palm bark
Greetings from southern California.
Well, here I sit in Burbank for crying out loud, and I’m having a mighty struggle trying to resume some kind of normal posting routine. I actually had a few moments to get out with my camera this afternoon though, and was quite captivated by the things growing around me. You just don’t see plant life like this in Montana. It’s a whole different world.
I don’t know anything about what this tree is other than that it’s a variety of palm. I need to spend a bit of time learning to identify what’s around me here, but in the meantime I’m sure one of you can tell me what this is. Anyway I was fascinated by the basketweave pattern of the bark, and decided it would work pretty well as a black and white.
Good to hear that you made it safe and sound. Made me chuckle to read your comment “was quite captivated by the things growing around me. You just don’t see plant life like this in Montana. It’s a whole different world.”
Enjoy your new surroundings
Thanks David. This is all pretty exotic to us northern types.
Good to see you are down there in one piece! The cool thing about moving to a new area is that you are seeing everything for the first time and look upon everything with a sense of wonder in a way. I have heard from friends that have escaped from here that it makes for some very good picture making. I hope that holds true for you too! Make lemonade man!
Thanks Jeff. Well, my eyes are sure busy anyway — we’ll see if that translates into some significant photographs.
I, also, am glad you made it and took that camera out on the streets. Yes, we do find different worlds wherever we go. Enjoy this one while you are there.
PJ, I’m sure there’s also many types of “wildlife” in southern California you’d never see in Montana — including many two legged types.
Glad to hear you made it and it should be interesting to say the least. I agree with the others…have fun with it!
Thanks guys. It should definitely be interesting.
The original fish who crawled out of the ocean, they say, eventually sprouted legs. I love the palm BW. My first thought when I saw it was, “Alright, there’s PJ’s take on S. Cal, great stuff.” Looking forward to more.
Thanks David. I do appreciate that.
I second David’s sentiment. You’ve managed to do something pretty unique with urban (I assume) southern California. I like this a lot.
Thanks Greg. It was urban alright — right smack in the middle of Burbank. It looks like almost every building here has these trees lined up outside, but to me they’re still pretty cool. Pretty exotic for the likes of me.
PJ, my understanding is that there are only 1 or 2 species of palm that are native to southern California. The rest of what you see are all exotic. But, they’re ubiquitous here. I remember my wife being star struck by them when we first moved here from Wyoming too!
They’re ubiquitous in urban settings, it almost looks odd for me to see them in natural settings (i.e. Joshua Tree or Anza Borrego) now…
Thanks for the info Greg. I still don’t know one from another. I guess us humans are good at planting exotics for decorative purposes wherever we are. In some places that has an enormous impact on local ecosystems.
Very nice, PJ–I’m anxious to see what you’ll produce down there.
Thanks Jeff. Once I really get my feet on the ground here I’ll be able to get out to explore more.
There’s certainly no shortage of urban scenes, as well as architectural subjects to work with here. Maybe I’ll steal a bit from your playbook and dig in to some of those…
Very nice, PJ. Living most of my life in New york and Minnesota, palms have always been exotic for me. I never lost the thrill of seeing them so casually.
Thanks Ken. I feel the same way. I lived in Minnesota too, then Montana. This is all pretty new and strange to me.
If I’m reading your blog right you’re in NY now. What part of MN did you live in?
We lived in Woodbury, just east of St. Paul. I loved the Twin Cities but the place I miss most was the Landscape Arboretum.
Welcome, again, to SoCal! Enjoy the sunshine. It’s great to see that you are out and about with your camera. I look forward to seeing what you do with all the plant life. It is a visual feast. You certainly are off to a terrific start.
Thanks Anita. It certainly is a visual feast, and I don’t mean only the plant life…
This is quite a place.
Wonderful image! What I like to do with these types of your photos is look at the image before scrolling down to see the description to see if I can figure out what it is.
Couldn’t figure this one out, but once I read the description it was as if the light bulb went off – of course!!
Heh. That’s interesting. Thanks, man — glad you like it.
This sure is a wonderful shot, PJ. I will look forward to reading your California adventures.
Sharon
Thank you Sharon.
[...] a different world [...]