Category Archives: California

Location alert: Flowering agaves at Little Corona Beach

Beach, Biology, California, Orange County, Photography

This past Monday I found myself in possession of a rare bit of spare time around sunset, so I zipped down to Little Corona Beach, which is just off Pacific Coast Highway in Corona Del Mar. My primary purpose for the trip was to try out my new three-stop neutral density filter, but I found a nice surprise at the entrance to the beach:

Two flowering agaves on the bluffs at Little Corona Beach, seen just before sunset. I love the combination of classic California coastal bluffs in the background and the inflorescences in the foreground. However, I don't like the sign in the foreground ... (Marc C. Perkins)
Two flowering agaves on the bluffs at Little Corona Beach, seen just before sunset. I love the combination of classic California coastal bluffs in the background and the inflorescences in the foreground.

The agaves were absolutely gorgeous, especially since their quickly-growing inflorescences could be composed with classic California ocean scenes in the background.

Two flowering agaves on the bluffs at Little Corona Beach, seen just before sunset. I love the combination of classic California coastal bluffs in the background and the inflorescences in the foreground. (Marc C. Perkins)
Two flowering agaves on the bluffs at Little Corona Beach, seen just before sunset.

These inflorescences won’t be around forever. Just like the Agave I photographed earlier this year (gallery 1, gallery 2), the inflorescence will grow to a certain height, burst into flower, and then die (and then likely get ripped out by the landscapers, which is what happened to the one at OCC). Also, agaves typically flower only once during their entire lives.

So, local photographers, this is your only chance to capture these agaves at their peak. I’m no botanist, but my guess is that they’ll quickly grow too tall for their tips to be included in a sea-scape composition without a ladder. I don’t know how long it will be until they flower, either, but my guess is we’ve got a few weeks (as I didn’t see any flower buds present yet).

If you do go and photograph them, I’ve got only two requests:

  1. Respect the fence that protects the agaves and their surrounding vegetation. The bluffs are very delicate, and local groups have been working very hard to re-vegetate the area.
  2. If you do get some good shots, I’d love it if you could share them with everyone by posting a comment here linking to them.

Continue reading Location alert: Flowering agaves at Little Corona Beach →

Rattlesnake mating: frantic sensuality in the grass

Biology, California, Orange County, Photography

[Update February 28, 2012: Thanks to a most-excellent comment by Bryan Hughes, I now know that this is a post about aggression between two male rattlesnakes, not a male and female snake mating.]

A few weeks ago some friends and I camped overnight in Crystal Cove’s Lower Moro Campground. The morning was beautifully foggy, and I took a bunch of flower closeups while the dew was still around. But the sun eventually burned through the fog, and we packed up and headed for home.

As I was hiking I heard some rustling in the grass next to me beside the trail. Accustomed to hunting for lizards, I turned and looked to see what it was. Lizard? Bird? Rodent?

Rattlesnake.

No, wait.

Two rattlesnakes.

About that time my legs decided that they really didn’t like being about two feet from two writhing rattlesnakes, so my hiking partners and I quickly moved away. But luckily for us, the snakes were in the throes of passion, and didn’t seem to notice us at all. So, I pulled out my camera and started snapping.

My favorite shot of the bunch is this one:

I'm pretty sure these are two southern pacific rattlesnakes (_Crotalus oreganus_ helleri) mating. I first noticed the pair when I was only a foot or two away from them on a trail; after moving a bit away I captured this shot of the two snakes wrapped around each other. Sadly, I think my presence may have interrupted them. (Marc C. Perkins)
Two southern pacific rattlesnakes (_Crotalus oreganus_ helleri) mating. Click on the image to see it larger.

