Full Moon

The full moon provided for some new pictures that I have never had before. Not only that but the California palm trees raise the picture to a whole new level. I couldn't focus on the moon but I could focus on the palm tree semi-covering the moon. The brightness of the moon cuts through the dark night and it brightens up the picture.

Down to the Beach

This packed street led me right down to the beach. The packed street and palm trees take your attention everywhere. The left and right of the picture and the cars draw you to the end of the picture where the real surprise is.  The ocean and cliff that is a picture on its own. This is a great picture as we come to my final two days in Southern California.

Final Stage Sunset

This was one of the last pictures of the sunset before it faded away. Luckily the clouds hid the sun. The clouds also gave way to yet again the sun streak. It also helped to show the orange from the sunset. The small openings in the clouds give out amazing bursts of orange and yellow specs in the sky.

Bursting Sunset

The sunset was still bursting through the clouds. In this picture, you can see the sun streaks even better. This time I was able to cut most of the building out and still have the palm trees. This picture of the sunset was more developed than the last picture and you can see more orange and darker sunset pictures. Wait one more day and find out the final stage of this beachside sunset.

Seaside Sunset

This might be the end of the San Diego Zoo, but this is the beginning of a fabulous sunset on the third level of a restaurant. The sun is shining through the thick clouds and you can even see the sun streaks. The sun then bursts through the clouds and reflects right off of the Pacific Ocean. The building could go, but the palm trees just add to the picture.

Little Power

This is a drawf animal. He is the same as his big relatives, but he is just in a smaller package. I don't remember what animal this is, but he sure is cute. I was looking for him and couldn't find him then I moved to the other viewing window and found him. Here he is, all 6 inches of him.

Looking Back

This is a meerkat. He is scared of many things, including airplanes. They are found in Africa. They use their long, sharp claws to dig burrows in the ground to escape the African heat. Since I live in Texas, we escape the heat by venturing into placing with air conditioning.  Meerkats are very smart and rotate protecting the pups from rival meerkat tribes. They rotate and even have special people that spend their whole life protecting the young. I wonder how much they get paid.

Hungry Mammal

This multi-ton beast is the largest land animal on Earth. The largest weighed 24,000 pounds, the heart alone weighed about 27 to 46 pounds. The heart of an elephant beats at only 27 beats per minute while the Canary's beats at 1000. The elephant weighs so much that it can't jump. At birth, the elephant weighs 230 pounds. An elephants trunk has more than 40,000 muscles in it. While an elephant doesn't look like a cat but it purrs like it. The large ears of an elephant are to regulate the blood flow, if it is hot the ears cool them down.

Goosing Around

While this might not be a goose, I can still tell you about the goose. There are different names for the goose in the air and in the land and water. In the land or water they are called a gaggle in the air they are called a skein. If a goose is kept well, it can live for 20 years. Goose are highly social and can get along with just about any animal. The first golf ball was filled with goose feathers they were highly valued and very expensive.

Santa's Reindeer

While these fuzzy horns and reindeer face might look like Santa's reindeer, they don't fly. Early mail in Alaska was delivered by reindeer. Reindeer herding covers a staggering 1/4 of the Earth. While Alaska has temperatures reaching 35 degrees below zero, reindeer eat moss to keep warm. Like the snowflakes, all of the reindeer's horns are different no two are the same. Especially in Alaska, when snow piles up reindeer need to find food. They have a 2-foot sensing system built into them. They can feel food up to two feet below the snow.

Looking at You

Going along with the panda picture theme, I think I will tell you about the polar bear and other animals coming soon. Polar bears live on ice normally found in the 88 north latitude, in the Northern Arctic Sea. Polar bears can travel up to 19 miles a day and can keep that up for several days. This means the average bear travels 695 miles a year. The 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears are growing smaller every day as sea ice is lost.

Sleepy Head

Some people wake up tired, this panda is sleeping and he is still looked tired. Finding a panda is rare in everywhere besides China where they are naturally found. A panda is actually a bear, just a smaller nicer bear. Each panda lives for about 40 years, this panda was born in 1991 in China. While pandas are only about 175 pounds, they spend 55% of their life with Bambo. Selling panda fur is illegal in America but if you do (which you should not), they fur is worth between $60,000 and $100,000.

Reaching Out

This Monkey or Ape like creature was in the zoo and looking good for a picture. He had his hair spiked out and he posed facing 90 degrees away from me. His half face is looking good. I like his white side burn. I wonder what that is for, is it like the cheetah where her black stripes are to improve vision? Or is it just to look cool and show off.

Black Bear Black Bear

This is the closest that I have ever been to a bear and the closest I hope to ever be. I thought of the kid's book, Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do You See? This black bear saw the bone he is gnawing on and the rock wall in front of him. He seems very interested in the bone. His keeper hid it and he then found it and gnawed on it until pushed it in the water and gnawed on it in the water.

