These photos were taken by my husband Jim who is the truly dedicated photographer in the family. For those who care about these things, most of these photos were taken with a Nikon D70, a couple were taken with a Nikon N8008. |
These photos were taken by my husband Jim who is the truly dedicated photographer in the family. For those who care about these things, most of these photos were taken with a Nikon D70, a couple were taken with a Nikon N8008. |
We hadn’t been able to find out the name of this flower but with grateful thanks to BooTribber Sybil, it now has a name.
Elephant Head
Some flowers are beautiful, some are elegant, some area magestic and some, like the Elephant Head, are just fun.
Crimson Columbine
So far we’ve seen the Colorado, Yellow, and Crimson Columbines. They all have one thing in common: they are very photogenic.
Near Olmstead Point, Yosemite National Park
Because I am a good wife, once or twice a vacation, I agree to loiter around while Jim endlessly messes with his tripod, his camera settings and shot angles. Sometimes I am richly rewarded.
Rainbow on Kuilau Ridge Trail, Kauai
We got rainbows nearly everyday while we were in Hawaii; we never got tired of them.
I just noticed that this picture got messed up somehow when I uploaded it so here’s a link to a fixed version.
Moraine Lake, Banff National Park
This shot was taken from the “Rockpile”, the huge mound of rocks that dammed the lake and gave it its incorrect name, since the Rockpile is a rockfall, not a moraine.
In her Previous Life®, the future Mrs. Gooserock toured much of North America including Banff. She adds her compliments on your capture of this lovely scene.
Mrs. Gooserock here….it was 1971 when I saw Lake Louise face to face. It is truly stunning. But what I see in this beautiful photo is that there is a miniscule amount of snow there now compared to then. Sigh…..
Hi Mrs Gooserock! catnip waving at you from Calgary, Alberta here – just an hour away from Banff. 🙂
Burney Falls, California
A very pretty falls in a very pretty state park in northern California.
Burney Falls was a part of my childhood. This beautiful photograph brings back incredible memories of my father, doing what he did best, teaching Sister and me the majestic splendors of where we were raised.
Hat Creek, Burney Falls, Mt. Shasta, Lassen National Park, the great lakes of Northern California, Whiskeytown Lake and Shasta Lake, were all either in our backyard or were a swell day’s roadtrip.
Mom would pack a picnic. Sister and I would demand we ate at the same place every single time, Hat Creek sparked our imaginations watching men in rubber overalls creating a dance over the water as they spent hours and hours flyfishing. Our Nana was raised in Missoula and Bozeman, Montana where the movie “A River Runs Through It” was filmed. She told us stories sitting on our blanket overlooking Hat Creek of watching one of the most beautiful moments of artistry there is when someone casts their line over the water and weaves it back and forth like a symphony. Sister and I were mesmerized by stories, we both interpreted the world as stories.
We’d pile back in the car and Mom would dole out the baking sheet of brownies she had made for the ride. Nana would continue telling the stories we had heard a hundred times to two little girls enraptured for the 101st retelling. Then we’d get to Burney Falls and our breath would be taken away once again, for the umpteenth time. It was never less spectacular.
I haven’t thought of those trips in quite sometime. Thank you Jim and Andi, really what a delight to see this photograph. You brought back a treasured memory. You filled a heart that misses Sister, Mom and Nana everyday but sometimes forgets to remember everything we had together.
Reply from Jim (via AndiF)
Thank you for telling us your memories. Your writing is very evocative which makes me especially happy to have helped brought those memories back.
It sounds like we were vacationing in your backyard. We went hiking at Lassen, Shasta, Burney Falls, and Redwoods. If you’d like to see some more photos from this trip, we have several up at this site
By the way, I really loved both the book and the movie “A River Runs Through It”.
Thanks once again. After looking at your photographs here I got out our albums of pictures taken on our family adventures. I’m surrounded by those memories now, awash in a sweet, warm, fuzzy feeling.
I went to the site of other photographs of my backyard. I guess it’s human nature to get jaded about the beauty that surrounds us in our childhood. We forget to be grateful for those years, time spent with those we love in the most glorious splendor.
You were at Mt. Shasta in the summertime obviously. It’s said that Mt. Shasta is one of the few places on earth where one can find their vortex. I’ve been looking for mine up there for neigh on fifty years and have come to the conclusion it’s hiding behind the Shell Station on the way into town. As I grew up I could look out my bedroom window and see Mt. Shasta. My family lived next to the Sacramento River and we could see Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen. It was amazing, as the sea otters played in the river and we watched canoes and boats floating downstream the sun would set with Shasta in the background. I’m not sure it gets any better than that.
