Awesome Photos

We were on the hunt for wildflowers.  Long before we had kids, this expedition was just the three of us: me, my wife and our big 100 lb. Labrador Retriever, Raji (also known as our first child.)  We took a drive up Figeroa Mountain, about 20 miles Northeast of Santa Barbara where there were said to be flowers abloom.  Well, after several hours of hunting around for the so-called “fields and fields of wildflowers” we started to get down-trodden and figured we’d head on back down the mountain.  As we started our decent, I noticed a steep incline on the side of the road that was ablaze with orange poppies and bright purple lupine.  Somehow we had missed it on the way up, probably because the incline was at almost a 90 degree tilt to the road.  it looked beautiful but there was no way we were going to be able to climb it- it was just too steep.  We pulled over and stared at it for a while. We got out of the car in hopes someone would maybe pass by and offer to airlift us.  No such luck.  Then, all of a sudden, Raji took up onto the side of the mountain.  Not unlike one of those mountain goats, he rambled up the side as we looked on aghast, waiting for him to tumble down the 100 or so feet he had climbed.  Well, if that fat old Lab of ours could scamper up there, so could we.  And so we did.   As we traversed the side of the mountain, holding on for dear life and laughing our asses off, I grabbed a few shots.  This one has been one of best-sellers ever since.

As usual, everything was shot using my Pentax 6/7 and Fuji Velvia 50.