Photos taken this morning by Rock Knocker
Tracks on Los Burros, aka Willow Creek
Photos taken this morning by Rock Knocker
Category: Photography
Cambria’s Annual Scarecrow Festival
The businesses add new scarecrows every day, until the judging takes place, so come on down and take a look for yourself. Great photo ops! I found out from a long-time resident who informed me that the high school art studens make the scarecrows and sell them for $20 to the businesses that don’t make their own. This will all culminate at the Harvest Festivwl at the Biachinni house, aka, the Cambrian Historical Society, the second weekend in October, at the corner of Burton and Center.
On the way out of town, I saw so many others I had missed! Several construction workers, the invisible man, the male and female “mooners”, the gal with the flying dog, and at least a dozen more. There are between 200-250 total “scarecrows” that have taken over Cambria. Quite a sight to see. I never even went down Moonstone Drive where there are many more! Next time, I guess.
The Magic of Fall Equinox
I may not have gotten shots of Endeavor, or the Thunderbirds, but Big Sur held still long enough for me to get a few shots yesterday.
Views like these just added to an already perfect day.
It is Gone!
Thank you, Greg DeAlba, and Willow Springs Maintenance Crew!
The South Coast, the wild coast, NOT Lonely
What a great time we had … Celebrating life, beauty, and this incredible place where we live. It doesn’t get any better than this … Drumming, flute, music, ocean, creek, and great friends … Oh, and wonderful food!
The music ..
And, of course, the Jade!
And Guy’s famous BBQ
We will let you know when we have another, but it could be a while, as we are now focused on the Jade Festival coming up next month. We would love our north coast brethren and Cambria partners to join us!
Airplane crash off the South Coast of Big Sur
UPDATE 9 pm – The SLO Tribune is reporting that 2 people were rescued from this crash.
My son reported from the hermitage that he heard sirens and something that sounded like a loud shot from the direction of Lucia around 4:45 pm. Another reader reported that he saw the last of an airplane crash into the ocean from his position at Gorda Mountain. He witnessed the last 15 minutes or so, before the plane sank. The Coast Guard were on the scene. These two reportings may have been related.
John Galuszka sent me these photos of the incident:
New Photo Toy
OMG, I think I am in love! Another blogger recommended this new app (snapseed) that works on either my iPad or my iPhone, and it is such a delight. It is not free. It runs $5.99, but so worth it, and I haven’t even tapped all that it can do. And easy? My word is it easy. It is all done with swipes and or taps.
Remember this photo from a few days ago?
Here is one thing I did with it:
All I basically did here was adjust the white balance and the saturation, and then crop it. Easy peasy.
In the one below, it was like being back in the dark room during my film days. I converted to black and white, adjusted the contrast, played with the grain, cropped and framed it, and here you have it:
One chooses the effect one wants to use (in this case black and white), then chooses the filter by swiping up and down, then chooses the degree of filtering (in this case how much contrast and then grain one wants) by swiping left and right.
Either one of these photos is better than the original, according to the photographer. Now my iPad or iPhone will not replace my Nikon, and snapseed is not photoshop, but it is a heck of a lot cheaper, and so much easier to use.
Here are a few more snapseed processed photos. There are so many possible combinations of processes, and the degree of each …
One of the majorly significant tools is the ability to increase or decrease exposure in different parts of your photos, like we could do in the darkroom. No other digital software has seemed to mimic my old-fashion darkroom to the extent this one does, and now I realize how much I missed that.
Oh, and did you notice I finally figured out how to change the alignment of my photos to make them visually more appealing, when I am writing from my iPad? Just had to change a little code, is all. 😉
A little of this, a little of that
To me, our hills are very sensuous, particularly in the spring, as when this one was shot.
Just a word of update for all those curious about what has been happening on the case involving the 5 Cal Trans workers. The last court date was 8/23, and it was continued again until October, which is not unusual, apparently due to voluminous amounts of paper. There has not been a preliminary hearing, yet.
The same contractor who has been doing this project will be starting the Rocky Creek Viaduct after labor day. There will be a community meeting about the impact of the project, if any, on Emergency Services this week. It is looking like Thursday at MAF at 10:00, but that has not yet been firmed up. Cal Trans is also looking to make a presentation at the next MAF meeting in October.
Okay, this doesn’t have to do with anything. I just like it!
Bob Mattson, Barbara Sparhawk, and Black Walnut
Last week I got an email from a friend and fellow blogger in Carmel Valley, Barbara Sparhawk. What an amazing lady. Her life has been so rich and diversified, I want to be her when I grow up. She wrote for CBS News, FOX, and others in NYC, all the while doing huge murals in NYC, Coney Island and other places. You can find a sprinkling of who she is here: hawk’s Perch
Any way, she emailed me about a walnut tree that had shed a limb that she wanted to offer to a Big Sur wood carver. Rock Knocker is such a carver, so I asked if he would be interested. “Hell yeah!” he said, and so we were off to see the Farm Center in Carmel Valley on Robinson Canyon Rd. I hadn’t been since I moved to the South Coast, and there were LOTS of changes! I love what the place has become – an artist’s colony. Here are some photos of that journey.
I am convinced that Barbara is a soul sister from a past life. If not, she should be!
Barbara carried 90% of the wood to Rock Knocker’s truck. What a gal! I’ll make sure there is a bowl for you, but RK says it will be at least a year before it is ready to carve. If he won’t carve it, I will. My maiden name is “woods” for a reason!
Sunset over Willow Creek
Just loved these cloud formations the other night.
On another note, new Fire restrictions went into effect yesterday. Still no campfires outside of developed campgrounds (Nacimiento, Ponderosa, Plaskett Creek, and Kirk Creek, along with Day use areas Sand Dollar Beach and Mill Creek). Also permits are now required for both propane stoves and lanterns. I’ll post the notice later today, which has a link to get a permit online.