Santa Margarita Ranch

Here are a few photos from a recent tour of Santa Margarita Ranch.  The bald eagle was watching us from a tree, then flew away, then came back to "check us out".  Photo was hand held with a Canon 400 mm lens.

Monterey and Point Lobos

I attended a photographers workshop in Carmel in mid December.  Here are a few of the photos from Point Lobos and Lover's Point in Monterey.

SpaceX at Morro Bay

SpaceX conducted another capsule drop test at Morro Bay this month.  Here are a few of the photos.

Pumpkin Decorating

Here is an example from the kid's pumpkin decorating activity at the Cambria Harvest and Scarecrow Festival.

Harmony Creamery at Night

I recently attended an evening concert by the Hay Dudes at Painted Sky Studios in Harmony, CA - population somewhere between about 10 and 20.

The night lighting and moonlight around the old Creamery Building is pretty cool, and this photo is an example.

Night on Condor Mountain

Here is what camping looks like on "Cypress Hill" next to the Hi Mountain Lookout.

Lizard's Life

It was a beautiful sunny fall day today in Morro Bay, and the little lizard (about 3 inches long) was out enjoying the noontime sun to the fullest.

Rebel with Paws

Rebel, a young brown Maine coonish tabby, is looking for a home.  You can visit him at the North County Humane Society in Atascadero.

Big Bucks in Morro Bay

Deer, that is.

This guy hangs around the "back 40" acres at Morro Bay Power Plant.  I caught him napping in the shade on Thursday morning.

Santa Margarita Ranch, Part 2

I had another opportunity to photograph the "back country" at Santa Margarita Ranch this past weekend.  My photos focused on the vineyards this time, and I have several nice grape photos.

Unfortunately, my camera was in the bag when we came upon the bear next to the road, and he (or she) was gone up the hillside before I could get the camera and long lens ready to go.  I've got to learn to leave that wildlife lens in my lap when driving out on the back roads.

Here are a few photos from the day - including my first ever IR photo (converted to black and white).  I used the (unmodified) Pentax K-5 with a 720 IR filter and an exposure of about 45 seconds.  It is something that I will have to experiment with.

You can learn more about photo tours of the ranch at

http://www.margarita-adventures.com/photo-tours-of-santa-margarita-ranch/

Iconic SLO County Oak Tree

One oak tree in San Luis Obispo county stands out from all others.  It is probably not the most picturesque, or most stately, or most historic oak, but it shows up repeatedly in photos and County publications.  This was the "cover photo oak" for the County Ag report a few years ago.

Why is this oak so popular?  Probably because it's easy to get to - right off Oakdale Rd - and easy to photograph without foreground and background distractions.

So here are a few of my contributions of this well known oak.

Templeton Sunsets

Recent tropical storm moisture over San Luis Obispo County didn't bring any measurable rain, but brought interesting cloud formations and excellent sunsets.  Sunsets are mostly a winter phenomenon on the Central Coast, so it is very much a pleasure to enjoy sunset colors in the summer when it's warm and pleasant outside.

Here are a couple of sunsets from West Templeton (near HW 46 and Vineyard) from the Labor day weekend.

4th of July Fireworks in the Fog

Along with thousands of others, I made the annual trip to the coast to watch 4th of July fireworks.  This year I visited with friends in the coast town of Cambria.

Weather was clear and delightful for most of the afternoon, but you could see the bank of fog looming just off shore.  Would we see fireworks, or just a colorful glow as the rockets disappeared into the clouds?

The answer is - both.  Stars were shining directly over head , but clouds kept blowing across our viewing area.  So here is a set of photos - fireworks in the fog!

Inside Morro Bay Power Plant

Ever wonder what it looks like inside the power plant building?  Here are a few photos of the 1960's vintage equipment inside.

Unit 3 Turbine and Boiler Feed Pump - 325 megawatts and ready to run

Unit 3 Generator - Unit 4 and overhead crane in the background

Boiler Feed Pumps - Units 1 and 2 - Installed in 1954

Unit 4 Turbine and Generator - First operational in 1963

Big Scallops

It is hard to top the big fat sea scallop taco at the Taco Temple in Morro Bay.

Santa Margarita Ranch

Here are a few pictures from a photo tour of the backroads at the Santa Margarita Ranch a few weekends ago.

Jim Vincolisi, a local photographer and owner of the B-W Gallery in Atascadero is hosting these photo tours through Margarita Adventures.  More information can be found at the web page:

http://www.margarita-adventures.com/photo-tours-of-santa-margarita-ranch/

Eastern San Luis Obispo Wildflowers

Wildflower season is winding down in Eastern SLO County as the hillside grasses are already fading from spring green to summer tan.  The photo below was from the Shell Creek area on Sunday 4/7.

About the only thing blooming in Shell Creek was Thistle Sage, which happens to be one of my favorites.

The wildflower show was slightly better along Highway 58 east of Santa Margarita - the section of the road through Calf Canyon.  Here the grasses are still green, and bright pink Prickly Phlox bushes dot the stony hillsides.

A variety of sage plants could be found in the road cuts along the highway - chia sage, thistle sage and black sage.

Additionally, there were scattered stalks of Owl's Clover, and a bright red orange bush growing on rocky slopes - it's not Indian Paintbrush, but I'm not sure what it is.

Eye Contact

I was going to call the three panel photo series "No you can't have my ice cream".  But I think a more fitting title is "Eye Contact".

Silver, a fluffy tabby at the North County Humane Society in Atascadero, looked at me briefly for this photo, then went back to staring at the fly she was watching intently across the room.

Zebra on the Central Coast

Zebra were originally introduced to San Luis Obispo as part of the "zoo" at Hearst Castle.  Now they range wild across the Hearst Ranch and the hillsides around San Simeon.  They cause quite a stir when grazing along Highway 1, resulting in "zebra jams" as motorists pull off the road to take pictures.

Last weekend found about a half dozen zebra near the roadway, and twice as many cars pulled over to take photos.  I had a long lens on the camera (600 mm) and had to switch to 300 mm because the critters were too close for the big lens.

Templeton Night Sky

Here is a photo from last weekend - a predawn view from south Templeton looking toward Atascadero.  The constellation Scorpius is predominant in the center of the picture.