There the two have just picked themselves up after reaching up vertically and coiling around each other so much that they fell over. To see the entire sequence of them coiling, here’s a five-image composite:

A five image sequence of two southern pacific rattlesnakes (_Crotalus oreganus_ helleri) mating. I first noticed the pair when I was only a foot or two away from them on a trail; after moving a bit away I captured these five shots of the two snakes wrapping around each other. The top four images were captured over no more than 2 seconds total, and the large image was taken less than 7 seconds after the top four. (Marc C. Perkins)
A five image sequence of two southern pacific rattlesnakes (_Crotalus oreganus_ helleri) mating. The top four images were captured over no more than 2 seconds total, and the large image was taken less than 7 seconds after the top four. Click on the image to see it larger.

Shortly after that, however, either they were done or they noticed us. One of them slithered off into the bushes, while the other almost seemed to stand guard, staring out at us with tongue flicking.

Shortly after the amazingly-fast coiling seen in my prior images, the two snakes separated. One slithered off into the brush, while the other started paying just a bit too much attention to me and my colleagues for my tastes. So, we decided to part ways amicably; I even got a nice rattle as the snake slithered away. (Marc C. Perkins)
Shortly after the amazingly fast coiling seen in my prior images, the two snakes separated. One slithered off into the brush, while the other started paying just a bit too much attention to me and my colleagues for my taste. Click on the image to see it larger.

We took the hint and started to move off, and the guard snake did the same, giving us a nice rattle as it crawled into the brush.

It was easily one of the most exciting animal encounters I’ve had while hiking or backpacking. They were incredibly fast as they coiled and writhed, and their ritual was entrancingly beautiful.

Continue reading Rattlesnake mating: frantic sensuality in the grass →

Flowers of Crystal Cove State Park: The joys of a foggy morning

Biology, California, Orange County, Photography, ,

A few weeks ago I went backpacking with a couple of friends in Crystal Cove State Park’s inland section. We camped overnight at the Lower Moro Campground, and were the only ones there. It was wonderfully peaceful.

Fog rolled in a few hours before the sun went down, so sunset, moon, and starry night shots were all out. But the fog hung around until well after dawn, leaving everything covered in a beautiful shroud of dew the next morning. It made for perfect macro photography, and my companions were patient enough to let me spend some time trying to capture the beauty.

I woke up to a foggy morning at Lower Moro campground in Crystal Cove, and found this beautiful little purple and white flower covered in dew. I love the few strands of spider silk connecting the flower to its stalk, also covered in water droplets. A botanist friend of mine identified this as _Stephanomeria sp._, a plant in Asteraceae. (Thanks Jeremy!) (Marc C. Perkins)
A beautiful way to wake up. I love the few strands of dew-covered spider silk connecting the flower to its stalk. A botanist friend of mine identified this as wreath plant, _Stephanomeria sp._, a plant in Asteraceae. (Thanks Jeremy!)

The same plant was also covered in tiny flower buds, which the dew accentuated gorgeously:

This small green and purple flower bud growing out of a stem is covered in dew on a foggy morning at Crystal Cove, and the dew is lensing the background into focus. The few strands of spider silk are also covered in dew. A botanist friend of mine identified this as wreath plant, _Stephanomeria sp._, a plant in Asteraceae. (Thanks Jeremy!)
A small green and purple flower bud (_Stephanomeria sp._) covered in dew on a foggy morning at Crystal Cove.

I also got a picture of the same plant with both a flower bud and flower in the same frame, but I won’t bore you with that in this post.

Nearby there was a shrubby aster covered in bright yellow flowers:

This yellow Asteraceae flower is a composite flower (capitulum)consisting of multiple individual flowers attached to the same base. Here the flowers on the outside of the composite flower (the ray florets) are open, but the inner flowers (the disk florets) are still closed. The ray florets fuse their petals into one giant lobe. See the next picture to see the same plant's flower with the disk florets open. This is most likely one of the several species of tarplant, possibly _Deinandra_. (Marc C. Perkins)
This yellow Asteraceae flower is a composite flower (capitulum) consisting of multiple individual flowers attached to the same base. Here the flowers on the outside of the composite flower (the ray florets) are open, but the inner flowers (the disk florets) are still closed. The ray florets fuse their petals into one giant lobe. This is most likely one of the several species of tarplant, possibly _Deinandra_.

