Self-portrait

Taken at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

M week in the alphabet photo class

I'm up-to-date with my posting in the class, now I just need to get out & shoot some more letters!  

Top left green M:  This is just as shot.  I'm not sure why those two brown lines are there, the rest of the letters in the sign didn't have them.  Maybe because it's a capital M?    Other letters were lower case?

Middle red M:  also just as shot.  It came from a stenciled sign on some very weathered cement.

Bottom blue M:   It was a blue M on a  plain white background, so I decided to add some texture to it and played a bit with the color.

Campo CA

Saturday was train day. We drove 1-1/2 hours east of San Diego to the town of Campo  --  we had about an hour's  ride on a train, then the kids heard a story about the Red Candy Caboose, and were able to go on the Caboose for their own candy!  

The link will take you to the information about the Railway Museum & rides they offer.  Campo Depot

If you're wondering why the kids all have ski clothes on, the temp was 42 degrees that morning.

L week in the Alphabet class.

The blue L is a photo of part of a sign -- all done in glass letters.  Taken at Spanish Village, Balboa Park (San Diego).

Seaweed L was photographed at Mission Bay.


See my classmates' alphabet photos at this link:

Carol Leigh's Alphabet Class

Fun stuff -- and after 26 weeks of searching for  alphabet letters, I'm sure the habit will last way after the class is over.

Alphabet class

The 26 in 26 class is still going on with Carol Leigh .   I'm a bit behind posting, so here are my K's that I submitted.  

Ocotillo at sunrise

I'm still working through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park photos.   I liked this profile of the ocotillo plant, taken at sunrise at Culp Point.

Protea

My grocery store was selling these flowers -- how could I resist?   It's spring and I guess I needed a little reminder, because the weather (still) has been cold, windy and rainy.

First rose of the season

Opened to high winds and rain today, not much of a welcome to the first rose of the season.

Quaan Califia's Magical Circle

After volunteering at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, another volunteer mentioned going to a nearby "sculpture park" she had heard about, done by a LaJolla artist.  Because it was on the way home, how could I resist?   I'm so glad I stopped to see this.  Here's the link to an incredible sculpture garden

http://www.queencalifia.org/   The artist, Niki DeSaint Phalle, has pieces also in Balboa Park, and all over the world.

It was fun to be there, surrounded by these colorful,  huge pieces.  A touchable sculpture park.    If you look at the second one, you'll see a little girl under the sculpture (on the left hand side) -- this will give you an idea of scale.

Entrance to park

Look for little girl under this creature.   

Sunset in Anza-Borrego

This photograph was taken in the Split Mountain area of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

A wonderful way to end the photography workshop I just attended.

Anza-Borrego Sunrise photos

I'm really missing the desert this morning, we're experiencing heavy fog in my part of San Diego and temperature is only 47 degrees.



Both these photographs were taken in Culp Valley.

Anza-Borrego State Park: more photos

The Anza-Borreo Foundation is a great resource if you are planning a trip to the desert.  Check out their web site
http://theabf.org/

One of the photos I'm showing  here was taken at the Visitor's Center (palms).  The other two were taken in an area called Split Mountain.  Thanks Tom for inviting me to ride along (catalottonthego.blogspot.com).
I'm quite fascinated by the tiny flowers that can survive & grow out of rocks or dried mud in the desert floor.  Here's one we saw growing out of the rocks.

One of my favorite bushes:  the smoke bush.  I remember seeing these in the Baja.  Still like them!  

Anza-Borrego State Park

The blog was quiet this weekend, but I wasn't.   I went to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for a photography weekend.  The workshop was led by Paul Johnson (photographer and naturalist)  and Ernie Cowan (www.packtrain.com)

The desert was beautiful and these two photos were taken my first night in the park.  What a welcome!

 It was a jam-packed weekend with lots of photo opportunities in the park.  More photos to follow in the next few days as I process all the photos I took.  

It's "J" week.

The left "J" was shot in San Diego near the harbor.   The right "J" was shot in LaJolla -- take from a very old,  very weathered sign.  

Calla

Calla ... with an attitude.  I loved the irregular side of this flower.

iPhone photo

I keep forgetting to use the iPhone camera.  Took this while on a walk, then used two apps -- one to age it & another to add the film strip.

New shoes

It was a fun photo to take.

Flamingo sighting

I was back at the San Diego Zoo again yesterday -- I'm officially now a Volunteer-in-Training.  Before the orientation last night, I spent some time in the Zoo at one of my favorite places:  the flamingo area. This youngster was napping, and occasionally opened an eye to look around.  I love the colors on his body.    I also think I'll have to use this  photo for the Alphabet Class I'm taking -- do you see the "S" -- it's pretty clear to me.   I must admit, though, I'm seeing alphabet letters all the time -- and not everyone else does   ;-)    Am I becoming too focused on the alphabet?  

"I" week

 

Happy March 1st.  This week is "I" week in my alphabet class.  These are straight out of the camera, minimal Photoshop work done (sizing, some levels applied).

This last  is my favorite, and yes, it is just as it was on the sign where I photographed it.