Dec 12

A Day at the Merced Wildlife Refuge…. the first half of the day

By Administrator Painting, Photography, Events and Adventures 4 Comments »
With our friends G. Dan Mitchell, Patty Mitchell, Michael Frye and his wife Claudia Welsh.

 

Dan contacted David and Michael regarding meeting at the MWR, the three of them decided on a morning to meet.  We’d all met at the refuge last winter but Patty wasn’t able to attend so it was nice to have all of us together.  Dave and I were hoping for fog and thought perhaps we weren’t going to get any until we reached Merced and started hitting patches of fog.  The further we drove from Merced to the refuge, the denser the fog became.  By the time we pulled onto the refuge it was hard to see the road but you could look up at the night sky and see the sliver of moon and stars between the moving gaps of fog.  We didn’t have to wait long before the rest of our group arrived.  The morning was a chilly 40 degrees when we started driving the auto route.  David and I parked on the west side of the ponds where the trees and vegetation looked interesting and waited for the sun to rise, hoping for a red disc in the fog.  The fog was too thick to see the sun so we continued on the auto route with Dan and Michael somewhere ahead.  David noticed this scene, I photographed it too.

8:00 am

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There were a lot of cows being pastured on the preserve.  8:27am

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The geese were in the upland where the cows were pastured, lots and lots of geese.  8:41am

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After watching/photographing the geese for a while we took a restroom break.  On our way back to the geese we could barely see a large group of pelicans on a pond in the fog.  9:29 am

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This flock was reorganizing as they landed in a line.  9:54am

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A tiny area of the pasture. 10:51 am

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Geese taking flight.  10:54

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Noon.  A portion of the pasture with geese. Note that the tree in the distance is the same tree in the above photograph.

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Noon.  David photographing the geese.  This is an auto route preserve, you don’t leave your car unless in a designated area.

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Noon.  The direction David’s looking.  Dan’s car is up the road and Michael is a little further.

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Noon.  The geese begin flying to the area by Michael’s car.  Claudia is sitting out the window videoing.  You can see a viewing platform in the distance.

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We re positioned our car closer to where the geese were landing.  This is the area to which the birds are relocating that’s near Michael’s car.  I enjoyed the landscape in the distance.

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Birds flying towards the area of Michael’s car.

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A couple of quick sketches in my notebook and one reference pastel.  I will work from these later to remember my feelings and what caught my interest.  There are 3 small reference sketches on half of the first page, one sketch on half of the next page.

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The pastel is 5 x 6 inches.  It’s not much but it’ll jog my memory.

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Sun!!  We decided it was time for lunch while checking out the views from the viewing platform.  A large group of geese took flight from the pasture while we were watching them.  1:09 pm.

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Looking another direction from the viewing platform. 1:11 pm  Time to go to lunch.

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End of Part 1

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May 06

Butterflies and Yosemite Fall Lunar Bow

By Administrator Painting, Photography, Events and Adventures 6 Comments »

Yesterday David and I began our afternoon at the Butterfly Festival in downtown Mariposa.  David had volunteered to help Claudia Welsh man the  Sierra Foothill Conservancy booth.  I had a great time people watching from inside the booth.  Near our booth the children and young at heart were given a slice of orange and a live butterfly to carry with them through the festival.  Butterflies were flying everywhere and landing on people.  There were lots of little girls in pretty dresses with butterfly wings on their backs.  It was fun to watch the people interact with the butterflies.

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Claudia and David

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After booth duty we left for Yosemite.  Last night was the biggest and brightest full moon of the year.  We drove around the park photographing until we met up with Claudia and Michael Frye just before dark.  Half Dome still has a little snow on top.  The meadows and oaks are lush with vibrant greens. 

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The park was crawling with photographers.  We found a good parking place between Cooks Meadow and the Pizza place.  The four of us walked to dinner, back to the cars to grab our camera gear, then headed to the parking area near Sentinel Bridge.  The moon had just risen and the photographers were shoulder to shoulder along the parking lot edge and path across the meadow.  Michael and David stayed at the parking lot while Claudia and I walked along the path and over the boardwalk.  I thought it was a little scary to walk behind the photographers on the boardwalk since they could step back from their camera and knock you into the meadow or pond.