Peeking Out

This otter stuck his head out after a slumber. You might be thinking why are some of the animals a sleep? It is because I went early in the morning and they probably just woke up from sleeping overnight. I like this picture because I can see only the head poking out from the rock.

Unexpected Visitor

This hummingbird was not part of the zoo. The flowers that are scattered around the zoo help to bring them in. I had seen several of them earlier but I never had enough time a take a picture. Just after we passed the giraffe exhibit there was a flower patch and a hummingbird swooped in and took a seat on the branch. Then seconds after I took the picture it flew away just like that.

Hungry Bear

Koala bears sleep over 22 hours a day. The reason why is because the bears have a special chemical that helps them digest foods not digestible by humans and mammals. They have to sleep to recharge and have enough energy to digest that chemical. I was lucky enough to see both of the male koalas awake and eating. Something that happens only 2 hours of the day.

Cheetah Stripes

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world, they can run up to 61 miles per hour. The main reason why cheetahs can run so fast is that they have a hyper flexible spine. Unlike ours, a Cheetahs spine can bend and flex in almost any direction. Another helpful feature is the black markings on their face. Just like we wear eye black, cheetahs have there's built always on. This helps to improve their vision and reduce the glare from the sun.

Stare

This six foot tall, 135-pound giraffe might seem old to us but she is only 3 weeks old. Another way you can tell that she is young is by looking at the other giraffes in the habitat. The other giraffes are significantly taller and older looking. She might be tall to us humans but to the other giraffes, she is tiny.

Scouting the Area

Meerkats scout the area every place that they go, whether they are in the wild or the zoo. This meerkat was on guard when a plane flew by. The meerkat stared at the plane until it flew away and there was no more danger. The meerkats have a special system for recognizing dangers. There are different sounds for dangers from the air, land, and even from water.

Sleepy Eyed

This elephant was sleeping standing up when we walked by its exhibit. This is a younger and you can tell by the size of the tusks, this elephant doesn't have any, and the size of the ears. The smaller that the tusks and ears are, the younger that the elephant is. I wonder how they sleep in daylight, does the light not interfere with their sleeping?

Lion Fight

These two sea lions were fighting over something. It could be over food, territory, or a mate. They were fighting for at least 20 minutes and were still fighting when I left. It was a very intense fight, but I would guess that the sea lion on the right would win because he looks very fierce.

Earth's Gifts

The best thing about the sun is that it provides light, heat, and amazing sunsets for us. I have captured sunsets on streets, through trees, and through windows but never have I taken a picture of a sunset on a beach. The bright sun made some clouds orange and others a dark gray. To cap off the picture, there is a boat cruising by.

Land and Sea

During a fabulous sunset, this seagull flew down to rest on this rock in front of me. There was a fence making sure I didn't fall off of the end of the cliff but with my new stronger and more powerful lens, I was able to capture a close up. The seagull with one eye on the sea and one on the land.

Oceanside Pier

Going out from the land is this pier. The pier has multiple cranes and other buildings on it. Upon internet research, I found out that this pier is used to study the ocean and coast. The cranes might be used to pull things off of boats or out of the ocean. The buildings might be used to hold and examine the things found on the boat or in the ocean.

Fish Finder

I have traveled to California, the last three pictures have also been from California, and went to the beach to swim and take pictures. While walking toward the north, I spotted several birds in the water trying to find food. I stopped and took a picture then walked to find even more things to photograph.

Rolling Waves

The beach has many different objects and things to photograph. I chose to take pictures of many of these objects and decided to show the wave picture today. I held down the shutter and took pictures of the whole wave. I thought this was the best wave picture. The wave was about to break and the top was already rolling.

Seagulls

Seagulls wade in the water waiting for their meal to come. I was able to walk within ten feet of the bird before he moved farther away. As I approached the seagull, a wave rolled over and flooded the land. The water now makes it seem like the seagull is floating on the water. 

Littered Beach

Though some beaches have trash littered all over them, this beach had seaweed, rocks, and sea shells. The sand might not be the whitest but it provided for a clean background for these colorful littered beach objects.

Quack Quack

On this cloudy and once rainy day, I visited a park and spotted a family of ducks sitting around. This young duck had something wrong with his left leg and couldn't walk normally. He must have been calling to his parents to help him as I moved in closer to take pictures of him.

Drip Drop

This water starts off from the clouds above then when the rain falls it has to go somewhere. It travels into the ground then into the sewers and pipes. This is the deposest of those water that came from the sewers. This then dropped onto the concrete then into the pond. It's the water cycle!

Lakeside Reflection

The smooth waters of the lake provided for a crystal clear reflection. The big green trees are mirrored almost perfectly onto the brown waters of the lake. In fact, the lake is so clear that you can see the different shades of green that are reflected in the lake.

Flying Flowers

While walking around the neighborhood searching for photos, I came across this bunch of flowers that were extended from the main branch. I walked beneath it and looked up again into the gray sky. The sky provided for a nice clean, not counting the tree, background.

Blooming Time

Some of these flowers have bloomed and some have stayed the same and not bloomed up. The time is right for them to bloom. There is probably enough water, there is defiantly enough sunlight, there are bees to pollinate the flower, and there is oxygen. What is holding them back? Is it just not the right time? Who knows.

Sprouting to the Sky

As I looked for interesting and new sights to capture I can across this pine tree. As I started taking pictures of it I came underneath the pine needles and put the dark gray sky behind the green needles. The picture came out beautifully with the gray background and the even darker pine needles to counteract the background.

Droplets

After a summer night came the dew and some light rain. Most of the rain had fallen off of the leaf and into the sewers but a few droplets stayed behind. These droplets that stayed behind were all over the leaf. I tried to get the other leaves in a blur and focus on the leaf that had the most droplets of water on them.

Summer Colors

These flowers have the colors of summer. The yellow and orange flowers represent the sun and heat of the summer and the white represent the clouds, which people long for in the hot summer to cool us off. I zoomed up to these flowers and captured them in their prime.

Veins

Veins are tubes that form circulation in every living thing. Leaves use their veins to move objects in and out of their leaves, or in this case the leaf. This leaf has many veins that travel throughout it. There are two main goals that the vein does. One is to support the leaf and the other is two transport materials such as water, food energy, and minerals.

Race

I walked into a game of two Squirrels racing up and down the tree. Once I too stepped close, this Squirrel stopped racing and stared me down. He looked at me from the time I arrived to the time I had even walked away. Then the two Squirrels continued their racing game once again.

Air

The best thing that plants and green things do for us is to make oxygen. Without plants, humans would probably not survive. If we did happen to survive we would most likely be living on man-made oxygen. It would be like us living in the ocean. Not only do plants help to give us oxygen but they take out carbon dioxide. A gas that we could live without.

Nectar

It starts off as a bud. As the stem, air and sun help the bud, the spouts and blooms into a flower. In the center of almost all flowers is nectar. This is the way that bees make their honey. They take the nectar mix it with some liquids and there honey is. There might be a step or two in the way but this is the simplified version.

Spotty Walkway

To help save the walkers from the Texas heat, trees were put overhead to help cool off the walkway. The trees help to block some light but not all of the light is blocked. This is good because if all of the light is blocked then it might be too dark. The light let through also lets the people underneath see the clouds and the sun above.

Color

As the bright sun shone overhead the flowers were illuminated from the top making the tops bright purple if not white. The bright colors are then shone onto the Bee. The yellow Bee is slightly blended in because the bright yellow and white are some what the same making the Bee almost invisible. But it's not because it's the main object that is focused.

Sky Chapel

On SMU's campus is their church, Perkins Chapel. On the walkway up to the Chapel is beautiful purple flowers and benches. The dark purple flowers contrast the bright sky and light colored Chapel. This has the perfect light and dark contrast and the dark trees also help. They provide a dark background to help bring out the Chapel.

Flying High

I said yesterday that an American flag would be featured later and here it is. I waited for the wind to blow the flag across the camera, that took a really long time since the wind was blowing directly into me. I seized the very brief moment and I have this. I almost missed it because a started to leave and had given up hope. Remember though, anything with patience is possible even the wind changing directions.

White House

It might not be white or have the butlers and secret service, but this red-brown building has the columns and looks of the White House. It has the dome on top and has three floors. There is an American flag behind me, which will be featured later that makes it, even more, like the White House.

Old School

As this school, SMU has been around for 116 years. Some of the buildings are new and modern while others are more classical and some are old school. This more classical building has a walkway up to it's front pillars and tall door. Something else interesting about this picture is the two twin lightposts on the sides of the picture. They are symmetrical so that is nice but they are covering some of the windows which is not good.

Open Water

In the earlier parts of the day, around 10, there were no boats on the water. I was confused but then jumped on the chance that with no one around that lake would make for a cool picture. The clouds were yet again in my favor. They are just scattered randomly making the picture have different points to where your eye is drawn to. An added feature I didn't realize at the time but realize how wonderful it is now.

Pilot

The last time I checked, boats this smaller didn't have autopilot. I mean maybe some but not enough to drive, control, park the boat. This means that a human has to pilot the boat. In this picture, we were tied up to the boat but if we were on the lake at the time and this was the same picture, I think something would be wrong.

Moss

In the shady morning then the sunny afternoon is this rock covered in Moss. I took this picture in the afternoon so the light was on the rock. This meant that the sunlight was coming from behind the rock. For some people, it might be bad but I think this is actually good. The sunlight creates a shadow from the Moss adding some more character to the picture.