Some of the inflorescences were just starting to open (above), while others were almost fully open (below):

Continue reading Flowers of Crystal Cove State Park: The joys of a foggy morning →

Vasquez Rocks: Day and Night

California, Los Angeles County, Photography,

Last Tuesday Greg was invited to give a talk at the Lancaster Photographic Association; we carpooled up there, and on the way stopped at Vasquez Rocks. This county park houses an unusual formation of rocks, whose main claim to fame seems to be that they’ve been featured in numerous movies and TV shows.

Vasquez Rocks, in Los Angeles County, were featured prominently in the Star Trek episode "Arena". This is the rock formation on the left-hand side of the classic shot of Kirk facing off with the alien Gorn. (Marc C. Perkins)
Vasquez Rocks from the parking lot, which is the same view that is often used in films.

Vasquez Rocks were featured prominently in the Star Trek episode “Arena” 1. The formation seen above is on the left-hand side of the classic shot of Kirk facing off with the alien Gorn; scroll down on this page to see the classic Star Trek shot2.

The rocks are indeed visually interesting, and I wish we’d had more time to explore them.  I got distracted by all the beautiful lichen present (which will the feature of a separate post), and so didn’t even make it halfway around the rock formations before we had to leave.

Many people were having fun climbing the rocks, leading to great opportunities to add some scale to the pictures:

A woman climbs the primary peak of Vasquez Rocks, an unusual formation of rocks in Los Angeles County that's been featured in many films and TV shows (including Star Trek!). (Marc C. Perkins)
A woman climbs the primary peak of Vasquez Rocks.

As we drove home after Greg’s talk we watched a beautiful sunset over I-14, and decided to stop at the park to see what we could find. We got there just as dusk was ending, and the park was sadly closed.  But we set up outside and had fun playing with star photography.

I’ve been drooling over star trails for some time now, and before the trip Greg had been nice enough to send me an excellent star trail tutorial, as well as post an excellent example of the start trail genre to motivate me. Thanks to his help, within a few minutes I’d captured this:

A star trail taken just after dusk from outside the Vasquez Rocks park. I love the yellow-orange misty clouds and rocky silhouette at the bottom. This was my very first star trail; many thanks to Greg (of Alpenglow Images) for helping me capture this! (Marc C. Perkins)
A star trail taken just after dusk from outside the Vasquez Rocks park. Click on the image to view it on a dark background.

Sadly, when I captured the first picture of the night (to test exposure time and composition) and looked at the preview, I thought the lines next to the stars meant that the tripod had vibrated during the shot. Oops. Who knew the stars moved so fast?

Greg then informed me that to freeze the motion of the stars the longest shutter speed you can use is 600 divided by the focal length of the lens. We didn’t know if that was the cropped focal length or the actual focal length of the lens, but I used it as an estimation to get frozen stars:

Taken just after dusk from outside the Vasquez Rocks park proper, this exposure was short enough to freeze the stars' motion. This was my very first starry night shot without star trails; many thanks to Greg (of Alpenglow Images) for helping me capture this! (Marc C. Perkins)
Taken just after dusk from outside the Vasquez Rocks park proper, this exposure was short enough to freeze the stars' motion. Click on the image to view it on a dark background.

Continue reading Vasquez Rocks: Day and Night →

Seabirds Food Truck: An excellent choice for your mobile food needs

California, Food, Orange County, Photography, Reviews,
She's sometimes busy cooking, so ordering isn't always instantaneous, but the bit of a wait is always worth it. (Marc C. Perkins)
Chef Stephanie Morgan of Seabirds takes an order.

