Recent additions to Friends Gallery are posted here. The entire Friends Gallery collection, including those on this page, can be found in "More Friends Gallery" by clicking the blue glass button below. You can send a note to the photographers through this site by clicking the "Write Us" button at the bottom of this page. On this page, click any image featured below to view or download a full-size 900x600 or higher resolution version.
Dave Writes: "here's one I took last week while backpacking in the Sierras, in 20 Lakes Basin above Lee Vining. There was a solitary Skunk Cabbage in a little meadow, with one very happy Ladybird Beetle.' digital photo, Nikon 950, taken by Dave, July 2005.
Spring has sprung, Fall has fell.
Summer's here, and it's hotter than
it was yesterday.
Bees and the Dawn's Early Bright adorn a volunteer sunflower, with bougainvillea in the background as morning greets the Magic Porch. The plant grows unbidden from the compost pile, a Phoenix rising from a discarded seed. Photo 10,508 from my rusty but trusty Nikon 950, quick drawn from its shoulder holster, point-and-shoot on full automatic, 7 AM 5/12/04. 1600 X 1200.
Digital photo, Nikon E950, taken by Dave Norton, May 12, 2004. 1/106 second f11.1 focal length 19.5mm
"Natural History -- blooming jacaranda at dusk",
copyright David Swanson 2004
I'm nominating this for picture of the year ... so far! According to Floridata, Jacaranda acutifolia is a stunning natural beauty in its own right.
Swan has captured it at dusk, with a wonderful mix of golden sunlit branch structure, deep shade, deep blues and the violet-blue flowers.
There are many different specie of jacaranda. Of this one, Floridata says:
The jacaranda is a large deciduous tree with fine-textured, fern-like pinnate leaves. Young trees are upright but assume an irregular branching pattern that produces beautifully asymmetric open crowns as the trees age. From April to June (depending on species and location) the tree covers itself with showy trumpet shaped flowers that are about 1.5 inches wide and are arranged in panicles (pyramid shaped clusters) that grow at the tips of branches.
About Floridata: Floridata is a Tallahassee-based photo encyclopedia of regional landscape plants. I found it through Google, and I have come to rely on it for much of my plant-related photo research.
Digital photo, Fujifilm FinePix S7000, taken by David
Swanson, April 24, 2004. 1/120 sec, f2.8, ISO 200, focal length 7.8mm
Swan sends this nicely composed and vivid image, which I coveted as a desktop picture. I knew it as the plant Callistemon, or "Bottlebrush". In another lifetime, managing a retail plant and garden department in Oakland, I had sold hundreds in one gallon nursery cans. In California it is quite common, but I had never seen it grow larger than a large shrub, or perhaps a small tree.
Swan photographs natural history in the vicinity of Clearwater Florida, so I went right to the Floridata web site to see what form of Bottle Brush this might be. It appears to be Callistemon viminalis (of the myrtle family), or weeping bottle brush, native to New South Wales, Australia.
Floridata says: "It is a common landscape item in South Florida and is also popular in Southern
California".
"Weeping bottlebrush is a beautiful flowering tropical tree (or large shrub) that
boasts a springtime explosion of scarlet blossoms. An attractive tree even when
not in bloom, this bottlebrush grows to a height of about 20 feet, forming a
wide rounded crown if lower branches are pruned. Brilliant red stamens are
arranged into 6 inch cylinders that resemble the brushes used to clean bottles. "
Digital photo, Casio QV-2300UX, taken by David
Swanson, March 19, 2004. 1/60 sec, f2.8, focal length 6.4mm
posted April 24, 2004. 1024x768 download filesize 338KB.
Swan tries out his awesome new 6.1MP digital camera! This photo shows stunning color and detail. It also launched a big web botanical research project ...
I always ask the photographer, "Do you know what kind of plant/bird/plane/subject this is?" So this time, Swan sent it with the note, "Alex, Don't know what this is, at least not yet."
At first I thought it was a Hibiscus, but, no, Swan sent another shot that showed it was a bulb. Unlike money, hibiscus grows on trees. Or bushes, anyway. I posted an inquiry on My Page:
"Swan and I are trying to find out the name of this flower. I think is it in the Lily family, 'Crinum', and very possibly one of the many-talented, ubiquitous amyrillis."
Richard thought it definitely was an amaryllis. I asked Mila at work. She said, yes, it is the same as the other plant she brought into the office that I photographed: an amaryllis. And I once saw one of these in the nursery department at Rite Aid. So there. That's settled.
It turns out that saying "It's an amaryllis", botanically, is like saying "that cute little guy is a member of the bird family". These plants are related to lilies, daffodils, and narcissus. Also, to the common purple-blooming "amaryllis" that city and state highway departments use for lane and freeway dividers.
Based on the common name amaryllis, this could be Hippeastrum, Crinum or Lycoris. Based on my pictureless 1970 Western Garden Book and what I can find on the web, I'm going with Hippeastum. You will find on the web that even the bulb companies don't often mention the botanical name, many come from Holland, and most varieties are hybrids.
Digital photo, Fujifilm FinePix S7000, taken by David
Swanson, April 7, 2004. 1/223 sec, f2.8, ISO 200, focal length 7.8mm
California Fan Palm #1 , copyright Gary Newell 2004
Gary writes:
I have attached two photos featuring California Fan Palms at sunrise in the Palm Canyon Campground, Borrego Springs. There are 2,500 species of palms worldwide, with 11 native to North America. The largest of these, and the only palm tree native to western North America, is the California Fan Palm, not be confused with the Date Palm.
