Fiesta Island, San Diego

We try to get the dogs out to the beach once a week both for their sanity and ours. Lately that hasn't been happening as much, life seems to keep getting in the way. If I can remember to grab my camera on the way out the door (which can be a chore considering the pup is rearing to go and patience is not high on her list), I love photographing any dog at play. Sometimes these photos come out great, other times, not so much.

Here are a few taken with my Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5 lens. This boxer had an unending supply of energy. I would have named him Tigger, but I believe his name was Tyson.

Right now, the interior of Fiesta Island is in full bloom. There are tall green grasses everywhere and the wildflowers are showing their colors. It is ashame it doesn't stay like this more of the year. I snapped this picture of Grace jogging through the field. Had the sun not been out, it would have been perfect, but I'm not going to complain about the sun.

Snails galore!

I'm not quite sure why it is, but I'm fascinated by snails. Perhaps this is a result of growing up somewhere where they aren't common place. Or perhaps because they carry a shell on their back. Or perhaps just because. In any event, I love photographing them and do not get "grossed out" like many people I know.


Photography of snails, without a doubt, falls into the category of macro. So I thought I would really give my macro lens a work out and see just how close I could get but still remain in focus. Amazingly, very close. They appear much, much larger in the photos than they really were.

This guy crawled through some wood chips. Okay, so I moved him from his pile of woodchips to the pavement. He was much more visible this way!

Bird Candids

Continuing my use with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 lens, I took quite a few portraits of the birds. Chloe is so easy to photo, partly because she holds still for long periods of time. And being nearly one color allows for easy exposure. Tuck, on the other hand, is a boy and cannot hold still! Plus being both white and gray makes exposure hard. But it was fun and I think the pics came out really well.

Wildflowers in Anza Borrego

Over the weekend a group of friends and I trucked on out to the Anza Borrego Desert around the Borrego Springs area. The wildflowers were in bloom and we were hoping to get some fun star pics later on in the evening. Apparently a lot of people had the same idea regarding the desert. The visitor's center was so packed that we were turned away! Thankfully we did gather a direction to head for some good flower viewing.

We spent about 3 1/2 hours plodding around Coyote Canyon which is just north of Borrego Springs. I rented a Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens specifically for this purpose. I got some fantastic shots with it!


In the evening we headed to a dark sky spot off Plum Canyon Road. Well the moon made it a little less than dark. We hardly needed flashlights it was so bright! This meant no Comet Lulin viewing, but we were still able to get some fun dark sky shots. Here I used my Tamaron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 lens that I truly love.