Gourmet food trucks are all the rage right now in Southern California. Luckily for me, there’s a gathering of them every Thursday from 11-2pm at the Orange County Fairgrounds, which is just a short walk from my office at OCC. And there are other meetups nearby as well: SoCo Collection has food trucks Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday at lunch and Fridays for dinner.

A colorful menu for colorful food that's differnet from your typical food truck sliders and quesadillas. I got there too late to enjoy their breakfast fare (that whole waking up early thing is hard). (Marc C. Perkins)
A colorful menu for colorful food that's different from your typical food truck sliders and quesadillas. I got there too late to enjoy their breakfast fare (that whole waking up early thing is hard).

Many trucks focus on meat, meat, and more meat, possibly with fries on the side. While this is delicious and all, there’s a decided lack of non-potato vegetables and non-meaty entrees. Don’t get me wrong; Louks has their delicious felafel gyro, Chomp Chomp has a great tofu burger, Flying Pig has their crunchy tofu bun, Crepes Bonaparte has a variety of non-meat fillings, Spud Runners has excellent grilled cheese sandwiches, and Chunk ‘n Chip’s ice cream sandwiches are to die for, but my favorite truck has to be Seabirds.

At Seabirds, their specialty is fresh and flavorful vegan burritos, tacos, burgers, soups and more. But don’t let the vegan designation scare you away: their food is delicious.

You know you want to try some of Seabrids's Jerk Jackfruit Tacos :) (Marc C. Perkins)
You know you want to try some of Seabirds's Jerk Jackfruit Tacos 🙂 They take jackfruit, process it so that it's somewhat meat-like in texture, and then coat it in Jamaican Jerk spices; it's delicious topped with salsa in a fresh corn tortilla.

They do wonderful things with jackfruit; the taco above is probably my favorite menu item. Another fan favorite is their beer-battered avocado tacos:

Continue reading Seabirds Food Truck: An excellent choice for your mobile food needs →

Orange County Fair 2011: Action Shots

California, Orange County, Photography, ,

I’ve already posted about Michelle’s and my entries into the Orange County fair, which I visited about a week and a half ago. But after checking out our entries to see how we did, I had a whole afternoon free to spend at the fair. So, of course, I took pictures.

The ferris wheel was just gorgeous in the late afternoon light:

The Orange County Fairgrounds RCS ferris wheel, seen at the 2011 Orange County Fair. The cars are numbered, and labeled with "La Grande Wheel." (Marc C. Perkins)
The Orange County Fairgrounds RCS ferris wheel, seen at the 2011 Orange County Fair. The cars are numbered, and labeled with "La Grande Wheel."

And an ox with a wooden yoke was being walked around, and didn’t mind a closeup:

A black and white ox at the 2011 Orange County Fair, with a wood yoke to pull a cart. (Marc C. Perkins)
A black and white ox at the 2011 Orange County Fair, with a wood yoke to pull a cart.

And this ride looked terrifying to me, but most of the people on it seemed to be having great fun:

Continue reading Orange County Fair 2011: Action Shots →

Orange County Fair 2011: A Winner is Michelle!

California, Crafts, Orange County, Photography

I’m not the only person I know who entered the fair this year: Michelle also entered. She’s not a photographer; she’s a crafter, and this year she decided to enter a project into the Recycled Products Paper Crafts division.

Now, I may be biased, but her project is just awesome. She saved up security envelopes we’d received in the mail, precisely cut out 4″ squares of paper from un-damaged portions of the envelopes, and then folded these recycled-security-envelope-origami-paper pieces into a kusudama, or ball origami.

A still life detailing how Michelle
A still life detailing how Michelle's recycled security envelope kusudama (ball origami) was made. In this picture the project itself is only half finished, with two additional flowers (each consisting of five individual squares of cut out security envelope) next to it. One flower is facing away from the camera, so you can see the USPS bar code from the front of the envelope its segments were cut from. Different sizes of individual squares of paper are shown below the project.