The Fan Palm has a large trunk, 2 to 3 feet in diameter, and grows 20 to 60 feet high. The Fan Palm has numerous evergreen leaves 3 to 5 feet long. These fan-shaped leaves spread from around the top of the tree while numerous old, dead leaves hang down against the trunk. For this reason it is sometimes also called the Petticoat Palm. In the spring, huge clusters of white, 3-lobed, funnel-shaped flowers, about 1/2 inch long, hang down from leaf bases.
The California Fan Palm does not produce dates, but does fruit berries about 1/2 inch in diameter. These berries have a large, brown seed surrounded by a thin, sweet pulp which native Americans ate fresh or dried. They also ground the seeds into flour.
Digital photo taken by Gary Newell, March 31, 2004. Minolta Dimage 21, 1/200 sec, f 5.6, ISO 50, focal length 5.8mm
California Fan Palm #2, copyright Gary Newell 2004
Gary writes:
I have attached two photos featuring California Fan Palms at sunrise in the Palm Canyon Campground, Borrego Springs. There are 2,500 species of palms worldwide, with 11 native to North America. The largest of these, and the only palm tree native to western North America, is the California Fan Palm, not be confused with the Date Palm.
The Fan Palm has a large trunk, 2 to 3 feet in diameter, and grows 20 to 60 feet high. The Fan Palm has numerous evergreen leaves 3 to 5 feet long. These fan-shaped leaves spread from around the top of the tree while numerous old, dead leaves hang down against the trunk. For this reason it is sometimes also called the Petticoat Palm. In the spring, huge clusters of white, 3-lobed, funnel-shaped flowers, about 1/2 inch long, hang down from leaf bases.
The California Fan Palm does not produce dates, but does fruit berries about 1/2 inch in diameter. These berries have a large, brown seed surrounded by a thin, sweet pulp which native Americans ate fresh or dried. They also ground the seeds into flour.
Digital photo taken by Gary Newell, March 31, 2004. Minolta Dimage 21, 1/80 sec, f 5.6, ISO 50, focal length 5.8mm
This photo is from the annual Temecula Rod Run. Of this hot rod, Dave Norton writes:
The rods are among perhaps three hundred in town for the weekend. The louvers adorn the trunk of a fine '32 Ford, one of dozens of individual expressions on the same theme. The hot rodders of '50s are still around, gray-haired and paunchy, but eager to sit and chat about the (good old) days when these machines were pieced together from junk yard bits on a shoestring budget and used to troll for chicks past Bob's Big Boy on Saturday nights. Just show some interest in these machines and their creators light up like a Christmas tree! The passion, alas, is passing to a generation of purchasers of soul-less Japanese rice-burners. Technology over art. Well, we are what we are. Go hug an old hot-rodder.
Digital photo, Nikon E950, taken by Dave Norton, February 28, 2004. 1/63 second f8.1 focal length 9.5mm
On a visit to Yosemite Valley during the summer of 2002, at a place called
Swinging Bridge, I saw a coyote patrolling the area, apparently on the hunt
for food scraps left behind by picnickers. At the time I thought it odd for
this wild and naturally wary creature to be in such close proximity to humans.
The coyote was gone before I could snap a photo.
Recently, on a winter day, I was in Yosemite Valley. As I approached Swinging
Bridge, there was El Coyote stopping cars on the road looking for handouts.
This time I got the picture.
posted February 15, 2004
the complete collection
About This Page
This page showcases serious amateur photography by people who know a good picture when they see one -- and managed to capture that picture.
Once again, there's more. Click the "More Friends Gallery" blue glass button to see the complete collection as a slideshow, or download individual monitor-size screensavers.
Who captures these pictures? This could be anybody who has captured that "once in a lifetime" shot. We may or may not have had formal training. Some of us manage to capture more than others, and, we suspect, those that do, try harder, or they take more pictures. I almost hate to admit it, but this insight shines a little light on that hackneyed Warhol phrase, "Everybody is famous for 15 minutes".
In the case of "Friends Gallery", web space used to be severely limited. We are now able to host a larger selection of interesting photography work. If you have a photo you're very pleased with, "save it for web" and submit a medium sized sample, size 900x600 pixels or larger, but in no event larger than 150K in size. We'll be delighted to consider it for inclusion.
The rules are the same as elsewhere at SummitLake.com. We reserve the right to decide what to post. All photos are copyrighted by the person to whom the photo is credited. Photos are digitally watermarked. Users may view and download for personal pleasure, but may not reproduce, sell, alter, or broadcast these images to others.
Unless, of course, you are the person who took that great photograph! For more information on our PHOTO department, click the button below. The photos on these pages are distinctive originals. We surely hope you enjoy them!
We are using the same web photo browser for the slide show as regular visitors are used to in More Photo Gallery. Click any image in the thumbnail gallery below, and you begin the show at that point. Then, like "More Photo Gallery", the show is NOT "automatic"; please click on the NAV buttons below the image to get to the next picture! As before, there are text descriptions for each image below the 600x400 picture. Downloadable high resolution images are available by clicking the download link at the bottom of the text accompanying each individual picture. For the most pleasing images, we always recommend setting your monitor Display Properties to "True Color (32 bit)" (PC), or "millions of colors" (Macintosh).
Copyright Alex Forbes and friends as credited by photo, 2002
