“An Acorn Woodpecker Prepares for Breakfast” Photo of the Week #25, selected in November, 2019
Acorn Woodpeckers can be found throughout the Northern California and Oregon coast, so it was no surprise that there was a large family of them in our remote campground in Paicines, east of Monterey and Salinas, California. I saw them continually during our stay and was able to take a few photos of during my walks through the park. I particularly like this shot, taken just after the morning’s golden hour, as the sun highlights the woodpecker in the shadow of the tree branches.
Paicines is known for its vineyards and top-shelf wineries, nearby Pinnacles National Park and California condor viewing. Unfortunately, the summer after this photo was taken, wildfires decimated much of this part of California’s wine country. Because of the pandemic, we haven’t been able to return to see how much the area was affected.
“Sunken Boat Exposed by Drought” Photo of the Week #24, selected in October, 2019
Lake Mead is a large reservoir created by Hoover Dam at the Nevada/Arizona border, not far from Las Vegas. The current continuous drought has dropped the lake’s water level by over 160′ compared to its most recent high mark measured in 1990. This has caused the lake shore to draw back several hundred feet in places, exposing a myriad of items long thought lost. This boat was one of the more interesting of my finds there. I often wonder what caused this pleasure vessel to sink and how long ago that was.
“A Masterpiece Revealed” Photo of the Week #23, selected in October, 2019
Every once in a while, nature provides a combination of conditions that reveals something not often seen. In this case, the Midwest fog and high humidity early in the morning, a hard night’s work for a spider and my seldom-taken walk around the pond behind my house in Wichita, provided just that.
I especially like the small web nearby as another spider tried to take advantage of the open space left by the larger one.
“An Island Aglow in Maine” Photo of the Week #22, selected in October, 2019
From Week 21 to 22 we go from coast to coast… The view from Cadillac Mountain in Maine can be spectacular at sunrise and this bucket list item didn’t disappoint. As the sun rises over the islands and channels of Mount Desert Narrows, southeast of Bar Harbor, it makes for particularly beautiful photos. In this case, one such island glows in the morning fog.
Cadillac Mountain is one of more than twenty mountains on Mount Desert Island, and at 1,530 feet, it’s the highest point along the North Atlantic seacoast. Each day before dawn, hundreds of pilgrims make their way to Acadia National Park, eager to watch the the first sunrise in the United States that morning. When I was there, I joined well over a thousand such pilgrims.
“On Lookout Over the Pacific” Photo of the Week #21, selected in October, 2019
This photo was taken near Klamath, California, overlooking the mouth of the Klamath River at the Pacific Ocean. The cliffs overlooking the river and ocean are dramatic, hundreds of feet above the waters. The Klamath is known for its beautiful scenery, high-class rapids and wildlife, including a wide variety of rapters.
Far from being a bird of prey, this wren, surveying its domain, seemed to pose for me, even waiting for me to set up my camera until I could snap the pic. You gotta love birds…
“Midwest Farm at Dusk” Photo of the Week #20, selected in September, 2019
The Midwestern U.S. has many iconic farmhouses and barns and I have certainly shot my share of them. This particular farm is located in Caldwell, Kansas, about an hour due south of Wichita near the Oklahoma border. The Chisholm Trail ran by here from 1867 to 1871, and you can easily imagine this farm operating during that time frame.
Besides being an attractive set of antique farm buildings, I like this particular shot because the tones that the “Golden Hour” provided, as well as the contrast between the dark, freshly-plowed field with the untouched grassy surroundings.
This photo was taken in Humbolt County on the far northern coastline of California. Coastal fog on the west coast seems to act differently than on the eastern seaboard, especially New England, and I certainly have plenty of it to see when visiting Maine and Massachusetts in the fall.
Around the seashores of Northern California, Oregon and Washington State, a marine layer usually creeps in during the wee hours, especially during the summer. The fog often burns off by mid-afternoon, leaving a few hours of golden sunshine before dusk. In the east, you can have continuous fog for days. These peculiarities can create opportunities for some very different photos on each coast.
Oh, and just try to get a shot of open beach in New England… Another thing I really like about the west coast is its nearly complete public access along the ocean.
“Lunch Time” Photo of the Week #18, selected in September, 2019
This photo included a pleasant surprise indeed. In Alaska a few years ago, I took several dozen shots of bald eagles, but only a couple of them were striking. One was my “Alaskan Eagle Taking Flight” and the other was this pic, taken during a remote cruise stop.
I had spotted a nest with a bald eagle sitting patiently in a tree a couple of blocks from us as Nadyne and I walked along Harbor Drive in the small, rustic town of Hoonah. As we approached we found that the nest was about 60 feet up, far too high to see it very well. I switched cameras to use a large telephoto lens and snapped several photos from various angles. We had asked the locals if there were any eaglets in the nest and they all said that nobody had seen any, and we hadn’t either. Lo and behold, when I got back home and began going through my 1,300 or so Alaska pics, I found that a couple of shots of this nest showed a little eaglet’s head, the chick evidently waiting for lunch. I never saw it with my bare eyes.
“The Ghosts of Commerce” Photo of the Week #17, selected in September, 2019
I have always been fascinated by abandoned buildings, especially those that were storefronts, gas stations or other means of commerce. The photo of this rural drive-in store store was taken in Central Kansas and I have often wondered what it was like when it was first built and used. At first I thought it was a gas station, but there were no visible signs that gas pumps once stood there. Its sign has an odd shape on top, like perhaps someone wearing a chef’s hat, so I’ve been thinking it was a roadside bakery. It’s fun to guess!
This photo was also used for the cover of my fourth book of poetry, “Aspects Long Forgotten,” and also inspired the title piece of the book.
Trappings of the Years 