Photo of the month Archives • Alexander S. Kunz Photography

Leaf Litter

2021/09/222016/10/31

Leaves of Platanus racemosa (Western Sycamore) on the ground, Los Penasquitos Canyon, San Diego, California; October 2016.

October’s “Photo of the month” is a bit different – an autumnal set of leaves from our native trees. Black Oaks and Canyon Oaks live at higher elevations only, Sycamores and Coast Live Oaks are familiar inhabitants of our riparian canyons (the Sycamores especially with their huge leaves need a lot of moisture so they’re not found outside of the canyons at lower elevations).

Granite Mountain Views

2022/06/152016/03/31

View into the desert from one of Granite Mountain's false summits, with Whale Peak on the left and Carrizo Mountain in the distant haze. Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California; March 2016

I made the photo of the month for March only two days ago, when I finally hiked Granite Mountain in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. I’ll have a complete blog post with more photos up soon, hopefully. I pretty much know that this is “the winner” for the month – because finally doing that hike meant a lot to me, and it was a great experience.

Passage into the Earth

2020/02/092016/01/31

Slot canyon, Coyote Mountains Wilderness, California, January 2017.

My photo of the month for January 2016 is from a desert hike (in fact, the only desert hike I did so far during this cold season) in the Coyote Mountains Wilderness (archive link – 12 more posts are available from that area now!). Two of my friends and I did the loop hike that includes the “Domelands“, the rough Slot Canyon down into a fossil-rich part of the Carrizo Badlands, and back through Anvil Canyon.

Old Thermostat

2022/03/062015/11/30

Old programmable thermostat with mercury gauges; November 2015.

My photo of the month for November is this image of the old thermostat in the house that we bought in mid November.

Crème

2022/03/062015/09/30

Smooth shapes of Algodones Dunes with ragged Chocolate Mountain range in the distance; September 2015.

I guess it’s not a surprise that my photo of the month for September 2015 is once more an image from Algodones Dunes (aka Imperial Sand Dunes), after you saw the “Life in the Dunes” post a couple of days ago. :)

Lichen on Manzanita

2022/04/022015/07/31

Lichen on Mission Manzanita (Xylococcus bicolor), Black Mountain Open Space Park, San Diego, California; July 2015.

My photo of the month for July 2015 is a reminder that there are no shortcuts. I made this photo today, on July 31st. Forgive me if this post is going to get a bit technical, but it’s part of the story of this photo, which is a focus-stack of eleven single images – each one photographed with my 105mm macro lens at f/4.