The Road Home

I had an awesome weekend. I'm never happier than I am in the outdoors and I got out there both days this past weekend. On Saturday I lead an Artists' Paint Out into Coe Park and on Sunday we lead a very talent landscape photographer into the backcountry.

Tired but happy, this is my final shot of the weekend, taken on the Bear Mountain Road 20 minutes before sunset. More entries to come as I get thing processed. Great wildflower weekend. The great outdoors and good company. It doesn't get any better than this. I'm one happy gal.

Camellia

Ah, a new personal project. I'm going to be photographing a garden through the next couple of weeks. A venue where I did a wedding last summer has turned out to be a wonderful location for children's portraiture. In exchange, I'll be photographing these beautiful gardens.

So, I'm off to a slow start because I hadn't been there at this time of year and didn't get the timing right for the golden hour light.

But I did photograph a few things in the garden, including these Camellias.

Tree Identification

Every year in March we get taken completely by surprise by a strong, beautiful night fragrance. It comes from a shrub or tree in our yard. It was shrub-sized when we moved into our home 14 years ago, but now it's a tree.

I really love to know what I have growing around me but I still haven't identified this plant. Do you know it?

The tree and branches are woody, brittle and thin. The flower is black with a pink throat. A million blossoms blooming right now scents the whole neighborhod at night.

Coe Wildflowers

Henry W. Coe State Park's annual wildflower display is a thing to behold. I got out into the park this past weekend and photographed the early wildflowers. Shooting Stars and Hounds Tongue in the park backcountry. It was a reconnoiter for an Artists' Paint Out I'll be leading this weekend.

Here's are a couple of beautiful scenes on the way out of the park during the beautiful golden hour.

Little Cowgirl

Well this weekend I discovered that shooting horses is hard. Little cowgirls, not so hard. A client had me photograph her daughter and horse. I'll see if I get brave enough to show you my girl/horse portrait as soon as they have chosen some favorites. Meanwhile, here's a cute little collage I made at the very end of the shoot as our little cowgirl was packing up for home. I kept on shooting and am glad I did. I love this little sequence.

Bridal Shoot - Capitola

I'm just working up the images from a bridal shoot I did on Saturday in Capitola. This was a model shoot for a vendor/wedding coordinator/planner, Kathy Ramirez (Kathy's Kreations) in Freedom, CA. The dresses were provided by a Touch of Elegance Bridal shop owned by Sonja Escalante in Watsonville.

I've worked briefly with all three of these models since the Hecker Pass Bridal Fair in the fall so we have loosened up with each other and can have a little fun.

Meet Kristin, Sasha and Michael. What a good sport Michael was for this shoot. We pretty much use him like a prop, but he takes it in stride.

Anza Borrego

I'm still enjoying my Anza Borrego photos. We had some wonderful days out there. I was delighted to find peace and quiet almost everywhere, despite the fact that the park is experiencing a surge of visitors for this wildflower bonanza.

Since returning I exchanged an e-mail with a State Park Ranger who used to work at Coe State Park where I volunteer. She's now working down in the mountains west of Anza Borrego at Cuyamaca State Park but for a while she was a ranger at Ocotillo Wells and actually lives in Borrego Springs. She said that she's never seen it more lovely and that the traffic in town is quite a novelty for their sleepy little town.

Anyway, far away from all of that madness here are two favorite "coffee" spots where we took our morning coffee to a delightfully quiet perch to enjoy these new mornings.

To view a small slideshow of photos from my trip go here.


Blair Valley morning light



Coyote Canyon overlooking the creek at the Lower Willows