A Greater Roadrunner, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Beep Beep, these guys are cool!  While we were in Anza-Borrego earlier this month I would spot this guy cruising through our campsite from time to time hunting for bugs – fun to watch.

Canon 5D Mark III, 70-200 f/2.8 lens with 1.4x converter at 300 mm, ISO 400, f/5.6 and 1/1600 of a second.

Great Horned Owl nesting in a palm tree, Borrego Springs, California.

I was watching this nesting Great Horned Owl in 90 degree temperatures last week.  As I sit here and watch a half of foot of fresh powder snow fall from the sky this morning at my home office in Alaska, I must admit that it seems more like 6 months ago then 6 days.

Sunrise this morning just a short time ago.  Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

As a kid we called these guys “horny toads”.  They look like something that should be roaming with the Dinosaurs!  This Flat-tail Horned Lizard was in Coyote Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was captured with a Canon 5D III, 70-200 f/2.8 lens with a 2x converter at ISO 200, f/5.6 and 2,000 of a second shutter speed.

I spotted him on my way to a mountain bike ride.  Fortunately it rain across the trail or I don’t think I would have ever spotted it.  Look at how well it blends into the desert.

A blooming Fishhook Cactus, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Another storm pasted through this area late last week, but didn’t bring too much in the way of precipitation.  Temperatures forecasted to reach into the 90′s this week won’t do the limited and late wildflower bloom any favors.

The best area in the Park that I have seen has been along the Elephant Tree Trail.  Here you can find some nice cactus blooms especially Beaver-tail and Barrel.  There are a wide variety of other wildflowers – not the thick fields that get photographers excited, but a nice variety that should interest the flower peepers including poppies, phacelia, lavender and Desert Chicory to name just a few.  There are many small blooms that I didn’t take the time to identify.

In Borrego Palm Canyon you can find more lavender, lots of Chuparosa and a little Brittlebush along with other wildflowers.

Yesterday in Coyote Canyon I spotted small patches of Sand Verbena, but it is very limited.  The famous fields along Henderson Canyon Road are empty.

On a positive note, I’m seeing lots of cactus with buds – I think there will be widespread cactus blooming later this month.

A mountain biker crossing the Goat Canyon Trestle in the Carrizo Gorge.   At 200 feet tall and 750 feet long, this beautiful trestle it the longest, tallest curved wooden trestle ever built in the United States.

I have been wanting to visit this amazing structure located in a remote portion of Anza-Borrego for some time.  A year ago, fellow photographer and writer Bert Gildart hatched a plan to mountain bike old railroad to this trestle.  We were able to complete our plan this past week and it was a blast!

I’m getting ready for another workshop this weekend, but will provide more details and images of this trip next week.

A stormy recent morning at our campground in Borrego Springs.  We have had a nice variety of weather this year – from cold, stormy weather like you see here that brought fresh snow down the mountains, to temps approaching 90!

The fact that I was out last night photographing this cool statue, one of many in and around Borrego Springs, probably speaks volumes about the current wildflower conditions – there aren’t too many right now.

Anza-Borrego  is well know for its desert wildflower bloom, and because of this, a lot of people like to read about the predictions for the current season – myself included.  Some years there just aren’t any wildflowers, but a good bloom has a big economic impact on this community, so it makes sense that wildflowers are the source of a lot of speculations.  And us nature photographers love a good bloom.  So, here is a bit of a summary from what I have read, heard and seen over the past week.  In short, there is good news and bad news, let me start with the bad news.

There are many factors that lead to a good bloom and the relationship between most of them are really not all that well understood.  But, there is no question that lots of rain is a good thing.  The rainfall totals are based upon a June 1 water year, so year to date figures begin in June.  Two years ago was a good but not great wildflower year, and the visitor center had already received 7.43 inches of rain by this date.  Last year was a poor year and the visitor center had received  3.60 inches of rain by this date.  By comparison, this year to date, the visitor center has only received 2.93 inches of rain, well less then half of two years ago.

So what is the good news?  Well these figures were as of yesterday, February 19th.  Last night it rained pretty steady all night long.  I haven’t seen the latest figures, and I know rain on a RV can sound like more then it really is, but judging from all the standing water this morning, it was significant.

In addition, It is helpful to have some rain in the Fall, but most beneficial to have the majority of the rain during the winter months.  If most of the rain came in September, most of it would be wasted.  Even though this years totals are very low, much of it came during the winter.  This area received over an inch of rain at the end of January, and more rain last night could be perfect timing.

