Sunday, May 01, 2011

Post Script: I've begun to get inquiries about the "editing" of these photographs of the Sacramento-Central Valley hills. I got the shots by pulling onto the shoulder of Interstate 5 and aiming at the hills in the distance. I stopped every five to ten minutes because the hills, like some other living things, are too beautiful to ignore. The images aren't "Photoshopped." This is exactly the way the hills looked on the first day of May. There was no need at all to use editing tricks to "enhance" what was already exactly right.

Driving from north to south along the western edge of California’s great central valley is always a journey that delights the senses, and at this time of year the hills are alive and changing moment by moment. South of the San Francisco Bay Area the hills still wear their winter-spring fur. Midway down the valley the hills are browner with only a hint of green still on them. There is unheard visual music in these hills. Greener hills hum. Farther south the drier grasses cry out for rain or mist or fog that can’t come again until at least November. The lyrical images below are a symphony. Click on these images to see them larger.












4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is a lush time of year, indeed! A sensual symphony, eye candy, Turkish delight! Dogwood, tulips, hyacinth, lilac, even the carpet of petals dropped from cherry trees, adds to the music. And yet, we dance to a more martial beat today. Even I want to tap my feet, but hold back. It is hard to hear the lovely, mellow, and peaceful tones of spring in the midst of the loud brass and drum beat of war. The President won the next election yesterday, I'd rather he had done it in another way. I no/know longer call myself "a Christian", but now I say I'm a follower of Jesus. The fragments of his teachings that survive seem to indicate that he was an unusual man, who spoke the truth even at the risk if his own life. "Love your neighbor, love the stranger, love your enemies" is some of the reasons I follow him. Yesterday is all about the sweet sound of revenge and it will not grow into anything springlike or beautiful. Oh well...what do I know really?
Bob

dcpeg said...

Once again, you've proven what a gift eye you have! I want to reach out and touch those rolling hills.

Unknown said...

I can understand why you stopped every 5 minutes to take a phot. Amazing!

Anonymous said...

I saw those same hills Sunday on my way to Oakland.
I am so glad I drove!

Dorothy