Caffein Inspired
Occasionally, I have the great pleasure of meeting some of you who read this blog. Some weeks ago, Peter Robbins – who’d contributed to the site – called to say he’d retired from nuclear medicine, loved photography, loved fall color and could we chat?
So, we arranged to meet yesterday at Karen’s Bakery in Folsom for a cup of Joe and one of their sinfully good pastries. We chatted about photography, this website, fall color and all things in between. Off he went, and so did I.
Fortified with caffein Peter set off only to learn that his wife had a busy afternoon that day, and he was free to explore. Perhaps this would be the moment to begin that coffee table book about fire-scarred landscapes he’d considered creating. He even had a working title for it … “Burnscapes.”
His random exploration led him over Luther Pass and through the Hope Valley where he thought, “John would kill me if I didn’t grab a few shots.” He found the valley to be mostly past peak, but there were bright spots that will last through the weekend, so that inspired him to coin a headline, “Still Hope for Hope Valley.”
Peter decided to shoot the trees blurred in an opposite way than Vishal Mishra did a few days ago. In Vishal’s shot, a red sports car was sharp and the trees a blur. In Peter’s capture, a red truck is blurred and the trees sharp. One approach focuses on the car, the other on the trees. Both make me smile.
As seen, the Hope Valley has “nice yellow to rich orange,” though lime groves still remain here and there, indicating that peak will last at least another week along CA 88.
Peak color now climbs the hillside behind Red Lake Creek Cabin, though here too there’s a stand of limey aspen still to peak.
All in all, the Hope Valley is about as good as it gets right now and is a definite GO NOW!
Peter and I plan to have another cup when we meet early one November morn to drive up to Colusa to shoot birds (photographically) and the breeze. Perhaps he’ll add a few wildlife shots to his collection of Burnscape images. Sure hope so.
- Hope Valley (7,300′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!