Each individual flower consists of five segments that each started as a 4″ square of paper cut out of the same pattern security envelope. These five segments were folded individually, and then glued together into a flower. The entire project is made from 12 of these flowers glued together, and then hung from leftover embroidery floss from an old cross-stitch project. This picture shows how it’s displayed at the fair:

Michelle won first place at the 2011 OC Fair for a kusudama (ball origami) project that made from recycled security envelopes. This is the way her project was displayed. Each individual unit of each flower was folded from a 4"x4" square of paper cut out from a security envelope we
Michelle's recycled security envelope kusudama (ball origami) displayed at the 2011 Orange County Fair.

Unlike with my photography entry, Michelle hadn’t received any e-mails inviting her to an award ceremony before my visit to the fair on Wednesday. So, it was with much excitement that I searched out her project in the craft exhibits, and saw this:

Michelle won first place at the 2011 OC Fair for a kusudama (ball origami) project that she made from recycled security envelopes. This is the display label for her project. (Marc C. Perkins)
Michelle won first place at the 2011 OC Fair for a kusudama (ball origami) project that she made from recycled security envelopes!

Congratulations, Michelle!

I, of course, took a ton of pictures. During this process a few groups of people stopped by to look at the project. All of them looked at it initially, thought the overall pattern was pretty, and started talking to each other about it (while I grinned happily inside). Then they started looking closer, read the description, realized it was made from security envelopes, and started to inquire about how Michelle must have done it. It was at that point that I had great pleasure to introduce myself and explain how it was made. It was a great afternoon, and a pleasure to meet so many friendly folks who think Michelle is as awesome as I do.

More pictures

To see more pictures from the fair, head to my Orange County Fair 2011 gallery.

Getting There

Orange County Fair: The Orange County Fair runs from July 15 to August 14 at the county fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA; they conveniently have a directions page here. Since I can just park on OCC’s campus and walk to the fair, I don’t know what the parking situation is like, sorry.

Orange County Fair 2011: A Winner is Me!

California, Photography, ,

I entered a few pictures into the 2011 Orange County Fair’s juried photography competition, and was ecstatic when I heard that two pictures I’d taken of a flowering octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana) had made it through the screening.

Greg, of Alpenglow Images, had alerted me to the presence of the agave on OCC’s campus, and the first picture came from a series I took with him back in March just after sunrise on a rainy morning (my Agave and Aloe Inflorescences gallery). At the time, the agave’s inflorescence was still growing, and the flowers were only buds protected by long spines:

Closeup of flower buds on the Agave vilmoriniana inflorescence. (Marc Perkins)
The Future. Closeup of flower buds on the Agave vilmoriniana inflorescence.

The second picture was taken about a month later (my Flowering Agave gallery), when the inflorescence was fully in bloom:

A flowering Agave on Orange Coast College's campus strives for the attention of pollinators (and photographers). I love the contrast of the yellow flowers on the blue sky. Agave vilmoriniana, octopus agave. (Marc C. Perkins)
A flowering Agave on Orange Coast College's campus strives for the attention of pollinators (and photographers).

I printed the pictures up, delivered them on the appropriate day, and heard nothing. My primary goal for this endeavor had been to just get my pictures through the pre-screening, which I’d heard wasn’t easy1, so my only remaining goal was just to see them hanging on the wall.

I’d been planning to head to the fair Wednesday (for their free admission with donation), but then just before I headed out the door I opened up my e-mail to find an invitation to the OC Fair awards ceremony! It was thus with much excitement and anticipation that I arrived at the photography exhibit, and navigated my way through the many beautiful images2 to the amateur plant category:

Pictures in the amateur color prints of plants cateogry at the 2011 Orange County Fair. There were tons of gorgeous entries. My prize winning picture is in the upper right corner. (Marc C. Perkins)
Approximately a quarter of the pictures in the amateur color prints of plants category at the 2011 Orange County Fair. There were many gorgeous entries.

