ChildofVision.com 2017: A photographic journey
Piru Hills, Lake Piru, Fillmore, California
February in California is spring. The winter rains have made everything green up and flowers will begin blooming soon. This lasts until May-June when the dry months begin and everything starts to turn brown for the long dry summer months.
There was a good soaking rain Friday so I went out early Saturday morning hoping to catch some low fog and dramatic silhouettes. But it had been a warm storm and the ground was warm enough the fog never developed. There were some very rare (for California) low clouds still clearing and variable light- sunny one moment, overcast the next. As I was driving up Piru Creek, about 30 miles west of Santa Clarita, I saw the shadows begin to play across this steep hillside across the valley and up Holser Canyon. So green it almost hurt to look at, the contours of the hill and the play of light and shadow made a perfect California scene.
The ridgeline and shape of the hills dictated a vertical composition. I used Photoshop to tweak the contrast to more closely match what I saw with my eye, and the graduated filter to bring the value of the clouds down.