Temblor Range, CA April 2019

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Exploring the hills of central California on this afternoon was an exciting and humbling experience. Wind was ripping at 30mph from the northeast with an armada of scattered clouds casting momentarily brilliant spot lighting here, there and everywhere. As soon as I set up for a shot, the light moved on and tempted me elsewhere. It was enthralling and beautiful, but full of missed photo opportunities. As the afternoon progressed the light became more predictable with a few long strips of clouds partially covering the sky, but the wind showing no signs of relenting. 
I returned to this spot hoping its location on the southwest side of a steep hill would afford me some respite to shoot non-blurry focus stacked flowers in fading light. That was very optimistic. This picture is made up of a series of different focus points taken between huge gusts of wind and meticulously blended together by hand. I think it turned out pretty well, but I will probably shoot telephoto or hide in a bunker next time.

Carrizo Plain Nation Monument, CA April 2019

I talked to a number of other photographers out at the superbloom who said that these eroded badlands were "ruining their flower shots"! Perhaps, I'm just a sucker for badlands and missing the southwest, but I couldn't disagree more. I think the depth and overall shape of these foothills are spectacular. By no means was this area the most flower dense or colorful, but just after sunset the sky cast a nice orangey light across these hills and I couldn't resist some pre-dinner telephoto fun. Let me know what you think. 
Camera info:
4 row vertical panorama 
Nikon D850
Nikon 70-200 @200mm f/9 2.5sec iso 31

Temblor Range, CA April 2019