Tree of Life Nursery

On Saturday, January 31, I woke up early to get ready to head up a little ways north of San Diego to the Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano. Andy and I met up in the school parking lot at 8am to carpool there and back. When we got there, he put his things into my car, got in, and then we left. So far it was looking to be a really beautiful day. The sun was bright, and the sky was clear and a deep, blue color. Even along the coast on the drive up the I15, there were no clouds in the sky.

Andy and I were the first people to show up besides Deborah. She showed us around for a little bit, naming native plants for us. The three of us came across a great manzanita tree, blooming with white flowers and full of humming birds. The morning light shining in on the tree was really nice. We pulled out our cameras, and began shooting, trying to get a shot of the humming birds without scaring them off. Unfortunately, I did not have a nice enough lens to get a close up shot of them, but I think that I have some nice ones of the tree, and you can see the tiny birds in some of them.


From there, we continued to photograph other native plants and things around the nursery. Many more manzanitas, sycamores, and other plants and trees. I found a thorny bush entangled in barbed wire, which I thought was an interesting composition as well. Andy, Cameron, and I even took pictures of one of the dogs that was hanging around the nursery. He was adorable, and it was kind of cool that he had two different colored eyes.


At 10am, everyone gathered up with Abe Sanchez to hear him speak about basket weaving. I thought it was very interesting to hear what he had to share. He is very determined to preserve the native traditions, which includes basket weaving. Never had I realized how much work goes into basket weaving or how hard it is to accomplish. Sanchez had some beautiful baskets and other woven things with him that were great for photographing.


Shortly after hearing Sanchez, Andy and I headed home. Heading back down the I15 we were both relieved and glad that we had gone up early for the field trip. First of all because the morning seemed like such an ideal time to be taking photos, and second because the traffic going north on the I15 was almost completely stopped! What a bummer that would have been. I think that we both enjoyed the trip quite a bit and caught some really interesting shots.