California Dreamin'..., a photo from California, West

Photographer's Note

Christmas Eve meant freezing rain and temperatures below 0°C [32°F] and on the second day of Christmas it began snowing. The cold northeastern winds pulled up moisture from the warmer and open Baltic Sea and dropped it as snow over Scania.

Outside my windows everything was painted in white with a couple of inches. But in the eastern parts of the region there are words of more than half a meter [two feet] and higher due to the drifting snow.

I live in an open and vulnerable landscape and the meteorological forecast is, that a low pressure associated with heavy snowfall is approaching from Poland. Itll make landfall later in the night and the strong easterly wind will prevail during the upcoming period - predicting serious difficulties in traffic.

Just in time for Christmas I got word from California, that my very good friend there - who's wedding I attended in 2003 - gave birth to a baby boy on the 16th of December. Hopefully mother and child are doing fine - as well as the father and the two-year-old sister.

And finally I've managed to pick up the signals of KOST 103.5 over Internet, listening to the "Soft Rock with less talk" of the Pacific Ocean. So I sit by my kitchen window looking at the snow and do a bit of California dreamin'...

...on such a winter's day!

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Post pro: Cropped, a minor adjustment of levels, increased brightness +5, contrast +10 and saturation +15, ran NeatImage 60%, resized for TE, sharpened and faded to 70%, framed and saved for Web.

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There's a large version of this shot, but as it's not really a panorama the quality is rather mediocre.

digi-mom, maphoto, nwoehnl, jiherka, weswang, kent_s oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

poulinp (4528) 2005-12-28 20:32

I like the curves of the impregnated water sand. The colors are well saturated also. Well done.

digi-mom (1064) 2005-12-28 21:37

Sometimes the thoughts overweigh the technicalities. The curves and misty background of the shore are truly evocative of a vacation in the sun. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season, and will truly enjoy the snow. :o)

maphoto (8082) 2005-12-28 23:04

Hi Kaj, first I hope you had a beautiful Christmas with your familly, best wishes for 2006 and many thanks for your time and contribution in 2005, it was a pleasure each time to hear from you. A very nice way to end the year with a pleasant beach view, good format and excellent tones and contrast, the wet sand, the beach and the blue of the water, all very nice, as well as the curves created by the waves, well done.

markstaples (15670) 2005-12-29 4:57

Hi Kaj
Nice shot ... I like the curves of the sea line. Well composed and well cropped.
Greetings
mark

nwoehnl (122) 2005-12-29 13:51

Not a bad idea Kaj to return to the warming Santa Monica beach in the middle of the bleak European winter ;) Nice add with the large version - even if it's just a crop of the full size version it is worth being viewed in the bigger size, too. Best wishes for the new year.

jiherka (4552) 2005-12-31 12:45

Hello Kaj,
Even if this seems to be a dream, I think there is more beautiful beach in the world. And the snow and beautiful valley are also a dream. There are seasons in the world, but the human is never happy and dreams of the summer in winter and dreams of the winter in summer... something is incredible.
Happy new year Kaj, and all my best wishes for 2006.
Salutations
Jacques

weswang (18247) 2006-01-02 21:50

Hi Kaj, I enjoy this beautiful picture. I agree with you, this is an opposite view from this picture. You have well shown the ocean waves and relax beach goers, and the distance Palos Verdes peninsula in this picture. A very well taken picture.

kent_s (1911) 2006-01-16 11:44

Hej Kaj
Nice curves and colors.

Men var 17 gömmer David Hasselhoff sig.
Ha ett fortsatt gott nytt

Versy Well done
Hälsningar
Kent

pamastro (7296) 2006-01-30 12:04

Well Kaj, when I first saw this I was going to comment on it but never got the chance. It may have been cold in Scania but California was experiencing weather very unlike this, rough and destructive.

But then I still find myself dreaming of southern California, especially as the Rose Bowl approached and I thought of Pasadena. So this is a nice way to visualize what California dreaming is like. Warm, pleasant and relaxed.

The horizon seems a bit off. I often find my photos to have totally tilted horizons when taking photos on beaches, even though I could have sworn I did a good job of keeping things level. Perhaps the result of distortions from certain angles and the large flat ocean horizons meating non-flat land horizons. Here it looks like the ocean might be tumbling into the beach.

Well I hope the weather is settling in well over in Scania now. We've gone back into very warm temperatures. Funny since my aunt is here from Italy and she was hoping to see snow on the ground. And just this week it snowed a lot in Italy, even Genova.

Keep enjoying KOST and California dreaming. Maybe I'll check it out while I sit here at work.

Oh, and that kitchen view is actually beautiful as well. I can see a Californian longing for snow dreaming of that view. :)