As the sun sets on the horizon and the shooting day comes to a close, when others might be concentrating on other things or packing up, be mindful of the opportunities that abound in the changing light.  Such as this Whimbrel sillhouette at La Jolla Shores.

Captured with Nikon D300, 500mm f4 AF-S with TC-14e.

The next few months are the best of the year for winter shorebirds in San Diego.  I’m starting out early with image yesterday morning when the tide was up and there wasn’t really a lot of good subjects other than this lone Willet foraging along a rocky shore in La Jolla.   I arrived in La Jolla a little before sunrise but, without a cloud in the sky, I really only had about an hour-and-one-half before the light got too harsh.  As we progress into Decenber, we will hopefully get some more clouds.  I did have the opportunity to spend time watching a Peregrine Falcon trying to pick off Pigeons near the Children’s Pool which was pretty cool.   Brown Pelicans are begining to look good but they’ll be spectacular in another month, or so.  This Willet is one of several “typical” birds you’d likely find in La Jolla.  Other common finds are Marbled Godwits, Surfbirds, Ruddy Turnstones, Spotted Sandpipers, Curlews, Whimbrels, and Terns.  Occasionally you might find an unusual bird, like a Black Skimmer.  A few years back, there was even a very photogenic Masked Booby that spent several days around the cliffs near the Cave Shop.  It’s always enjoyable to visit the area and, even if birds are uncooperative, there’s plenty to photograph.

It’s old news, for most of us living here in San Diego, that Harbor Seals have pretty much taken over the Children’s Pool in La Jolla.  Legal battles between animal rights activists and those who want the pool cleared for use by children again have gone back and forth forever, now, it seems.  After a long period of the beach being closed to humans, a court recently ruled that it be opened again.   The rope barrier and raked line in the sand have been removed and people are again free, legally, to go onto the beach.  Most people do not venture onto the beach and most of those who do are respectful of the seals that still haul out in sometimes large numbers to lay on the sand.  The only real deterrant to human use, at this time, is a group that has formed to protect the seals.  These activists stand watch over the area and hand out information.  I support these actions to protect the seals and help educate the public.  However, these well intentioned activists do try to persuede visitors, through intimidation, mis-information, and mild harassment, to stay off the beach entirely.  I’ve witnessed a few battles with visitors (to be fair, the visitors contributed) over thier rights to be there and the rights of the seals, etc.   Unfortunately, this kind of activism is something I cannot support.  I remember a time when the beach was open, the seals still came ashore even with dozens of people wandering around in close proximity,  people would go out onto the beach to view the seals up close and, for the most part, the seals didn’t mind.

I do think that the seals should be allowed to remain on the beach and those who want the beach returned to swimming use for children should understand that most children I’ve seen really prefer watching the seals and are happy to swim elsewhere.  I also think that people should continue to be able to go onto the beach with the seals and the over-protective activists should, other than continuing to dispense educational information, keep comments to themselves unless they witness people obviously behaving inappropriately.  It would be nice to, again, see a situation of coexistence and tolerance at the Children’s Pool.

Back at Green Valley Falls in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, again, this evening for some more flowing water images.  I just love the effects of long exposures on moving water.  This shot is one of the larger falls.

Image captured with Nikon D700, AF-S 17-35mm f2.8 (30mm), 3 second exposure at f16, Lee ND 9 soft grad in from top to take the highlight off boulders, Lexar Digital Film.

A cool evening photographing in the Green Valley Falls area of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park brought opportunities for some nice flowing waterfall images and good scenic details along the river that, after the rains yesterday, is running pretty swiftly.  This image was grabbed on the way back to may car.  It is a digital combination of two exposures, one for the foreground and another for the sky.  Even with a 3 stop ND grad, which I also used, there was no other way to get the exposure for both the bright sky and the rocks.  The tree-lined horizon/middleground went to black anyway - which was just fine by me.

Winter is being quite elusive in So CA.  It shows up briefly, sometimes not even for a whole day, in the form of clouds our rain - then it too quickly gets back to hot, dry, santa anna conditions.   Makes planning photo outings kind of tough sometimes.

Image captured with Nikon D700, AF-S 17-35mm f2.8 @ 22mm, Lee ND .9 Grad (soft), foreground exposure 1.6 seconds @ f8, BG exposure 1/2 second @ f8, on Lexar digital film.  Adjusted and combined in Photoshop CS3.

This mornings little photo excursion, with no images or agenda in mind when I set out to explore nearby areas, yielded the following images within a few miles of each other.

Images captured with Nikon D300 with AF-S 17-35mm (top) and ED 75-300 (bottom).

Typically, you’d be more likely to find me in the desert east of San Diego photographing other beasts, endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep. On this fine morning, however, I found this huge metal sculpture. It is one of many, some more frightening, that have been placed in various open spaces out-skirting the desert town of Borrego Springs, CA.

Image captured with Nikon D700 with AF-S 17-35mm f2.8 @ 20mm. Finished in Nikon Capture NX2 with Nik Color Efx.

The annual Festival of Sail took place over this past week in San Diego.  Not only was it a lot of fun to watch the various tall ships sail into the harbor and later board and explore them, it was a treasure trove (pirate pun) of photographic opportunity.

Images captured with Nikon D700 and AF-S 17-35mm/24-70mm lenses. Finished with Nikon Capture NX2 and Nik Color Efx Pro.