Made a bad, bad mistake. I spotted some turkey vultures nearby and photographed them flying up close. Later on, when I returned to the location of my previous photo, I accidentally took a series of RAW photos (because the cable release was locked), forgot about my bird photos, and formatted the card. Thought I was being smart, but I did not realize my mistake until I downloaded my photos and discovered that some photos were missing.

When luminous clouds float overhead, you must obey the camera and head out, even if it’s sweltering hot. That’s the situation I found myself in last Friday. I headed further down the Stevens Creek Trail than I usually go during my lunch walk and discovered this boardwalk.

Next time, I’ll revisit this place again with tripod in tow.

Antelope Canyon was an absolutely breathtaking experience. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when visiting in the middle of winter. The sun was not going to be at the right angles to obtain those famous beam of light photos. But, onward we went. There is no shortage of gorgeous Antelope Canyon photos online, many perhaps chromatically-enhanced via a software program or two. Still, the tour of Antelope Canyon exceeded my expectations. The place was radiant with walls rich in hues of red, orange and purple.

Short of returning there to that remote locale, the next best thing is re-working three year-old photos.

Nikon D7000, Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VR, ISO 100, 24mm, f/10, 3.0s

The former federal penitentiary Alcatraz Island is located in San Francisco Bay. The more common view is from the City of San Francisco. This photo comes from Treasure Island off the Bay Bridge.

All that survives from the Sutro Baths is the concrete foundation of the old bath house. These ruins are located along the Pacific coast of San Francisco. I was attempting a long-exposure photo to smooth out the waves crashing against the rocks just off the coast. However, in bright mid-day sun, even with the Vari-ND filter set to maximum (10 stops) and the aperture at f/32, the shutter speed was only a short 20 seconds.

Nikon D800, Nikkor AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, 62mm, ISO 80, f/32, 20.0s

The morning started off completely cloudy. I thought that the Super Moon would be a bust. However, by late afternoon, the skies had cleared up considerably with only a trace of clouds overhead.

By the time I arrived at Stanford University, the moon was already out. This is a composite of two photos. The moon looked better at f/3.5 and the street lamps looked better at f/16.

Nikon D800, PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, ISO 100, 24mm, f/16, 25s and f/3.5, 2.5s

Here’s the August 10, 2014 Super Moon all by itself via telescope.

I saw this beautiful Mexican sunset in Nuevo Vallarta. The sun was just dropping behind the mountain range as it bathed the evening sky in warm, amber light. At the time, I thought the show was over once the sun disappeared. Only later did I realize that the sky glows in pink and purple hues just moments later.

Nikon D7000, Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8 G, ISO 400, 35mm, 0 EV, f/13, 1/500s

Today’s challenge was taking an unpalatable photo from four years ago and seeing if something passable can be massaged from those digital bits. The original photo was quite flat. Not sure if it was the camera, smog-filled skies or me, but the low-contrast image was just bland.

I think I need to return to Beijing. I just wish there was a calendar to predicted the likelihood of blue skies.

Nikon D50, Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8 N, ISO 200, 50mm, 0 EV, f/9, 1/320s

Near the Google offices on Shorebird Way in Mountain View, CA lives a colony of egrets. To protect young egrets that may drop from the trees above, the city has closed down the street.

This Snowy Egret is perched in one of the trees above Shorebird Way.

A few streets down, I spotted this egret hanging out in the Microsoft building.