Ruth Bancroft Garden - Walnut Creek, California (June, 2015)

The Ruth Bancroft Garden is having their annual sculpture show right now. We saw a few large-scale artworks getting installed on this afternoon walk. It was painfully hot this day—102 degrees would be my guess. My camera, with its tiny lens, struggles in the bright light of the summer sun. And the garden, with its crazy array of sculptural plants (never mind the sculptures, which are varied and plentiful—the plants are just as sculptural in my opinion), still alludes my ability to find a fixed focal point when I'm shooting here. Maybe it's one of those places that has to be experienced in person. Or I should try shooting people standing next to the plants to give the sense of scope.

Bear with the exposures and experience the textures.

Trona Pinnacles, California

If you're driving anywhere near Ridgecrest, California, be sure to stop by the Trona Pinnacles. More than 500 tufa formations on a river bed that dried up 10,000 years ago. You can hike around, marvel at the desert weirdness, and if you're lucky to arrive a couple days after a rainstorm—see some wildflowers. More here.