Central California Photography

Central California

The Coast

Some of the most challenging subjects for me have been close to home. Too often, I look into the camera and say, "I've seen it before." But not always! When I saw the light on the beams of Under the Pier, I knew there was potential there. The patterns and lines pull interest into the frame. The arrival of the sailboat passing by was a stroke of luck.

Pier is one of the first local photographs I've made that holds my attention. We get blue hues from evening light after sundown and warm tones from the incandescent lights for a vivid contrast of color. The show didn't last long. This image earned a First Place Award at the Santa Barbara County Fair and a First Place Award at the California Mid-State Fair.

The Elephant Seals, above left, congregate at the beaches north of Cambria to start their families and raise their pups. For the photograph, I was able to create a zig-zag line of distant bluffs, breaking waves and small creek. Selective focus keeps the foreground seals from drawing attention away from the seal of interest, who is looking toward the camera. It all comes together to provide a pleasing environmental photograph of these interesting animals.

Occasionally, tall ships can be seen at Morro Bay harbor. Day's End was photographed from a point about twenty feet above the surf line, and not far inland. We get good separation among the ripples at the shore, and they help define the relative scale of ship, sea and distant hills. And the sea! You can't see it in the thumbnail, but in the linked image the sea has a luminous texture that sparkles like hand-tooled silver. I had considerable difficulty getting a good print of this, so I was particularly pleased when the effort paid off with a First Place Award at the Santa Barbara County Fair.

The Backbone of Time. Ripples in the creek water create the illusion of vertebrae curving toward the sea. The flowing water, the perspective, the evolutionary implications of the backbone imagery, and the setting sun create visual prose of the relentless advance of time. Like crown jewels connecting land and sea, the texture and light on the sand are truly regal, and the water shimmers in the late light.

Inland

When Spring comes to Central California, there are places where you can almost hear the color. This view was photographed under cloudy skies, west of New Cuyama.

Returning home on Highway 166, I saw Stairway to Heaven at New Cuyama. I like how the graphics of the composition take my eye down and away from the cross, as if to say that a ladder isn't how you get there.

East of Arvin was photographed in the hills east of -- you guessed it! -- Arvin, California. The trees look like creatures advancing out of the fog with limbs waving in the air. I wasn't dressed for the weather. The plan was to find a composition that conveyed the simplicity of the time and place before I froze up solid. I thought it would be easy, but most views included too much information or the wrong balance between elements. I found these two trees and eventually settled upon a position from which to make the photograph. I made several exposures, then quickly returned to the heated car.

Reyes Station is located on California Highway 166, between Maricopa and New Cuyama. The weary roof, c-clamp and brick caught my attention as inelegant, though apparently affective, means toward repair. State of the Union preserves the moment in a manner similar to old photographs that I've seen of U.S. Route 66. I think the image is strongest when rendered in black and white.

Life Glow does just that: it glows. The simple, curved lines and trio of buds provide grace, elegance and substance, and the photograph speaks confidently of life.

The Close View

Here are two more images sharing the "close view." Like Sunrise on Ice, they were photographed through an extension tube with a 6x7 medium format camera. The extension tube moves the lens further from the film, allowing for closer focusing. The picture on the left shows Alighted being photographed. Not visible is the reflector that was used to bring additional light into the shadows and under the butterfly wings. The dark stripes on my head and camera are shadows from the butterfly housing of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The butterflies are free within the enclosure, and because there are so many of them, it was a matter of picking a flower with the right light and waiting - not too long! - for a butterfly to arrive and look wonderful. I worked with the contrast of blue light from the shaded background against the warm tones of the subject and reflected sunlight to deliver an image with additional "pop" from the warm/cool contrast.

Iris on Black was photographed at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. I had arrived a bit late in the season, and most iris were past their prime. But this one wasn't, and was well-lighted in open shade. I exposed for the white and let the shadows go dark. After scanning the negative, I sent the dark areas all the way to black, except for the one green blade of the plant, which I brightened to better complement the iris. Finally, I rotated the blade slightly and moved it a bit to the right to improve composition. This is not my usual method for creating an image, but I rather like the result. It earned a First Place Award at the California Mid-State Fair.

The white-tip flower, Awesome Blossom, was in the same general area as Spring, but the light was bright and harsh. I used a reflector to shade it from direct light, and to shield it from a breeze. With shallow depth of field, the blossom floats luminously against the dark background.