The Archer Taylor Preserve and the Secret Creek

It has been a little while since my last posting. I've been shooting quite a bit, not any big trips but actually giving some more time to local areas. My problem seems to be after sitting for 8 hours in front of a computer at my day job and then having a 3 hour commute, I'm really finding it hard to sit at the computer at home and work up the images I've shot. So I've had to force myself to just do it. Also I've been finding it difficult to come up with artsy-fartsy titles for all these so since there was so many from this one outing I'm just titling them in numerical order. I'll probably come back and add secondary meaningful titles as come to my ever contracting imagination.

I was reading an article recently on a comparison of landscape photography in the North America with that being done in European countries. It brought out that the United States has so much open space that photographers have the luxury to seek out places that may have never or rarely been seen or photographed before. The growth of a Landscape Photographer here in the US is usually to get his/her own interpretation of the more famous and iconic shots around the country. After this phase there is the desire to venture out and find those remote places to call our own. In the EU countries the situation is somewhat different. Since their areas are much smaller there is some difficulty finding scenic spots that visually have no evidence of "man". So it is common to see people, villages, domestic animals etc. in their "Landscape" or "Nature" images.

Here in the US, even around the famous places and icon scenes it can be fairly easy to capture a shot without any sign of man. That is, if you only look at the taken photograph. If you were the photographer, you would be able to look around and more than likely see some or many people and sadly what some of them leave behind, bottles, trash........

It's that very reason why this post is called "secret", cause I'm not going to tell you where it is. But I won't leave you hanging, I'll direct you to someone who will tell you.

The images for this post are of a creek and waterfall that are on the Archer Taylor Preserve. The property is owned and protected by the Land Trust of Napa County. The idea being to preserve and protect beautiful spots like this so that they can be enjoyed for future generations. Most of these areas are not completely off limits. The Land Trust offers guided hikes and members have the privilege to return on their own. You don't have to be a member to go on the guided hikes but if you are in a position (it's cheap), please become a member and it will open up new adventures to many beautiful "secret" places. You can find more info about this place at

http://www.napalandtrust.org/

Special thanks to Alice Kubler for showing me this secret place.

16 photos are uploaded into this new gallery. To view them all go HERE.

Stay tuned for more creek and waterfall shots from another "secret place". Until then, wish me drama in the skies and awesome light.