Category: Photography

Vin s’il vous plaît?

Forest at Parc Naturel Regional des Landes de Gascogne
Artwork at Chateau de Villandraut
View of rolling hills and vinyards.
Churh of Sainte-Croix du-Mont
Churh on our bike route

We’ve logged 102 km on our bike ride, having left the town of Cadillac on the morning of September 17th. Our ride has taken us over the rolling hills of the wine country in the Bordeaux region, past Chateaus, churches, through a variety of villages and hamlets to the small town of Origne, where we’re taking a day to just relax. The french motorists are very courteous and respectful of cyclists it seems. A contrast to riding at home. Enjoying fabulous food and wine along the way.

Cadillac: Start of our “Tour de France”

Town gate at Cadillac, near Bordeaux
Town gate at Cadillac, near Bordeaux

Today we start another adventure in France with a six-day bicycle ride from Cadillac, near Bordeaux, to Arcachon on the coast, riding through vineyards, visiting Chateaus and shady forests.

Carennac: Keep on Walking

Rowboat on the Dordogne at Carennac
Town of Carennac
Sculpture by Christophe Cayla
Town of Carennac
Town of Carennac

Woke up feeling a bit stiff and sore, but once I’ve got my boots on and walking, I’m feeling content. The aches and pains and anxieties seem to go away. Today’s walk took us from Beaulieu to Carennac, a distance of 16.4 kilometers. Started the day with a blister on my left foot, but that doesn’t seem to bother me once I’ve gone down the trail about 20 minutes. Keep on walking.  Dinner at the Hotel Fenelon was an extraordinary five course French meal on the patio of the hotel, with a seafood bouillabaisse, goose in Foie Gras sauce, cheese board, and walnut parfait. A delightful walk through the French countryside followed by an exquisite meal.

 

 

 

Meyssac Loop – The Road Less Traveled

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Today marks the first day of our Macs Adventure Walking Tour, an eight mile look from Meyssac, through woods, past farms, and to the village of Collogne-la-Rouge, an ancient town noted for red sandstone buildings. Our adventure had us on a variety of narrow country roads and ancient and well worn foot paths. A warm and sunny day, but we spent the better part of our walk in the woods, we had cool shade and a slight breeze. As we left Meyssac, we passed one farmer standing in front of his house calling his dogs that wanted to let us know who was in charge. Then we followed the postman for a bit up the track as we left town, once out of town though we didn’t see a single person on the trail. Once we arrived at Collogne-la-Rouge we were back among the tourists, although tourist season being over the town seemed more or less deserted, and while the town is very interesting for it’s architecture, the main economy seems to be tourism, and I find looking at tourist trinkets to be rather boring. Much more to share, but the hotel has rather limited bandwidth, so you’ll just have to stay tuned for the next post.

Happy Birthday NPS!

Trees reflecting in the Merced River. Yosemite National Park.
Trees reflecting in the Merced River. Yosemite National Park.

I just want to say thank you to those that had the vision to create our National Park System; conservationist Stephen Mather, J. Horace McFarland and journalist Robert Sterling Yard, as well as those in Congress that voted the act into law, and President Woodrow Wilson who signed the bill on August 25, 1916. The bill created an agency “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” With the many challenges the future brings, let’s hope we can keep these natural wonders four generations to come.

Log of the Shearwater July 2, 2016

Kayaking on Tomales Bay
Kayaking on Tomales Bay

With the tides looking good and Drakes Estero open following the spring seal pupping season we thought we’d go for a paddle. When we arrived though, there was a stiff breeze and fog, and it just looked like slogging into the weather was not going to be much fun, so we headed for Hearts Desire beach, which while only a few miles away is more protected. We had sun and blue sky when we launched our boats, and we paddled  South East along the Point Reyes Peninsula, stopping on a small beach to eat lunch. It’s always a pleasure to paddle along the rugged coast. You can view additional photos here, and you can view a track of our paddle here.

Red rocks and roots
Red rocks and roots Point Reyes

 

 

 

Happy Earth Day

 

Texas wildflowers
Texas wildflowers

Cheers to all fellow nature lovers! Here’s photo I captured a couple of weeks ago while visiting Austin. Let’s all make an effort to sustain this planet that provides us with such awesome wonder.!

First Day of Spring

Desert Gold (camissonia brevipes), Death Valley National Park
Desert Gold (camissonia brevipes), Death Valley National Park

This being the first day of spring I thought it would be appropriate to post a photo from a recent trip to Death Valley.

Monolith in a Rain Puddle

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I was out walking the dog yesterday; and as always, on the look out for something interesting to photograph. I’m a firm believe in trying to create interest in mundane objects. I think we can look for beauty or interest in our own back yard without having to go to Yosemite, Iceland, or wherever. Not that there’s anything wrong with photographing grand landscapes, but I think the trained eye will do better in those places, and like a musician practicing scales, perhaps this is the practice in seeing that leads to the skill of capturing something grand when the opportunity arises.

I spied this piece of debris in a field next to St. Jerome Catholic Church, a few blocks from my house. So I started playing with it to see what I could do. While I’m not going to make this into a print to hang on the wall; there are some technical problems with the image. But as an exercise is seeing images, I think I was successful. This is also an example of using the tools at hand, an iPhone 6S, and a software app called Pro HDR. Unfortunately I was hand-holding the phone, and apparently introduced some movement between the two exposures.