Category

California

Aerial PhotographyCaliforniaSan Diego

Crystal Pier, San Diego

Crystal Pier, a combination hotel and pier in the Pacific Beach community of San Diego, extends 872 feet out into the Pacific Ocean. A few dozen cottages sit on the pier near its base. It was built in 1925. Seen beyond Crystal Pier in this aerial photo are Mission Bay…
February 5, 2009
CaliforniaMorro BayPanoramas

Morro Bay Panorama

I got up early one morning while we were in Morro Bay to photograph the view from Morro Bay State Park, around the bay and north to Morro Rock. There was a slight offshore breeze and the air was cold and dry giving clear views in every direction. My father-in-law's…
January 7, 2009
California

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

If you are a third grader in California, chances are that you are doing your Mission Project this year, and my third grade daughter is no exception. Each student is assigned one of the California missions upon which to report. My daughter reported on Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa…
January 4, 2009
California

Snow on San Jacinto

Mount San Jacinto had a lot of snow over the Christmas holiday, the result of a couple of really cold storms passing through recently.  Here San Jacinto is seen with some of the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm wind turbines (windmills) at its base. Wind turbines, rise above the flat…
January 3, 2009
California

Wind Turbines and Mount San Gorgonio

While out in the desert for the holiday, I made a early morning drive to see San Jacinto covered by recent snow. I stopped at my favorite promontory to get a few shots of the wind turbines (wind mills). The wind was really howling through the San Gorgonio Pass this…
January 2, 2009
CaliforniaMorro Bay

Earth Shadow

Have you ever seen those layers of blue, purple and pink along the horizon just before sunrise? The darker sky, lowest on the horizon, is actually the shadow of the Earth cast upon the atmosphere, while the lighter sky above is the atmosphere as it is lit by the sun.…
January 1, 2009
California

I Love L.A.

After the warmth of the desert (grandparents #1 and #2, aunts and uncles #1-4, cousins #1-3), the snow-covered trees and mountains (grandparents #3 and #4), and the spectacular views and empty roads of the central coast (grandparent #5), our whirlwind holiday roadtrip to all our relatives took us to ...…
December 30, 2008
CaliforniaPelicans of La JollaSeabird

La Jolla Pelicans

I went down to La Jolla last week to check out the brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus). There is a fence blocking access to the cliffs now, which is unfortunate and a real shame. When I was going to UCSD (many years ago) we would leap into the ocean from…
December 20, 2008
CaliforniaMontereyWildlife

Sea Otter Photos

Check out our selection of sea otter stock photos. The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is found along the coasts of the northeastern Pacific ocean. Sea otters are marine mammals. Adult sea otters weigh about 30 to 100 lb. Sea otters are the largest species in the weasel family, but are…
November 20, 2008
CaliforniaCarlsbadSurf

Indian Summer, or, Why We Live Here

Hit the water this morning at 7am. Full sun, deep blue sky, not a cloud, mild warm offshore breezes, glassy sea, small but fun waves. Went for a walk with my daughter at Moonlight Beach at sunset tonight, deep orange-red sky, not a cloud, mild warm offshore breezes, glassy sea,…
November 16, 2008
CaliforniaCarlsbadSurf

Ponto Surf, 11-15-2008

Fun surf at Ponto this morning. Nice offshore wind, shoulder high sets once in a while. It got crowded about 8am, and the high tide softened the waves up so I got out by 9am and off to a soccer game. Wave breaking in early morning sunlight.Image ID: 21779Location: Ponto,…
November 15, 2008
CaliforniaMontereyWildlife

Not Impressed

We came to Monterey packing some serious photo schwag to photograph the otters. Between Jon and I, we had two 50Ds and at least one each of 5D, 1DIIN, 1DsII, 300/2.8, 400/DO and 500/4 lenses, plus a nice medium format film rig. This sea otter (Enhydra lutris) was nevertheless quite…
November 5, 2008
CaliforniaMontereyUnderwater Life

Sea Nettles

When I visit Monterey I always make a stop by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Always. My kids love it, and I can get a better look at some of the undersea life by visiting the aquarium than if I went to the hassle of actually diving. (I used to dive…
November 4, 2008
CaliforniaMonterey

Great Egret Fishing, Cannery Row

A great egret (Ardea alba) stands on a floating patch of kelp, picking fish out of the water that are unfortunate enough to swim too close. Monterey's famous Cannery Row stands in the background. Great egret catches a fish while standing on floating kelp in front of Cannery Row buildings,…
November 3, 2008
CaliforniaMontereyWildlife

Otter Paparazzi

Here is one of the cuter sea otters (Enhydra lutris) I managed to photograph in Monterey recently. After shooting one afternoon's worth of otters, both Jon and I decided that it was not worth spending time taking pictures of the dark-faced otters -- their deep brown fur made it tough…
November 2, 2008
CaliforniaMontereyWildlife

Rough Sex Redux

I was recently up in Monterey to join Jon Cornforth trying to photograph sea otters (Enhydra lutris). We saw a few. In this photo, Casanova (the male sea otter on the left) is holding his lady friend (the female, inverted on the right, apparently not enjoying it) by HER NOSE…
October 30, 2008
CaliforniaGeoBlog

Map of Catalina Island Dive Sites and Locations

In the course of geotagging some old photos from Catalina Island, I realized it was simple to display the popular Catalina Island dive locations in Google Earth, Google Maps and Live Search Maps. So here they are. The map below is a small version of the Google Earth display, click…
August 24, 2008
CaliforniaSierra Nevada

Photo of Mono Lake

A few photos from Mono Lake showing its famous tufa towers rising above its alkaline waters. The tufa towers are clustered in "groves" in several places around the lake. We checked out the South Grove. While we were walking around the edge of Mono Lake, we had low dense clouds…
August 10, 2008
CaliforniaLa Jolla

Bear, Stuart Collection, UCSD

Bear is one of the newer pieces in the Stuart Collection of Art at University of California, San Diego (alma mater). Bear is another of the odd outdoor "art" pieces of the UCSD Stuart Collection. Created by Tim Hawkinson in 2001 of eight large stones, it sits in the courtyard…
July 8, 2008
CaliforniaFunny

Health Food

We made our annual visit to the Del Mar Fair last night. I hate to admit it, but we ate some of the food. Have you seen the food at the Del Mar Fair? It's enough to give a cardiologist a heart attack just looking at it. Grease and salt…
July 2, 2008
California

Route 66

One our recent desert road trip, we found ourselves on Route 66 for a while. We passed some seriously forlorn-looking old eateries, defunct and barely surviving service stations, and some funky little communities that look like they are ever-so-slowly fading away. It was strange to think that before the interstate…
April 8, 2008