A Spring Day in Napa Valley

Yesterday we had one of these wonderful California spring days. Bright blue skies, a little chilly close to the ocean and well into the 70s inland. We decided to drive up to Napa Valley, hoping to find some wildflower displays on the way and also to visit the photo exhibition at the Mumm Winery. It was a bit breezy, the aftermath of a recent cold front that moved through on Friday, so for sure it wasn't the best day for wildflower pictures. The drive over the Golden Gate Bridge was breathtakingly gorgeous, the Bay below filled with yachts, the white triangles of the sails bulging in the wind and white caps on the waves. There was a regatta around Alcatraz, with the racing boats heeling dramatically. The air was clear and crisp, views extended over to the Bay Bridge, the Berkeley Hills and Mount Diablo in the distance. The tourists on the bridge were shivering in the strong wind. It's part of the yearly ritual of San Francisco: millions of tourists expect to find warm California weather and get surprised by the cold air from the ocean. This in turn generates an endless demand for the local sweatshirt industry. This is a classic win-win: the tourist stay warm and take home a nice souvenir while the dealers make a decent profit on sweatshirts imported from China. Sustainable micro economics with global impact.
On the way to Napa we encountered some nice displays of iceplants, unfortunately all at busy highway intersections and some occasional small stands of poppies. None of the usual hill sides in Marin county showed any remarkable display of wildflowers, and many of the green hills are already turning brownish. In a few weeks they will show the wonderful yellow-brown color of the famous Golden Hills of California, sprinkled with the green of Oak trees.

Our first stop was at the Mumm Winery on Silverado trail. I finally got to see the entries of my fellow photographers and the winning pictures. The winning picture in the digital category of the Silverman's is spectacular: very early morning light over a vineyard just south of the Mumm Winery. The sun just begins to break through early morning fog, the trees in the background silhouettes in the fog. It's a wonderful use of light, fogs and warm early morning colors. Check out their website for an impression on their use of light. Similar in dramatic use of light to Galan Rowell. The winner in the classic category is a smart and funny collage base don the board game "Clue" and hints around a murder story involving "Captain Mustard" - nice work. The entries in the creative category were truly amazing, the winner created a surrealistic composition based on the style of Rene Magritte. Very funny, very creative.

Of course we had to take a flight of tastings at Mumm's bubbly on the patio between the photo gallery and the tasting room. We will be back next year again ... On the way down the Silverado Trail we encountered this old wind powered water pump. This engineering marvel made it from Kentucky to Napa Valley, who knows when and how ... but it must have been quite a while ago. Luckily, the use of wind energy and alternative energies is now moving again into focus, as California is turning around and is promoting the use of alternative and "green, renewable" energies. Both wind energy and solar power are among the fastest growing business segments now, many of the VC companies established or are in the process of establishing green funds and pouring dramatic amounts of money into green start-ups, and Silicon Valley icons like John Doerr are spearheading this new trend. Between the 2nd dot-com business wave and the green-energy wave, it is an exciting time to live and work in the Valley. Before turning south to head home we stopped at the Oakville Grocery. They have the best sandwiches of Napa Valley (and a good Latte as well), and on the backside they have several tables and benches were you can enjoy your food with a view over the vineyard to the temple of wine, Opus One Winery. There I finally managed to sneak in a few pictures of California poppies swinging in the breezy wind. The end of a gorgeous day ....

Bye-Bye Winter (that was not)

The first reports of blooming dogwood in Yosemite are out. This is usually the sign that winter is on the retreat in the Sierras. It's early this year due to the mild winter we had in California. We had a few good storms, even some snow on the hilltops around Bay Area (see picture below) and a cold


spill in February that did a lot of damage to outside plants, palm trees and orchards. But over all we are at about 60% of average yearly rainfall in the Bay Area and the snow pack in the Sierras is way below average as well. The picture at the beginning of this blog of Half Dome after a winter storm is from a previous year. This winter hardly saw any lasting snow cover on the valley floor in Yosemite.
March and April are the peak months for wild flowers in California, and while there are nice patches in spots that received or retained more rainfall. many of the typical areas like Corizzo Plains, Gorman or Antilope Valley are far below average in color and density. The chances to find a meadow full of wildflowers will be less this year. While this is somewhat disappointing, it also is an opportunity to do more close-up photography. All it takes is finding a good spot, the sun not too high in the sky and no breeze that moves the flowers around. So it should be a good season after all!

