December through March, 2005 by Dave Wyman by Dave Wyman

December through March, 2005 by Dave Wyman by Dave Wyman

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Shrimpers (Clammers at Morro Bay use a long suction tube to hunt for clams, at sunset along the central coast of California. The sun is dropping behind the massive sand dunes that enclose the west side of the bay.)

December 21, 2004 (California condors are the largest flying animals in North America, with wingspans that can stretch to 10 feet and weights that tip the scale at 25 pounds. This condor zooms over a ridge in the remote Topatopa Mountains, northwest of Los Angeles. Notice the antennas on the wings that transmit data to biologists.
State and federal governemnt protection brought the condors back from the brink of extinction. From about 15 birds in 1980, now more than one hundred condors populate our earth, with scores of them soaring into the skies above Califorina, Baja California (Mexico), and Arizona.)

December 22, 2004 (This is the view looking through the windshield of my car while sitting in heavy traffic, trying to come into Los Angeles from the north, on the Interstate Five freeway. (My hat is tipped to pbaser Phil Douglis for helping me see this picture.))

December 23, 2004 (The view from my front yard, in the historic South Carthay neighborhood of Los Angeles)

December 24, 2004 (The Pala Mission
This is the last working California mission, ministering to American Indians - the rest of the missions in the state are museum pieces. The Pala Mission looks just about the way it did when it was built in 1816. The mission is at the base of the Palomar Mountains, along Highway 76, east of the Interstate 15 freeway.)

December 25, 2004 (Snow in California
Yosemite Valley)

December 26, 2004 (Orange Grove on the outskirts of the city of Redlands)

December 27, 2004 (Goats near the ranching community of Parkfield, the "Earthquake Capitol of the World" in the Coast Range mountains.)

December 28, 2004 (More than 5,000 wind turbines crank out the power in and around Tehachapi Pass, in the mountains east of the city of Bakersfield.)

December 29, 2004 (The chairlift at the Mount Waterman. The ski area is in the San Gabriel Mountains, about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles.)

December 30, 2004 (Flowers - Hollywood Farmers Market)

December 31, 2004 (Photographed in rural Catheys Valley, west of Yosemite National Park, a few days before the end of the year.)

January 1, 2005 (This morning, January 1, 2005, I was in Yosemite National Park, walking through the fresh fallen snow in the Valley, enjoying the wonderful views of the granite walls and peaks that were occasionally revealed as the sun broke through the clouds. I am a very lucky person. May the world be more peaceful
and safer for everyone in the new year.
)

January 2, 2005 (North Dome, Yosemite National Park, viewed from Stoneman Meadow at the end of the day, at the end of 2004.)

January 3, 2005 (An oak sits in the twilight in Yosemite Valley)

January 4, 2005 (After a storm in Yosemite Valley, the temperature rose enough to melt some of the snow. A drop of water formed at the base of a pine needle.)

January 5, 2005 (Sisters take a break on the trail to the Freeman Grove, Sequoia National Monument)

January 6, 2005 (There are dozens of mansions in the city of Redlands, at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California. The mansions were built on the profits of the citrus industry that once reigned supreme in the southern half of the state. This is the Kimberly Crest House, the most eleaborate and probably the largest of all the mansions. The house is surrounded by a magnificent garden.)

January 7, 2005 (California Poppy Preserve, Antelope Valley, north of the La Liebre Mountains.)

January 8, 2005 (His First Catch - Sequoia National Monument
I don't like to fish, but at least this happy angler ate his catch for dinner)

January 9, 2005 (The beautiful Arc Bridge, on Highway 154, is in the Coast Range Mountains beyond Santa Barbara; Old Stage Coach Road is visible in the shadows. Without taking the old road, which gives a look back at the the canyon, it is impossible to see the bridge, particulary while driving over it.)

January 10, 2005 (A rattlesnake crosses the road in Carrizo Plain National Monument.)

January 11, 2005 (Train tracks in the late afternoon sun (and with some serious underexposure) near the famed Tehachapi Loop, in the mountains east of Bakersfield.)

January 12, 2005 (Road side shrine, near Buttonwillow, in the Central Valley of California.
More examples by another pbaser: http://www.pbase.com/dazedgonebye/descansos)

January 13, 2005 (Carrizo Plain National Monument.)

January 14, 2005 (Only Texas and Alaska produce more oil than California. Most of the petroleum in California comes the southwestern portion of the San Joaquien Valley, where this picture was made, in the hilly oilfields above the city of Taft.)

