My first trip to the Oceano Dunes

Taken last Sunday on my first photo exploration of the Oceano Dunes. I joined 3 of my friends for an afternoon outing to this magical place. It had rained the day before and the sand was easy to walk on, but there were many footprints so we had to walk out quite a ways to get pristine sand. But it was well worth the effort. I will defintely be returning to this beautiful place. 

My Christmas wish for you.

DEEP PEACE

               Deep Peace of the running wave to you

Deep Peace of the flowing air to you

Deep Peace of the quiet earth to you

Deep Peace of the shining stars to you

Deep Peace of the gentle night to you,

moon and stars

pour their healing light on you

Deep Peace to you

— a Gaelic Blessing

My image "The WAY WEST" was chosen 'Image of the Year' by the San Luis Obispo Camera Club.

Last night was our final Camera Club Competition of the year. There were some amazing photos shown and I feel very honored to have one of my photos chosen as the "Photo of the Year". Woo hoo! This is the same image that made it into the top 100 images in the upcoming 2011 NANPA EXPRESSIONS book. It is currently on exhibit at The PHOTO SHOP at 1027 Marsh St. in San Luis Obispo as a part of a special show of photos taken in Montana de Oro. The display runs through January 15th and the reception will be held on Friday January 7th from 6pm to 8pm.

We now have at least 12 Monarch caterpillars of all differnet sizes on our Milkweed. They are a challenge to photograph. Most of the time they are 'hiding' beneath the leaves and the slightest breeze makes the image blurry. I hope they make it though the storms headed our way.

I have a December Gift.

I love Monarch butterflies and when we decided to plant some Milkweed - the Monarch host plant - in our backyard, I didn't have much confidence that we would have Monarchs coming to our yard. But I was surprised and thrilled when I saw Monarchs fluttering around our Milkweed during the last warm spell. And I am overjoyed to share with you a first photo of one of the 'baby' Monarchs we have on our milkweed. I encourage each of you to think about planting some Milkweed. Monarch habitat is being destroyed by development and you can help save our beautiful Monarchs by planting Milkweed in your yard too.  The variety of Milkweed we planted is - Asclepias Curassivica. It is a Costa Rican variety. Don did some research ahead of time and found that this variety would do well in our Central Coast area.

Please spread the word. The more people planting Milkweed for the Monarchs the better.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can hardly believe it is almost Thanksgiving again. Where has this year gone. I wish each of you the comfort of friends and family. Like the rays of the setting sun behind Cayucos Pier may your days be filled with warmth and light as the holiday season begins.

My NEW TIMES photo contest winners

Last evening I went to the New Times Photo contest reception where the winning photos were announced. Out of 600 entries 40 photos were selected to be winners. And three of my photos were chosen for that honor. Woo Hoo!! I won a First place in the Open category for SAND FORREST; another First place in the Manmade category for CAYUCOS PIER; and a Third place in the Landscape category for ALMOST HEAVEN. I feel extremely honored.

First light of another glorious day in paradise.

I am usually up early every day. This is a good thing for a photographer who likes the chance to capture pre-dawn color. So this morning when I looked out and saw whispy clouds streaking across the sky, I decided that it would be a good day to try and photograph the sunrise over Morro Bay. And I was not disappointed.  I love the whole process of setting up and waiting to see how the begining of the day will unfold. And this morning was glorious!

I have heard from the folks at New Times that one of my images is a winner in their contest. Woo hoo! I don't know which one yet. The winning photos will be announced at an awards reception next Wednesday evening.

October update


At last things are beginning to settle down to 'normal' - whatever that is these days. My OPEN STUDIO went very well. I had more 100 visitors stop by to see my Studio. And some even purchased photos from me. :-) My only minor complaint was with the very hot sunny weather we had. My Studio faces south and the sun gets pretty hot when it shines into our yard. Here in Morro Bay we are more prepared for cool and foggy days. I plan to participate again next year and I'll inform you when it comes around.

I have some other good news. Two of my images (shown above) were selected to appear in NANPA's (North American Nature Photographers Assn) 2011 publication "EXPRESSIONS". It is a juried competition and more than 3000 images were submitted. My 'The WAY WEST' photo made it into tier II (the top 100 images) and 'COLOR FALL' is in tier III (the top 250 images). It is a prestigious competition and I feel honored to have my images selected.

I have also submitted images to the San Luis Obispo County NEW TIMES contest. I'm still waiting to hear if I am a winner. If I am, I'll be sure to post it here.

