San Gregorio State Beach, CA

The beautiful San Gregorio state beach is located off of California's Pacific coast hwy 1 at the hwy 84 intersection near the town of San Gregorio, about 10 miles South from Half Moon Bay. The place has picnic tables and is perfect location to spend the day at!

A person sits on the edge of a cliff



Fishing on the Beach



A couple stands at the edge of the hill overlooking the Pacific ocean



A couple watches sunset



The trail on the hill and the bridge (highway 1) over the San Gregorio Creek



Kids play in the creek water that flows into the ocean

Sunset

More San Gregorio Photos

Peach-picking in Brentwood, CA

By the time we decided to go cherry-picking in East Bay (that's the eastern side of land of the San Francisco bay) this year, it was aleady too late for cherry-picking but we were fortunate enough to find a few farms that allowed us to pick fruits like peaches, plums, and nectarines that have longer season than cherries. Cherry-picking is the most famous activity in summer in Brentwood, CA. People travel from far away to come and pick the fruits while eating them as they browse through the farms on a hot summer day.

Driving from hwy 580 onto North Vasco road, the hills are literally covered with windmills.

Some of the fruit is still raw waiting for the heat to ripen it as the season progresses.

A peach I picked and ate. It was very sweet. :)

This farm has rows and rows of trees like these.

Some peaces were too ripe and fell off on the ground from the tree. Too bad they never make it to a basket and in someone's tummy.

The stall where you pay for the fruits you picked. You don't pay for the ones you already ate, those are free. :D


For more photos of peach-picking in Brentwood, click here.

To find other farms that grow the fruits you like and allow fruit-picking in and around Brentwood, click here.

Mammoth Lakes

Mammoth Lakes, CA is located off of Hwy 395 in the South East direction from Yosemite National Park.

From Yosemite National Park, continuing on Hwy 120 East, we stopped at Olmsted Point to catch this view.
Half Dome from Olmsted Point

After 120 East, to go towards Mammoth Lakes we take Hwy 395 South. Lake Mono is on the Eastern side of this highway.
Lake Mono and Hwy 395

Lake Mary at Mammoth Lakes

Lake George and other surrounding lakes as seen from the end of Crystal Lake trail

Devil's Postpile - 60-ft formation is made of basalt lava, some 100,000 yrs old.

Crystal Lake is after hiking up and down for almost 2 miles at the end of Crystal Lake Trail.

The only mammoth I saw at Mammoth Lakes! :-)

Visited: July 2003

Click here for more photos of Mammoth Lakes.

Yosemite National Park

Visiting Yosemite National Park in the heart of California has always been fun filled adventure for me. This time it was a short trip but it was as exciting as previous times. This time Northern California has had very little rain so most of the water falls had practically no water. Even Merced river was dry and lakes in the park with no water at all, but the trees were lush and green and mountains standing tall as saints in the Sierra Nevada forest. Here's a glimpse to mother nature's beauty.


Park entrance.


Park entrance from the other side.


Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View. El Capitan on the left side, Half Dome in the center and Cathedral Rocks on the right side where the Bridalveil Falls flow when snow melts from mountain tops.



Road inside the park.


Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls (not flowing right now but they flow where the black area on the mountains is seen) from Valley View. Merced river is seen in the front.


More of my photos taken at Yosemite National Park, CA.

For the 4th: How to Photograph Fireworks

* Use a tripod and a remote shutter release, if you can.
* Carefully frame the shot so that the horizon is straight and you don't get a bunch of heads in the picture.
* Set aperture between f/8 and f/16 and use ISO 100.
* Keep the shutter open for a couple of seconds, starting before the explosion. (Manual mode is your friend.)
* Turn off the flash.
* Experiment and have fun!

Source: For the 4th: How to Photograph Fireworks

Motorbikes in San Francisco

Motorbike riders having fun at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

The Magnificent and Majestic!

The Golden Gate Bridge - I never get tired of shooting this bridge on film. So beautiful it is!

Golden Gate Bridge & Alcatraz

Those are actually four different seagulls! With Alcatraz island in background.

You think I asked them to pose for me, don't you?! :)

Pictures taken January 14, 2007.

Spring is here!

Last weekend, I was driving in San Jose when I started paying attention to the trees around the road. I realized almost all of them had beautiful white colored flowers blooming on them. If I am not mistaken, these are the plum blossoms. In any case, I thought the view of rows of trees covered with white flowers in 75 degree sunny weather on a beautiful afternoon were more than anything a photographer could ask for.

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They say a picture is worth a 1000 words। I am not sure whether it's true for every picture but I'd say there's definitely feelings involved when we look at a picture. Shooting also gives same pleasure, it helps us put our thoughts on a printed piece of paper. Sometimes reminding us of past and bringing back memories, sometimes just making us happy, sad, or striking a thought process in our mind. Ever since I was a kid, I've always enjoyed taking photographs. They fascinated me back then and still do. The journey from a point-and-shoot camera to an SLR has been exciting! It's exactly four years back, today, I got my first SLR camera. Later on, I also got a digital camera so I can practice more of my photography skills without wasting (as I am told often) too much film. Still an amateur photographer, I'm learning how to take better pictures everyday.