We have had some strange atmospheric conditions around here, with smoky skies and all. Three different days I had seen the setting sun as a large red dot--but was never in a place I could photograph it that way. I finally found a location not far from home with a view of the setting sun, but instead of the red circle, this is what I saw. Truthfully, to the naked eye, it did not look quite this orange, but this is how the sensor captured it. In fact I actually desaturated the color a bit! As the sun got closer to going down, it came to a thicker layer of smoke--the actual horizon is well below what it appears to be here, but the sun was obscured by the smoke as it went below this level. Welcome to my world! 10/8/20 My website: www.sparhawkphotography.com
Right before the lockdown, I made a trip down to San Diego, including a visit to the town of Imperial Beach. Right by the beach, I saw this statue of Captain Morgan on the roof of a bar and restaurant, Ye Old Plank Inn. I realized it referenced Captain Morgan Rum. My curiosity was piqued, and I looked up just who Captain Morgan was. Maybe everyone already knows this, but the rum is named after the 17th century Welsh privateer of the Carribean, Sir Henry Morgan, who died in 1688. He was a privateer, pirate, a wealthy plantation owner, and later was Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. Since 2017 the rum's label slogan has been "Live Like the Captain". 5/2/20 My website: www.sparhawkphotography.com
From the place where I photographed the big cottonwood tree and the wild and crazy clouds, this is the Whitewater River, from which the canyon and nature preserve get their name. The river is a small permanent stream that originates in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows some 50 miles through the desert, past Palm Springs and other desert cities, and eventually flows into the Salton Sea. From this viewpoint, it is about .2 mile from the Pacific Crest Trail, the long distance hiking trail that runs from the Mexican border in southern California, and extends all the way to the Canadian border. Some trail-worn hikers on the trail use the nature preserve for camping along the trail 1/20/20 Judith Sparhawk
