man headed north-east to Sierra National Forest looking for Spring Wildflowers. We found a few mountain sides covered in California Poppies, and several other Wildflowers in bloom.

We saw Blue Dicks, Lupin two types Miniature, and a larger purple one Mountain? There were buttercups, and Goldfields, Chinese Houses, a tiny white flower like Baby’s Breath, but not. I need to ID that one, and lots of grass! The recent rains really greened things up nicely.

We got to the Trail-head in the late morning with the sun shining, but the Poppies decided to sleep late on this Saturday morning.

We hiked about 2 miles round trip on this trail, then headed to Yosemite to check out the waterfalls, and do a bit of hiking there. Images to follow.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8| Hand-held- Sierra National Forest, California USA

Who says Polka Dots and Stripes don’t go together?

April 2, 2014April 2, 2014Posted in California, Photography, TravelTagged Lion Fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Jose Nature Photographer, Travel and Tourism5 Comments

The Lion Fish shows us how to do it.

This is an image I made while at the Monterey Bay Aquarium last Saturday. I think he looks lovely in this royal blue watery background. I am going to look for these patterns, and colors to add to my wardrobe this summer.

A morning at the Aquarium

March 31, 2014March 31, 2014Posted in California, Photography, TravelTagged Low Light Photography, Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Jose Nature Photographer, Travel and TourismLeave a comment

Since it was supposed to be a rainy Saturday my friend Dali and I headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We met early at a favorite coffee shop then drove a little over an hour south to get there just before the Aquarium opened. We anticipated a big crowd; it being a Saturday, and rainy. There was already a line to purchase tickets when we arrived.

We headed straight for the Jellyfish tanks since those are very popular, but we got side-tracked by the scuba-divers in the BIG tanks. They were cleaning the glass, and both little and big kids found them fun to watch.

…and now for some fish!

There are two Octopi here. This top one is the smaller of the two. They’re both pretty large.

This bottom one is enormous!

This Stingray came out of the deep blue and looked so graceful and hypnotic swimming through the tank.

Finally we got to the Jellyfish! I have a lot of Jellyfish images to go through, but here’s one of my favorites.

By noon the Aquarium was pretty crowded, so we headed to the cafe for lunch. I didn’t take any foodie images, but I did take a photo of the entrance to the Cafe. I liked the lines, and color contrast.

Then we went back upstairs to find some animals and fish we missed earlier. I’ll be working on those images soon, but here’s one gem we found. Isn’t it pretty!

It was a tricky venue to shoot because most the tanks were dark and back-lit. In addition to that the lights in the halls and galleries were pointing into the tanks which caused reflections of the bulbs, and glare on the tank glass, also there were reflections of the people, and the room on the glass. To clean up the images I cloned out some of the light reflections, and the worst of the muck that was floating in the tanks.

I used a Nikon D700 with a AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G lens, and to keep the shutter speed up my ISO varied between 1000-2500. I used a little noise reduction in a few of these images.

It had been many years since my last visit. I really shouldn’t wait so long between visits.

Daybreak St Thomas Is.

March 27, 2014March 27, 2014Posted in Photography, TravelTagged cruise, San Jose Nature Photographer, St Thomas Island, Sunrise, Travel and Tourism1 Comment

I took this image in September 2012 while on a Cruise.

I woke up early to catch the sunrise then I watched us pull into the harbor, and finally dock in port. The Captain and Crew did what I thought was an amazing job of docking the Freedom of the Seas; an enormous ship! We pulled in backwards or in reverse and basically paralleled parked that baby behind a Disney Cruise ship and the end of the pier, and floating next to dock were lots of sailboats anchored near the docking lane like these in the image. It really was the most memorable docking in my life to date. The sunrise was quite beautiful too.

Travelerette at the Casting Pool

March 10, 2014March 10, 2014Posted in California, Photography, TravelTagged Legos, News Updates: Rumors: Photography: Nikon: Nikkor, San Jose Nature Photographer, Toys, Toys in photos, TraveleretteLeave a comment

Travelerette at the Casting Pool, originally uploaded by CircadianReflections Photography.

Watching these men and women is a bit hypnotic. The arm motion and line is so fluid, and I think graceful.

I created Travelerette at the Lego store in town to go with the Traveler, but he was napping at the time of this photo op. 🙂

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 24-70g| Hand-held

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