I'm participating in OPEN STUDIOs this OCTOBER.

Don and I just returned from a 4200 mile photo trip to South Dakota and back. We took lots of photos along the way (over 1100 for me!) and here is one of my favorites. I love Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. We weren't planning on a night here, but we changed our plans and I'm glad we did. We had great light and beautiful clouds the evening we were there. I hope we can return soon and spend more time exploring and photographing. 

This coming weekend of October 9th and 10th I am opening my Studio and inviting all of you to come and see where I work on my photography. OPEN STUDIOs is and event held throughout San Luis Obispo County over 3 weekends in October. More than 250 artists are participating this year. You can obtain a free catalog listing all the open studios at http://www.artsobispo.org/. The catalog gives my address and how to get here. I hope you can come.  



It's September!

I love the vibrant colors and sense of coming change I feel in September. It is almost Autumn. In this photo I took at the Cal Poly Arboretum I created a feeling of movement by rotating the camera as I took the shot. A long shutter speed is needed to use this technique.  DANCING is how I feel about September - which just happens to be my birthday month.

Next month I will be participating in OPEN STUDIO along with over 250 other artists in San Luis Obispo County, CA. Over three weekends in October we will open our studios and invite the public to come and see where we create our art. It is a wonderful opportunity for both the artist and those who love art. I'll post more about it next time.

A day at the Cal Poly Arboretum

The San Luis Obispo Camera Club took a field trip last Saturday to the Leaning Tree Arboretum on Cal Poly campus.This five acre arboretum features plants from the world's five mediterranean climate regions. It was my first visit there and I can see I will be returning to explore it more. I think it will be spectacular in Spring. Even in this 'off' season I found plenty of subject matter to photograph. I am always drawn to the patterns and shapes of things and I found the designs on this cactus to be particularly beautiful.

PHOTOMORPHOSIS Juried Show

I have two of my new photomontages currently on exhibit in a Juried show at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA). I feel very honored to be a part of this show. There were 171 submissions and only 54 images were chosen for the exhibition. It will be on display through September 24th. 

These images are the result of an online Photomontage class I have been taking for the last two months. I love the creativity of combining and blending images together. I hope to be creating more photomontages in the future.

And at long last I finally have my new website 'live'. You can find it at http://www.senseofwonderphotography.com/. I plan on adding more images to the site in the near future.

I found "gold" at Montana de Oro yesterday

We took another trip out to Montana de Oro yesterday. It was very windy and most of the birds were hidden away deep in foliage. But as I slowly walked through the campground I saw a splash of yellow. I only had moments to compose and take as few photos of this Wilson's Warbler. Then it flashed off into the bushes. What a joy!

A day in Montana de Oro State Park

A few days ago we took a jaunt out to one of my favorite places on the Central Coast - Montana de Oro State Park. We were hoping to find lines of Brown Pelicans flying over the ocean and perhaps a Pigeon Guillemot to photograph. And indeed we did find them, but they were all too far away and only looked like dots in our viewfinders. It was time to find something closer at hand to photo. This little White-crowned Sparrow was feeding on the ground near me. I took some shots, but there were many twigs and branches obscuring my view of him. But when he jumped onto a railing right in front of me, I was ready and got a good portrait of him.

Photo day - April 17, 2010

I took another 'photo drive' with Don last Saturday. We explored Bitterwater Road and then drove out toward Parkfield. Most of the wildflowers seem to be past their prime. Though we did see some lovely owl's clover painting the hills. But the gift of the day was unexpected. In a wet area next to the road we found Avocets! Don took the first turn taking photos out the window of the car as I slowly drove past and stopped where there were birds feeding. Then he returned the favor and I was lucky to capture some great images. Who would have thought to drive out into the countryside to photograph  shorebirds?

Last Saturday Don and I took a drive to Figueroa Mountain to look for wildflowers. It was a very cold, foggy and windy day at the top of the mountain. So all the poppies were closed up tight and the other flowers were a challenge to try and photograph in the wind. But down the road toward Happy Canyon we found the most beautiful Bush Lupine I have ever seen. The blooms were profuse and bushes lined the road. We had a wonderful time taking photos here. It ended up to be a good outing.

First day on my BLOG!

So it begins.

Last January I took a Bay cruise in beautiful Morro Bay and I was lucky enough to capture a sea otter in action. These are amazing creatures. They have no fat but do have incredibly dense fur to insulate them. They need to groom constantly to keep their fir in top condition. I call this shot OTTER BATH.