It’s the deceptive nature of sleeper waves, sneaker waves, rogue waves — all names for the same phenomenon — that people unfamiliar with the California coast are lulled into a false sense of security. They are rogue or sleeper precisely because they strike randomly, out of the great blue . . .
Archives for November 2009
Thanksgiving Tribute to Berkeley’s Turkeys
Photo collage of wild turkeys in Berkeley. The photos were taken in the Berkeley hills and in Tilden Park.
Above SF From Twin Peaks
“It’s the magic towers of a steel fairyland — the beacon atop the proud Mark, the red, thermometer-like cap of the Drake, the sturdy, four-square crest of Mother Russ, the sudden, blunt end of Coit Tower — that make up the minarets of a metropolis . . .” “It’s the indescribable conglomeration of beauty and…
It’s Not Imbalanced . . . It’s Itten
Itten’s Contrasts – An Old Bauhaus Trick I came upon the concept of Itten’s Contrasts in a photography book by Michael Freeman, The Photographer’s Eye (great book, by the way). Johannes Itten was a Bauhaus instructor who identified contrasts as the main element of composition. If you’ve studied arts or graphics you’re no doubt familiar…
Kids Playing in a Puddle
I just came upon some great footage on You Tube, from David Neils. It shows three elk playing in a forest puddle. Embedding is disabled on that particular clip — but you can link to it here: Three Elk Calves in a Puddle. This companion video below, also from Neils, shows what most people would…
Tussle on Mountain Lake
This was a first for me . . . witnessing a down and dirty fight between American Coots intent on keeping each other off coveted turf. Neither bird was hurt. Well, maybe emotionally. The loser scrambled across the water to escape the victor. American Coots can drown in territorial battles, although it’s not common. They…
Return of the Waxwings
It starts with a whistle, but a whistle so faint it’s a whisper across the leaves. And then the sound of raindrops, but it’s not rain. It’s the patter of falling berries, pyracantha and holly, dropping into the blanket of debris below the trees.
Deer in the Tombstones
Hugh and I were doing our initial survey of an old pioneer cemetery in the East Bay, when we saw these unexpected travelers in the haze. I grabbed a few frames as a doe and her two fawns ditched around the tombstones. Autumn is deer hunting season. I’ve heard some deer hunters say they’ll shoot…
Ahimsa at the Tidepools
I swear, if I have to ask one more kid to stop throwing rocks at animals . . . It was an imperfect plan to begin with: super-low tide on a Sunday at the gorgeous but hardly-secret Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. I’ve been waiting for a daylight minus (-) tide for a few months. I’d even…
The Unheralded Hulet Hornbeck
Until this week, I didn’t know how much gratitude I owed Mr. Hulet Hornbeck. The sign below marks the head of a commemorative trail at Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline — a park in the vast and lovely East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD). When Hornbeck began his tenure as Chief of Land Acquisition for EBRPD…