10 of the best: nature photographs.

Well stated; that man can live long enough to understand what life is all about.
Trials, tribulations, love, hate, knowledge, social intercourse, and the understanding that life is precious for its own sake.

Some never learn this lesson.

Isn't that half the fun - the thrill of the unknown, wondering IF ... ?

Nacreous/Mother-of-Pearl clouds over Norway

Glacier Bay, Alaska

Naw! I want to see more of this world before my time is up. Happy trails to you....

When I was at the Grand Canyon with friends a long time ago, I couldn't get very near to the cliff edge. Legs wouldn't move there. One of the friends, a pediatrician (not that that matters) just stood at the edge. Egads.

My acrophobia could be worse, but it's there. I'm ok when there is a barrier of some sort, fine going down glass elevators in tall buildings - but had a panic attack, my one and only one, driving a tight narrow mountain road sans barrier, road being an exaggeration (one car would have to wait or back up, unless they were both Fiat 500's). I couldn't stay there as another car might be approaching, but I was completely plotzed about moving ahead. I breathed deep and went ahead very slowly. Anyway, that was when I was more mobile/surer in space than I am now.

That photo reminds me of the one of Margaret Bourke-White (photographer) out on the edge of the Chrysler Building in New York. Cripes!

Here is a photo taken by a good photographer who resides in the area I used to live, Suk Choo Kim. We showed his work a few times at our gallery. He's very inventive with his photography, now doing some kind of combo photos, I take it. When I knew him, he had been playing for some time with polaroids as art.

I don't know if this is one of the combos or not - thinking not.



(Hi, Suk Choo, if you see this, it's Jo of the gallery in Eureka)

Adds, here's a good piece on him -
I know the writer too, as it happens. Anyway, very interesting photographer.

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/022604/artbeat0226.html

That wasn't our gallery they were talking about. I think we showed him after that.

Terrific tree.

This tree was commonly planted in the Los Angeles area. This particular street, I'm just guessing, is in the city of Claremont, because I found the photo by googling Jacaranda mimosafolia, Claremont, remembering some there.

If I had seen this picture without your explination I would not have believed it to be real trees.
Fantastic colourwise.

The blossoms also look great on lawns..
but also land on cars, so some people seriously don't like the trees. They are picky about climate, and need some judicious pruning.
It's one of my favorite trees.

I think I'll post a few more favorites from when I lived and designed in the southern California coastal area. Most are exotics to the area. I will check that as I look photos up. Los Angeles basin was a semi arid desert before being heavily settled. Jacarandas, for example, are native to Brazil.

Back in a bit.

Albizia julibrissin (silk tree, mimosa); native to Asia. I'm not as in love with this one as the Jacaranda. Sort of hard to find a great picture - re the form of the tree, but people like it for patios as it can be kept on the low side. My garden bible says it is often beautiful from above because of its undulating branching, but I've not seen it from above.



Chorisia speciosa (floss silk tree) - native to South America - I'm biased for them because of their form and beauty, with an interesting trunk and pretty flowers.

(That's a nice site for some Los Angeles area houses)





Chionanthus retusus (chinese fringe tree) - don't know much about this one, only saw one a couple of times.



Calodendren capense (cape chestnut); native to South Africa.
Looks like this is in Balboa Park in San Diego, site of the wonderful San Diego Zoo. (I don't say that about every zoo)



enough for now (I'm remembering many more)

Love your photos of trees, Ossobuco, really beautiful. Here's a photo I took locally, of trees on the riverside, showing one of my favourites, the weeping willow.

I love those too. Only saw them, besides at the LA Arboretum, when I was a kid and my parents and I drove for a reason I don't remember to a place just north of Detroit and stayed in a motel that was on some finger of land into the lake (Erie).
The motel, one of the first I was ever in, since earlier, we mostly stayed in cabins, was situated in a realm of willow trees, me enchanted.

They don't grow well in semi arid deserts (I live in one now too, more arid than Los Angeles). They are water needy. They'd look odd in the desert anyway.
After I was older and had studied this stuff, I called them Salix babylonica.

I'll try not to inundate us with my tree memories - but will add some off and on.

They are pretty common in the UK. A lot of people make the mistake of growing them in small gardens, not realising that their roots spread far and wide seeking water! That's when the problems start for the homeowner! But next to rivers they seem quite perfect.