Sycamore Canyon is one of our favorite hiking spots:

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Last weekend we took a nice hike up the "Scenic Trail" and the "fire road overlook trail".

It was a good hike with some nice views of the ocean and surrounding area.  However while hiking we saw:

A BEAUTIFUL GREEN VALLEY.  And so, our quest began.  On the return leg of the hike we noticed a trail that cut from the main fire road: "Serrano Valley   2.7mi".  My instinct told me that was our valley…

So, this Saturday we return, excited to find this thing of beauty… is it true that a green valley exists in socal?

So, take the 101 to Kannan to the 1 drive north for 8 miles (or so) and pull a u-turn at Sycamore Cove.  Park on the side of the road and hike to the trailhead (no way we are paying $10 to park).  Up the fire road for a little over a mile and turn right on the trail marked leading to Seranno Valley.  It was one of the nicest hikes we have taken anywhere near here.  Tons of green, lots of shade, great views…

The trail follows a stream most of the way, repeatedly (like a dozen times?) crossing over it…

Wonderful. 

And, to top it off, the trail did lead us to our green valley:

AWESOME:

that one is worth checking out in full size

 More pictures if you care…

Another view from the roof of the mall parking garage that is prettier than it deserves to be,

We walk aroud burbank late in the evening a lot…

These are from a recent trip to Malibu – one of our favorite beaches has been changed quite dramatically by the recent rains

Pigeons on the pier

We were at ralphs getting some coffee filters and found this poor guy

You could say that this shopping cart is my Moby Dick of photography. I think it has potential to look cool but as you can see in my *second* attempt I still have het to capture it

On quick hike in Griffith Park after work, earlier this week we found a cave

My favorite of this batch…

 It’s been raining like crazy this last week.

all my favorite pictures in the rain have red in them

The official draft of the differences between HTML 5 and HTML 4 is quite exciting.  The datalist, datagrid, audio and video elements are going to make my life easier

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ISO Speed: 200
Exposure: 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture: f/36
Focal Length: 55 mm

I always enjoy the beach but sometimes struggle finding ways to make it look *good* or different when taking photos. This photo is one of those “well duh” things that I just realized: Just as a waterfall will look better with a nice slow exposure, so will the rushing tide. 1/10 was as slow as I could get this (should have put on my polarizer) but it came out pretty close to what I wanted…

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ISO Speed: 800
Exposure: 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture: f/5.3
Focal Length: 42 mm

Another walk around Burbank another cool photo… love the lines and color in this. My regret is the slow exposure (1/10) that causes it to be a little bury.

I am in the process of tearing my blog apart and putting it back together… I have decided to make my own design since I can’t find anything that I like – it is inspired by http://daringfireball.net more than anything.  The name “finite epiphany” just sounds cool and I needed something cool to put at the top of the blog – I have used “finite epiphany” for several years when I have needed a cool filler title…

Anyways, this place is a mess for now… check back in later.

same picture as another earlier in my stream… a little less post processing on this one. Both just have varying degrees of tweaking in ACR + levels + sharpening.

so… is this better than the other one?

P.S. this blog, this week is dedicated to Mark – here now is a place where he can comment on pictures that I take without digging out his xanga password

View LargeISO Speed: 800
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm

View LargeISO Speed: 800
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)