Sunflowers Are Everywhere

Well, it's that time of year - when sunflowers are in bloom - and for some reason, there seem to be a lot more sunflowers this year than in previous years.

So, I'm going to go with the sunflower theme for at least one more post.

These were taken in a deeply muddy field east of Artois in Glenn County.

Flight over the Glenn-Colusa Canal - Short Video

The same day I shot this video flying above the tops of sunflowers, I also shot a short video with the quadcopter of flying over the Glenn-Colusa Canal and some rice fields in Glenn County.

Amazing Peaches

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph a peach orchard near Yuba City full of ripe peaches last week.

Let me start by saying that peaches are my favorite fruit, bar none. I look forward to July, August, and September so that I can sink my teeth into juicy, delicious peaches. For me, there's nothing like it.

This particular orchard was full of amazingly ripe fruit, and it took all of my willpower to not grab a peach off a tree and devour it. But I was there to capture the beauty of the fruit, not steal, so as tempted as I was, I didn't touch a thing.

But I did manage to steal a number of wonderful images of peaches on the tree... and I stopped at a fruit stand along Highway 70 on the way back and bought two bags of yellow and white freestones, as well as a few nectarines for my wife.

Almond Orchards in the Summer

My typical almond orchard post comes in February or March and showcases the incredible winter almond bloom that can cover miles of the valley with white flowers. Once the bloom is over, the leaves emerge on the almond trees, and the orchards become drab green tunnels until the leaves unceremoniously fall off in the fall.

But I thought I'd shake things up a bit by posting some images of the orchards as they look in the heart of the summer.

The orchards themselves are fairly difficult to photograph well because the deep shade contrasts so harshly with the bright sun.

But it is possible to get some nice shots of the almonds themselves, which at this time of year are covered with green fuzz.

I will post more as the nuts mature.

Flying over Sunflower fields - Video

While I was taking photos of the sunflower fields near Artois, I also had my Phantom 2 quadcopter out in the field as well. It gives a unique POV to any subject.

Here's a short video of flying over the sunflower fields.

Aerial Views of Sunflowers in the Sacramento Valley

My last post showed regular ground-based shots of sunflowers in the Valley. On the same trip, I also used my Phantom quadcopter with GoPro 3+ Black Edition camera to capture some aerial images of the sunflower fields.

The fisheye perspective of the GoPro makes it look like you're well above the flowers, when the reality is that the quadcopter is skimming less than three feet above the golden blooms. 

That can make for some exciting flying, but makes for even more exciting images... like some unique panoramic images like these (click on the images to enlarge).

In my next post, I'll try to put up some HD video of the sunflower fields, taken as the Phantom skimmed above the flower tops.

Sunflowers in the Sacramento Valley

It's summer, and besides heat, rice, and tomatoes in the Sacramento Valley, if you look in the right places, it can also mean sunflowers.

Though sunflowers are not a major crop in the Sacramento Valley, if you look around, you can usually find a field or two tucked away in some corner somewhere.

These images were taken in a sunflower field near Artois, in Glenn County.

My next post will include some aerial shots of the sunflower field.