January 15, 2005 (Malibu Creek State Park, in the Santa Monica Mountains, is 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles by car. There is a short walk from the parking area to the creek, and there are miles of hiking and mountain biking trails over four thousand acres of backcountry. The park features rugged gorges, volcanic cliffs, meadows, woodland, waterfalls, rock pools and a two-acre lake. The land was once owned and divided between Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope and the 20th Century Fox film studio. The park was the backdrop for many films and television shows, including Planet of the Apes and M.A.S.H.)

January 16, 2005 (Non-native artichoke, Yosemite Valley. "This year the park service is planning to eradicate bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare), mullein (Verbascum thapsus), the ice artichoke (Cynara humongus) and other invasive non-native plants that threaten priority areas of Yosemite Valley." - 2005 park service bulletin.)

January 17, 2005 (The Kelso Dunes are more than 600 feet tall. They can be found near the remote community of Kelso, once an important watering stop for locomotives along the rail line. The overcast day made the landscape and old highway look almost painterly.)

January 18, 2005 (Sheep on the remote Carrizo Plain. Broken hills in the background are evidence of the San Andreas earthquake fault, which runs from north of San Francisco south into Mexico.)

January 19, 2005 (Morning light, El Capitan, Yosemite)

January 20, 2005 (El Capitan, Yosemite)

January 21, 2005 (Bottle art - a kind of folk art - can be found in the Mojave Desert on historic Route 66. between the towns of Victorville and Barstow (where I am going next week to conduct a photo safari).)

January 22, 2005 (Curvy Santa Rosa Creek Road travels east from the little town of Cambria, on the central coast of California, high into the Coast Range Mountains. This view, near the crest of the road, looks back down the canyon on a rainy afternoon.)

January 23, 2005 (An oil well pumps away in the hills above the city of Taft.)

January 25, 2005 (Hopper Mountain Condor reserve, Topa Topa Mountains
Look carefully - there's a condor sitting on the branch of a burned tree.)

January 26, 2005 (The old Ridge Route, north of Los Angeles. It's still possible to make the drive on this historic road between the community of Castic and the Antelope Valley.)

January 27, 2005 (The sun is about to set over Highway 94 and the Campo Valley, near the California border with Mexico.)

January 28, 2005 (Hidden Falls, Mountain Home state forest, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.)

January 31, 2005 (This old Chevy truck hasn't run in decades. It's in the desert, near the community of Amboy, California.)

February 1, 2005 (Abandoned houses at Amboy, California, along historic Route 66.)

February 2, 2005 (Beware the ersatz roof-mounted canon, in the desert town of Barstow, (along Old Highway 58).)

February 3, 2005 (All would seem still at the Daggett Pioneer Cemetery, but ants sty busy excavating their colony.
I used a Plus 3 diopter and my on-camera flash, with a diffuser in front of the flash, to help me make this photograph. Depth of Field is very limited this close to my little subjects.)

February 4, 2005 (Cow and tractor at the Fiscallini farm, near Cambria, along the Central Coast of California.)

February 5, 2005 (Sunset at Cambria, along Moonstone Beach, along the Central Coast of California.)

February 6, 2005 (Yosemite Chapel)

February 7, 2005 (Tractor and stacked wine casks (the latter for sale!) near the ever-encroaching city of San Luis Obispo.)

February 8, 2005 (This is a picture of expansion tubes and a California quail at sunset, made near the little oil town of Maricopa. The expansion tubes help relieve potentially damaging uneven pressure in oil pipelines. A California quail, the state bird, sits atop the tubes.)

February 9, 2005 (Fern Spring - Smallest Waterfall in Yosemite)

February 10, 2005 (Wildflowers at the California state poppy preserve, in the Antelope Valley.)

February 11, 2005 (This is an exceptionally colorful sea anemone in a tide pool at Corallina Cove, Montana de Oro State Park. The anemone was quite large and irredecently green. We may have seen it on a visit to Corallina Cove last year - how long can anemone's live? (Apparently for at least several decades and possibly much longer.)
It was difficult coming up with a sharp image, due to low light coupled with slight movement by the anemone's tentacles and the bubbles; I had to use a slow shutter speed and a relatively large f/stop with it's minimal depth of field.
A polarizer cut but could not eliminate the glare; the shadow of my friend Richard Nolthenius standing over the pool also helped. (Rick's home page is here ))

February 12, 2005 (The last light of a winter day illuminates driftwood on Moonstone Beach, near the little town of Cambria, on the Central Coast of California.)

February 13, 2005 (Pigs on a farm near the town of Cambria.)

February 14, 2005 - Mating Monarchs (Monarch butterflies at Pismo Beach State Park.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Actually, these Monarch butterlies are merely indulging in foreplay. If the female agrees to mate, the male will lift and fly her to the top branches of their eucalyptus grove, where they will make for hours.)

February 15 - Still Lovers (A day after Valentine's Day, elephant seals share a tender moment along the California coast, near San Simeon.)

