Daily Oakland Sunset on Instagram

Wow it's been a while! And that while has been crazy, I must say! I'll get into what's been going on this past year in future posts...maybe...or maybe I'll just say I'm happy to be back and looking forward to the future! Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to dedicate this post to my new project, and tell everyone a bit about it. Ever since Instagram finally developed an app for Android, I've been hooked. After some time I noticed that a majority of my pics were of the absolutely gorgeous sunsets that we get almost every night here in the bay area. Sooo, I created a new account specifically for those shots so I could share what I loved with people who love the same thing, and feature their shots as well! In under just 8wks we're already over 750 sunset lovers strong, and 2 of my contributors have been chosen as Photo of the Week on an Oakland Tourism site visitoakland.org ! Its pretty awesome! It's been really fun for me to see all the different perspectives my fellow East Bay artists have when capturing their sunsets every day. And dedicating that little time each evening to finding somewhere to shoot, trying new ways of immortalizing the moment, and just consciously chillin out and watching Mother Nature at work has been so relaxing, and fulfilling. I'm grateful for everything around me on a daily basis, which has been a long time coming. :-) Feel free to come join us on Instagram: @dailyoaklandsunset

Rainy Oakland

Some shots from a recent rainy walk through our hood...

(PS, finished shots of the door table and all the other projects I've got going are soon to come!)

Tilden Regional Park

Took an afternoon hike around Lake Anza in Tilden Regional Park above Berkeley and Oakland. It's been pretty unseasonably warm around here..perfect opportunity to get out with the dog and wander around the woods for a few hours!

Sutro Baths

The ruins of Sutro Baths. Haunting. Interesting. Beautiful.

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

Got to head out to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden this morning with Sonny, Katie Rose, and Stacy to check out the once in a lifetime bloom of a Titan Arum. These are the massive flowers more commonly known as "Corpse Flowers" for the disgustingly pungent odor they give off after blooming. It's most often compared to the smell of rotting flesh! I got a pretty good whiff and can definitely confirm that. Regardless, the flower is an amazing organism, and beautiful, and missing this bloom was definitely NOT an option! This plant is 15 years old, and will only bloom this once before dying.

After we'd all had our fill of the "Little Stinker", we took some time to wander around the 34 acre garden and get lost in the beauty of the flora and fauna we all usually take for granted.

The "Little Stinker"