Napa Valley Mustard Festival Photo Contest

Bad news and good news. After waiting and checking the Napa Valley Mustard Festival web page again and again and finding no posting we couldn't help but to call and ask for the results of the photography contest. Bad news is that my pictures did not make it into the winner's circle. This year's winner for the digital category are Susan and Neil Silverman , both respected photo professionals known for great landscape pictures with incredible lighting. The good news is that my pictures still hang among the work of professional photographers, and it was fun and a good experience to actually get my own work into a contest.

This picture is my favorite one of the pictures I submitted. It also was selected as the top-favorite by several friends and family members I asked for advice in the selection process. The picture was taken at the Rutherford cross road close to Silverado Trail. It shows the not-yet pruned rows of vines forming a tunnel-like alley filled with yellow mustard leading to the entrance of a winery. The gray-brown tones of the barn and the vines contrast with the bright yellows and greens of the blooming mustard, symbolizing the onset of spring and yearly renewal. The composition is vertically balanced between the barn and the mustard field, horizontally the perspective formed by the row of vines draws to the right-hand 1/3-location. We named the picture "Down the aisle" as the mustard forms a carpet like path into the winery. We didn't get to the Mumm Winery yet, but the contest pictures are shown there until May 3rd...

Disney w/o Mickey

Architecture is fascinating - this artful combination of design, material, engineering and environment. I almost decided to study architecture, but then my right-brain half dominated and I went on to study physics. But the old love remains. Being in LA for the weekend gave me a chance to visit the amazing Walt Disney Concert Hall / Los Angeles Music Center (http://www.musiccenter.org/), built by Frank Gehry (http://www.arcspace.com/architects/gehry/disney2/). The stainless steel covered building displays dramatic curves and contrast. Sunlight, reflections and shadows play an ever changing game – a dream land for a photographer. By mere chance of luck I ran into a fellow photographer on site with his clients - a newly wed couple. Her white wedding gown, his black suit and the silver tones of the building formed a fantastic composition of tones and contrast. The strong geometrical lines are for sure not everyone’s preference for the wedding album, but for this Asian couple in seemed like a perfect fit. It’s always interesting to watch another photographer and learn from his/her set-up, composition, angle and technique. I was able to get a nice shot when the couple was posing on a platform at the end of some concrete steps, framed by an s-shaped wall on one side and the angled facade on the other side. The end of the “S” curved around the couple – symbolizing the unity they formed on their path through life’s twists and turns. As photographers we use the classic s-shape in a composition to connect fore- and background. Finding a location where shape, light and subject form and amplify a strong composition is sheer delight.

Lilac in LA

What a pleasant surprise! Lilac in California! Today we went with a guest from Vancouver to the Descanso Gardens (http://www.descansogardens.org/site/), between Glendale and Pasadena in Los Angeles. They had weeks of rain and miserable weather up there in Vancouver, so we thought a little California spring bloom would be the right cure. The garden was in brilliant display, a wonderland of spring flowers and blooming trees. The tulips were about 2 weeks post peak, but still very impressive. Plum and cherry trees were in bloom around the Japanese tea house, generating a little O-hanami feeling 5000 miles east of Tokyo. But the biggest surprise however was the lilac garden. Several hundreds of lilacs in glorious bloom filled the air with sweet fragrance, humming birds were hovering between the clusters of lilac, creating an almost out-of-this-world scene. The fellow visitors all had smiles on their face, and cameras were clicking everywhere. But how to catch this serene scene in a photo? A good picture should trigger the memories of the smell of blooming lilac, and should focus on the bloom, without distracting elements. So, no wide angle shot, no shot of a full lilac bush either. You need to get close, find a lilac cluster with contrasting background, and then apply composition skill and good depth of field technique. The day was sunny, yet slightly windy, causing some gentle movement of the limbs. Not ideal, but certainly a good tripod would have helped – but mine was sound and safe in the trunk of the car. So, I used a lens with image stabilization, extended the exposure to 1/20, resulting in a 22 aperture at ISO 200, all for a good depth of field. And then I took series of exposure bracketing shots to get the right combination of overall sharpness and correctly exposed highlights. Nice exercise in photography 101. Having lived in Germany and on the East Coast, Lilac at the end of March is a very unexpected sight. And while the brilliant orange of California puppies is the regional signal that spring has arrived, the fragrant elegance of lilac is the true symbol of warm, sunny spring days announcing the onset of summer.

Alternative Routes

Last Thursday I had to make a short drive to Santa Cruz to pick up some enlargements for my photo contest entries at my favorite photo lab ( www.bayphoto.com ). The shortest route from Los Altos to Santa Cruz is over Hwy 17, a notoriously dangerous and traffic prone four lane stretch of road over the Santa Cruz Mountains. Looking at the oncoming traffic, I felt lucky as I was driving counter to the morning commute. My pictures were ready so i was quickly on the road again. Now i was in that awful bumper-2-bumper traffic on Hwy 17. Weighing my options, I decided to take an alternative route, Hwy 1 along the Pacific Coast I would head north and then cut over to the Bay Area on the San Gregorio - La Honda road.
The sun and bright blue spring skies put a smile on my face. It was still a little blistery from a cold front that came through the day before, but it was nice enough so that I dropped the top of my Miata, turned on the heater and a few minutes later Santa Cruz and traffic jams were far behind. In front of me the narrow, twisty band of Highway 1 stretched in front of me to the horizon. This time of the year is especially beautiful on the Pacific coast, the winter rains have left the hill sides lush and green, the meadows are covered in bright yellow bands of mustard and along the road patches of California puppies and lupine. The ocean was choppy and the waves were crashing against the rocks creating fountains of white spray. A few para-surfers played with the wind , soaring several yards over the crest of breaking waves. As a snowboarder I have to admire these guys for their graceful playfulness.

I stopped at Pigeon Point light house (see picture above), one of my favorite spots on this stretch of Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. A few whale watchers were snuggled under blankets next to the light house tower hoping to get lucky. March is a good time to see whales migrating from Bahia up to Alaska, but Pigeon Point is not really close to the migrating route so chances to actually see a whale are slim as compared to further up north Point Reyes. It has a lot of traffic and visitors but it is a place where you are more likely to get lucky. Weekends are always busy at Pigeon Point too, but weekdays it is quiet and serene.
I was happy that I decided to avoid the traffic jam on Hwy 17 and take the road less traveled. It was a wonderful spring morning on a beautiful stretch of the Pacific Coast Hightway and i had a chance for some beach pictures. The coast undisturbed by tourists or random foot prints. As so often is the case, the best moments and opportunities for finding that special setting for a good picture are found off the beaten track, taking the alternative route.

Welcome

Hi Everyone!

Beginnings

Remember the old adage "Never start quitting, never end beginning!". Today is such an event. The start of my blog. I am a photo enthusiast, and I want to use my blog to reach out to friends and family distributed over the globe. My intention is to let them know how I am pursuing my hobby, but also to get in touch with my fellow shutterbugs. Photography is a lifelong journey. Even after you have mastered the basic techniques, you never stop learning about composition, color contrast, lighting, subjects, effects, the interactions of light and shadow, and so much more. I will use this blog to document my ongoing journey. I hope to get feedback from the community on my pictures, technique, and concepts.
My pictures are displayed in the homes of friends and family, but have yet to take the step of showing my work in public or publishing them on a web page. Well, my pictures will be soon available at a new web site featuring several photographers. You will be able to find it under www.pictr.biz

I also took another first step last weekend, I entered six of my photos into a photo contest. The Napa Valley Mustard Festival hosts a yearly photography contest at the end of March. This coinsides with the end of the mustard blooming season. Amateur and professional photographers can enter in 3 main categories (Traditional, Digital, Creative) and two sub-categories (Carneros and Silverado Trail). Photos should highlight mustard at its best, in bloom and glorious. The above photo was one of many taken during my quest for what would be the "best" photo for this years competition. It was taken in the Carneros region of Napa Valley. It is about an hours drive north-east of San Francisco. Carneros is the region at the south end of Napa Valley, closest to the Bay. It has more exposure to the fog which rolls in from the Pacific Ocean. This creates a micro climate that is about 10 degrees cooler than more interior parts of the Valley. It is home to great Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. The Silverado Trail is the less-traveled road on the east side of Napa Valley. It meanders from the city of Napa at the southern end of the valley, to the charming town of Calistoga at the northern end.

While Carneros has rolling hills covered with vineyards, Napa valley's vineyards are predominantly on the flat valley floor. This opens the opportunity for two completely different ways to compose a picture. While Carneros offers the play with curved lines of vines up and across rolling hillsides, Napa Valley allows strong geometrical set-ups with lines of vines going straight to the horizon. More on these two different challenges later in a different posting.

Enjoy the journey with me. If you like or dislike what I write, please post your comment, good and constructive feedback is always welcome!