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Author: i-am-dr-doofenshmirtz

_posts/2025-03-19-nature-photos-bay-area.md

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+---
+title: Photographing the Last Day of Winter
+date: 2025-03-19 18:44:00 -0800
+categories: [Photography, Nature]
+tags: [natural beauty, climate change]
+---
+
+In my second to last post titled *Unfiltered Thoughts: The New Problem With California Winters*, I talk about California winters and how they have been experiencing climate oddities in recent years caused by human-induced climate change. I made that post in January, and now the climate has taken an interesting turn. Today marks the last day of winter, so I thought I would sort of reflect on what I mean by that through, of course, some nature photography I took on a hike at Stevens Creek Reservoir the other day.  
+
+## March 16th | Stevens Creek Reservoir  
+
+![A Rainy Landscape](../images/2025-03-19/IMGP1508%20Large.jpeg)  
+
+Believe it or not, the photos in this post, including this one, were taken in the rain. Rain in March is quite common in the Bay Area, but what made this winter rain unique was just how cold the temperature was when it was raining—much colder than in past years. Indeed, this is a result of human-induced climate change; it turns out that the jet stream is weakening, and with it, the ability to maintain warmer temperatures in lower latitudes.  
+
+It’s not recommended to take photos in the rain (for obvious reasons), but I took the cautionary steps, and I think it was definitely worthwhile. The rain provided a perfect opportunity for me to play around with the aperture to get that sort of fading effect seen in the background. It helps create **space**, an element of art that I believe gives this photo a feeling of distance and its meaning of environmental uncertainty.  
+
+![Intermittent Rain on Landscape](../images/2025-03-19/IMGP1541%20Large.jpeg)  
+
+The intermittent and patchy rain allowed for the overcast sun to peep through, allowing for contrast-filled photos like the one seen above. I viewed this type of rain as a strange occurrence because when it rains in California during the winter, it’s generally in the form of profuse atmospheric rivers. Indeed, this pattern is also a result of human-induced climate change impacting the jet stream. A weaker jet stream is not able to deliver atmospheric rivers at the same intensity as before and allows for low-pressure systems to linger for longer, a combination that makes the rains lighter, more intermittent, and last longer. These low-pressure systems also create wind storms, which can also help explain why the temperature feels much colder during these rains.  
+
+This photo is really growing on me. It has that same sort of fading background seen in the last photo, but in this case, the main element of art in the photo is **color** rather than **space**. It gives this photo a different meaning of vibrancy and renewal—how an environmentally unfriendly past (represented by the gray rainy background) can be rewritten by making good choices now (represented by the lush greenery).  
+
+![A Closeup of a Crow](../images/2025-03-19/IMGP1521%20Large.jpeg)  
+
+I’m very proud of this photo because it marks my first time actually getting close to a bird to photograph it without scaring it off. I’ll admit, I did have the help of a 50-300mm lens, but still, this crow was tempted to fly off and by some miracle chose not to, allowing me to take this stunning closeup of it. I know, the chain-linked fence doesn’t really align with wildlife photography, but I’m nonetheless happy that I was at least able to get such a shot like this.  
+
+It was actually much windier in the photo than it looks. This crow was hanging on for its life, which is why at least to me, this photo feels so powerful. It represents the battle against environmental harm we must take. Like the crow resisting the abnormally high winds (an effect caused by human-induced climate change), we need to resist the actions that create environmental harm.  
+
+![Debris Buildup on Reservoir Dam](../images/2025-03-19/IMGP1511%20Large.jpeg)  
+
+If you didn’t know, Stevens Creek Reservoir is a man-made reservoir, and it often shows signs of it. One of those signs is debris buildup along the dam, which I thought could make for a cool photo. With rain comes an outflow of debris, and the restriction of normal downstream flow caused by dams creates that buildup. I always thought that the heavier the rain, the more debris, but that may not necessarily be the case because the rain was less atmospheric-river-like and more intermittent this year, yet the debris buildup still looked the same. Just a thought.  
+
+I’ve often used **line** (another element of art) in my photography, but always in the form of a straight edge contrasting with the sky. This photo marks my first time using it more uniquely, and I think it helps symbolize the contrast between the state of the environment caused by human activity (represented by the gunky debris) and the state it can come back to if we take action to reverse our footprint.  
+
+![Abundant Vegetation](../images/2025-03-19/IMGP1524%20Large.jpeg)
+
+The rain this year has been less ruthless and atmospheric-river-like, but also more prolonged, which has allowed vegetation to start sprawling earlier than in recent years. While it may look pretty, like in the photo above, this early rise of greenery can change ecosystems in harmful ways, and with human-induced climate change also increasing the likelihood of dry spells, the abundant vegetation can pose a wildfire risk once dried out.
+
+I’m surprised this photo turned out well given that it was raining quite heavily when I took it. What I think makes it special is the influx of colors. It may just be me, but whenever I look at this photo, my eyes jump across it, hopping from white flower buds to green grass. They sort of evoke an overwhelming feeling, which I believe helps give this photo a meaning of uncontrollable growth—how if we don’t act now to reverse our footprint, we will be overwhelmed with the consequences.
+
+## Photo Credit and Information  
+
+All of the photos on my blog are taken by me on my dedicated camera, the Pentax K3. They can all—including the additional ones not included—be found [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wrpC5GEXPhW3HTZ3zCPfQwamb6Pj36_n?usp=drive_link) and in higher resolution as well.  
+
+If you’ve read my past posts, you may have noticed that I switched my camera from a Canon EOS Rebel T6 to a Pentax K3. Indeed, my grandpa, who lives all the way in Minsk, donated some of his camera equipment to me during winter break. I was meaning to use it for a while, but I just couldn’t find the time to set everything up. I finally set everything up last weekend when I didn’t have much homework, and the equipment, which included a Pentax K3 body and some sleek lenses, turned out much better than I expected—so much so that I have now replaced it with my current equipment.  
+
+Despite being older, the Pentax K3 has a much snappier shutter than my previous Canon Rebel T6, and the plethora of lenses he sent me (that are surprisingly high-quality) will allow me to take much more versatile photos, like the closeup of the crow, for example, where I used the 50-300mm lens he sent me.