Went with Aphra to Mount Diablo on a quest for California poppies. I had been to Mount Diablo one time before but realized that I hardly scratched its surface. Most of my shots came from a small meadow close to the summit. The consensus is that we are still a few weeks too early to see the big displays of poppies. There were small patches of poppies, lots of lupines, owl’s clover, and other wildflowers that I do not know.

I decided not to use my macro lens for those really up-close-and-personal shots. Instead, I wanted try out my extension tubes with my moderate telephoto lens. I had intended to try my fisheye lens with an extension tube. I had seen some really unusual and beautiful poppy shots by George Lepp with that setup. For some reason, I did not try take out the fisheye. Maybe, next time…