My Backyard

It seems that I never have time to explore my 'backyard' - I'm always heading to some destination far away or if I AM home, I am buried in paperwork or paying bills. That's why I'm always thrilled when someone comes to town to visit. Even better when that someone is another photographer.

My friend Iain is in from Australia and so the past week I've received a proverbial kick in the butt to get out and photograph. We've been up to Point Reyes and down to Piedra Blancas... I've explored new locations to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge and I've discovered a fabulous area to photograph the migrating water fowl.

Tomorrow we pick up another photographer who is coming in from Canada, Isabelle, and we head down to Moss Landing for another session with the Sea Otters on Elkhorn Slough. In the afternoons we hope to get back down to shoot more elephant seals. I got some nice stuff with our crazy morning drive but I'm hoping for more now that I have an idea of what to expect of the shooting conditions.

One of the things I really like about hanging about with other photographers is being in the exact same spot and comparing images later. It never ceases to amaze me how two, three, even 5 people standing withing 20 feet of each other will obtain very different images. You can check out some of Iain's shots from the trip so far on his blog.

Taking Time to Get Lost

One of my favorite activities growing up was our Sunday "getting lost" drives through the country. We would all pile into the car and dad would pick a road out of town. At each cross road we would shout out "Go left, Go right" and we would discover new and exciting places. Sometimes we ended up in obscure state parks getting the car stuck in mud bogs and other times we found apple orchards where we could pick more apples than we could possibly eat in weeks.

Yesterday my husband and I packed our dog in the car and headed out on Highway 101 to visit my in-laws in Los Angeles. We have driven this route many times and the highway is very familiar... we stop at all the same gas stations, we eat at the same restaurants and Milo has marked the same trees over and over. This trip we took the time to get lost.

I detoured onto Highway 46 and turned off on a road called Bitterwater Drive. Immediately, the rush of the city, the urgency of the highway melted away. The hills were covered with yellow and orange, the trees were covered with colorful lichen and the sun streamed over the hills setting the grass aglow. Our GPS had no idea where we were and neither did we. It was wonderful! We stopped beside a dry creek bed and Milo raced from the car, sniffing and exploring every nook and cranny. Meadow Larks were singing, bugs were buzzing and the wind was blowing softly. It couldn't have been more peaceful or beautiful and by the time we had found our way back to the highway I felt recharged and relaxed.

I think it's important to take time to get lost, to explore new areas and find those out of way places that are unique and beautiful.