BNP Paribas Open

Well the BNP Paribas Open Tennis Tournament is over and for the most part a good week. We volunteered as ushers for the fifth year. The scheduling of ushers was not the best this year and there was many unhappy people and strange days. We had one day we did not work a match! Just watched tennis, had lunch, watched tennis, and went home. Since I was working it was difficult to take my good camera to take pictures except for the two days I didn’t work and just watched the matches. For the first time we did not work the Sunday finals. That was much more relaxing and I was in the upper deck taking pictures.
Maybe the best day of tennis was Saturday when they had the men’s semis and the men’s doubles final. Roger Federer played Andy Murray and lost and Andy Roddick played Rafael Nadal and lost in the semis. But Andy’s day was not over. After a rest time he joined with Mardy Fish to play Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram for the men’s doubles and won. So I guess it was not a completely bad day for Andy.
For the women Vera Zvonareva beat Ana Ivanovic in the finals. The wind played a big factor in both the finals matches. It was not a steady wind so the ball did strange things at times. The same could be said for the ladies little skirts. Sometimes it was not all skill that would win a point. I did not catch the look on any of the players faces and they watched a ball they was sure OUT fall IN or just the opposite. A ball hit without much force or high could do about anything. More pictures on Flicker.

Wildlife photography

I am not sure if my day at the Salton Sea was bird watching or camera testing. Of course I also stopped at Salvation Mountain but the trip was planned to visit the State Recreation Area and the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge.
I hadn’t had an opportunity to use my long lens very much so the 75-300 lens was on the camera most of the time as I took pictures of the wildlife. I also wanted to get pictures of birds in flight. Of course there were many pictures that will not see the light of day but for the most part I was happy with the work.
First I use the Sport setting on the camera which gave fast shutter speed and continuous shooting. I worried about the focusing but it was good in most shots. As is always the case the animals always just seemed to be further away that you wanted so cropping was necessary to get the close-up I wanted. There were large flocks of Black-necked stilts that were fun to watch and attempt to photograph. You could never get very close before they would fly away and they flew as a flock almost in formation. They never seemed to fly to a spot but would circle around as one large group.
It was late in the season so many of the snow geese were gone but some of the ducks were preparing to nest. At the Wildlife Refuge I did see the burrowing owl. Again at great distance but did get a reasonable shot of two sitting by their burrow.

Salvation Mountain

It has been several years since I visited Salvation Mountain outside of Nyland, California. It is one of those places you really can describe and pictures can’t show what is there. Leonard Knight’s Website gives some background and lets you know the history and a little about the man.
The site is listed as a National Folk Art Site and can be seen and movies, books, and other publications. This mass of tree branches, straw, mud, paint, and any other material he finds has been formed into a mountain of Love and words from the bible.
I took some pictures but as one of the other people said you really can’t describe it you just have to have people come to see it. Leonard is always happy to show people around. He was not there when I stopped but drove up just as I was leaving. He waived and said come back in I’ll give you a tour. There were many other people there and some that were repeat visitors so I continued on to other picture taking down the road.
Many days he finds little time to work on his project but still each year it continues to grow ans people give him paint and other supplies as well as donations for their visit. Truly something must see to believe.

Leon's New Clothes

One of the interesting things we do when we are staying in Indio is to visit all the resale shops. The selection is usually better for women. I think this is because women tend to change fashion more that men but I have been able to find shorts, pants, and shirts that are very nice.
With the possible performance at La Quinta Playhouse in the near future, I needed a tux. So we were off to the shops at the fourth stop we found a 48L tux at $75 with 25% off. To find my size and at a good price was great and they also had the tie and suspenders to match for only $6. Only 2 more stops and I had a shirt it was a little large and not fancy be then you don’t see much of it.
Now I am ready for the show and just have to hope it all comes together.