February 26, 2011

• PhotoPost: Cloudscapes by the Sea

   

  My apologies. I always made an attempt to vary the types of blog entries I post. I’ve been so on again off again, however, that it’s the end of the month again, and I have another photopost. Let me tell you what’s happening right now with me, so you don’t wonder about why I say “I’m back” and then seem to disappear from Xanga for long periods. I don’t visit at all anymore. Well, I worked on quoting a really big project at work late last year. We built two prototypes, and are now building a third, plus the first full system for the customer. We were awarded the work, and I’ve been putting in 12 hour days for a couple of weeks. I’m pretty tired when I get home. Last weekend, I spent all my free time working on my latest Mike’s Video Blog (in the entry below.) I’ve also been doing yard work when it’s not raining.

  

  Last weekend it rained, and it rained last night, so I won’t be doing much yardwork. (The areas are all muddy right now where I want to weed, turn the soil, and remove old rocks and put new ones in the rockbeds.) Since the morning was bright, and there were clouds in the sky, I decided to take a Photo Expedition. This is my second this year. I vow to take at least one Photo Expedition a month since I didn’t take hardly any at all in 2010. My first stop, to catch some cloudscapes before the wind blew them all away. Sur La Brea Park, about three blocks from my house.

  

  These first few photos were taken at the park. Can you tell it’s still the middle of winter?

  

  A magnificent group of clouds was to the east when I took my walk around the mobile home park at around 9:30 this morning, but it had dissipated somewhat when I finally got out on the road. Here are some of the stragglers, framed by a tree branch. I didn’t take too long a trip today, since gasoline is $3.75 a gallon, but I took about a 20 mile round trip, and got some good photos. The Webshots Gallery is called “Cloudscapes By the Sea” with 138 photos.

  

  This is a tree covered street near where I live. I thought I’d get some shots of clouds through the branches, but the leaf cover was too thick, and the clouds were all on the horizon by the time I got here. Still, this is one of my favorite streets, so I shot some pics.

  

  I’ve been wanting to get some photos of this bridge over the train tracks and Torrance Blvd. north  of Old Torrance for many years. It used to be covered with ivy, then a lot of the ivy died off. Here’s the “cowcatcher’s” view of the bridge from the tracks.

  

  No clouds directly overhead, but the sky is blue, and the air is crisp. A great time for taking photos.

  

  Here you can see the clouds rimming the horizon. It’s close to noon, and I’m driving down Crenshaw Blvd, eventually to go up into the peninusula and get some photos of the ocean. The 60s style Bowling sign is pretty neat.

   

  At the end of Crenshaw, there is no beach access, and the road ends at a private housing development, but I got out of the car and took some shots out toward Santa Catalina island, which looked clearer than I’ve seen in years. Almost like you could reach right out and touch it.

  

  The water looked like glass. I don’t know if any of these photos approximate the real look of the water. Some of them below perhaps. This shot was taken on the property of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, which overlooks the ocean, natch.

  

  This is a cropped version of the view at the end of Crenshaw Blvd.

  

  Clouds. Santa Catalina Island, looking like a mountain range out in the ocean, and the glassy waters of the Pacific in February. I feel the touch of the Godhead when confronted with such beauty as this.

  

  Here is a telephoto shot of the large flag at the entrance to the Donald Trump Golf Course, backed by the Pacific Ocean.

  

  Walking along the beach access trail at the golf course. I was thinking about how even though I’d love to visit the state of Hawaii sometime before I pass on, I’m really not missing anything. Some of our landscape right here in Southern California is as wondrous as some of the seacoast in Hawaii. We don’t have lush jungles, that’s true, but we have the same Pacific Ocean!

  

  I’m almost at the water’s edge. Just about a quarter mile left. I took two walks today. My regular walk around the park before I left for the Photoshoot, and a hike down the hill to the ocean from the Trump Golf Course.

  

  A flock of pelicans over the seacoast. These guys circled around three or four times. They were quite grand, and the seagulls looked a little measly after the pelicans passed by.

  

  Look at the varying textures in this photo. You can almost feel them all as you gaze past the crystal clear water to the mountains of Santa Catalina Island in the distance, 26 miles away, topped by fluffy clouds.

  

  There was a fresh sea otter carcass near this area, but I didn’t snap any photos out of respect. The coast is quite rocky, as you can see. That’s a dog walker in the center of the photo, sitting on the rocks.

  

  The water color is brown next to the rocks, and deep blue the deeper you go out to sea. Lots of wind and rain last night, and usually when I take a beach trip the next day after a storm, my shoes get really muddy. Not too much today, which was a good thing.

  

  Here come my friends the pelicans taking another round around the peninsula.

  

  Although this shot is somewhat out of focus, we see a couple along the trail looking up at the birds as they pass. I did crop this photo from the original, which I didn’t even know I’d taken till I got home and looked through the files. In the sun, one cannot see the little LCD sceen at the back of the camera with all the glare, so getting a shot like this is surprisingly delightful for me.

  Until next time. Hope you aren’t tired of so many photos of the beauty of SoCal in February after a rainstorm passes. Another is overhead right now as I type this entry. Who knows what tomorrow will look like??

  • 9:09 pm
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