Adventures of a Maude in Training

Photo of the Week for 09/13/14: Lush. When we were in Sequoia National Park last month we hiked up to Black Wolf Falls which was simply beautiful. Although the falls in Yosemite are often rather dry by August in drought years, the falls in Mineral King in Sequoia (where we were) were going quite well. I shot this while sitting at the base of the falls.

Photo of the Week for 08/30/14: Simplicity. Another from the Cold Springs Trail in Mineral King in Sequoia National Park. Taken our first evening in the park--I liked the way these flowers looked in the diminishing light and am quite happy with this shot. It required me to sit on the ground with the tripod set to a short height and it was a little difficult to capture, but I am glad I did it. I used the 100mm macro, hence the lovely detail.

Photo of the Day 08/16/14: Abandoned. Last Friday, on day two of our adventure in the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park, we climbed up to Black Wolf Falls which was positively stunning. An added treat was getting to peek into an abandoned copper mine next to the falls. Not safe to go inside, but I took a six second exposure shot of it and got some nice detail.

Photo of the week for 07/26/14: Swirl. When we took the kids to the Exploratorium last week I tried to get some interesting, more abstract shots of stuff. The bulk of my non-kid photography is done while out and about with the kids. I really liked this one of swirly fog in one of the exhibits.

Photo of the Week for 07/12/14: Summer Clouds. A few weeks ago I had to pick up my photos at the fair. After we did that I took the kids to Pleasanton Ridge for a small hike. It was hot and muggy and kind of overcast which made the sky gorgeous. The hills were really, really dry and dusty and slippery so the the climbing was a bit more precarious than I had planned (and we had footwear for). The kids scooted down a few hills on their butts after climbing up on their hands and knees. Anyhow, I brought my camera and played with the wide angle lens and was quite happy with this one.

Photo of the week for 06/28/14: Waterscape. Last week S. and I went on a longer-for-us bike ride at Coyote Hills. We did the more of the Bay Trail than we'd done before, around the perimeter of the park along the bay. The patterns in the water/sludge/salt were quite pretty.

Photo of the Week for 06/14/14: Sittin' Pretty. This spring there were so many tree swallows out at Coyote Hills. There are nesting boxes out there for them which they use, and they fly around super-fast in complicated patterns making it difficult to capture in-flight shots of them. I did capture this one hanging out on a branch for a little break when we were all biking out there on Memorial Day.

Photo of the week for 5/31/14: Splish, Splash. On Mother's Day we were in Woodland with my sister, her family, and my parents. After lunch we took the kids to the park down the street and they played on the regular playground and in the splash pad playground there. I really like shooting water at high shutter speeds and like how this turned out of one of the water features.

Photo of the week for 05/17/14: Raven Road. When we were in Yosemite this past February we visited the Happy Isles area on our last day there. At the very end of the trip, as we were waiting for the shuttle to take us back to where our car was parked, and as it was starting to get dark, we saw this ravens walking across the path. Due to the light (or lack thereof) it is not as clear as I would have liked it, but I love it because it is ravens and their formation is reminiscent of Abbey Road album cover. Plus, do those birds strut or what?

Photo of the week for 5/03/14: Toothy Grin. When we were in Yosemite in February there were a bunch of young deer in a field near lower Yosemite Falls. The kids were so delighted by them...this one smiled for us.