A quick look near my image resulted in pure happiness:

A picture of me with my winning entry at the 2011 Orange County Fair. The first place blue ribbon is so pretty! My photograph was in the amateur color print of plants category. Many thanks to Nafis, who kindly took this picture of me. (Marc C. Perkins)
Me with my winning entry at the 2011 Orange County Fair. The first place blue ribbon is so pretty! Many thanks to Nafis, who kindly took this picture of me.

I won first place in the amateur plants color category!

It was a great start to the day, which I topped off with a deep fried Snickers, the absolute best way to eat a Snickers ever.

Many thanks to the judges!

Next up: Michelle entered a project into the recycled materials division, and I had an excuse (of the blue ribbon kind!) to take lots of pictures of that as well.

1 And what I heard was accurate: of the 3,774 entries into the amateur photography division this year, only 774 were accepted (a 20.5% acceptance rate).

2 The overall quality of the images this year was amazingly high; I found many of the “amateur” prints to be equal to or better than many pro images I’ve seen. There were hundreds of images on display, and the vast majority of them were absolutely excellent. If you’re looking for a fun way to see a wide diversity of great photography, I highly recommend heading to the OC Fair this year.

More pictures

To see more pictures from the two shoots, head to my Agave and Aloe Inflorescences gallery and my Flowering Agave gallery.

Getting There

Orange County Fair: The Orange County Fair runs from July 15 to August 14 at the county fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA; they conveniently have a directions page here. Since I can just park on OCC’s campus and walk to the fair, I don’t know what the parking situation is like, sorry.

Sunset at Newport Back Bay

Beach, Bicycling, California, Orange County, Photography, ,

Newport Back Bay is a relatively unknown1 jewel of coastal Orange County. At only a few miles long and half a mile wide at most, this estuary is relatively small. It’s also packed in between Newport Beach mansions houses, some of which overlook the wetlands from bluffs that line it. However, there is no major development inside the majority of the back bay, which is home to plants, birds, kayakers, and lots of other wildlife.


Looking towards the eastern bluffs from a roadside stop on Back Bay Drive in Newport Back Bay.

 

I’ve loved going to Newport Back Bay for years. It’s a great place to bike or jog, as there’s a paved trail looping around it2, and it’s a good place to go for bird watching (though I think Bolsa Chica is generally preferred by bird photographers).  What’s neat about this area is that one moment you’re driving through fully developed Newport Beach and Irvine (Fashion Island Shopping Center and UC Irvine are only minutes away), and then the next you’re walking, biking, or driving along a one-lane road that meanders along the side of a beautiful coastal wetlands.

A few nights ago I went there to watch the sunset and experiment with some post-sunset techniques. The sunset was gorgeous:

Continue reading Sunset at Newport Back Bay →

A morning on the beach: Crystal Cove State Park and Little Corona Beach

Beach, California, Orange County, Photography

When I think of beach pictures on the west coast of the United States, I think sunsets.  The glorious red sun falling beneath the ocean.  The soft light on the sky.  The ability to wake up at noon and still photograph it.

But recently I noticed that low tides were coinciding with early mornings, so I decided to head out for a morning trip to the beach on Friday.  My primary goal was to scout out locations for future sunrise and intertidal photography, so I headed to both Crystal Cove State Park’s beach and Little Corona (both beaches are in Orange County; Little Corona is in Corona Del Mar, and Crystal Cove is just north of Laguna Beach).  But I quickly got distracted from location hunting thanks to the beauty of the morning.


Morning Treasure: Sunrise at Crystal Cove

 

Both beaches have bluffs overlooking the ocean, meaning that the beach was shaded long after the sun rose in the region. This allowed for shots like the above, and also let me get pictures of a waterfall cascading down the bluffs long after sunrise:

Continue reading A morning on the beach: Crystal Cove State Park and Little Corona Beach →