Shore Birds #1

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Shore Birds #1
La Jolla Shores, CA
February, 2011
A flock of San Pipers, lifting off.  These relatively plain birds become much more interesting when they spread their banded wings.
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Sea Birds #3

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Sea Birds #3
La Jolla Shores, CA
February, 2011
Solitary Brown Pelican.  This guy and his mates were scared away from kayakers below, seconds after I took this photo.

Happy Tax Day, everyone.
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Sea Birds #2

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Sea Birds #2
La Jolla Shores, CA
February, 2011
Brown Pelicans, perched above the bluffs near La Jolla Cove.
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Sea Birds #2

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Sea Birds #2
La Jolla Shores, CA
February, 2011
Cormorants, Pelicans and the occasional Sea Gull, basking in the sun.
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Sea Lions

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Sea Lions
La Jolla Shores, CA
February, 2011
A pair of sun-basking sea lions, ignoring the throngs of tourists taking their picture.  Unless they're posing, of course.
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On the Wing #3

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On the Wing #3
San Elijo Lagoon, Solana Beach, CA
February, 2011
A color version of the previous picture.  I usually choose whether to finish a photograph as a color or monochrome image based on whether the color in the scene adds to, or diminishes, the composition of the picture.  In this case, I'm very fond of the subtle coloring on the bird's body.  But I think the big band of green across the top creates too much visual weight, distracting from the bird.
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On the Wing #2

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On the Wing #2
San Elijo Lagoon, Solana Beach, CA
February, 2011
The same bird, hovering in place while searching for insects below.  I used the same approach to bring the focus onto the bird.  I'm very happy with the way the wing blur implies the hovering action of the bird.
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On the Wing #1

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On the Wing #1
San Elijo Lagoon, Solana Beach, CA
February, 2011
Small bird, caught in mid flight.  I used a mask to selectively adjust the brightness and contrast of the bird, while leaving the contrast in the background more subtle.  I think this, along with the dynamic searching pose of the bird, brings the eye right where it should be.

As with all the pictures on this blog, clicking on the small picture will show you the full-sized image.
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Flamingo

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Flamingo
San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA
February, 2011
Beautiful juvenile flamingo.  I love the texture and gentle colors of the plumage.
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Snared Leaf

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Snared Leaf
Solana Beach, CA
February, 2011
This fallen leaf, snared by the parasitic creeper vine that winds its way through the tree, caught my eye as is dangled and turned in the breeze.
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Lichen

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Lichen
Solana Beach, CA
February, 2011
San Dieguito park, in Solana Beach, has long and interesting hiking trails, weaving through native plants of all kinds.  The ocean is close by, and lichen and moss are prevalent on some of the trees.
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Desert Blossom #2

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Desert Blossom #2
Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
March, 2011
A detail shot of the upper part of this massive blossom.
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Desert Blossom #1

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Desert Blossom #1
Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
March, 2011
Around this time of year, the flowering plants in San Diego are starting to go crazy.  I'm not sure what this plant is, but these foot-long blossoms have popped out on some kind of desert tree in one of the cactus gardens in Balboa Park.  They're very beautiful, in my opinion.
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Rust #1

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Rust #1
Solana Beach, CA
February, 2011
Last of this series of rust portraits.
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Rust #2

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Rust #2
Solana Beach, CA
February, 2011
Another rust portrait.  I think I'm reacting to the respect I have for the time it took for the patterns of nature to create such intricacy.
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Rust #3

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Rust #3
La Jolla Shores Beach, La Jolla, CA
February, 2011
There's something about the contrast between the natural patterns rust makes and its man-made origins that keeps drawing me to it as a subject.
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Scripps Pier #1

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Scripps Pier #1
La Jolla Shores Beach, La Jolla, CA
February, 2011
I'm sure this photo has been taken thousands of times, but I like it anyway.
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Scripps Pier #2

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Scripps Pier #2
La Jolla Shores Beach, La Jolla, CA
February, 2011
Waves breaking among the pier pilings.  Despite the bright light that day, the shade provided by the pier made for interesting shadows and highlights.
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Scripps Pier #3

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Scripps Pier #3
La Jolla Shores Beach, La Jolla, CA
February, 2011
The Scripps Institute of Oceanography uses a long pier to house many of their monitoring and measuring devices.  It's a pretty thing, though made of concrete.
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