We have only been in the area for about a week, and already I have seen some big changes in the desert – lots of areas are turning green.  Now granted, a lot of the green could be weeds, but it looks like some of it is wildflowers beginning to sprout, at least in certain areas.

So I agree with what most of the experts are saying and there will be a wildflower bloom this year.  That is good, I have been here on years where there isn’t a bloom, and it is a bummer.  Now the question is – how good will it be?  Stay tuned for updates.

Another new one from Crystal Cove State Park, California.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

This was a recent image from Crystal Cove, Newport Beach, California.

This is one of the boat in last night’s Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.  This has been a tradition in the area for over 104 years.

Crystal Cove State Park, California.

This was sunset last night.  Crystal Cove is a beautiful area – I can’t believe I have photographed here before!

Fireworks over the Newport Beach Fun Zone for the start of the annual Christmas Boat Parade.

There were some incredibly decorated boats for this popular tradition.  There were news reports that some boats would be appearing without any lights in protest of recent increases in dock fees from the City of Newport Beach.  Fortunately, I didn’t see any as I’m not so sure that would have gone over very well with the general public.  Rich people upset with an increase in fees for parking their fancy yachts isn’t exactly the kind of cause that will rally the masses!

Well after a busy week I finally have a chance to do an update.  This was last night in Newport Beach, California.

Our travels to Arizona went well.  The next day we drove to Anza-Borrego where we encountered a pretty good rain storm – the area really needed it!  We have now moved on to Newport Beach and I’ll be here for the next week and a half or so.  Unfortunately, this isn’t my new boat, although I would be thrilled with the little skiff at the stern!

Well I had planned for sometime to write about and promote my Anza-Borrego Desert State Park photography workshop coming up in March, 2013.  I’m glad to see everyone else is paying attention to our photo workshops because it filled before I could even promote it!  So this week we added a second workshop and it has already started to fill.  I only having permitting for these two workshops, so when the second one fills, that will be it.

As many of you know, we usually spend a month in Anza-Borrego each winter – a place I have been visiting since I was a child.  For the last few years I have been offering this popular weekend workshop.  When I say workshop, I mean it will be heavy on teaching and discussing photography – everything from light to composition.  I won’t be taking photos myself, this frees me up to look through viewfinders, give individual attention and even hold reflectors or carry gear!

Most people haven’t heard of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego is a vast, beautiful state park located in the Sonoran Desert South of Palm Springs and West of San Diego.  For a better feel, here are many more photos of Anza-Borrego.

I have been trying some new things here in Anza-Borrego including moving night time-lapses like you see here.  I know some of my late night efforts have been ruined by unexpected headlights    But, I have a feeling some might be working out.

Typically I will put these together once I’m home on a much faster computer, but wanted to assemble one while on the road just to see what is working and what isn’t, and since I did, I thought I would share it here.  So, I do have one question, what do you think of the airplanes passing by?  They look like shooting stars, but are planes.  If necessary, I could avoid them by going later at night and/or with some post processing effort.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Arizona.

I thought the patterns created by this plant were interesting.

Moon rising over the badlands of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I hadn’t planned on returning to this location yet again on this trip – but couldn’t think of a better place to photograph the moon then this lunar looking landscape.

This was actually Wednesday night, the night before the actual full moon.  The night or two before it is full is the best time to photograph the moon because you can capture it while there is still enough light from the setting sun to light up the landscape.  On the actual night of the full moon, it usually appears after it is too dark.

Fonts Point, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was sunset last night (Monday) from Fonts Point.

Mike, Frank Sandie, Lauren, Dennie and me in a slot canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Just completed a great workshop last weekend in Anza-Borrego.  It was really fun thanks to a wonderful group of passionate photographers!  I enjoy the chance to talk photography and share some of my favorite places with a group like this.

This is the 5th workshop I have done here over the years.  I would have thought by now I would have a routine down, but it has worked out to be just the opposite – every workshop ends up being very different.  On a couple I have had heavy rain, on others lots of wildflowers – and so on.  This year we had very nice weather with temps in the mid 80′s along with some wonderful early morning and late evening light.  We didn’t have too much in the way of wildflowers, but that allowed us to see some of the other cool areas around Anza-Borrego such as this slot canyon.

I had calls right up to Friday inquiring about availability or other weekends and unfortunately this year I only obtained a permit for one weekend, so I apologize for the lack of more options, but I’m pretty sure I will be doing one or two more next year at this time.