Tag: California

Double Rainbow on Upper Yosemite Fall

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Copyright ©2011- 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

Another waterfall from my Archives. On my birthday in 2011 I hiked up Upper Yosemite trail and was rewarded with a Double Rainbow at the base of Upper Yosemite Fall. It’s a steep and arduous hike, but well worth the effort.
I lost my favorite Hobbie sunglasses over the railing here. They fell a LONG way. 🙂

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 1735@ 20mm| f5| 1/2000second| ISO 160| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Hand-held- there wasn’t much room for my tripod on this ledge.

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Mossbrea Falls

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Mossbrea Falls, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2011 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

One from my archive. This fall is in Northern CA. It’s quite an adventure to get to it. There is no trail to the fall. One must walk along railroad tracks for about a mile. Trains still use the track so you might have to jump out-of-the-way and wait for the train to pass on your way to or from the fall.

Once there if it’s been a wet season you’re rewarded with a wall of water cascading down the mountain. I believe the length of the wall or mountain side that the fall cascades down is as long as a football field. I had to shoot it in bits and pieces To take it all in at once was a bit overwhelming at first. The only way I could “see” to photograph it was to break it down into manageable frames.
I’ve looked at my photos off and on since I took them never being motivated to process them beyond a few basic adjustments then I saved them as PSD’s, closed the file and moved on.
I took another look at the “works in progress” over the week-end because I’m planning to pass this way again next month and I’d like to revisit the fall on my way north.
While looking at them again I finished a few photos here’s the first.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm| B+W Neutral Density filter 0.9

 

The Nature Trail at Villa Montalvo

Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Danbo, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved

I needed to get out and stretch my legs, but wanted to stay close to home so I went over to Villa Montalvo to hike up to Lookout Point.

Villa Montalvo located in Saratoga, CA  is now called Montalvo Arts Center. The 175 acre property was originally owned by James Duval Phelan (1861-1930), a 3 term Mayor of San Francisco, and later he became a Senator.  The house an Historic Landmark was built in 1912.

“At his death, Senator Phelan was explicit in his bequest of Villa Montalvo. “I would like the property at Saratoga, California, known as Villa Montalvo, to be maintained as a public park open under reasonable restrictions, the buildings and grounds immediately surrounding the same to be used as far as possible for the development of art, literature, music, and architecture by promising students.”~ Montalvo Arts Center

Today it offers art courses, performing arts events, gallery exhibitions, educational opportunities, artist residencies and hiking in beautiful woodland trails, or exploring the gardens.

Villa Montalvo from the great lawnThe trail-head from Parking Lot 3-This Pavilion is called  The Belvedere  is an original structure from the Senator’s days.

The Trailhead

At the beginning of the Nature you hike through Oak and Laurel woodlands

Nature TrailAlong this part of the Nature Trail there are signs of Spring. Indian Warrior, and White clusters are in bloom.

Tower Lousewort ? White ClusterSoon you begin a steeper ascent and enter the Redwood Forest

Seeing the trees_7295

…and before you know it you’re at the top at Lookout Point looking over Santa Clara Valley. There was Vog on this morning.  It’s only a 1.1 mile hike up to the Lookout Point from the Pavilion. It’s nice to have a beautiful trail close to home to stretch my legs.

Danbo Lookout Point Villa Montalvo

Danbo wants to head home and points the way.

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Woody’s First Trip to Yosemite NP

Posted in "Woody's Adventures", Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., PhotographyTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

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Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

This was also the first time Woody had seen snow. He tried to build a snowman, but found the snow too slushy. It kept falling apart. He’ll try it again one day.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 2470 @ 70mm| f4.5| 1/800s| ISO400| Manual Priority| Hand-held

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Moonrise in Yosemite National Park

Posted in California, Landscapes, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , 2 Comments

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Please click on photo to view  it larger, and then if you’d like to view  it on black once in the larger screen mode press L on your keyboard. It looks better I think.

My flickr contact Lynne said she’d like to see this in Black and white. That got me thinking about it, and then I began to play. Finally I’ve come up with something I like. What do you think Woman?

Single frame; Nikon D700: Nikkor 80-200mm @200mm| f10| 1/200 sec| ISO200| Manual Priority| Tripod w/cable release

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Post Thanksgiving Repast Hike

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

All of us were feeling heavy and a bit groggy from the Thanksgiving Feast so we decided to hike up to Mission Peak to shake it off, and keep a tradition going. When my son comes home for the holidays we come up here at least once together. This time my husband came along too. The light was gorgeous at the top when we arrived.

It was a lovely afternoon, sunny, and warm, and it didn’t get chilly or windy until we were near the top. I didn’t outdo any records making it up here this time. The rich food of the day before and not hiking for a few weeks paid its toll.

Near the trail-head there were several Magpies hanging around. Here is one landing on a post along the trail. I think these birds are pretty, but they gross me out!

There are quite a few new calves up here now, and I saw a pretty big Red-Tail Hawk hanging around looking for something to eat near the top. There were also quite a few other people making this trek.

Calf with Caramel Ears

We stayed long enough to snap a photo, and head down. We wanted to get down before dark; we almost did.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 28-105@35mm| Manual Priority| Hand-held

American Kestrel- Female

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

American Kestrel- Female, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

“Not on a wire, not on a pole, it’s a tree for me!” This is the little mantra I said today as I saw a Kestrel on a wire. Later in the morning while we were driving through an Auto-tour in San Luis National Wildlife Refuge I spotted this kestrel in a tree! I was so excited, and thrilled when I uploaded this photo. It’s the first Kestrel I’ve shot that wasn’t on a pole or wire, and the first I’ve posted I believe.
We (Rainy, Dali, Judi, and I) saw so many neat birds and photographed quite a few of them.
We saw, this Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Black Phoebe’s, Sparrow’s a new one for me I need to ID, my first Merlin!, Ross Geese, Coots, Blue Herons, Egrets: mostly Great Egrets, a Kingfisher, an American Bluebird, a Burrowing Owl, Mallards, Northern Pintails, Shrike, Meadow Larks, Plovers, Ibis, Sandhill Cranes, White fronted Geese, Red-winged Blackbirds, Shovelers, and White-tail Kites. In addition we saw a Coyote,  I saw a raccoon, and  we saw a dear friend Judi. It was an amazing, fantastic, sunny, everything going our way, very good day!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200 @200mm + Tamron 1.4TC|f7.1| 1/800 sec| ISO 640| Manual Priority| Hand-held