Southern California – Page 2 – Lawrence Pallant Photography

Yesterday, I went out to Lake Henshaw to explore. and relax taking photos. I visited one of my favorite cottonwood trees in the meadow, where the fog was just starting to roll in, wrapping around the tree. I loved the shape of the branches. A friend commented they looked almost like stained glass patterns. The tree stood alone on a hill, surrounded by mist, which made the scene even more enchanting.

After spending some time with the cottonwood, I moved on to another favorite: a giant willow, bent, and twisted. Using my wide-angle lens, I captured the intricate angles of its winding branches. I like to imagine the tree as fantastical creatures with limb or appendages reaching out. What do you see when you look at these?

Finally, I walked down to the lake to photograph the autumn willows reflected in the water. At one point, a bird swam by, beneath the arch of some branches. It paused and turned to look at me right as if to say, what are you doing here.

Into Stillness – As I was capturing the scene, a coot swam beneath the arching willow and turned to glance my way.

To see a few more from this gallery or view larger, click here.

This year we had an exceptionally beautiful ceanothus, or California Lilac, bloom in southern California. The hillsides and trails on the way to Double Peak in San Marcos shared in this bloom.

I usually to hike to the top of Double Peak once a week as a workout. The view is stunning, but finding photographic compositions can be difficult due to the urban setting and a nearby water tower. While hiking recently with friends, one of them found a composition that hid the water tower behind a blooming ceanothus. I got inspired! When hiking a week later, I captured a similar shot with my cell phone. Click here to see this full collection.

Ceanothus on Double Peak

Rocky Ridge
I was inspired to try to find other compositions. A week later, on my way back from Volcan Mountain, with storm clouds on the horizon I explored an area near the peak. Unfortunately, the ceanothus was past its peak and the wind was howling. I decided to focus on a rocky area as a foreground since rocks were stable in the wind.

I had to jam myself into a tight space with my tripod. These shots were all exposure bracketed, which means I took three shots (in this case) with different exposures to capture the dynamic range.

Clearing Storm
There is a lot going on here. Along with the sun casting beams through the clouds and the blue ceanothus, there is rain falling from one of the storm clouds.

Category: Southern California

Foggy Morning at Lake Henshaw

Double Peak at Sunset