How do you photograph an entire redwood tree? It’s not easy, but the result can be spectacular, especially when it’s done by National Geographic’s pros.
No, I’m not simply trying to curry favor with my mother-in-law. Her name is Cynthia Jay, from Huntington, New York, and she is an exquisite painter and art curator–and a polymath.
She is also learning to use her new camera, the same model that I so often carry around, the Canon SD1100SI (costs less than $200). Cynthia is in St. Louis this weekend, and she shared some recent photos she took in San Francisco. I found two of them especially beautiful. The first was taken in the San Francisco Academy of Sciences Aquarium.
The subject of the second photo is a tree opposite the DeYoung Museum:
You’ll sometimes see festive indoor holly displays during the holiday season. The magic is already happening outdoors, though, and it’s fun to watch how it naturally happens. These beautiful berry-filled branches erupt without any human assistance. Truly, there are two big holly trees in front of my family’s house, and all we ever do is [...]
My conference wrapped up today. Tomorrow, they would have had to drag me onto a plane back to St. Louis, except that I miss my family so much. I’ll leave willingly, but with some sadness.
I’ve also fallen hopelessly in love with Oregon. Lots of bicycle commuters. Lots of free spirits, [...]
In 1964, when a living bristlecone pine tree in California was determined to be almost 5,000 years old, it gave Bible literalists a big scare. After all, literalists (young earthers) believe that the earth is only about 6,000 years old. Was that bristlecone pine tree around for the “big flood?” Not quite: young earth adherents argue that that 5,000 year old [...]
In 2009, many of us will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of his publication of On the Origin of Species.
In these modern times, where Darwin is vilified by millions of people who cherry-pick their apocryphal holy books, it is refreshing and humbling to review the many accomplishments that make [...]
