Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/02/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The animals are very nice, but the horizontal of the windmills blows me away. The saturation on the color and strong horizontal composition really work for me. Ric Carter http://gallery.leica-users.org/Passing-Fancies On Feb 5, 2006, at 11:33 PM, Adam Bridge wrote: > (my apologies for posting twice but I made an error composing the URLs > and I didn't check them before sending.....ab) > > Today, while the world was watching the infinite pre-game shows > before the > Super-De-Duper Bowl we drove down to Collinsville, one of favorite > areas. > > Driving south from Davis about 30 miles the plains of the Central > Valley > abruptly begin to roll and then form a set of hills which bound the > Sacramento > River to the north, herding it, along with Mount Diablo to the > south, toward the > Carcinez Straits and San Francisco Bay. > > The rolling land is farmed - wheat, sheep, and goats being the most > often found > but there are still many small water courses and copses of trees, > usually > eucalyptus imported in the 1860's from Australia. The valley oaks > don't find the > terrain to their liking, I suppose. > > We drove to Bird's Landing and then west along a narrow partially > paved road > where we encountered this specimen strutting along the road as if > he owned it: > > <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9324.jpg> > > I've met many roosters who were more skittish. > > As I was taking this picture, it's nearly full-frame, there was the > constant > sound of shot-guns being fired on a trap shooting range to the > south within easy > sight. It was the base for, yes, of course, a pheasant club! > > Later on we found another but he was in bad shape - I think West > Nile had hit > him. He walked listlessly, his tail feathers were partially gone. > He hid along a > fence-line: > > <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9341.jpg> > > Just up the road this jack-rabbit, I'll leave it to those steeped > in the lore of > such things to identify the species. He watched warily as I snapped > these two: > > <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9342.jpg> > > His profile just before he took flight: > > <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9343.jpg> > > Further down the road I found this vast snaking pipeline, draining > land north of > our road into the wetlands. The entire area is administered to > control salinity > in the wetlands and tulle marshes. I believe this represents a > portion of the > work. Cows roam the field through which this fast serpent wends: > > <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9346-bw.jpg> > > We saw four different ring-necked pheasants during our drive today > - none of > which were in the least bit alarmed. In the autumn there are NOT so > easy to > approach. > > There is another kind of farming in this area as well: wind farms. > Old wind > turbines, the bane of raptors with their fast-turning blades, are > being replaced > with new larger ones whose blades make long, slow, stately arcs > across the sky > as they generate their power. > > I liked very much the reflections in this vernal pool. A few months > from now it > will be gone leaving only a damp patch of wild flowers. The > hillside will turn > golden as the wheat matures, hawks will circle looking for ground > squirrels and > other rodents. > > <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9354.jpg> > <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9358.jpg> > > All of the animal images were made with the 560 Telyt and Canon 1Ds > Mk II. I > hope the images don't appear to be made of silly putty. ;-} > > The landscapes were made with the 24-70 F2.8L Canon zoom. > > I also took along an M6 and will have a different interpretation of > the pipeline > and perhaps a stand of windmills both very old and very new to show > in a few > days. > > Comments are welcome and invited. > > Adam Bridge > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information