Game day!

 
Eucalyptus seed taken with the rented 100mm f/2.8L macro lens.  Oh, how I love that lens.

I photographed a wedged seed from nearly the same spot (give or take an inch), leaning against a tree trunk, with both the 100mm and the 24mm f/1.4L (for which I am also feeling the great big love) just to show how differently the world is viewed through the lens:

Of course, the other lens we rented was the 15mm f/2.8 fisheye -- for which I had the love-at-first-sight way back in May -- honestly, to choose just one would be as impossible as picking a favorite child!

We went up behind the Claremont Hotel on Saturday to see what we could see.  It was game day!  The California Golden Bears were challenged by Arizona State -- a contest that Cal decidedly won, 50-17!  The Claremont was flying the Cal colors...

 
...which is really sort of hard to see here, but I love this shot (and you can trust me!).

And I shot a bug!

 
Bugs are HARD!  This little fly was quite cooperative.

We drove further up into the hills, on our way to the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, and had a terrific (even if not so clear) view from above.

The filled stadium is in the lower left corner, part of the Bay Bridge at middle left, and the barely visible Golden Gate Bridge at middle right.  So cool.

There are a million photos from the garden on my camera -- each one with a different look at texture, pattern, color, perspective -- so beautiful, and completely overwhelming!  Even so, here are my faves:

 
First, I am so mad that I didn't get contact information for these women.  I don't know the whole story, but they are apparently old friends who haven't seen each other in a while and arranged to meet at the garden that day.  They were taking photos of each other and asked if we'd grab their camera and snap off a few of them together.  Celia did the honors and then I took a few photos as they viewed the results -- I really, really love this, and hope they enjoyed the rest of their day!

They then offered to do the same:

 
Imaginary Friends no longer.  ; )

Comments

[margene]

Love the way your trip unfolds through the pictures you share.

[Carole]

More great photos of your trip - especially that last one. You look so happy and relaxed, Vicki!

[Bobbi]

That's AWESOME that you got to see Celia!! She's still "imaginary" for me. :-(

[Kym]

I look forward to your travelogue every day! Thanks so much for sharing your trip. . . and your photos. I love seeing everything through your eyes!

[kmkat]

The UC-Berkeley Botanical Garden! Somewhere on a hillside there I and my then-boyfriend and 2 of his best friends injested a tiny bit of hallucinogenic stuff and walked through the place. Amazing.