“Two Ibises” — Two white-faced ibises browsing at the edge of a wetland pond.
This photograph qualifies as one of the first of my 2025-26 fall/winter migratory bird photography. In truth, this subject was a bit of an afterthought — I simply detoured past this location on my way to Yosemite to photograph fall color at the end of October. I did not really expect to see too many birds, but I found plentiful Ibises and egrets.
Ibis plumage is quite something. In flat lighting, the birds can seem almost black. But when the light is just right, the birds’ plumage becomes iridescent, incorporating all sorts of colors: red, yellow. green, maroon. The transformation can be astonishing.
“Sandstone, Light and Shadow” — Early morning sunlight accentates the color of a Utah sandstone cliff.
The idea here was to get “up close and personal” with a small section of a monumental sandstone tower standing in the early morning sunlight. To make the photograph I turned away from the conventional scenic landscape I had been focusing on, using a long lens to focus on an area where features projecting from the wall were casting shadows back onto it.
Southwest sandstone is often impressive simply because of its color variation. I’ve commented before on how “my” California granite inevitably looks very… gray after I return from a visit to Utah. But in some places, such as here at Arches National Park, it isn’t just that the sandstone’s coloration is attractive, it is also that the strata of red rock are so thick and extensive.
“Two Buildings, Kaysersberg” — Two old buildings, one with Christmas decorations, in Kaysersberg, Alsace, France.
This is the second photograph that I have shared of the building on the right. Located in the Alsace town of Kaysersberg, it stands alongside the river that runs though the village. This building, with its colorful shutters and Christmas decorations attracted my attention first, but I also appreciated the contrast between it and the more rustic building to the left.
Kaysersberg is, like many other similar places in Alsace that we visited, a charming little town, especially during the holiday season when there are decorations everywhere and especially along the Main Street.
“Autumn Forest, Fog” — Autumn fog drifts through a forest in California coastal hills.
Recently it has been very foggy across great swaths of the California landscape. Tule (or radiation) fog has turned the Central Valley cold and gray for weeks. At times the fog has spilled through the delta and over mountain passes into the San Francisco Bay Area. On one such day I decided to head to nearby woods to see what I could photograph.
I ended up on a narrow road heading into the hills, a road that I have known for decades — though I don’t believe I have ever photographed there before. At the head of a narrow canyon, just before the road ascended steeply to rise above the fog, I stopped to photograph this autumn scene. A few trees leaned this way and that, fog muted the light, and autumn leaves were everywhere.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
