Niland, CA

Niland CA -- home of Slab City, East Jesus, Salvation Mountain and probably many more places I don't know about.   These photos were taken at East Jesus & if you follow the link below, you'll find out more about it.  I didn't get an overall photo of this place, so will have to go back again  ;)

 East Jesus, Niland CA.  

He was proud of his blue & lavender beard. 

 

Early morning at Salton Sea

First view of the lake 

Seagulls are starting to wake up

Morning flight

Salton Sea -- slowly sorting through all my photos

It's  B&W day today.  Somehow these abandoned buildings & furniture seem to look better to me in B&W than color.

Weekend in Salton Sea

Just spent a terrific weekend at the  Salton Sea with Keith Skelton on a  photo workshop.  We went to several locations around the Sea & spent many happy hours photographing at all locations.  Great locations, great people and Keith -- all add up to a wonderful photo workshop!   It'll take me a while to go through all the photos, but here's one from the night shoot.

Saturday night was a sunset shoot and then a chance to try some sky photography, then dinner and conversation with the other photographers.  

 

What's blooming in my garden today ...

actually these have been blooming for a few weeks.  I love the mornings in the garden when the sun is starting to rise and creates beautiful highlights & shadows in my garden -- and this morning the sun was highlighting the aloe blooms.

Seemed a perfect photo to share today.  Enjoy!

Getty Museum

A few weeks ago I was at the Getty Museum for a Photography meet-up group I belong to.   It was a whirlwind day, I learned a lot and even have a couple of photos to share.  I was using a wide-angle lens I've had for years & just haven't taken the time to play with, I need to bring it out more often.

Looking forward to heading north to the Getty another time.

Entrance 

Squeeze in ... 

Stairwell

Tide pooling at Cabrillo National Monument

Thanks Bonnie (Park Ranger) for a great day at Cabrillo National Monument .  It was a -0.7 low tide while we were there, so lots of areas to explore in the tide pools.

Beautiful day and another incredible sunset!  

Gooseneck barnacles down in the tide pools.  

Last view of the sunset  from the tide pools.

Last view from the parking lot.  

This morning in my garden

The fire sticks (foreground) are loving the cold nights, Aloes (yellow spikes) are blooming and don't seem to mind the cold nights.   Look past them & you'll see the Agave Americana with red Christmas bulbs on the ends.  I'm thinking I'll leave them up for a bit, they make me smile.

I won't show the photo of what is left of the beautiful Aeonium Zwertkopf that something trashed last night.   Looks like it was cut with a knife about 6" above ground.   I'm ready to sit up all night with a baseball bat & protect the two that are left.    I've seen small bunnies in the yard, plus one large raccoon.   The bunnies are smaller than the plant, and I have a hard time believing they would chomp it off, but then I can't believe a raccoon would be interested in it either.  
Any ideas?  I'm so bummed.

More photos from the San Diego Zoo

White pelican

Great Egret 

Young flamingo

My last photos taken in 2013 were at the San Diego Zoo, and what a great way it was to end the year.   (I've already forgotten about the crowds and strollers.)  

I enjoyed seeing the birds, and, as always, my favorites are still the flamingos.  

Happy New Year, January 1st post

Two photos from my day at the San Diego Zoo.  The Pacific Photographic Society Meet-Up group had their annual end-of-the-year meet-up at the SD Zoo.  What a great way to end 2013.  

Thanks Walter for arranging this meet-up.

I've posted just two photos from the many I took.  More to come ...

And a very Happy New Year to everyone.