Two very different photographic results from one visit to Balboa Park

I decided to visit Balboa Park today before the heat built up too much (we are in the middle of San Diego's first significant heat wave of summer 2012.)

Upon parking, in the lot closest to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, I had a good chuckle from this banner, which was advertising one of the current exhibitions in the Science Center.

I then made my way to the Botanical building, and found a display of a completely unfamiliar plant that had an unusual-looking means of flowering: the Golden Candle (scientific name Pachystachys lutea).

Rather than trying to write up my own description of the plant, I am going to provide a link to an excellent discussion of it on an Australian site:http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2000/archives/2000/in_the_garden/flowering_plants_and_shrubs/golden_candles

I saw I had a possible diptych after first finding some nice drops from the days watering on one of the plants, then finding a small web, itself covered with water drops, on another of the plants. The spider didn't give itself much space to work, which I'm guessing may have something to do with how untidy the web was.

Visiting "Fallen Star" on site

Having previously taken photos of UCSD's latest public art piece, "Fallen Star", from the ground, I have strongly wanted to visit the piece when the site it is on became available for public visiting. Here is one of those ground views:




The availability for public visiting started roughly a couple months ago, but I had not been able to make a visit due to when visiting is available: Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM each of those days. Having scheduled a day off from work for today (August 9, 2012), I decided I'd finally make the visit, and of course bring along my camera.

One minor aggravation of visiting UCSD on a weekday is you have to purchase a parking permit; on campus parking is free on weekends! Oh, well. At least finding a space wasn't too much of a headache, as student presence is always lighter during summer quarter.

So I made the walk to the main building of the Jacobs School of Engineering; Fallen Star sits on top of one its towers. I walked into the lobby and was interested to find no mention whatsoever of the piece to be seen; interesting. So, I got into one of the lobby elevators and went to the top floor, Stepped out of the elevator, and voila, there was Fallen Star. There's a door built into that floor's elevator lobby that leads out to the site, the small garden that is part of it, and of course the Fallen Star piece itself.

This was just before 11 AM. There were already a few people standing around the garden, but the door for the piece itself was locked. Turned out that is unlocked by a staff attendant who remains on site to answer questions and apparently act as de facto security by just being present.

Fallen Star proved to be fascinating, outside and inside. Everything about is deliberately off kilter, which makes just standing in it, much less moving around in it quite an experience! The one exception to this is the chandelier, which hangs on a true plumb, but that is just a factor of gravity.

Also, I seem to recall reading somewhere that all the furniture and fixtures were made at three-quarters scale, which just boosts the slightly unreal feel

One interesting note is that even though it is bolted down to the building, only six adults (plus the staff attendant) can be in it at once.

All in all a fascinating experience.

Here's a photo taken today:

Um, yes, I'm still here. Let's give this blogging another try shall we?

Here's a new post:

As it had been several months since I last used my San Diego Zoological Society membership card, I decided to visit the Zoo today, July 4, and of course take a camera with me.

I ended up with three good photos: Two from a nice head-on view I had of what I think was the largest Galápagos tortoise available to view at the time, and one of flowers on a coral tree.

The flowers on this coral tree caught my eye because unlike flowers I have seen on previous coral trees, which were always a bright red, these were either a dark red or a purple. Hard to say which.

And here is a link to my Google+ album of those photos: July 4, 2012 San Diego Zoo photos

Two cringe worthy traffic moments

I had been intending to concentrate this blog more on my photography, but obviously have not been doing that so much.

So, wanted to write about two traffic moments that occurred today.

First, this morning: I was on the way to church, and was stopped at an intersection a little ways before getting on the freeway. So, I got the green light and started to move into the intersection. But the next moment a horn goes off on my left and keeps going. Which was enough to make me stop. And the next thing I know a vehicle making a left turn through the intersection passes in front of me. If the driver next to me hadn't realized this left turn was occurring and hit his horn, I might have been broadsided. Good grief!

