More Poppies!!!

Yeah...I know...

sooo many poppies!!!

I couldn't get enough of them!!!

Add that beautiful purple and little bit of yellow to the bright orange of the poppies...Wow!!!

Mother Nature in all her glory!

"The hills are alive..."

...with the sound of music and poppies fluttering in the breeze!

No people!!!

But I do see a face in the mountain every time

I see this one!

I love how the light fell on this lighter poppy...

Another plein air painter!

Did I mention there were a lot of people?

A couple taking a kissing selfie...

checking messages(even in the presence of such beauty?)...

...and more photographers with their cameras

in hand!

On our way out and back to the car I saw this mountain with the interesting textures along the sides...

...reminded me a bit of the Devil's Postpile in Mammoth!

I believe there was a path up there.

A poppy with fringe...is it a type of poppy?

Or was it from the wind?

Lots of green too!

Ooops...this one was in the last post...should I remove it?

...Nah...

And another of poppies against the bright blue sky!!!

"Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare,

And left the flushed print in a poppy there.

I will touch a hundred flowers

And not pick one."

Edna St. Vincent Millay

The people visiting the poppies ought to have

read this quote before visiting the poppies in Elsinore!

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California Super Bloom!!!

Wednesday, March 13, two fellow Photochromers and I

ventured south to Lake Elsinore, Walker Canyon

to capture some photos of the 

current California Super Bloom!

(Photochromers is our local camera club)

With no shortage of visitors, it was a challenge just to 

get to the poppies!

But we managed to find some along the road...

...and even a plein air painter!

Some pretty spectacular sights just along the road!

 It really was amazing to see the crowds...on a Wednesday!!!

And, unfortunately, even with signage all about, 

people still wandered into the poppies.

A lot of photography going on...trying to capture 

their friends amongst the poppies.

Even when they stepped lightly and carefully,

there was a fair amount of tamping down of the flowers. 

This gentleman was the second plein air painter we saw.

And then we were in the hills with the poppies in abundance!

I love the orange poppies against that bright blue sky!

My friend Jeanne walked ahead and was photographing 

this beautiful sight from a different angle!

The purple flowers were a beautiful compliment to 

the orange poppies.

Ohhh...and look what we happened to see!

Yep...a photographer was photographing these models

plus one other...naked...against the poppies!

They were on a knoll above most of the rest of us...

but they definitely drew some attention!

I just couldn't get enough of the poppies against the blue sky!

Lots of dogs on our walk through the poppies...

a puppy in a backpack, and a pack of dogs walking 

with their dog walker!

Very well behaved dogs, I might add!

Then there was just a wisp of the moon!

"Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe

of God, nothing seems to me more surprising than the

planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result thereof.

Take that Poppy seed, for instance;

it lies in your palm, the merest atom of matter, 

hardly visible, a speck, a pin's point in bulk,

but within it is imprisoned a spirit of beauty ineffable,

which will break its bonds and emerge from the 

dark ground and blossom in a splendor so dazzling

as to baffle the powers of description."

Celia Thaxter

American writer and poet

More poppies to come!

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Making Magic from the Oregon Coast...

During this photography workshop we were encouraged
to look at details...shapes, shadows, light...
all something that I've been playing with over the past few years
and really had fun with at this workshop...
and of course,
more landscapes...still learning about low light!

Sand Shadows...

Patterns in Blue...

The Buddha...

Ripples of Sand...

Evening Light...

Through Rose Colored Glasses...

Timeworn...

A Study in Blue...

The Blue, Blue, Sea...

And finishing with Mt. Shasta on the drive home!


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More of the Magical Oregon Coast...

"With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take,

you're connected to the sea.

No matter where on earth you live.

Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

The sea is everything.

It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe.

Its breath is pure and healthy.

It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely,

for he feels life stirring on all sides.

Jules Verne, Science Fiction Writer

"The sky takes on shades of orange during sunrise and sunset,

the colour that gives you hope that the sun will set 

only to rise again.

Ram Charan

"Solitude is not the same as loneliness.

Solitude is a solitary boat floating in a sea of possible companions."

Robert Fulghum

"The sea, once it casts its spell, 

holds one it its net of wonder forever."

Jacques Yves Cousteau

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious,

too greedy, or too impatient.

One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach -

waiting for a gift from the sea."

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"We are tied to the ocean.

And when we go back to the sea,

whether it is to sail or to watch - 

we are going back from whence we came."

John F. Kennedy

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