John & Anne Wiley

2016/02/21

Interplay

The interplay of air, land and water is so magnificent to me. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the relationships among people? Yesterday sitting mostly in awed silence shoulder to shoulder in Tripp we meandered down the coast to Carp and the Salt Marsh seemed to shimmer in that interplay.

0590 Carp Salt Marsh

0590 Carp Salt Marsh

A few breathtaking dreamscapes later we chanced to catch this surfer ripping a Rincon wave. The splash hung in a shining bubble, then transformed to a blast of misty spray and fell back into the boundless sea after a moment in the sun.

0615 Mingling Moment

0615 Mingling Moment

2016/02/15

We ♥ SB

Santa Barbara was overflowing with couples on Valentine’s Day. But some were probably enjoying the President’s Day holiday, and others were just out relishing the crisp blue skies and incredibly warm weather. We toured the town having decided not to fly, then as evening approached the sweet song of a quietly passing plane caught our ear. The only decision was how short to make the flight, given that we had a movie date with friends. It ended up being 17 minutes in the heavenly air.

0005 Goleta Beach

0005 Goleta Beach

Every beach along our coast was alive with people at play. Though it’s impossible to tell from the quarter mile above where we fly, presumably many of them were couples celebrating their love in the ways they most enjoy together. We sure were! 🙂

0011 Couples?

0011 Couples?

Could those be two couples kissed by sea foam on a quiet stretch of beach beneath carved sandstone cliffs? We saw people at Ellings Park and the Wilcox (Douglas Family Preserve), and Hendry’s (Arroyo Burro) Beach. Whether on the ground, in the water, or best of all aloft in Tripp; We Santa Barbara!

0041 Hendry's

0041 Hendry’s

2015/11/01

Altered State Halloween

State Street is always fun, especially on Halloween. This year we also had a group dancing to Michael Jackson (click for video clip):

3620 Thriller (click for vid)

3620 Thriller (click for vid clip)

But for us it all started with this Nicki Minaj “backup” starlet.

3478 Nicki Caboose

3478 Nicki Caboose

There’s something really fun about snapping costumed people on the street. For one thing, they often instantly change expression when they notice the camera. This gal went from stern concentration to a winning smile before I could press the button.

3480 Instant Sunbeam

3480 Instant Sunbeam

Some stayed serious, hopefully in character rather than revealing their true nature.

3481 Kidnapping?

3481 Kidnapping?

This kid really went “method” and dropped to the ground with a great eye roll when he spotted the lens.

3485 Well Bled

3485 Well Bled

Some of the kids were just SO sweet, like this delicate butterfly.

3488 Gentle Soul

3488 Gentle Soul

To us every moment and each personality is a precious fleeting thing, and somehow this next pic captures that. Maybe because of the transformation we saw when she saw us seeing her.

3490 Being Seen

3490 Being Seen

Or this moment, when each face projects a completely different inner instant.

3491 Group Time

3491 Group Time

The families are fascinating, portraying a range of ages and group roles.

3495 Family Time

3495 Family Time

Of course, many on the street these days are clutching smartphones, texting, talking, or doing some “social” media thing.

3497 Communication Break

3497 Communication Break

I like the pose (and hissing noise) this gal made for the snap, joined by her companion a moment later.

3500 Hisstory

3500 Hisstory

We love how ordinary pedestrians blithely mingle with freaks and monsters this time of year.

3506 Extraordinary Season

3506 Extraordinary Season

“Altered” State Street was alive with this diversity.

3512 Random Acts

3512 Random Acts

I like how sometimes the shutter captures a breadth of facial expressions that are all connected to the same moment.

3522 Faces of a Moment

3522 Faces of a Moment

I wondered if the woman in the middle of this group was portraying effects of the time and effort required for a Ph.D.

3526 Eternal Student?

3526 Eternal Student?

As if the costumes, dancing and acting weren’t enough fun we also had acrobats whirling.

3528 Whirly Gig

3528 Whirly Gig

In ordinary times and places a woman with snakes for hair would garner everyone’s attention.

3532 Herpetology Hair

3532 Herpetology Hair

The little kids were enjoying it all nearly as much as those of us watching them.

3552 Kid Show

3552 Kid Show

Some pets seemed to serenely endure a little humiliation and discomfort to entertain us.

3556 Different Focus

3556 Different Focus

Beyond costumes, a few also provided interactive street performance art to mixed reviews.

3635 Boo

3635 Boo

The exact moment someone sees the camera and remembers they’re in costume can be heartwarming.

3632 Sweet Surprise

3632 Sweet Surprise

I especially liked how small kids reacted to the dancing Thriller zombies.

3587 Small Audience

3587 Small Audience

I wonder if this mom knew who’s behind her.

3584 Guardian?

3584 Guardian?

Some of the moms costumes looked as if they might need a babysitter.

3576 Mommie Dearest

3576 Mommie Dearest

Dads had their own way of dealing with the little monsters.

3571 Dino Dad

3571 Dino Dad

With all the different moods there was still a broad sense of happiness in the crowd.

3570 Mood on the Street

3570 Mood on the Street

These two friendly gals had costumes among the best we saw.

3564 Tut Tut

3564 Tut Tut

At last we headed for home, and on our way to the car this exhausted angel epitomized the shift into night.

3580 Day's End

3580 Day’s End

For young adults though, the fun was just beginning.

3637 Into the Night

3637 Into the Night

2015/09/22

Baby Love

Took my baby to Big Sur. Well, flew her to San Luis Obispo then drove Big Sur in a rental car to a fancy hotel in Monterey. Along the way we stopped at some favorite spots and I took her on a surprise detour to Asilomar Beach where she danced a sunset delight. The next day driving back to SLO she kindly posed for this.

0704 Big Sur Baby

0704 Big Sur Baby

Even though we’ve driven and flown this coast so many times, we’re already talking about going back. This time the focus was on celebration more than exploration.

2015/09/09

Whale of a Time

There’s usually a time delay between one of our adventures, and getting organized to share some of it with you in a post here. Sometimes weeks even! So I’m glad to have caught a few minutes to share this expansion of my earlier Edhat post. Arriving at L52 we were treated to this whale feeding frenzy less than a mile offshore from the airport. We’ve never seen this “thrash feed” technique before.

9398 Thrash Feed

9398 Thrash Feed

Amazing to see them strategically working so effectively together. The top whale surfaced and blew first, rolling almost 90° to the left and thrashing left with a powerful tail fluke thrust to lunge suddenly to the right and down into the dense school of frightened fish. Then it blew out air to further freak the fish and drive some toward the lower whale in this pic (to its left).

9406 Thrash Feed

9406 Thrash Feed

That second whale then did the same maneuver and probably caught more fish while at the right you can see the effect their splashes had on the gathered birds who’d been picking off fish driven to the surface. Another technique was to swim at each other through a line of fish (darker area of the water) with an offset like this.

9430 Lancer Charge

9430 Lancer Charge

A solo method in deeper water was to come up from below and then dive back down into the school, a little more like the method used by pelicans. The tiny white dots seem to be fish driven to the surface.

9442 Dinner Diving

9442 Dinner Diving

We saw a use of bubble netting like this next group of four whales, and liked how birds in front of them scattered for safety while those behind converged for scraps.

9397 Bubble Net

9397 Bubble Net

Fascinating and thrilling to watch all these fishing techniques from a safe distance!

9388 Bubble Harvest

9388 Bubble Harvest

Sometimes a bird would venture too close and be surprised by the sudden plume of mist from a whale’s blow, as in this sequence.

9468 Bird Bath

9468 Bird Bath

In addition to a few seals and dolphins and innumerable birds, this scene had also attracted much cheering and shouting from the big holiday gathering on the beach as we learned after landing. But my fave pix of this amazing experience are of what looks to me like a pregnant female, who took a more sedate approach to collecting a few of the slower fish in the massive school.

9438 Quiet Snack

9438 Quiet Snack

I especially love the reflective mood of this one with ripples shimmering into the depths.

9418 Quiet Depth

9418 Quiet Depth

« Previous PageNext Page »

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.