Tag Archives: fall

When It All Goes Wrong on (or off) the Bull

The first few of the bull riders at Rowell Ranch Rodeo seemed to do pretty well and make it for the full duration. It turns out that this was an aberration and the remainder of the riders seemed to have a lot of problems. Some still went the distance but a lot of them were thrown off. Getting thrown from a bull is a risky proposition.

Let’s put aside the problem with falling at speed from an animal. Instead, contemplate being on the ground and a little disoriented when you need to get out of the way of a seriously pissed off bull that weighs a lot! This is where the other people come in to play. Their role is to distract the attention of the bull away from the rider while someone helps him get to his feet. It is something that looks perilous and, I imagine, it is.

Autumnal Vines in Napa Valley

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Fall color is usually associated with trees. However, grape vines are also prone to some nice color changes through autumn and we took a ride up to Napa Valley to see how things were looking. We probably we there a little after the peak of the colors but there were still some nice colors to be seen. A good number of vines were already devoid of leaves but others had developed a strong red hue. Heading up to Calistoga, we could get up on the hillside and see the valley floor below us. The variation in the different fields helped to emphasize the colors more in my opinion.

Yountville in Fall

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It seems like a long time ago that we were in the transition from summer to winter. Fall in California is a little later than in some other places but, even so, it was still a while ago. We spent a day up in the wine country back then and the colors in the trees and the vines were very nice. I think we had missed the peak of the color for the vines but, as I was walking around Yountville, the sun was bringing out some great color in the trees.

Driving in to town we had passed a great variety of colors so I decided to walk back down through the town to take a closer look. Everywhere I looked there was another tree with the leaves glowing in the light. It was great. Whether looking along the road or up through the foliage, you couldn’t help but stare at the vibrancy of everything. It is cool to get good sun when the colors in the trees are nice too. Sometimes in the past I have struggled with getting the best of fall colors when the light became flat while the trees were at their best. Not so this time!

Fall in Berkeley

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The UC Botanic Garden in Berkeley was beginning to show the signs of fall when we visited. Located in the hills above Berkeley, the climate is probably quite different to other areas nearby. In a previous trip to the area, the clouds were rolling across the hillside making it cold and damp when it was warm and sunny a short distance away. I imagine this impacts what thrives on the hills. Some of the plants were clearly suited to arid conditions. However, there were signs of the trees turning red and brown as fall set in so obviously they have quite a variety of plants as would befit such a garden.

I don’t know much about plants and so cannot name what we saw. Instead, I shall share a few of the views through the gardens which looked particularly nice given the lower angle of the sun as the time of day and year.

Onset of Fall Colors

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When talking about fall, the most obvious photography option is foliage. A favorite spot to go to see the fall colors is the Morton Arboretum out at Lisle. The full colors had not come into their own but, with a number of trips coming up for work and pleasure, I wasn’t going to have a chance to get out there before it was all likely to be over. When it is done, it is done very quickly. Therefore, an early visit seemed worth a shot.

We were certainly too early. However, there was still some interesting color developing with some of the trees. You could see what was going to look very good before too long so, while the conditions this year might not have been ideal for fall color, I suspect the large number of visitors they get at this time of year won’t be too disappointed. We got there later in the day to make the most of the nicer light and had a wander amongst some of the trees. Irrespective of the color or time of year, the arboretum is one of the more pleasant places to be.

I also wanted to play around with the fish-eye amongst the trees. This was something I had been thinking about for a while so had a quick roam amongst some of the stands. However, it was getting a little late so I had to get some quick shots. This is something I will come back to try again and spend more time finding the sort of trees that might suit what I have in mind.