Uvas Canyon County Park

Last Monday, after a week end rainfall (that might be the last of the season), I drove up to Uvas Canyon County Park to photograph the waterfalls. None of the falls are huge like Yosemite, so the best time to see/photograph them is immediately after a rain. The first one, Granuja Falls, is only a five minute walk from the parking lot, and I like it best. I like the

the way the water spreads out to form several smaller sprays. The contrast between the dark rocks and the water is greater than the camera can capture, so to get detail in the rocks, the water is overexposed. To get the right exposure of the water, the rocks become black blobs. I let the water go white to keep some detail in the rocks, and actually, I like the spotlight effect created where the falling water hits the pool.

This is Black Rock Falls, a short, uphill hike from Granuja. It is a longer fall, but the water volume is less. There are two more falls along the "Waterfall Trail", but those I will save for another day. My main goal for the shoot was to capture Granuja Falls using a long exposure, and that I accomplished. I hiked up here because the day was so beautiful that I didn't want to go home yet.

I met two other photographers on the trail. We compared cameras, lenses, filters, and photography clubs. When people who are carrying cameras and tripods meet, they always stop to talk.

I call this photo, "Tree Root Falls." I stood at the base of these roots to take the Black Rock Falls
photos. The roots were really quite amazing. The forty foot hill was essentially straight up with this mass of moss covered roots cascading down. Since I was so close to the hill, I took three photos (later merged together) to cover the scene top to bottom.

"The Economy"
I saw this on the drive to the park and couldn't resist.

Mustard

One of the signs of spring is the mustard that covers most open fields and orchards. It is lovely to look at, but it is a weed that sucks up a lot of water. Most ranchers/farmers/orchard owners plow it under. This creates a less colorful orchard, but one where the trees don't have to compete for the water.

On this photo shoot, I was trying to isolate one flower with a blur of surrounding yellow. I was partially successful. I plan to go out again before it is all plowed under and try to isolate a distant flower with blurred yellow in the foreground.

This one I call "Blowing in the Wind" I drive by this fence fairly often and liked the contrast of the yellow mustard with the white fence. I've been looking for an opportunity to try out a technique I read about in a magazine: find a stationary object surrounded by flowers, or tall grass, or wheat, and photograph with a slow shutter speed so the flowers (in this case), are wind blurred. The stationary object is needed to "ground" the photo. Since I was shooting on a fairly bright day I added two neutral density filters to get a slow enough shutter speed. I hope the mustard lasts long enough for me to go back and practice some more.

Blooming

I'm late. I'm late. I'm late. My modem has been on the blink: works sometimes, sometimes not. My respiratory system has been doing the same. Now we are both back to full working order and ready to blog again. I took these photos in the parking lot of the Morgan Hill Community & Cultural Center (CCC). Goes to show that beauty can be found anywhere if you are open to seeing it (and you have your camera with you to capture it). It would be difficult to miss the many trees that are in bloom right now. The sky was very blue with puffy clouds. I was so glad to be outside. I had been cooped up too long. I am looking forward to getting outside again and scouting for photos, and re starting my climbs up El Toro.

Climbing El Toro

My goal is to climb to the top of El Toro (1,400 ft).
I plan to make a partial assent at least once a week,
hiking farther up each time until I finally make it to the top.
El Toro is practically in my back yard. This view was taken from the corner of my street.

I spotted these blossoms just around the corner from my house,
which is where I start each climb. Taking my camera adds some weight to carry, but it also gives me reasons to stop every so often and shoot (and rest).

Reaching the water tank is a pretty good hike by itself, but on this morning, I push on.

It looks so far away. Last week I made it up to the lone tree,
which is at the top of the lower summit.

This is a view of Paradise Valley to the west.
I took this standing very near that tree you saw in the previous photo.
Next time, I am going to start out in the afternoon
so I can photograph across the valley to the east.
It's a pretty spectacular view of Morgan Hill.

This is where I turned around.
I took several photos trying to show how steep this last section is,
but they all made it look like a gentle slope. It is not.
It is a steep, rugged, quad-burning, heart-thumping, oxygen-sucking climb.