The attractive community of Carmel by the Sea retained its small town charm in spite of a booming real estate bubble. It encompasses two of the finest beaches in Northern California and the most expensive housing market outside Malibu, turning Carmel into a playground for the rich and very rich.
Upscale Carmel also attracts affluent tourists, who pamper themselves in the expensive cottages and spend their days shopping in boutique stores.
Founded in 1797, Mission San Jose quickly became one of the most prosperous. Nearly 2,000 Indians lived here, tending the land and animals.
The Mission is named after St. Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather, who also lent his name to nearby San Jose, the unofficial capital of the Silicon Valley.
The Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz compresses numerous coastal attractions into a small, protected area. Here you can visit one of California’s Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries, watch migrating whales, spot a sea otter, discover amphibian life in the tide pools, view wildflowers or just take in the spectacular cliffs of the California coastline.
Natural Bridges State Beach is easy to photograph and a pleasure to explore. The visitor center offers a free map and valuable information about the park. The beach is easily accessible and the coastal climate is pleasant, even on hot days. The park is also a Mecca for beach lovers. It bustles with beachgoers and BBQ parties on warm days. Bring your bathing suit if you are up for a little refreshment.
Mount Diablo is the highest mountain of the San Francisco Bay Area, a sacred Indian shrine and a Mecca for outdoor lovers. The mountain towers high above the flat surrounding landscape, resulting in a geographic oddity. From the summit, you can see more of the earth’s surface than from any other location in the world, despite its relatively low elevation of “just” 3849ft. Only Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa offers even more viewable land from its summit.
The park also provides a fantastic diversity of picnic areas, secluded or with a view, and no less than three separate campgrounds. The park is a favorite weekend destination for Bay Area Residents. A few easy trails and many strenuous trails reach the farthest corners of the park, offering a fantastic diversity of sights to hard working photographers.
California Poppies are the official state flower of California. Early explorers who saw fields of poppies mistook them for gold. California became the golden state, foreboding the Gold Rush that followed later. The Gold Rush days are long gone, but poppies still color the hills and attract people from all over.
The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve has the highest concentration of poppies. Meadows and rolling hills burst with color when the orange poppies and a wide variety of yellow flowers mix to create dazzling splashes of color. The sight attracts many landscape photographers. It is one of California’s most impressive natural miracles, lasting only a few weeks.
Come visit this natural wonder and see how California got its name.
Spectacular wildflower meadows and colorfully dotted rolling hills turn the Southern California landscape from burned brown into vivid scenery, all courtesy of the wet El Nino rains. As if a landscape painter slipped with his color palette and threw all colors onto his painting at once, the brilliant colors compete for your and the bees’ attention. I am not sure about the bees, but humans swarm all over, humming while enjoying the colors.
If you travel in California, you can easily plan a detour that takes you past a wildflower viewing area. Even if you have no immediate travel plans, the wildflowers are a worthy travel destination in their own right. The bright colors will lift your mood and reinvigorate you after the long rainy or snowy winter.
Nature’s last stand, amidst the Southern California urban jungle, is Torrey Pines, a park that protects a rare pine tree and migrating birds. Sheltered from covetous developers encroaching on the beaches of this beautiful land, the park still suffers from overcrowding.
With its plentiful natural beauty, the park attracts large crowds of city dwellers seeking a temporary relief from their urban lifestyles. The constant “xcuse-me” of the nation’s densest gathering of joggers, paired with noisy city dwellers, make finding solitude impossible and concentrating on photography difficult. Hold on to your equipment when you float down the trails in a sea of people and do not try to swim upstream!
Keeping with the high art of form of Japanese Gardens, the Hagiwara Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco delivers an astounding array of sights, sounds and smells in a small, easy to explore garden. The manufactured miniature landscape skillfully creates the illusion of natural scenes. Japanese Gardens have their roots in Buddhism and Daoism and thus, invite visitors to quiet contemplation, offering a retreat from the hectic day-to-day life. Besides creating a peaceful sanctuary, the Japanese Tea Garden also exhibits elements of Japanese culture and design that appeal to our western civilization. No wonder the Garden is one of the biggest attractions in the Golden Gate Park.
Makoto Hagiwara originally developed and expanded the garden from its small beginnings at a Midwinter Fair Japanese Village attraction. Unfortunately, authorities threw him into a camp during WWII and the park fell into disarray. Today, the restored and enhanced park shines again.
Located in the San Gabriel Mountains, Pasadena is a suburb of Los Angeles with its own distinct flair that is in stark contrast to Los Angeles. The affluent community of large mansions, an old yet hip downtown and great outdoors attracts wealthy residents and visitors. The City of Roses is home to the Parade of Roses and the football game in the famous Rose Bowl arena. Residents take their rose gardens serious, keeping the rose theme alive and the city a vibrant colorful jewel.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (short: The Huntington) is the former estate of railroad tycoon Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), who left this magnificent 150 acre pleasure garden as his legacy.
With an astounding amount of themed gardens, fantastic collections and the Mediterranean / Californian architecture of the library buildings, you will find many compelling motifs and room for unique compositions, despite the crowds exceeding one half million visitors each year.
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