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.

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.

When do the Almond Trees Bloom?

I was recently talking to a agricultural finance company about working with them on some images of their farm clients, and they wanted to know when the almond trees in the Sacramento Valley bloom. "Mid- to late-February," was my off-the-cuff response.

But I actually have better data than that. I've been photographing the almond bloom virtually every year since 2002 (see the chart below), and have an extensive library of images - complete with the exact date each image was taken.

Over that decade plus, I have nearly 140 almond bloom images in my library. The earliest I've ever taken a photo of the almond bloom was February 12th (in 2011 - a particularly early year). The latest was on March 8th. Of course, the orchards probably begin to bloom a bit earlier and last a bit later, because I try to shoot at the peak of the bloom.

You can see in the chart below that the peak of the almond bloom typically falls in the last week of February or occasionally in the first week of March.

Peaches in Bloom

As you can tell by the past few posts, the Sacramento Valley is a wonderful and colorful place to be in the spring.

Perhaps my favorite bloom of all is the peach bloom, which typically takes place about the same time as the prune bloom, a couple of weeks after the end of the almond bloom.

These photos were taken in an orchard near Marysville. Click on each image to enlarge.

Spring on Table Mountain

It's spring and time for wildflowers. I took a quick trip out to Table Mountain near Oroville (a major wildflower destination) in the end of March to see how the wildflowers were doing. It's been a very dry year,  and I wasn't sure how good the bloom would be, and sure enough, though there was a fair amount of lupine and goldfields, the poppies and owl's clover were sparse. It could be that I was there a bit early in the season, but it just might not have been a great year for wildflowers.

Still, it was a beautiful day, and I managed to capture a nice sunset. Enjoy!

Poppies on Table Mountain

Brodiaea on Table Mountain

Goldfields (Lasthenia californica) on Table Mountain

Sunset on Table Mountain

The Prune Bloom

Late winter is when all the fruit trees in the Valley bloom. After the almonds bloom in late February the prunes bloom in early March.

And yes, prunes. Technically, of course, these are plum trees, but since they are plum varieties intended for drying into prunes, the trees are referred to as prune trees.

I personally think that prune flowers are prettier close up than almond flowers, but there is nothing that compares to the almond bloom in overall impact.

These were all shot with my new Canon 6D and and Canon 600EX flashes... not that you care. I guess the point is that I really enjoy taking studio lighting out into the field. The quality of light it gives to the flowers can't be achieved any other way!

Almond Bloom in Full Bloom

This year's almond bloom was late starting, but came and went very quickly.

Fortunately, I was able to get out during the peak of the bloom in the orchards near Durham and captured some wonderful images. Click on the images to view larger.

Enjoy!

Almond orchard south of Durhan

Almond orchard south of Durham

Almond orchard south of Durham

Almond orchard near Dayton

Almond orchard near Durham

Almond orchard near Durham

Almond Blossoms Under Studio Lights

Every year I go out and photograph the almond bloom, as you can see in these posts.

This year, I decided to try something a bit different. Instead of shooting the flowers under natural light, I took some lights in the field with me and set them up to capture the flowers under studio-like lighting.

Here are some of the results:

These images were mostly shot in full daylight. However, setting the lights to a high enough power essentially eliminated the ambient light, leaving the strobes I brought as the only light source.

And finally, when it was getting dark, I set up the lights to light an entire tree for a fun and unusual effect.

Spring is Coming!

Despite all the rain and gray weather we are having, spring is coming. I promise. And with it will come green hills and wildflowers. I'll be doing more posts in the next month or so on spring photography, but here's a taste of what you can expect to see as the weather warms and the skies clear.

You can view all of my photos tagged with 'spring' on my main website.

California Poppies north of Chico

Wildflowers and Mount Lassen, from the Vina Plains, north of Chico.

Oak tree along Leesville Road, west of Williams

Owls Clover on Table Mountain

Sutter Buttes in Spring