I’d never photographed in the dark or a lunar bow.  The day before, I had Dave teach me what settings should work with my camera.  I shot my G2 in raw, at the widest aperture, the longest exposure possible and generally 400 ISO.  I was quite happy with my results.  I installed Lightroom on my computer today so working with that software was a first as well.

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Yosemite Fall and the bumper to bumper line of cars, parked and moving.

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Feb 11

February 8th’s Merced Wildlife Refuge Visit

By Administrator Painting, Photography, Events and Adventures 9 Comments »

Last Wednesday David and I left the house at 5am to be at the Merced Wildlife Refuge before sunrise.  Our agenda was to meet up with Michael Frye , Claudia Welsh and their friend Kirk Keeler at sunrise,  Dan Mitchell would join us late afternoon.  The MWR is a driving tour with a couple of viewing platforms where you can get out of the car.  There’s also a short walking trail near the back viewing platform.

The drive down to the San Joaquin Valley held a sky of bright stars and a full moon.  It was looking as if the sun would rise to a clear and boring sky.  When we reached Merced I detected light ground fog, David wasn’t seeing it and doubted my judgment (he was busy driving).   After we drove through Merced to highway 59 and then began heading south we hit the fog.  I watched the foggy moon and landscape most of the way to the preserve until it disappeared into the dense fog.  I took this photograph through the windshield while David drove on Sandy Mush Road.  This is the moon, not a street light.  6:27am

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The fog was too thick to see the sunrise.  While we were photographing on this part of the auto tour,  Michael and Claudia Frye arrived.  They continued on to a spot they had in mind.  David was photographing birds and landscapes, I was looking for possible future paintings.  It was so foggy I wasn’t bothering to photograph birds.  6:53am

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A little further along the auto route we came to this area where the Ross’s Geese were close to the road, close enough for me to take a couple of photographs.  I was enticed by the fog induced soft lighting that was muting the birds’ silhouettes and I liked the graphics of the plants and the bird’s reflections.    7:51am

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And then they decided to leave.

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The Lesser Sandhill Cranes are very shy and don’t get very close to people.  This group was almost completely shrouded in fog and close enough to the road to try photographing them.  I think of this picture as the  ‘Ghost Birds’.  8:34am

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We arrived at the area where there’s usually a lot of Ross’s Geese and they didn’t disappoint us.  The fog was slowly burning off.   8:50am

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About a half hour later the fog was gone in our area but still lingered towards the west.  Mid morning Michael and Claudia left to run errands.  David and I had snacks and drinks so we remained at the preserve.  9:15am

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We continued taking photographs, ate an early lunch, David read his book and napped and I made a couple of quick rough field notes with pastels.   6×10” MWR Sketch 2MWR FieldNotes1

While David was dozing and I was taking pictures out the car window, the geese suddenly ALL took to flight.  It was fascinating to watch to entire flock wheel around, changing colors with their banking turns.   To watch the video I took, go to my YouTube Channel.  The videos aren’t very good quality but I hope they give you a sense of what it’s like being there.  The videos in this blog are the first I’ve ever published, I know I need practice.

11:45am

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We continued watching the birds all afternoon.  There is a lot of hawk activity and lots of cotton tail bunnies.  I took 600+ photographs, it wasn’t easy to limit my choices for the blog.  I’m jumping ahead to the evening.  Michael and Claudia have returned and Dan Mitchell has arrived.

The evening light makes the birds glow with warm light and gives the water such pretty hues.   Slowly the geese have been leaving from the pond in groups, flying to the field behind us.  The world is tinged with a rosy color from the setting sun.  The geese look like white paper falling from the sky as they land in the field.

As each group flies over there’s a familiar sound all around me that’s almost disguised by their raucous calls.  It doesn’t register at first and then I realize it sounds like rain.  Miraculously I’m not being hit by all the bird droppings.  Dan was the most popular target of the group.  I believe he registered 3 hits, Michael was also targeted.   To view a video taken during this time, click here for my YouTube channel link.    5:14pm

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The sun has almost set.   5:24pm

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The sun has slipped below the horizon, the birds are gone….to the field behind us and in the air all around.  The air is filled with their calls, darkness has almost completely descended when the birds suddenly take flight in an unbelievable mass.  As far as you can see more groups are arriving from all over the valley.   Here’s a link to watch the video I made on my YouTube Channel.Feb8 MWR15.jpg Feb8 MWR16

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May 10

May Art Hop, Yosemite Reception

By Administrator Painting, Photography, Events and Adventures No Comments »

Last Friday, May 6, was Mariposa’s monthly Art Hop.  David and I hung out at Casto’s Fine Wine and Art Gallery enjoying the company of Kris and Harold Casto, Penny Otwell, Claudia Welch-Frye and all the patrons who visited the gallery.  The Casto’s feature their Mount Bullion wines from their vineyard and art of the local artists, including David’s photographs and my pastels.

