Girls in traditional costume

Girls in traditional costume, a photo by radzfoto on Flickr.

This photo was taken during the anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg in Russia. It was a festive atmosphere with thousands of people walking on the famous Nevsky Prospect. These girls were walking past me and I asked if I could photograph them. They stopped for a moment and here's the photo.

These photos are from hikes that my wife and I took in Yosemite in April 2012. The changeable weather made for wonderful contrasts. I tried a bit of the "Ansel Adams" effect on a couple of them. What an amazing and inspiring photographer he was, not just in composition, but in processing them to get the light just right.

Seagull

Seagull, a photo by radzfoto on Flickr.

This seagull kept flying around me in a park in Palo Alto.

2011-10-09 Mendocino, California

My wife and I got out of the San Francisco Bay Area and took a break from our children (left them with their grandparents) and went to Mendocino, California. This town looks almost like a seaside village in New England. Just off season enough to be quiet without being empty. Beautiful town with ocean on three sides, great food and drink, wonderful walks or biking if you prefer, and for the adventurous: hiking outside of town into the rugged coastal hills.

Enjoy the slideshow. Click on it for full size and descriptions of the town.

Old growth Redwoods at Hendy Woods State Park, Mendocino County, California

We visited the Hendy Woods State Park in Mendocino County, California on a very rainy Columbus Day. Fortunately, rain and Redwoods just seem to go together. Old growth Redwoods are huge, towering, magnificent trees that reach well over 300ft tall.

My wife as a reference to get a sense of the scale of these Redwoods

Click on any photo to see a larger slideshow. I hope you enjoyed this photo tour.

Best,
Radzfoto

Sunset, Long Beach, California

When the conditions are right, some sunsets are downright spectacular. This sunset occurred this past summer while I was visiting my sister in Long Beach. We looked outside and noticed that the world had turned orange. Not just a bit orange. Completely orange.

As we exited the house, I took this photograph through a tree:

Sunset through a tree

But this was just the beginning. As the sun went down, it really began to color the clouds orange.

And then, with little light left, the clouds themselves glowed burnt orange.

All the photos are taken in the same couple of blocks and within a 15 minute period. I did not change the tint or color in any photograph in post-processing. I just adjusted exposure and sharpened them a bit.

Enjoy!
Radzfoto

Castle Rock State Park, Santa Cruz Mountains, California

A few weeks ago I went hiking with my family in the Santa Cruz mountains. I have lived in this area for more than 20 years and never hiked these beautiful mountains so close to my home.

We went to Castle Rock State Park. After parking you enter a temperate forest.

Temperate forest near entrance to Castle Rock State Park

Initially you go down into a moist valley and then climb steeply on the other side to see this view.

Clouds from the ocean form fog in the Santa Cruz mountains

The moisture that keeps the temperate forest green comes from fog that comes in from the Pacific Ocean marine layer. This fog is a year-round effect. Additional moisture comes from rain in the winter.

Castle Rock State Park attracts many rock climbers

Castle Rock State Park has several areas with large porous rocks that attract climbers from all over the Bay Area. This climber is on one of the larger rocks in the park as you can see below.

You can just make out the rock climber at the top

The views as you hike are quite spectacular. You can see down towards Santa Cruz and across Monterey Bay.

Looking down towards Santa Cruz and across Monterey Bay.

Across the Monterey Bay, you can just make out on the horizon far to the South the hills that form the Monterey Peninsula.

Wildflower

Although it was already August during our hike, the unusually cold and wet summer kept the mountains covered in wildflowers for the whole summer.

Moss covered tree

If you have read previous entries in my blog, you know that I love images of trees. This old Black Oak was covered in moss.

That concludes our brief tour of Castle Rock State Park with its varied ecosystem ranging from temperate forest of Douglas Fir, Redwoods and Black Oak to chaparral in the higher areas that were clear cut many years ago.

In addition to the wonderful views available in this hike, this park is great fun for children who like to climb rocks!

Radzfoto