Day 12

Newberry Springs, off Route 66

copyright Jennifer Geisert

And now for a shameless plug:

If you're in the southern California area, and you're headed to the Orange County Fair anytime between now and August 3rd, swing by the visual arts building and check out the photography section. There you shall find the above photograph, taken by myself, Jennifer Geisert, and a blue ribbon. (Yay!!) You shall also find my other entry, entitled Sown, which has been blogged some time ago.

I have only entered the Orange County Fair once before. I think I was in 1st or 3rd grade, and I wrote a short story to go along with a computer "animated" (or as animated as anything on a Commodor from the '80's could be) picture. I think it was about a castle and a prince and princess. It probably wasn't me that entered the fair, probably someone did it for me, most likely without my knowing. Anyway, my story won 3rd place, and I was given $5.00. My dad, who at the time was writing short stories, told me that that was more money than he'd ever made from a piece of writing.

So anyway, go to the fair! If visual art isn't your thing, maybe Alaskan pig racing is. They've got that there too. They also have deep-fried pickles this year, from what I've heard.

Expect another shameless plug in a few days...

Day 5

Sown
Copyright Jennifer Geisert

In October of 2007, local wilderness areas burned in some pretty horrific wildfires, but you might not know it today. The dry season was followed by an exceptionally wet season, and the abundance of life is unbelievable. Even the oak trees with their blackened trunks and charred branches had new green shoots and leaves springing from them.

Perhaps a Shooting Star

Copyright Jennifer Geisert

Seeing wildflowers and mustard carpeting the hillside, you'd never be able to picture the way the land looked 6 months ago. My guide assured me that absolutely everything we saw today had been burned to the ground. You can still see some evidence, where the trees have burned so completely and hot that they've left ghostly impressions in glassy ash on the ground, the only bare patches among the new plants.

Limestone Canyon

Copyright Jennifer Geisert

I've always loved photographing the local canyons, so today was a special treat for me. I'd been invited to hike through areas restricted to the general public, areas that you can only access with a guide. It was a lot to take in. I need to go away and process today, so I'll leave with a wonderful quote my fiance saw:

"Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."