15 Aug 19 Eight days into our 2 week coastal trip Jan decided she had had enough driving and wanted to call the rest of the trip off and get back home. So day 9 was a full court press north stopping in several places along the way among them being Glass Beach where she spent a couple hours collecting glass on the beach. From there we made it to Eureka for a quick late dinner and then pushed on to Crescent City for the night before making the long drive home the next day. But in the early dawn of morning I hung a carrot in front of her called Crater Lake and the plans changed to delay the return one more day in order to visit Crater Lake. It was a good call as the drive from Crescent City to Crater Lake is just 188 miles and takes roughly 4 hours assuming you don't stop for anything and we didn't save for some fuel. The weather was beginning to change and some nice clouds were teasing us along the entire drive. Unlike a lot of the National Parks, the approach to Crater Lake is almost as nice as the Lake itself so the drive to and from was a bonus I had not anticipated. Upon our arrival the weather was getting stormy and produced some interesting surface action on the Lake which I'll show in another mailing. Off and on we enjoyed some blustery winds, a bit of rain and even some hail for a few minutes. The weather made for some very nice compositions and I'm thinking the next time we visit I'll look for something other than clear calm skies. Today's shot, another pano, was taken with the lake at our backs looking out across the approach to the top of the crater. As I mentioned yesterday, we could only drive 1/4 of the way around the crater road and just to the right side of the image is where you had to turn around and retrace your steps as the snow was still covering the road. The photo looks like it is curved but it isn't as I was standing at the bottom of a road that went uphill in both directions, like the one you had to walk uphill both ways to and from school as a child. This is an 11 frame pano. It is straight from the camera. Endpoint Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1000 sec @ f /11.
09 Aug 19 Little by little we are growing a poppy section in the front garden. This year was the first in which we've had growth resultant from the plants self propagating and we are quite hopeful on seeing a lot more next year in that we have perhaps 20 stalks with seed heads on them each of which holds hundreds of seeds. In addition to that we keep adding new varieties so perhaps in another 5 or 6 years we'll have a nice section devoted to these beautiful flowers. I've been shooting them for years always trying to get that perfect shot although I don't really know what that is as my ideas keep changing. That said, here is a shot from the garden I took a few weeks back that comes mighty close to being the perfect shot for now. Next year I have a feeling it will be something slightly different. This is straight from the camera. Perfection Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 16.
30 Aug 19 Among our favorite flowers, and "our" includes Jan, me, and our eldest granddaughter, are calla lilies. You've likely seen them in white, yellow, and purple, and we have all three in the garden, but this year one sprung up in vibrant orange. We have no idea from where it came, but it has been blooming - a single flower - for over two months. Over that time the color has changed from a very bright orange to a deeper orange, but it has remained orange throughout. This shot really shows off the color but unfortunately is missing an insect or arachnid. You are welcome to practice your image manipulations by adding same. We will be departing on the 16th for Yellowstone returning on the 30th so there will be no mailings the last two weeks in September. I'll remind you again next week and on the 13th. This is straight from the camera. Atypically Colored Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.