Lesson learned: try to be alert when I get green lights to vehicles that might be coming into the intersection from other directions.

Second, a little earlier this afternoon. I was driving down a freeway when all lanes started to come to a stop. A little later I saw in my rear view mirror a fire engine coming down the left shoulder. And a little after that saw the fire engine had stopped in middle lanes and a CHP car was coming down the right shoulder. When I passed the scene, I was able to make out just enough of the scene to see CPR was being administered to someone laying on the pavement. Yikes!

So, two of the more cringe worthy traffic moments I've had in a long time, all on the same day.

Visiting Marian R. Bear Memorial Park

For years I have been vaguely aware of a large park in San Diego that I had never visited before today: Marian R. Bear Memorial Park.

This Park is in San Diego's San Clemente Canyon, which runs east and west roughly between Interstate 5 and Interstate 805. State Route 52 runs in the northern portion of the canyon between those two freeways (and continues eastward), while the Park is in the southern portion of the Canyon, paralleling Route 52. The two formal entrances to the park are located off surface streets that north and south through the Canyon, Genesee Road and Regents Road.

Today I finally decided to make a visit to the Park, using the entrance at Genesee Road. One of the first features of the Park I came upon was a shallow, very slowly moving stream. Lots of rocks had been placed across the stream, so getting across with dry shoes was no problem.

Continuing on the path, I was quickly struck by what an attractive area this is. When I took this photo,
I was becoming aware that though I could still hear traffic on Route 52, but by that point the view of the highway was entirely obscured by the Park's trees; very nice. That view remained obscured for my the rest of my walk into the Park.

Continuing on and taking many photos, I quickly appreciated that many trees were growing over the path to some degree, thus creating much shade. Though the temperature was moderate, there were no clouds today, so that shade was very nice.

After I turned around to go back to my car, I noticed a very interesting scene. A large log (presumably the trunk of a downed tree that the branches had been removed from) that had been left in place to allow it to be naturally reclaimed. The evidence for this was that it was well underway to being covered by fungi.

All in all, I was very pleased with the Park, and have every intention of doing more exploring of it, as there is much I did not get to.

A peacock at the Zoo

Two angles: a peacock, a photo by jeffwc00 on Flickr.

I have been very glad I purchased a San Diego Zoological Society membership late last year. Being able to (basically) just walk in when I have the time has been great. I'm definitely getting value for the cost.

Yesterday I decided to make another visit for possible photo taking. Right after entering I noticed a small crowd standing around something and found they were looking at a peacock that was in full display of his tail feathers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get into position for a unobstructed view before he dropped the feathers to non-display position and wandered off into nearby foliage.

Now, you may wonder why a peacock was out in the open. I can't seem to find anything about online, but I am recalling I learned at some point in the past that the zoo keeps a population of peafowl that are allowed to wander the grounds. This is because they eat lots of insects, and so are a big help in keeping that potential problem under control.

Later during this visit I came upon (presumably) another peacock wandering around just outside the rhinoceros display. This was good because there were much fewer people around, so I was able to get into much better position for photos of this bird. He wasn't feeling the need to display his tail feathers, but I was pleased with photos I did get. Thus this diptych.

Pleased to announce

Holga goes to Kobey's Swap Meet
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

I have been invited to place up to three prints in a show being put on next month by the arts programs at UCSD Extension.

The story:

Last month the coordinator of those programs sent email to the photography instructors with preliminary details about the photography portion of the show, and inviting them to forward it to any former/current students of theirs they thought worthy to be in the show.

And one of my instructors did so. I responded to the coordinator that yes, I was interested in being included.

She wrote back at beginning of this month with details of what would be needed for each print.

I decided to go with two of my Holga camera photos: the one shown here, and this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwc00/4836939359/in/set-72157624473390957/

This will be the first time I've been invited to place prints of my work in a show, so I am very much looking forward to it.