My friend and I embarked on one of the road trips of the season, California’s Super Bloom 2019. Intitally when I saw so many amazing pictures of friends frolicking in a sea of poppies on Facebook, I knew that I couldn’t miss out on this. As I researched where everyone was going, I called my friend and said we are going. My friend Julie and I are nature freaks. We live close to the Santa Monica Mountains where we hike together a lot. Due to the recent wildfires that struck our area last fall, we were determined to see spring’s burst of wildflowers in it’s magnificence. This is something that I have never seen in my life. It was one of the most amazing spectacles.
The drive for us, fortunately was less than 2 hours. We met a couple that drove from San Francisco. We met these ladies who were from Chicago and Wisconsin. This was not only locals but nationwide news. As soon as we got on hwy 15, all we can see is poppies everywhere. On top of the hills, on the side of hills, all around there was poppies. I was getting so excited that I just wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible. Upon arriving, the exit was closed and we started to get some traffic. We learned that the weekend before they had received over 1 million visitors. The weekend we went they were prepared to handle the traffic. We drove another 2.5 miles to the next exit where we were directed to a parking area where we would be shuttled to the canyon entrance. After being shut down due to the population overload, the city decided to control the situation due to resident complaints. The good part was it was controlled. The bad part was now we had to pay 10.00 to see the poppies. But it was truly worth it.
With the excitement looming and my anxiety levels rising, we finally arrived at the entrance of Walker Canyon. Hundreds of people dressed up with their cameras taking selfies and pictures of each other. The all seemed concentrated in one area and you can tell. Why? Because people who don’t respect nature left major footprints. By time that I got there there was some damaged to the hills. New trails were made. People laying on poppies to get their selfies. Since my friend and I like to hike we managed to go a little further and get away from the hordes of people. Also we respect nature and took all of our pictures in open spots. We tried not to leave our footprint. I think we really accompolished that.
Just like everybody else, I brought a couple of outfits to change into along the way for a few pictures for myself. My friend Julie isn’t a photographer. So what I do with my non photographer friends is set up the scene. I make sure the exposure is good, then I place the composition just right and tell them to stay there but feel free to zoom in and out. I usually have them do the simplest photography until they feel comfortable. I don’t like when my photos horizon lines are off. It may seem artistic but I hate it. Does that mean I’m actually the photographer even if I didn’t release the shutter? Leave a comment on that. I would love to read what other people think on that one.
What do you think? I think she did a great job taking my pictures. Till the next adventure.