February 16, 2005 (Redtail Hawk, Montana de Oro Campground
Parents, keep an eye on your small fry, certainly the hawk is watching.)

February 17 - The Steepest Street (Fargo Street is the steepest street in Los Angeles. It's just a 1/10 of a mile long, but with a steady 33% grade (and slightly more inclined near the top), Fargo is steeper than any street in San Francisco.
Each year the Los Angeles Wheelmen bike club sponsors the loosely organized "Fargo Street Hill Climb." Riders from all over the Los Angeles area try to climb the hill just once. (I held the record for most times up the hill for 14 years, until someone broke it last year.)
It's difficult to show how steep the hill is in a photograph, but the rider pictured here is nearing the top. He's strong enough to do it straight up on a road bike - most people now, if they make the top, do it on mountain bikes and they tack back and forth across the narrow street.
Those who make it to the top without stopping earn a commemorative patch from the club, a pat on the back, great views of the Hollywood Hills to the northwest, and the downtown skyline of Los Angeles to the southeast. Fargo Str)

February 18, 2005 (Sunset over the Central Coast of California.)

February 19, 2005 - Yosemite Pano (Glacier Point Panorama, Yosemite National Park
I say look at it in its "original" size and scroll back and forth - it's more impressive that way. I stichced together - not perfectly, but close enough - two photographs.)

Februrary 21, 2005 (Calla Lily - San Simeon, California)

February 22, 2005 (Elephant seal pup along the central coast.)

February 23, 2005 - Piedras Blancas Lighthouse (Central Coast, Piedras Blancas Lighthouse)

February 24, 2005 (Abandoned home at the little community of Caliente, in the Tehachapi Mountains.)

Februrary 25, 2005 (Aspen leaves, cascades in Lee Vining Canyon)

February 26, 2005 (Horses at Pioneer Village stables, Yosemite)

February 28, 2005 (The view north, from the Cuyama Valley toward the Caliente Mountains)

March 4, 2005 (Downtown Los Angeles, under late afternoon light and a partial rainbow, viewed from the Santa Monica Mountains.
I made this photograph just after pedaling my bike up Blue Jay Way - remember the Beatles song of the same name? George Harrison spent a few apparently unhappy days in one of the homes along the street, which rises high over the city.
"There's a fog upon L.A.
And my friends have lost their way
We'll be over soon they said
Now they've lost themselves instead.")

March 7, 2005 - Pork Palace (Our attempts to find the owners of this unusual enterpries (which included an adjacent pig farm), near the community of Solvang and of Highway 101, were not succesful. However, someone released a couple of dogs from a nearby compound; the dogs made sure we beat a hasty retreat to our car and from the property.)

March 8, 2005 - Spring in Los Angeles (I interrupted my bike ride to photograph these poppies and cactus, on a residential street in Los Angeles.)

March 9, 2005 (Irrigation machinery, San Joaquin Valley (Great Central Valley) - Tehachapi Mountains in the distance.)

March 10, 2005 (Daffodils along the Rim of the World Highway, San Bernardino Mountains.)

March 15, 2005 (Red Rocks State Park, in the Mojave desert.)

March 16, 2005 (Gravesite, Yosemite National Park)

March 17, 2005 (Unhappy sheep are loaded into a truck, near the town of Taft, on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.)

March 18, 2005 (Roadside shrine near the town of Buttonwillow, in the San Joaquin Valley.)

March 19, 2005 (Franklin Reservoir - ten minutes above downtown Beverly Hills, just south of Mulholland Drive. This vast park is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area. There are hiking trails, a nature center, picnic tables, creeks, the occasional wild critter, and grand views over the L.A. Basin from the high points in the park.)

March 23, 2005 - Roasting Marshmallows (Roasting marshmallows at Montana de Oro State Park)

March 24, 2005 (In the Cuyama Valley)

March 25, 2005 (This is the Sisquoc Church (completed in 1875). Also known as the San Ramon Chapel, the little church sits on a bluff in the back country of Santa Barbara county.)

March 27, 2005 (It is a beautiful time of year in California and Los Angeles. This scene, photographed on Easter Day, is at the Ballona Creek wetlands. The landscape, much reduced by commercial and residential development in the past few years, has still managed to put on quite a show this spring. I made this photograph along the Ballona Creek bike path.)

March 28, 2005 (Malibu Creek State Park)

March 30, 2005 (Painted Lady butterfly the Kelso Dunes, Mojave Desert. These beautiful creatures are all over southern California this spring. One estimate puts the numbers at tens of millions of butterflies. Click on the link on the comment, below, for more information about the Painted Ladies (thanks, Rosemarie!).)

Desert Water - East (Near Badwater)

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