Last weekend me and my friend decided to hike to this beautiful marvel of nature. We choose to start late, stay there until sunset and then hike back in the dark. The trip was luckily synchronized with a moderately high tide around sunset which gave us a few unique photo opportunities.

We reached the trail head at 2:30 pm, hiked for 2 hours and were at the waterfall around 4:45pm. There were just 4 more people at the beach and soon we had the place to ourselves. The evening light on the waterfall was almost perfect and for next 30 minutes, it was all clicking of shutters and warning shouts for each other (alerting about the incoming waves). Here I share two of my favorite photos from that wonderful evening.

The plan was to get to the trail-head by sunrise, photograph around, then follow it up by a 5 mile out and back hike to the top of Black Mountain and return home for lunch. Acting according to plan, we (one of my friends joined in) started early but as always were running about 10 minutes late and by the time we reached the trail-head, couple of clouds were already glowing orange in an otherwise foggy landscape. The next 5-10 minutes are like a blur in my memory: walking/running, finding a composition and in almost fading light managing to click 3 frames. Back home, while developing the raw files in Lightroom 4, I was taken aback by the mood captured in the first image. It was like a blast of fire in the sky with everything else covered in bluish fog. I named the image: “Fog and Flame”.

The perfect start to the morning was followed by a very satisfying hour of photography and then the planned hike. We photographed rising fog through the canyons, herd of deer feeding in fog and my Spectre of Brocken with rings of Glory. Here I share 3 more of my favorite photos from that wonderful morning. Though, I have hiked in this preserve innumerable times and have made quite a few photos, I am amazed at the novel juxtapositions of light and land I always find there. Maybe that’s why I enjoy nature/landscape photography.

Birds, with such a diversity in both appearances and behavior are definitely one of the most fascinating creatures to watch. I am fortunate to live 5 miles from Palo Alto Baylands that is a very good place to watch and photograph them in every season. There are many visitors in the winter season such as Sandpiper, Northern Shoveler, Cinnamon Teal, Canvasback etc. Also it is the season when American Avocets start getting their beautiful plumage back and Mallards display their beautiful colors while courting.

Last weekend, I made a quick trip to Baylands to check how things are up there. I was joined by my friend Meghan who is a nature enthusiast and a serious amateur photographer. We saw a Canvasback religiously preening and cleaning itself, of which Meghan has made a wonderful video and is kind enough to allow me to share it here (top of the post). There were Sandpipers feeding fervently on the marsh bed. Black-necked Stilts were doing their usual stuff in small ponds while couple of Egrets were feeding at some distance. Here are my photos- top 3 picks from the lovely morning at Palo Alto Baylands.

Last week I visited the Uvas Canyon county park in Morgan Hill, CA with a friend. This lushly wooded park of 1,133 acres, is nestled in upper Uvas Canyon on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz Mountains and is famous for its numerous waterfalls, which we thought will be nicely flowing, courtesy of good winter rain this year.

It was overcast with light rain and our early start meant that we had the park to ourselves. Conditions for photography were perfect: roaring creeks, soft, diffused light with rich, saturated colors and almost no wind. We spent about 3 hours hiking and photographing various waterfalls in the park (mostly on the Waterfalls Loop trail) and found some interesting compositions by climbing steep hill sides. Here is a sampling of my photos- a portrait of waterfall scenes of the Uvas Canyon county park.

Dawn over SF Bay, 7:06 AM, 1st Jan. 2013

I decided to welcome the New Year this time in a different manner. Instead of sleeping after midnight, I decided to get up very early and drive to Slacker Hill (http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=672545) trailhead in Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco, climb the hill before dawn and welcome the first Sunrise of 2013. The forecast called for decreasing clouds and I decided to take my chance.

Its a short (0.4 mile one-way) steep hike and I reached on top of the hill 30 min before Sunrise. It was very windy and the clouds were breaking towards east revealing a warm dawn sky. I was later joined by an elderly couple who enjoyed the Sunrise over a mug of coffee.  Overall it was an enthralling, rejuvenating experience and hopefully, I will continue this for years to come.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunrise, over SF Bay from Slacker Hill, 7:30am, 1st January, 2013

Early Morning, Bay Bridge and San Francisco

Rising mist, Montebello OSP

Dark, grey clouds engulfed the SF bay area for the entire last weekend. It poured, it was cold with brief lulls in the storm, which gave rise to fleeting rainbows before the dark clouds took over again; and it rained. Streets had puddles, couple of roads were temporarily blocked and it continued to rain.

Then on Monday, the weatherman called for a possible clearing. I slept early as it poured outside, with my mind on the next morning.