Kris in the center, a local couple on the left and Joann (right) visiting from the Bay Area.

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Claudia (left) visiting with a friend.

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Penny Otwell painting with watercolors while Kris watches.

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Harold jammin’ with the guitar man.

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Me, listening to the conversation and clinging to my security glass.

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Saturday, May 7, we went to Yosemite to attend Michael Frye’s reception at the Ansel Adams Gallery.  Michael is a gifted photographer and it’s always fun to see his new shows.  David had recently ‘friended’ G. Dan Mitchell, a photographer on Face book.  Dan was attending the reception for Michael as well.  David described himself and said that William Neill , another photographer, could be mistaken for David since they both have white hair and beards.  Well it turns out that Dan fits right in with their ‘look’.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the three of them together.  It was good to see Michael’s wife Claudia and Penny again, even if we had just spent the evening before together.  There were many photographers attending the reception including, Charles Cramer, Mike Osborne and Christine Loberg.   We even ran into the family that built our new deck, Steve his wife Tina and their sons.  We love our new deck!

We arrived in the valley a few hours before the reception to see how spring was unfolding.  The dogwoods are blooming and the waterfalls are booming.  There were waterfalls everywhere.  We never go to Yosemite on weekends due to the crowds of people and since this was Mother’s Day weekend there were people and traffic everywhere.

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Jan 28

Merced National Wildlife Refuge

By Administrator Painting, Photography, Events and Adventures No Comments »

    Yesterday,  January 27, David and I braved the heavy fog of the San Joaquin Valley to visit the Merced National Wildlife Refuge.  We had both seen a post in photographer Michael Frye’s blog about this preserve and felt we had to see this special place ourselves.  This is a wetland preserve where migrating birds visit or spend the winter.  The entire day was foggy.  Around 1pm the fog lifted from the ground but never dissipated enough to find where the sun might be located.  The ‘auto tour’ road weaves and winds along water ways with so many twists and turns that I  couldn’t have told you the direction of North to save my life.  When we returned to the beginning of the circular route I felt we approached from the wrong side and couldn’t for the life of me figure out how we got to where we ended.  I need to see a map!

    We arrived at the wildlife refuge at 6:45am and left at  4:45pm.  When we entered the preserve in the dark thick fog, our headlights lit up bunnies scampering along the road.  There must have been 3 dozen little bunnies between the gate and the first quarter mile inside the preserve.  We saw a couple of owls in the predawn light and then began noticing all the hawks.  As soon as you reach water there are birds everywhere.  Coots, ducks, waders, ….I don’t know my birds but you get the picture.  It was such a magical day with the fog creating such a dramatic atmosphere.  I took a few pictures of birds but I don’t have the lens for birding.  I’m used to shooting landscapes, not critters that constantly move.   Instead I observed them, reveled in their beauty and sounds and looked them up on my iPod Audubon Birds app.  There were so many varieties of birds to watch.  My favorites were the Northern Pintail,  White-tailed Kite, various egrets and heron, and lastly, the Lesser Sandhill Crane.  Unfortunately they were at a distance and the fog never cleared enough for a good viewing.   It was thrilling to see them taking flight and landing, flying overhead and listening to their calls.  Occasionally they’d characteristically jump up and down as if filled with pure joy.  I certainly was while watching them.

   The temperature was 41-43 degrees with a very wet fog and breeze.  The dampness and breeze made made the temperature feel more like 33 leaving my gloved fingers stinging with cold.   

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11am  This stretch was one of my favorites for composing scenes with trees in fog.

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2pm  Look! A very exotic bird in the crouching position.

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3:15pm   ‘Four Water Fleas on a Day Trip’    The reeds were so much fun to photograph since the water was mirroring the reflections with such crispness.  We saw all sorts of wild shapes and figures that made us laugh.

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5:40pm  We rose above the fog as we left Cathys Valley on Highway 140.  We were treated to a spectacular sunset on an ocean of fog.  This was the only sunshine we saw all day.

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