San Francisco Tea Garden

While taking a tour of San Francisco, I stopped at the lovely Tea Garden tucked into the Golden Gate Park.  The garden was gorgeous, with azaleas in bloom, winding trails, secret gardens, ponds with creative rock gardens, and the serenity that takes one away from the hustle and bustle of city life.  Hidden in a back pathway was a gorgeous statue of a Buddha.  I photographed the Buddha and made a new montage with lotus.  Notice that the bronze Buddha is sitting on an open lotus flower.

San Francisco 2011

As a retired biology teacher, but still active with the New York Science teachers, I attended the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conference in San Francisco last week.  The site was excellent with the hills, cable cars, Golden Gate Bridge, the diversity of people, excellent food, and of course the conference.  I took over 300 images and am now trying to decide how to use them in montages.  Here is one idea using several layers of extracted buildings.

Florida birds

While on vacation in Florida, I enjoyed walking in marshes, along the beaches, and in preserves to capture images of various wildlife. The most prominent were the birds, always alert to securing the next meal.

Here are some.

Chile and Argentina Montages

While traveling with Grand Circle Tours in Chile and Argentina this winter to escape the cold North and to enjoy the South American culture, I took over 1000 digital pictures.  Now it is time to do something with those images and I just finished creating some montages from them.  They include two from Valparaiso, which is a port city where 17 hills tower over the basin city.  They mentioned that it was their San Francisco. The highlight of the trip for me was the visit to the famous poet Pedro Neruda's home on the hill and to see how he was inspired by the incredible views of the city and harbor.

In Buenos Aires, we visited the cemetery that contained Iva Peron's mausoleum.  At night, we enjoyed dinner and the Tango, which was an incredible display of talent.

Let me know what you think of these montages.

Florida Birds

 The Florida birds were a delight to view and photograph.  Here we have the white egret, the blue heron, and and a pelican taking off after a lunch of fish.

Fast forward

The sports setting on the Canon Rebel was very handy when photographing some mobile animals during a vacation in Florida.  At 10 Thousand Island park, the motorized boat took us out to the islands covered with red, black, and white Mangroves. As the boat moved along, the dolphins swam to the boat for a "free ride" in the wake or in the front of the boat.  It appeared to be great fun for them and was definitely entertaining for the passengers.

Osprey nests are numerous near the beaches and many were inhabited by fledglings.  Here is a picture of one parent leaving the nest to secure the next meal. The sports setting was also useful for photographing flowers moving in the wind.  The wood stork posed for a while, then started walking away. The camera caught the motion without any blur. Great setting to play with!

Sunsets

It has been a while since I have seen Southern sunsets, so the holiday escape to Florida was a real treat for such viewing and photographing.  I vacationed in Ft. Myers and visited the beach as often as possible to capture the sun during its final stages of the day.  Here are some of my favorites.