I did not sleep well, got up way before dawn and headed out, to soak in- the energy, the positivity of experiencing a rising sun after a long, dark storm.

It was dark outside with not a soul in sight as I drove up the Page Mill road. On the way, I observed the sky get its morning bluish hues revealing the lingering clouds. The wind picked up increasing the chill, as if telling me to go back home but I persisted and decided to hike to the old orchard in Monte Bello OSP.

Towards east, there was quite some drama going on: as soon as the Sun tries to break out, clouds moved in to cover it up. “For how long ?”, I asked myself and laughed at their naivety. Slowly but surely, everything gave way and the Sun finally came out with full intensity. With that, mist started to rise from every corner of the vast landscape (the chapparals, the meadows, the forest) as if paying homage to a deity.  I clicked, and stopped (to perceive the moment) and clicked again. Here I share my morning after the storm with the hope that you feel the warmth.

Happy 2013.

Dawn after the storm, Montebello OSP

Lifting fog and tree.

Rising mist

Solar corona and God beams

The Autumn season in coastal California is short, the color fleeting and not as spectacular as what we see in New Hampshire, Vermont, the Rockies, Eastern Sierras etc.  Nevertheless, autumn here has its own subtle manifestations: the clouds return, breaking the monotonicity of blank blue summer skies; occasional rain fills the air with bucolic smell; the creeks start flowing again and by courtesy of ‘Bigleaf Maple’ (top),  we even get a splash of yellow amid the greens (image at right), like ‘a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart’ (Hal Borland).

Since last year I have made a point to go and look for the scattered Fall color around Stanford University, particularly in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This mountain range, which forms the western wall of the SF Bay area, runs parallel to the Pacific from San Francisco to the city of Santa Cruz and is home to a diversity of flora and fauna. Here I share the ephemeral beauty of our autumn season; nestled in Santa Cruz mountains it has a charm that is often overlooked.

A bigleaf Maple, growing alongside Skyline Boulevard (CA-35) in Santa Cruz Mountains shows beautiful foliage in autumn.

A Maple leaf settles next to a cascade in Purisima creek, which flows from Santa Cruz Mountains into the Pacific.

A beautiful autumn scene, near La Honda, Santa Cruz Mountains

Light rain saturates the vivid yellow of Maple leaves that stand out from the evergreen coastal Redwoods in Santa Cruz Mountains.

Clearing storm over Santa Cruz Mountains as seen from Windy Hill OSP. Autumn season marks the return of clouds and much needed rain to the region after a dry summer.

Having hiked and photographed the Monte Bello OSP scores of times, I had the impression of knowing the place inside out until I found a vague reference to a hidden pond in the preserve on the internet. I was immediately restless and wanted to go, find it and make it my own. The experience, I thought will give me the joy of discovery and the pond will also be a beautiful subject to photograph. So, the seeker was out and after some online research followed by few short hikes, I finally discovered the pond. It was away from the popular area of activity, in a location I have never explored before and I realized that with the right light, I will be able to make some unique photos from that part of the preserve.

It took about 4-5 more visits with many failures, until I clicked photos that gave me satisfaction and fulfilled my vision. Here I share those with the hope that we all keep the seeker alive in us.

Pond at sunset, Monte Bello OSP. The setting sun paints the clouds in vivid pink with the calm waters acting as a perfect mirror.

Fiery clouds at sunset are reflected in the still waters of the ‘hidden pond’ in the Monte Bello OSP.

Looking east, Monte Bello OSP. The beautiful clouds hung in to catch the last light and created this stunning palette of colors.

I wanted to make images showing different activities of the Oriole like feeding, perching (habitat), preening etc to make a respectable portrait of this beautiful bird. After 2 hours of work that included lugging a 500mm lens on a tripod over my shoulder, I had images which gave me some satisfaction. I share the photos here and may be will find time to pay a visit to this gorgeous species again.

Bullock’s Oriole (Male) perches up on a tree, Palo Alto Baylands, Palo Alto, CA

Bullock’s Oriole (Male) with a catch, Palo Alto Baylands, Palo Alto, CA

Sunlight filtered through trees spotlight a male Bullock’s Oriole preening, perched up on a tree, Palo Alto Baylands, CA

Close up of Bullock’s Oriole (Male), spotlit by sunlight, perched on a tree

Feather Details of a male Bullock’s Oriole. The black complements the orange really nicely.

Female (?) Bullock’s Oriole

Bullock’s Oriole (Juvenile Male ?) sits on a fence for moments before disappearing again in the trees