Lush Green in the Deep Forest

This is Russian Gulch Falls, found about a mile up an easy trail in the redwood forest just outside the little town of Mendocino in northern California. I've always loved the light that was present on this day.. you might not expect the shady, deep forest to have much character light-wise, but as you can see, it does. There is a super soft quality to the already cloudy light filtering through the canopy of trees that highlights the greens, but still allows the beautiful deep shadows in the rocks and decaying wood.

Of the 3 main wine country regions in northern California (the others being Napa and Sonoma), Mendocino is the most remote and least commercialized. The winding road to get here travels past gorgeous vineyards in the Anderson Valley, straight into dark redwood forests and along the wild rocky coast up to the town, which is full of art galleries and boutiques but still manages to remind you of the nineteenth century.

I really wish this area was a little closer to home for me.. it's a bit too far to drive unless we're staying for a while, so we have to fly to Oakland and still drive 3 hours from there... well worth it though.

What I feel is that the picture-taking process, anyway a greater part of it, is an intuitive thing. You can't go out and logically plan a picture, but when you come back, reason then takes over and verifies or rejects whatever you've done. So that's why I say that reason and intuition are not in conflict--they strengthen each other.

- Wynn Bullock

Some Wine Country Colors

No special subject comes to mind today, so here is a simple scene I caught 5-6 years ago while on a morning walk in Napa Valley. I'm sure almost everyone in the world knows that this is California's premier wine growing region (if you throw in Sonoma and Mendocino, which are both adjoining counties) although there are many other smaller regions also making wine these days. Even here in southern California we have quite a few wineries. However, it's very tough to beat this area north of San Francisco for sheer beauty and rural atmosphere. Different than Europe, but very attractive in it's own way. Sonoma and Mendocino both run up along the rugged coastline and Napa is a bit more inland. There are many nice B&B's to stay in, excellent restaurants and great wine to sample everywhere you go. This shot, I believe, was taken in early December, after the harvest but before real "winter", if you want to call it winter at all around here. Not to be missed if you ever visit California.
Not really the best image quality here; I remember I shot it hand-held but don't recall what camera I had with me at the time... I've always liked this scene, though.