Photos of San Diego

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Home - changing seasons in San Diego

Enjoy more fall foliage with this American sweetgum

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Besides the palm trees, the California sage brush and the many eucalyptus trees around San Diego County, you sometimes have to look a little harder to find some colorful fall foliage. I went back to check on my sumac trees this past weekend and I’ll have a few photos to share soon, but they’re not as yellow and orange as they should be yet. We also have a few maple trees here and there and I need to hurry snapping photos of them before they all lose their leaves.

But today, I’d like to share a few photos of another colorful tree in the fall in San Diego: the American sweetgum, or Liquidambar Styraciflua. My kids were attempting to dig a huge hole in the sand next to me as I was snapping pictures of this tree so I shortened my photo session. I’ll need to go back to get some more photos but here are a few for your enjoyment.

The American sweetgum has gorgeous deep red / maroon leaves and very cute green spiky seed pods. Remember you can click on each photo to view a larger image.

Red leaves of the American sweetgum, or Liquidambar Styraciflua

Fall foliage of the American sweetgum - red leaves and spiky seed pods — Fall foliage of the American sweetgum – red leaves and spiky seed pods

Do you have some American sweetgum trees where you live? Where do you get your fall foliage colors from?

November 8, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Tree PhotosTags: American sweet gum tree, American sweetgum, American sweetgum photo, California pictures, fall foliage, fall in San Diego, fall leaves, Liquidambar Styraciflua, maroon leaves, photography, photos, photos of trees, red leaves, San Diego, trees 2 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Lines on a bottle brush tree flower

Bees love bottle brush tree flowers

I love bottle brush tree flowers. They feature a beautiful red hue and it’s easy to figure out how they got their name. I recently found out bottle brush trees are a native plant of Australia. This may explain why we have so many of them in San Diego, as the weather is similar here as in many parts of Australia.

I chose bottle brush tree flowers for the month of April in my 2013 photo calendar and I had a few pictures to choose from. My final pick was actually not my first choice. The photo below was. I love the angle of the flower, the deep green leaves on the left and the other red brushes in the background. And then, surprise surprise, there are two bees on this bottle brush tree flower: one at the bottom of it and one flying right in front of it. The only thing that stopped me from choosing this photo as my final selection was that the flying bee was out of focus. But hey, it wasn’t even supposed to be on the picture in the first place!

What do you think? Should I consider it for my 2014 photo calendar? Or does the blurry bee bother you? Make sure you click on the image for a larger view, especially if you want to see the bees better.

November 5, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, California Photos, Flower Photos, Photography, Photos of San DiegoTags: bee photos, bees, bottle brush tree flowers, bottle brush tree photo, California pictures, flying bee, photo of bees, photography, photos, photos of blooms, photos of bottle brush tree, photos of bottle brush tree flowers, photos of flowers, San Diego 11 Comments

Travel theme: Stones with rain drops on spiderweb

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water

I’m participating in the LetsBeWild.com Wild Weekly Photo Challenge. This week’s Challenge is: Water.

Water can be photographed in so many ways. It can be spread out over an ocean’s length or be contained in a single drop. It can look blue, green, gray, transparent, or reflect what’s around.

My favorite form of water to photograph is water drops, so all the photos below feature water drops for this week’s photo challenge. You may have seen a few of them or none of them on this website already. There are a couple of new ones too.

Remember you can click on each photo to see a larger view.

I shared these raindrops on a spider web over river rocks last week, and I think they fit this theme perfectly.

Close-up of rain drops on a spider web with river rocks underneath

Let's be wild weekly photo challenge - water - wet branch after the rain — Let’s be wild weekly photo challenge – water – wet branch after the rain

I took these last two pictures after the rain we had last week in San Diego. I love how tiny droplets outline the leaves and the bougainvillea flower. It almost looks like tiny, shiny diamonds.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water - raindrops on a leaf — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water – raindrops on a leaf

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water - raindrops on a bougainvillea flower — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water – raindrops on a bougainvillea flower

November 2, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Flower Photos, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Rock photosTags: California pictures, let's be wild weekly photo challenge, Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water, photography, photos, rain drops on spider web, rain drops on tree, rain drops photos, raindrop photos, raindrops on spider web 9 Comments

Travel theme: Multicolored sumac fall foliage

Enjoy these fall colors for Halloween

I don’t have any scary monsters to show you for Halloween. Or carved pumpkins. Or skeletons half buried in the backyard. Halloween happens to be my least favorite “holiday”. Sure, you get tons of candy and kids have a lot of fun trick or treating, but the decorations are just creepy, and I speak from personal experience. I set up a giant spiderweb at my front door, along with a very large plastic black widow tangled in it, and I can’t stand spiders. I really love my kids but first thing November 1 morning, that thing is coming down.

I still have it on my list to visit a large pumpkin patch and manage to snap a few good, colorful pictures. In the meantime, I’ll show you more of the beautiful foliage the sumac tree has to offer in San Diego in the fall. I need to go back to this location very soon and take some new pictures. I love the colors on the photos below but I need to work on the framing and the angles. With a little effort, I hope I’ll end up with something really good to show you.

In the meantime, these photos will have to do! Remember you can click on each sumac tree photo below for a larger view.

Fall foliage - sumac tree — Fall foliage – sumac tree

Fall foliage - colorful sumac — Fall foliage – colorful sumac

Fall foliage in San Diego - yellow and orange leaves, red seeds of the sumac tree — Fall foliage in San Diego – yellow and orange leaves, red seeds of the sumac tree

October 31, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Photos of San Diego, Tree PhotosTags: California pictures, fall foliage, foliage in San Diego, orange sumac leaves, photography, photos, photos of trees, San Diego, San Diego fall trees, San Diego foliage, sumac berries, sumac foliage, sumac leaves, sumac seeds, sumac tree, trees, yellow sumac leaves 9 Comments

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Escape

Warning: one of the photos below is not for the faint of heart. Look at your own risk!

I’m participating in the LetsBeWild.com Wild Weekly Photo Challenge. This week’s Challenge is: Escape and I decided to have a little fun with this theme.

As usual, you can click on any of the photos below for a larger view.

Successful escape

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Escape. A fallen tree

Look at this fallen pine tree. It doesn’t look like much, right? Pretty dead, huh? Now look again at its roots, to the left of the trunk, and you’ll notice a brand new tree growing out of it! It’s standing way above the ground, as if floating in the air, with one big root under its trunk linking back to the dead trunk. Now, if that’s not a successful escape from death, I don’t know what to call it.

Unsuccessful escape

I took this photo with my cell phone camera so the quality is not great, but I think the subjects are fascinating. This happened in a rattlesnake exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. I understand they gas the mice they feed the snakes, so they’re still alive (snakes don’t eat dead animals). The feeding takes place once a week so I guess this was my lucky day. No chance of escape there!

Happy Monday!