Here is another view of the Bellagio Hotel fountains, this time with the Paris Hotel’s half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower (yet another Las Vegas landmark) in the background. Bally’s is just seen on the left, and the Planet Hollywood Hotel is on the right.
More photos of Las Vegas at night.
One of my favorite attractions in Las Vegas doesn’t cost any money: the superb Bellagio Hotel fountain show in the reflecting pool in front of the Bellagio Hotel on the Strip. Choreographed to music, punctuated with bright lights and showing frequently throughout the day and night, the fountain show is a hit and — a rarity in Vegas — is totally free.
|
The Bellagio Hotel fountains, at night. The Bellagio Hotel fountains are one of the most popular attractions in Las Vegas, showing every half hour or so throughout the day, choreographed to famous Hollywood music. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Image: 20557
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
 View this Image in Google Earth!
|
More photos of Las Vegas at night.
View from a taxicab after a hard night on the Las Vegas Strip, trying to figure out whether to hit another club, bar, casino or just call it a night.
More photos of Las Vegas at night.
Here are a few more photos of California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) near Del Dios, California. I got lucky with the weather, with lots of sun and blue skies the day I shot these. Now we have leaden gray skies and its supposed to be windy and cold this weekend.
See lots more California poppy photos as well as photos of Eschscholzia californica.
This field of dreams is a literal carpet of California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) on the hillsides above Lake Hodges in Del Dios, California. In October this hill was ablaze with the Witch Creek wildfire, one of the worst fires southern California has experienced. Five months later it is ablaze again with the wild orange and yellow hues of California poppies. Stunning.
See lots more California poppy photos as well as photos of Eschscholzia californica.
We went for an easy hike at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in Murrieta on Sunday. We hit the reserve shortly after sunrise to be there before the crowds and to give the poppies in Elsinore, which we would see later in the morning, some time to warm in the sun and open up. Mike took me to his secret spot where chocolate lilies (Fritillaria biflora) are blooming. We saw lots of them, it was quite a display. Indeed, they look like chocolate. I was more interested in the oaks along the trail, they are bigger so I don’t have to blowout my knees crouching down to photograph them like I would with the lilies. Backlit as they were by the morning sun, the oaks were so contrasty that I had to resort to the old HDR multi-exposure technique to make them look reasonable.
|
Oak tree and dirt walking path. Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA.
Image: 20531
Location: Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
|
Oak tree and dirt walking path. Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA.
Image: 20532
Location: Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
|
Oak tree and pastoral rolling grass-covered hills. Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA.
Image: 20538
Location: Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
More California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) madness. These were shot with a super-turbo-customized tilt-shift-micro-bugeye lens I just received from Canon Covert Services.
|
California poppy plants viewed from the perspective of a bug walking below the bright orange blooms. Del Dios, San Diego, California, USA.
Image: 20539
Species: Eschscholzia californica
Location: Del Dios, San Diego, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
|
California poppies cover the hillsides in bright orange, just months after the area was devastated by wildfires. Del Dios, San Diego, California, USA.
Image: 20540
Species: Eschscholzia californica
Location: Del Dios, San Diego, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
Last week I spent a few hours photographing the California poppy blooms close to home. Today I got out with a friend and we hiked around the Santa Rosa Plateau and the hills around I-15 in Elsinore, looking for good stuff to photograph. These California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are from today near Lake Elsinore, high in the hills above I-15:
|
California poppies bloom amidst rock boulders. Elsinore, California, USA.
Image: 20520
Species: Eschscholzia californica
Location: Elsinore, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
|
A photographer trains his camera on a bright orange bloom of California poppies. Elsinore, California, USA.
Image: 20504
Species: Eschscholzia californica
Location: Elsinore, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
|
California poppy plants viewed from the perspective of a bug walking below the bright orange blooms. Elsinore, California, USA.
Image: 20505
Species: Eschscholzia californica
Location: Elsinore, California, USA
View this Image in Google Earth!
|
You spins the zoom ring and you takes your chances:
California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) have been blooming all over the place in the San Diego area, courtesy of the terrible wildfires last fall and the perfectly spaced rainfall of the last two months. Here is a hillside that was burnt in October, now coming alive with spring color. My friend turned me on to this little spot.
My favorite desert flower to photograph is the dune evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides). It is so elegant and striking that even a blind monkey with a broken camera can get a good shot of this flower. I’ve seen them in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park during years of good spring bloom, this year being one of them. This from Sunday morning:
Found throughout the Mojave, Sonoran and Great Basin deserts of the southwest, dune evening primrose forms a soft white four-petal flower with yellow center, sometimes turning pink or light brown as they age. Dune evening primrose grows in clusters, often mixed with sand verbena. Coyote Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is chock full of dune evening primrose right now.
I got out for a quick look at some wildflowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park on Sunday morning. I got out there at 6am just as the sun was rising, and by 8am the light had grown so harsh I put my camera away and just hiked around. The bloom is definitely on and will be going for a few weeks I think. My guess is that it will be good but not great, at least not surpassing the bloom of a few (was it three?) springs ago, but at least it is better than the poor showings we had the last two years. One thing I noticed was a huge abundance of desert lilies. In one area I hiked, I had a hard time finding a place to step without smashing small desert lilies, they were everywhere. The cluster shown here, composed of white dune evening primrose and purple sand verbena, is literally inches from Henderson Canyon Road.
This is a photograph of a cormorant speeding over the ocean, viewed from above. Taken in pre-dawn light, the slow shutter speed of the camera allowed the details of the bird and water to smear across the image.
I wandered around a palm tree farm in the desert, feeling like I was amid some kind of midget forest. The palm fronds were just above my head, and the ground was covered in thick fuzz and trimmings from the trees. Due to the wide lens I used, these trees look a lot taller than they really are.
