Crossings: July 2009

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Caribbean Snapshots

Though it has been several months since the photos in this post were made in the Caribbean in April of 2009, it is summer, and it seems appropriate somehow, to post these vacation snapshots.

Resting in the shade. Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.

Local flora, Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.

The wake from a ship moving through the water. Atlantic Ocean.

The moon over the starboard rail. Caribbean Sea.

A pelican at rest. Florida.

A parasail in the distance. Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.

Why we went there in the first place.

"Bees In Trees" is what my wife Lisa called my photographic endeavours in March of this year. As usual, numerous plants were in bloom and it seemed that wherever I looked the blossoms were swarmed by bees attending to them.

The blossoms in this post are all from the orange trees we planted in our side yard five years ago. The two orange trees were a Cara Cara Pink Navel and a Valencia. We figured that since the two varieties produce fruit in different seasons, we'd have a longer time to harvest the fruit when the trees matured and started producing. It was a good theory. But it doesn't seem to be working out in practice, since both trees produced blooms at the same time this year, and the fruit appears to be maturing at a similar rate, with the Navel fruit slightly smaller than the Valencia.

Our only harvest from the trees was a single Cara Cara orange last year. In any event, the blossoms were very attractive to the local honeybees this year, and provided plenty of opportunities to photograph bees in action.

I didn't use any special equipment to make these photographs. Many photographers who specialize in closeup, or "macro" photography, use special lenses designed for the purpose. I don't own any macro lenses.

The lens I used is the 28-80mm "kit" lens from a Nikon N55 film camera. Due to the crop factor (the digital sensor is smaller than image area of a frame of 35mm film), that lens is equivalent to a 42-120mm lens on a 35mm film camera.

I did use one "trick" to make these photographs: I moved in close to the bees. They didn't seem to notice...

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Three Risings

Here in Southern California we are typically under a cloud for a month or more at the end of Spring and beginning of Summer. The cloud is called a Marine Layer (For more information, see http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/marine.htm). The mist laying over the Pacific coast in the mornings usually dissipates in the afternoons.

The misty cloud cover keeps the daily temperatures down and provides a refreshing cooling effect, effectively prolonging the time before the full heat of summer bears down on the land. It is not helpful to the landscape photographer however, since there is no cloud definition. A landscape photograph with a monotonous gray sky is as boring as a clear blue dome of sky. A good landscape photograph usually needs at least a sprinkling of clouds.

The sunrise photographs in this post were made on three successive mornings from Mount Rubidoux after the Marine Layer ended in 2009. Click on a photo to view a larger version.