Half Moon Bay

Our final day of our recent visit to California included some sights in and around Half Moon Bay.

Here are photos taken just north of Half Moon Bay at Maverick's Beach, which is a destination for big-wave surfers. While we didn't see any surfers, likely due to the low tide, we enjoyed the rock formations and tide pools.

Tide's Out

Exploring Tide Pools

Oncoming Wave Crash

Slippery Rocks

Lines of Reflection

The remaining photos are taken at Half Moon Bay Beach.

Western Sun

Clouds Over Cliff

Moon Over Cliff

Sunset Bubbles

Muted Spray

Backlit Splash

Extra Big Splash

Last Minute Beach Walkers

Somersault Goodness

All photos © 2018, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Cushing Park and Farm Pond

Cushing Memorial Park and Farm Pond are adjacent recreational areas for enjoying nature, taking a brisk walk (or a slow one), rollerblading, biking, and/or running. Cushing is on the grounds of a retired military hospital. The hospital buildings no longer exist other than a small church and few small out buildings. Though Cushing Park has mile markers and a paved 1.5 mile loop, there's no path to walk or run all the way around Farm Pond. One can go partway, ... actually "across" Farm Pond, by walking (or running) along a "breakwater" near one end.

Good leaf color and a sunny day make for an unbeatable combination to enjoy a fall picture-taking session.

Moon Above

Often times, clouds make photos a lot more interesting than a solid blue sky. I was lucky to visit Cushing on such a day.

Sky Painting 1

Sky Painting 2

Color Mix

Sky Painting 3

Many Ring-billed gulls enjoy the scenery at Farm Pond.

Birds Over Pads

No Mid-Air Collisions

Path to Walk on Water

Tail Fan

Partner Flying

Flying into Color

Water Life

Entering Leaf Central

Reaching to the Sky

Park Bend

Complementary Colors

Turning Leaves

Direct Lighting

Patchy Clouds

Fall Beckons

All photos © 2016, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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Goodnight Moon and Other Pleasantries (or is that Pleasant Trees?)

As a followup to my recent post on the Nexus 5X, I did a few quick calculations. I do think that, all things being equal, larger pixel size should produce better photos. The Nexus 5X has 1.55μm pixels which ought to give it a leg up on an iPhone 6, 6s, or 5s, all of which have 1.22μm pixels.  The purpose of this post is to not forget what Olympus gives us with its "Four Thirds" sensor: 3.9μm pixels.  These are considerably larger than any cell phone, and should generally produce a much superior image.

Here are a few recent shots with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII using the Oly 12-40mm 2.8 Pro lens.

Tall Ensemble

Leaves Over Water

Reservoir Sights

Peak Color Display

Goodnight Moon

All photos © 2015, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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Afternoon Variety

After walking around the Res. and frustratingly taking no pictures because nothing seemed photo worthy, I returned home and took all these pictures from afternoon through late late afternoon.

All pictures in this post taken with my Olympus 75-300mm lens. For non-photographers, this is a telephoto zoom lens, not a macro lens; so I had to stand a short distance away to take the closeups. All handheld. All pictures are uploaded with a max dimension of 1000px.

Found at the Library.  Check it out!

Flower and Bee

Mom's Echinacea

Study in Green

Globe Thistle

Butterfly Plant Welcomes Bee

Enough Tart Cherries to Share

Dog Watches On

That's Enough Cherries, Dad!

Had to Go Back for the Camera for this Shot

And This One

And This One Too

All photos © 2015, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.  Coming soon (hopefully): a way to order prints directly from this site.

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