Coyote Field

Also, here's one of a field near Coyote Lake:

Early Morning Landscapes

Some new pictures from around Gilroy & Morgan Hill in the morning.  We had some storms rolling in but I was able to get out around dawn and get some decent shots as the sun came up.  I've not really worked with longer exposures in a while and these came out okay.  The oak tree was particularly striking against the morning colors.

Dark storm clouds rolling in

Looking south on 101 at the dawn light.

Beautiful Oak

Dawn

Another view south on 101.  That's the same oak from above, completely different character from this angle.

Cedar Point

Going back a couple of months, here is a shot from Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.  One of the great aspects of shooting in the Central US is the amazing colors that happen at sunrise / sunset because the sun can get so low in the sky without being blocked by mountains.  This example was only touched up (other than a crop) to mainly remove some of the high ISO grain, a little saturation/contrast to enhance the detail in the low-ish left side of the photo and to remove the roller coaster's brightness from overpowering the sky (it's a yellow coaster).

This one was also up on Facebook in its completely unedited form if you're interested.

Mono Lake

Here is another shot near Mono Lake at sunrise.

Upper Yosemite Falls

Here is a shot of Upper Yosemite Falls.  As you can see we had some dicey weather while in Yosemite -- Afternoon thundershowers every day.  Once again, for almost Fall, this is a ton of water.

Lower Yosemite Falls

Here's a shot of Lower Yosemite Falls.  Taken on 9-11-2011, this is (from what I understand) quite a bit of water for this time of year.  There was still snow in the upper elevations that must have been melting as Yosemite Falls (upper/lower) is only fed by snow melt from the almost completely granite valley above it.

Been a while! We'll start this off again by putting up some pictures from a recent Yosemite trip. This first one is sunrise near Mono Lake, CA.

BW Coast

Been learning a lot lately, here's a quick update with a B&W HDR:

What is most interesting to me is that I've begun to find ... well for lack of a better term, my "photographer's eye." I've realized a few things lately --

1) I need to learn how to shoot sharper images.
2) I have a love for taking landscape photos. I've always knows I liked paintings and photos of landscapes more than others, but for me landscape is the type of pictures I like.
3) I need to shoot more pictures ... (and)
4) I need to compose more carefully

We'll see going forward, I've started applying these things I've learned.

Still Here

I'm still here ... been caught up with school these last two weeks ... should have some more pictures up around Easter or so.

Need a name for the Blog

And I'm taking suggestions. I'll think of something eventually, but it doesn't hurt to ask for opinions.

Big Trees

Today I'm posting some pictures of some truly massive trees. I apologize in advance as I don't have a ton that show true scale, but I'll try to put it into perspective when I can.

These trees are considered to be the biggest in the world. Not the tallest, the biggest. Many are more massive at chest height than the General Sherman tree and quite tall, easily breaking 300 feet and often above 320 or 330. While normal redwood trees are majestic, towering and humbling to stand near, a titan feel unreal when you're near it because the size is simply spectacular. Sometimes more than 26 feet in diameter (that's wider than your house is tall probably).

These titans have ecosystems hundreds of feet in the air where soil will collect in the branches allowing ferns, animals and even other trees to grow with their roots literally 200 or 300 feet in the air. Some of these secondary trees (not all redwoods) can grow to over 100 feet tall themselves. As I was editing these pictures I scoured the web for shots to compare the bases too but was unable to name all of the trees I took pictures of (and had an extra one I hardly shot as I didn't really realize it was there). I'll do my best to provide those names where I know them.

To start out, here's a picture of myself (with a dumb face) and my father in front of Fused Titan.


We were told by some other hikers originally that this was Lost Monarch (the largest of the Coastal Redwoods -- the largest trees in the world) but upon review I'm fairly certain this is actually called the Fused Titan. It's comprised of two (at least) coastal redwoods that grew together thousands of years ago and now form one tree. It is considered one tree for the purposes of size comparison but I was unable to find any data on it.

From Grove of the Titans

While the Fused Titan is simply amazing in its size, looking across the grove and the river that runs through it I took a picture of a tree that I didn't realize was El Viejo Del Norte until I started comparing the pictures I had of those to other known pictures of the bases.

From Grove of the Titans

What makes El Viejo Del Norte (The Old North -- often referred to as the Old Man of the Grove of Titans) so unique is the huge downward reaching burl that you can see to the left of the trunk. It's also the 5th largest coastal redwood in the world. As I go through and look at the pictures I have in even more detail I believe that we actually were right next to a few other titans and didn't get pictures or even notice. The underbrush is so dense in there and this time of year the creek that flows through the grove was quite full that I'm somewhat amazed we were able to make out what we did.

I've included this picture below as a comparison on what I believe is El Viejo Del Norte on the left an another titan that I'm thinking might be Del Norte (Simply "North"). Which the shot isn't great you can see both the size of these trees compared to those around them and the difficulty of hiking around in here - tons of underbrush.

From Grove of the Titans

Unfortunately with so little published about this area, it is hard to identify the trees themselves. Many people seek to protect the grove by keeping its location secret, but there were trails worn in the underbrush winding this way and that. I believe that it is time to put in some fences and some walkways simply to protect the trees as there will only be more and more people tramping around through the redwood sorrel and ferns that help make this area so beautiful.

This is the first of these posts, expect some more of the Grove of Titans when I can figure out which trees are which :)

Andy

Abstract

From Founders Grove

Just spun the camera in Founder's Grove

Homestead and Big Tree Loop

Here we have a few more pictures from Humboldt State Redwoods. This was a short hike near the "Big Tree Area" and up and back part of the Homestead Loop.

This first picture is one of only a few macro's I took on the trip. Simply some branches with dew set against the forest background.


This is literally just up the road from Founder's Grove (see post below) and so you see many of the same features. This is one of the major things I came to realize. The different forests of northern California though redwood trees through and through all have a very different feel. Some are covered in ferns and redwood sorrel and others so choked with small trees and shrubs that you'd be hard pressed to find a way through.

From Homestead and Big Tree Loop

The trees themselves are as different as the forests they create. In the Homestead Loop, Rockafeller Grove (with The Tall Tree), Founders Grove and Big Tree Area you see very picturesque tress that are tall and straight. (This may sound dumb when discussing redwood trees but you'll see when I toss up some pictures of the giants).

From Homestead and Big Tree Loop

Often you look up and its completely crazy how tall these trees around you are. Most rising 325 - 350 feet.

From Homestead and Big Tree Loop

No matter the forest you are in there is always something amazing to be seen such as these crossed trees:

From Homestead and Big Tree Loop

Founders Grove

Here is Founder's Tree in Founder's Grove -- I believe it is the tallest one in the grove (through it was almost destroyed by another tree that fell).

From Founders Grove

Up higher on it, you can clearly see the marks where it was almost taken out by another tree that recently fell.

Here is a closeup of the marks probably 75 - 100 feet up the trunk:

From Founders Grove

Obviously Founder's Grove is one of the most visited redwood groves and during the summer is quite crowded. Typically it is regarded as one of the greatest collection of tall trees in one place (will have a post on tall vs. big in a couple days). The entire grove is very picturesque and if you see photos, painting or renderings of redwoods, this grove would be one of the few groves (Stout Grove being another) that would live up to the expectations. Most other redwood groves are much more overgrown and wild.

Here is a photo of the tree that tried to take out the Founder's Tree.

From Founders Grove

Another HDR

This is the same area north of Mendocino. This is a handheld HDR created with photoshop.