Nikki's Photography

Awesome sunset near Little Rock, Arkansas – heading back to Dallas…and Happy 26th Birthday, Adrian!

During the summer in northern Alberta, the sun can be seen on the horizon late into the night… 11 p.m. Edmonton, Alberta

Oklahoma landscape at sunset

A colony of cormorants lives on SS Palo Alto, a beached concrete ship at Seacliff State Beach, CA

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Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA

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Mohave Desert sunset near Edwards Air Force Base, CA. 5,000 wind turbines all spinning miles into the horizon is a thrilling sight to see, even if you don’t appreciate their great contributions. I suppose I’m pretty naive in assuming that everyone everywhere holds the sake of the planet in highest regard, even at the risk of paying higher taxes and energy bills…which are inevitable anyway no matter what resources we consume, and if we depend on others to create electrical energy for us.
Proposition 7, a Renewable Energy Generation Initiative Statute proposes all Government owned and private Utility companies in the State of California to generate 20% of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010, 40% by 2020, and 50% by 2025, with possible penalties for not complying. I was kind of surprised that there is a controversy at all until hearing arguments from both sides. Now I’m confused! Who do I believe? A contraversial statute with good arguements from both sides. For details visit voterguide.sos.ca.gov/audio/proposition7.htm
To give an idea of scale of each Wind Turbine at the Tehachapi Pass, California, apparently six people can fit inside to fix and maintain the turbines.

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New Mexico sunset, Hwy 40 going West.

The Sunflower plant has so much character. Here the flower heads droop with the weight of seeds against the backdrop of a spectacular sunset — silhouettes nodding and swaying against the sky. Amazing!

I was just coming home from shopping so I missed capturing the double rainbow arching over our neighborhood after a short storm. Both ends were visible, and rare sights like that are so electrifying! I hurried home to get the camera, then still managed a few shots of the golden glow accentuating everything as the sunset.

Thunderbird Park, Royal BC Museum, Victoria, BC

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Arbutus trees, first thumbnail, only grow in the Pacific Northwest, here on Salt Spring Island, B.C. and in parts of China, nowhere else in the world. They are popular carve-your-name-in-the-trunk trees because the bark heals into a soft well-defined scar. A few trees on the island have been abused like this. Still, they couldn’t take the beautiful away! Groups of three and four Fluted Swallowtails spiraled in and out of the sunlight as I walked down the mountain road on Salt Spring Island. Fortunately one briefly settled on a fir tree.

Neighborhood Cypress at sunset, Lewisville, TX

Just off the ferry at sunset, Washington, North Carolina

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Alain and I flew to North Carolina for three days – a little business trip and I tagged along—he threatened to take my camera with him and I was sure I could not manage without it! We drove around the eastern countryside between Raleigh and Washington, NC through old, old towns. It takes a looong time for wooden doors to shred, and a looong time for conditions to be just right for vines to sprout then twirl round and round, entwined and squished between panes of glass …old, old farms: tobacco, cotton, peanuts.. and an interesting gas station.

There is a lot of history in North Carolina – fossils, settlers and Civil War history. We stayed at Kitty Hawk (first flight – Wright bros.) and walked the shores at various places along the narrow coast of the Outer Banks. We watched the sun rise and dolphins feed – too far away for good photos, even with the telephoto. As soon as the sun rose they swam away.
Along Cape Hatteras, groups of Grackles ate ripe grass seeds, bouncing up and down on the stems, their bodies too heavy for the tall grasses. Just off the 2 1/2 hr. long ferry at Swan Quarter, and sunset with a short, wide rainbow after a storm that we managed to escape and watch from the better side.

NO OLF – we were curious about this sign in many people’s yards. The following website shows a video describing how the U.S. Navy has purchased over 30,000 acres of land near the eastern North Carolina coast, planning to move their pilot training program from Virginia. Part of the huge controversy is that over 75 families would be forced to leave their homes, many of them farming that land for generations. The human issues are enough, but the cause and effect on the wildlife and ecology would be drastic and irreparable. Thousands of ducks and large flocks of snow geese that feed in the area annually would no longer have sanctuary. The large birds would also be a danger to the jets.

On Pony Island a large sand crab tried to buff up and look tough, but it was quite vulnerable there out in the open; all the other crabs scurried into holes but this one stayed, trying to hide in footprints, which offered no protection if we had been birds looking for a hearty meal. Great fun to watch the behavior for a while. It’s clearly outlined crab-shaped shadow following it everywhere, creating a few graphic photos that are perfect resource material for drawings and paintings but do not stand alone as good photography because it was moving so fast.