Seeing what we have lived with all of our lives through your eyes has made me realize how very blessed I am to call this home. My father always told us this is God’s country. Perhaps I should call him and tell him I’ll give that one to him.
I hope you don’t mind but I sent these pictures to my father and thanked him for the gifts he gave to his daughters. Dad and I took a trip to all these places this summer. It was the first time we had gone alone, just the two of us. Norman Maclean’s words played over and over in my mind.
I agree about A River Runs Through It. I loved so much of the book, there are passages that run through my mind all the time. Robert Redford did a great job with the narrative bringing many of them alive in the movie. This is my favorite:
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by water.”
If we keep making these little comments, will you keep writing these beautiful replies?
— AndiF
Words come after seeing beauty, the kind of beauty your photographs so brilliantly capture.
I just talked to my father on the phone. We were each looking at the photographs and I could hear him almost silently crying as we pulled the memories out of one another. It was a dear and cherished moment, a moment we would not have had without you and your enormous talents.
He asked me to thank you for him from the bottom of his heart. He said he will treasure the pictures always as he will also treasure a quiet, sweet time with his daughter because these memories seemingly came to us from people we have never met. He is new to the internet, he didn’t understand it’s power, he says now he does.
that you and your father enjoyed these photos and your memories together (and that your father now “gets” the internet). We never expected this kind of payback to come from the photo fair; it is very wonderful. I think we owe you the bigger thanks.
This was a wonderful conversation to read. People ask, why do you come to the Booman Tribune and why do you stay?
Well, it was politics that brought me (and a good friend) but it’s conversations like this that kept me here. Except that even here, there aren’t very many conversations like this.
Thank you. (as I dab my eyes with tissue)
JimF – this is my favorite. The water feels alive! The distinctive runs of water clarify the movement of the softer, blended, larger rushes of water.
The hints of rainbows in the mist add such a very subtle coloring to the blends of greens and blacks and grays and whites.
I have no sense of scale which allows me to imagine this as any size I want – very freeing.
Your photo allows me to feel very still and yet feel the flow of the water. Thank you.
Boulder Mail Trail, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
This trail, a slickrock masterpiece, used to be the summer mail route between the towns of Boulder and Escalante.
Good eye!! Exquisite example of perspective in nature. Thanks for seeing it and then capturing it to share with us.
Moss-Covered Maple, Redwood National Park
Proof, if you really needed it, that the northern California coast is very wet. This particular wet spot was on the Redwood Creek Trail.
Photographer at Work
Of course, I took this picture; it was an irresistable example of what Jim is willing to do to get a good picture of a flower.
AndiF…I love this photo! You not only capture the artist at work, you also captured the beautiful scene around you both. p.s. Where is the photo of the flower Jim was working with?
the ones I posted — it was too windy for him to get really good macro shots.
AndiF
He’s a master of color, isn’t he? “Near Olmstead” and “Rainbow” are breathtaking to me. Thanks for bringing us his photos, AndiF.
They are all so wonderful! CabinBoy the younger loves the waterfall one, I’m torn between the moraine lake and the mossy tree, and wishing I could come on your vacations!
Wow. You guys go on great vacations, that’s for sure. Jim, you have an excellent eye for composition… the vistas are so compelling. My absolute favorite is the mossy tree. I would love to see that about 11×14 double matted and framed… on my wall. 🙂
spectacular pics! thanks.
Lovely photos – thanks for sharing them with all of us.
the photog’s dedication truly shines through in his work ; )
Wonderful
Those are gorgeous photos…what a pro! My husband likes this one with the red rocks (blanking on name), I like the one with the mountains reflected on the water.
I started to write a comment under one, “This is my favorite, splendid”, but then there was the one after that and the one before that.
The closest I can come to saying how I feel when I look at your photographs is that each is more wonderful, more exotic, more breathtaking than the last.
It’s too puny a comment, but it’s the best I can do. Wow.
keep this up and I’ll never get his ego back under control. And he also says, thank you.
— AndiF
to everyone for all the comments. He really appreciates them and he is so happy that people are enjoying his pictures.
— AndiF
andif, your pictures are simply breath taking.
Georgeous nature photos – rich and warm.
I’m going back through the photo diaries, and because I don’t have enough superlatives to go around, I’m entertaining myself by trying to pick a favorite in each diary. It’s really HARD!
But I think I’m going with the Utah pic on this one. I love how the grooves in the rock lead you to the beautiful clouds in the distance. I feel like I’m flying into the sky.