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We drove up along highway 49 and found a nice spot between the crowds to shoot the first stage of the Tour of California.

4 riders were nice enough to break away from the pack and give us a practice session before the main pack. The breakaway was about 5 minute when they went by where we but the main pack was closing and caught them before the finish.

Maarten Tjallijii -- Rabobank-- in a breakaway

Here is the main peloton:

Main peloton

And a close up of a single rider as the packed streaked by.

Simon Zahner -- Tour of California stage 1

Finally today was a historic occasion for my trusty D70.  It shot it’s 10,000 photo.   While I have no proof of  it since my other camera are all film cameras, this is probably the 3rd camera I’ve owned that has clicked past 10,000.

Tour of California Sweep Vehicle (10,000 photo Nikon D70)

Finally the full 50th set I promised last week. Took longer than I expected.
I decided to password protect these though I’m not sure why exactly. If you want the password send me an email mike@michaelhugo.com or call me.

I really like this photo.   It was taken during the 50th wedding celebration.  I’ll update the rest of the photos from the celebration weekend soon but thought this image was worth sharing  now.

Bubbles!

Let me know if you want this image without the watermark.

Not sure what these are.  The sun is catching them in a good light.  It isn’t people but still it an image.

This is actually the first shot I took of the day…well actually the second shutter snap but my first serious attempt.   The shutter snap  was of some coast guard airplane.  I wasn’t nearly close enough to get a clean shot so I’ll have to work on that.

Just some wildflowers

Must be early in the game...no bloody knees yet

I’m actually starting to understand this game.   The shot of the day is up above and the fully gallery is located Here.   Once again if you want to use the photo in any way other than to just view them on the site here please contact me.  I can provide much higher resolution images without the watermark.

Link to the album:   Rugby Photo Album

I was asked by my little sister to shoot her baby boy all dressed up for Prom.   I actually shot 3 groups of folks and the link to the entire set is below.

Being a dateline Washington type of Photographer I’m  not all that good at shooting stuff that doesn’t move so I can’t say I’m all that impressed with myself with what came out.  I did get several nice shots that I’m sure are suitable for framing  but anyone who knows me knows that I’m rarely satisfied.   Then again the whole reason for this blog is to practice.

Here is a fun outtake.

Prom Night

Link to Full Gallery
(If you don’t have the password and want it, send me an email mike@michaelhugo.com)

The complete set is below. If you wish to have the password please email me mike@michaelhugo.com

Here is an Artichoke.

This one happens to  be at Mustard Seed school.  That is a school for homeless children at Loaves & Fishes.

Artichoke Plant

And a close up of the Artichoke itself.

Artichoke

Now comparing this to the Thistle from the other day shows a very similar plant leave.  The blue color from the Thistle is probably a combination of the light and perhaps a bit overzealous color tweak on my part.

It was with a bit of excitement  this next photo comes from as it looks somewhat like an artichoke plant just along the side of a bike path.   There were actually several of these plants along a stretch of new bike path that I had never biked on before.  It is obvious (speaking from complete ignorance) from the same general plant family.

I wish I had taken the camera out earlier in the day when I walked by the nice large artichoke plant at Mustard Seed School so that I could compare the two plants.

In the end I decided it was just a thistle.

A Thistle

Caught these on the way home.  Not sure I managed to capture the sea of purple.  My style is so much into very tight shots that backing off just a bit takes a bit of restraint.

Some Purple Flower