It had been a while since Josh and I had done some night shooting, so while we were in Tehachapi for Austin & Heather’s wedding, we stopped to take some night photos of the windmills.  Seeing them up close in the moonlight, whirring and creaking all around us, was a mysterious, alien feeling.

Interestingly, all of the long exposures with the moving blades in the foreground had this nebulous cloud in the stars around it that wasn’t visible to the naked eye. I’m guessing that the moving air actually bent the light coming into my camera from the stars beyond.  Maybe someone smarter than me can tell me why that would happen!

Only a couple of them were motionless, which provides a good context for the movement of the rest.

Rachel and I went camping at Montaña de Oro State Park back in April. We didn’t know much about it, except that it’s called “Mountain of Gold” because of the wildflowers that cover its hillsides in the spring. We arrived at night, and besides an incident of two coyotes trying to kill each other next to our tent in the middle of the night, we were absolutely fascinated with what we found the next morning!

We were also surprised to learn that this is one of the parks in danger of being shut down if Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal passes. We promptly wrote letters to him. It’s a stunning place, and I hope that the state government can keep it available for many more people to enjoy!

Want more? Check out the complete gallery here!

And while Australia has fascinating scenery, most of the time I was there, it was gloomy or raining. So I set after some of the other interesting things Oz has to offer: the animal kingdom!

I call him Jerome.

My fav…

Mmm, take you to Yoda I will…

Lorikeets are cool…

Lovebirds!

Aussie sheepdogs!!!

And of course…

Kangaroos really are funny creatures.

And not to neglect the smaller creatures: