DEATH VALLEY

The most memorable new years eve I've ever had was the one we celebrated in the middle of nowhere, the desert called Death Valley in California. There are two small settlements where you can stay, we stayed at a motel in Stovepipe Wells. Death Valley National Park is a huge park and it takes several visits or days to cover this space. The actual valley is 140 miles long, the lowest point is 282 feet below see level and the highest temperature measured was 134°F (57°C). Never come here unprepared and with a full tank of gas! This natural bridge picture was taken near the Artist's Palette.

GOT FLOWERS?

I once heard someone saying that it is too easy to make a nice picture of a pretty flower...
I captured these twin Datura flowers in the Volcano Park on the Big Island of Hawaii.
I was just intrigued by the fact that the flowers were so big! The Datura belongs to the classic "witches' weeds," along with deadly nightshade, henbane, and mandrake. Most parts of the plants contain toxic hallucinogens, and Datura has a long history of use for causing delirious states and death. It was well known as an essential ingredient of love potions and witches' brews.
It was raining and my Olympus Camedia (my first digital camera of 1.3 megapixels!) was running out of juice...I kneeled to see the inside of the flowers and made this image.

MAHALO!
MO

ANOTHER BLOG?

Some people might ask? Don't you have anything else to do? Or something better to do?
Well...I just love writing and photography so this blog is the perfect way to show my favorite images and tell a little about them! I do have my official website www.moniquedicarlo.com for serious customers ;-)

This is also a place where I can show any picture I want without censoring myself. It could just be a memorable moment, subject, object, or a favorite place. For example: sunsets are considered "tacky" in the "professional art photography" world, so lets start this blog with my most impressive and favorite sunset!

This picture was taken in the South of France in a village called "Le Barcarès", overlooking the lake "Étang de Leucate", with the mountain "Mont Canigou" in the background. This is just one of many pictures I took in about 30 minutes, it started with a faded blue, changed into a pink and became soooo red I could not believe my eyes! This image has not been touched by Photoshop! It was shot on a positive film with my old Pentax ME Super camera.

MO