Category — Photography

I took this at one of the wineries in Livermore Valley, CA. It’s a lesser known wine region that I highly recommend you visit if you get the chance – unpretentious, reasonably priced wines and generally no tasting fees. We lived 20 minutes from there, so we went often.

I love doors.

I got lucky with this one. It was my first trip to Yosemite in 2002 and the whole valley was covered in a snowstorm all morning. I decided to leave, and on my way out the clouds cleared and valley opened up. I must admit, it was awe inspiring. I’ve been back many times since, but the first trip still stands out.

If you time it right you can get rainbow shots from most of the waterfalls visible from the valley floor.  This was taken around 7:45 AM on a winter morning.  For reference, the waterfall is almost 1800 feet high, so the rainbow is a few hundred feet tall and long I would think.  I was all the way across the valley when I took this.

Well I wouldn’t ordinarily find a mollusk this interesting, but after a hard rain in California this little critter showed up on my front sidewalk.  I got as close as I could while still being able to focus. 

My wife and I took a trip to Monterrey one summer to see the whales, and boy was it COOOOOOLD.  But I got some fun pictures (alas, not too many whale pics).  As we were heading out of the bay, I snapped these birds.  It was an overcast day hence the low contrast.

This was taken just south of San Francisco and north of Half Moon Bay.  If you’ve never taken this drive, you should – it’s awesome.  I know lots of people that have done Highway One south of HMB and north of the GGB, but still haven’t made this leg of the journey.

 We got lost in the snow, hauled a guy 10 miles through the back country when his car got stuck, and finally made it to this volcano – which was a mile hike or so.  I was pretty winded when we got to the top but this is one of my all time favorite pictures of my wife.

Not sure when I took this exactly, but it’s one of my favorite winter shots.  I wish the light on the river was a little better, but beggars can’t be choosers and it was a day trip.