15. April 2012 by David.

Hite Cove on the South Merced River is at it’s best right now.

The day was overcast so the poppies were a little shy. They did however provide a great backdrop to the other wildflowers. If you can make the time I suggest you get on up there as soon as possible. The show is great but won’t last long.

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Dave

Posted in Plants, Foothills, Flowers | Print | No Comments »

14. April 2012 by David.

I like old things and shiny things.

Liking shiny things is an inside joke with my family. However here I have both, the shiny randomness of the shavings contrasted with the old rigid texture of the bolt. I also like the direction of the light, from the left. Accentuating the threads on the bolt and providing contrast within the shavings.

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Dave

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8. April 2012 by David.

If you’ve ever driven Highway 140 outside of Merced you’ve seen this structure.

Shot with a wide angle of 15mm it’s a monolith dedicated to one George Francher who died in 1900. I was told he had it erected to memorialize himself. So is it a memorial or an ego gone amuck. Either way I of course liked the clean lines. A polarizing  filter helped intensify the blue sky’s contrast to the marble and 112 years later people still notice.

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Dave

Posted in Historical, Central Valley, Architecture | Print | No Comments »

6. April 2012 by David.

The theme for April’s meeting of the Chowchilla Photo Club is ’shadows’

I saw this while walking home from work. What first caught my eye were the shadows against the lined garage door. The soft light of the sunset muted the sharpness of the shadows but brought out the wonderful hue of the bark and fonts.  The frame is cut in two by the trunk, the busy upper left is contrasted by the quieter lower right.

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Dave

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31. March 2012 by David.

I saw these two railcars in a field many miles from any rails.

I suspect that these old railcars are meant to be used as bridges over a creek somewhere. I’ve seen them used that way before. I purposely limited the depth of field to give the appearance of distance, coming from blur into focus and quickly blurring again. The lines are not ‘clean’, being broken and uneven but they still  lead you through the photograph and appear to converge at the apex.

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Dave

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31. March 2012 by David.

At the end of our last trek for wildflowers we stopped in downtown Madera.

I’m sure at one time this was a bank, now a bails bondsman and lawyers building. The powerful leading lines were what caught my eye. My Tokina 12-24mm lens is what allowed me to capture it.

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Dave

Posted in Central Valley, Architecture | Print | No Comments »

25. March 2012 by David.

Yesterday Friedhelm and I followed Fresno’s White Flower Trail.

While we both agreed that the ‘white flowers’ were rather disappointing we did find other subjects for both our photographic styles. This was taken at our first stop. I trudged back to get this shot, Friedhelm stay closer to the car and worked on close-ups. Yup, we see different things standing in the same spot.

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Dave

Posted in Landscape, Foothills, Trees, Flowers | Print | No Comments »

24. March 2012 by David.

Another character posing at the zoo.

When I first arrived at the zoo all the flamingos were huddled in the back among some bushes, a distance sea of muted color.

Second time around it was warm enough that the huddle was broken and I was able to get this photograph.

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Dave

Posted in Central Valley, Animals, Zoo | Print | No Comments »

18. March 2012 by David.

Lake Yosemite is a wonder place to photograph.

While it is a very small lake it seems to offer new opportunities every time I go there. Notice the tension created by the opposing focal points. In the lower right you have the fisherman, upper left is the tower and to some extent the upper right has the large tree, all silhouetted.

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Dave

Posted in Central Valley, Landscape, Lake Yosemite | Print | No Comments »

17. March 2012 by David.

As I’ve said before I really like old tools and equipment.

While processing this photograph I tried turning it to black and white. That gave it an older look but lost all the subtle hues that were brought out by the evening sun. Even a sepia tone wasn’t quite right so I left it as I saw it in the camera.

Keep clicking,

Dave

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