[Leica] Trip to Collinsville - this time with GOOD URL's

[ricc at mindspring.com (Ric Carter)]

The animals are very nice, but the horizontal of the windmills blows  
me away. The saturation on the color and strong horizontal  
composition really work for me.

Ric Carter
http://gallery.leica-users.org/Passing-Fancies


On Feb 5, 2006, at 11:33 PM, Adam Bridge wrote:

> (my apologies for posting twice but I made an error composing the URLs
> and I didn't check them before sending.....ab)
>
> Today, while the world was watching the infinite pre-game shows  
> before the
> Super-De-Duper Bowl we drove down to Collinsville, one of favorite  
> areas.
>
> Driving south from Davis about 30 miles the plains of the Central  
> Valley
> abruptly begin to roll and then form a set of hills which bound the  
> Sacramento
> River to the north, herding it, along with Mount Diablo to the  
> south, toward the
> Carcinez Straits and San Francisco Bay.
>
> The rolling land is farmed - wheat, sheep, and goats being the most  
> often found
> but there are still many small water courses and copses of trees,  
> usually
> eucalyptus imported in the 1860's from Australia. The valley oaks  
> don't find the
> terrain to their liking, I suppose.
>
> We drove to Bird's Landing and then west along a narrow partially  
> paved road
> where we encountered this specimen strutting along the road as if  
> he owned it:
>
> <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9324.jpg>
>
> I've met many roosters who were more skittish.
>
> As I was taking this picture, it's nearly full-frame, there was the  
> constant
> sound of shot-guns being fired on a trap shooting range to the  
> south within easy
> sight. It was the base for, yes, of course, a pheasant club!
>
> Later on we found another but he was in bad shape - I think West  
> Nile had hit
> him. He walked listlessly, his tail feathers were partially gone.  
> He hid along a
> fence-line:
>
> <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9341.jpg>
>
> Just up the road this jack-rabbit, I'll leave it to those steeped  
> in the lore of
> such things to identify the species. He watched warily as I snapped  
> these two:
>
> <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9342.jpg>
>
> His profile just before he took flight:
>
> <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9343.jpg>
>
> Further down the road I found this vast snaking pipeline, draining  
> land north of
> our road into the wetlands. The entire area is administered to  
> control salinity
> in the wetlands and tulle marshes. I believe this represents a  
> portion of the
> work. Cows roam the field through which this fast serpent wends:
>
> <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9346-bw.jpg>
>
> We saw four different ring-necked pheasants during our drive today  
> - none of
> which were in the least bit alarmed. In the autumn there are NOT so  
> easy to
> approach.
>
> There is another kind of farming in this area as well: wind farms.  
> Old wind
> turbines, the bane of raptors with their fast-turning blades, are  
> being replaced
> with new larger ones whose blades make long, slow, stately arcs  
> across the sky
> as they generate their power.
>
> I liked very much the reflections in this vernal pool. A few months  
> from now it
> will be gone leaving only a damp patch of wild flowers. The  
> hillside will turn
> golden as the wheat matures, hawks will circle looking for ground  
> squirrels and
> other rodents.
>
> <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9354.jpg>
> <http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2006/02/05/_L3U9358.jpg>
>
> All of the animal images were made with the 560 Telyt and Canon 1Ds  
> Mk II. I
> hope the images don't appear to be made of silly putty. ;-}
>
> The landscapes were made with the 24-70 F2.8L Canon zoom.
>
> I also took along an M6 and will have a different interpretation of  
> the pipeline
> and perhaps a stand of windmills both very old and very new to show  
> in a few
> days.
>
> Comments are welcome and invited.
>
> Adam Bridge
>
>
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