dry creek

June 26, 07
3ish
Gibson Ranch - Dry Creek
very warm, clear, slight breeze

"Creeking" with my brother Joe & my kids - wanted to get "above" and "below" the earth photos for the heaven project. (See http://www.heavenartproject.blogspot.com/)

Plenty of little fish in the creek, and some pretty good sized ones, too - Dee is on a rescue mission with tiny ones who have ended up in a stagnating little branch of the creek that is drying up, catching them & releasing them into the main creek. Surrounding the creek, the grass is all dry and brown - only the grass at the very edge of the water is green, with all the trees hugging it as well, it's a swath of green through the otherwise dry June landscape.

We go wading up the creek, the kids try to catch little fish with fast food cups we find, but the fish are too fast. The water is amazingly warm, even in the parts that go up over our knees and make our long shorts wet half way up our thighs. Gravel gets stuck in my sandals and Phil keeps wanting to take off his flip flops but then finds shards of glass, as if to illustrate why I insist he keep them on.

I find a big bush along the creek edge with white puff ball flowers that have a mild, pleasant scent - bees really like them, too. We hike/wade our way up the creek over fallen trees, through shallows, even find some big "rocks" that seem spongy, that are actually gray clay, with anacharis growing on it. Actually a non-native aquarium plant that can be invasive, I fill a fast food cup full of it to take home and put in my pond.

We wade nearly all the way to where Watt Avenue crosses the creek, then head back down creek again. We begin to see several black phoebes as we head down - I even see one snatch a big bug right out of the air while flying - pretty impressive.

Little fresh water clams are all over the creek - at one point the big rock in my sandal turns out to be as big a clam as any - and I thought I was imagining the rocks in my sandals larger than they could possibly be. On our trip up-creek, we found the top & bottom shell of a good sized turtle who become somebody else's meal; on our way back, I pick up the lower shell & pack it away for it's pretty pattern, to the disgusted amusement of my teenagers - who would know -

June 22, 07

June 22, 07
16th & Broadway, Sacramento
about 10 a.m. - clear, no wind
getting warm already, likely to get pretty hot today
shooting the Tower Theater
sounds of traffic

Wandering around across the street, the brand-new R5 Records store opening behind me. Traffic ebbs and flows like the tide.

In the garden area just in front of the theater and cafe, tiny palms pop up everywhere, volunteers or weeds, depending on your perspective.

A little motion soft - trying to move, not get hit by traffic while shooting. Tower is too centered f0r my taste, too - but I like the foreground context.

Sitting to put it all together in front of the fountain

Second attempt is now focused, tower still centered because I was unwilling to lose the mimosa tree on the right - oh well, all rules get broken sometimes. And I have now graduated from "crazy woman on the side of the road" to "crazy woman in the middle of the road" though I must say I was staying in a little triangle that traffic never flows in (as a consolation to my family members .)

Apparently, though, I still need practice with my road shooting - another shot out of focus.

not many tourists

June 13, 07
back at the Capitol
afternoon - warm
forecast high 100*, standard Sacramento summer
clear blue skies, not so many tourists

Robins peck around in the lawn, unconcerned about our presence; squirrels race from one tree to the next.

California State Capitol plaza fountain

Huge old cypress in front of the capitol - exposing for the dark tree, the capitol becomes a ghost of itself.

We (Deidre is with me today) walk around the back of the capitol building - our one hour parking space keeps our walk short this time.

3 p.m.

We drive the few blocks west to get us closer to the Tower Bridge. It's getting hotter now but the light is hitting nicely on the bridge with a bit of the downtown buildings behind. We stand on the trails along the river, in front of the zigurat in West Sac -

On our way back over the river, we get a nice view of that zigurat in West Sacramento - actually looking back to the spot we just walked on - so we're now on the Tower Bridge looking backwards from the shot I just took -

sacramento, ca

June 1, 07
2 p.m.
State Capitol, Sacramento, Ca
warm, no breeze, a little overcast
school kids play on the capital lawn, tourists wander around taking pictures - guess that would make me a tourist except for the funky old camera -


First shot isn't bad - light print means a dense negative, which is good - not much context for the shot.

A robin looks for goodies in the lawn, squirrels in the shrubs -


Standing on the NE corner across the street - I like this best but can't seem to focus & stand straight!


I take a shot for a couple Asian tourists in front of the fountain, then get a shot for myself -


Try again from farther away, still can't seem to focus (now I AM acting like a tourist) - and I'm out of film which means coming back again - unlike a tourist, that won't be so hard.


Post Script: Due to gross negative negligence, all negatives from this shoot were lost - now I really have to go back to shoot!