I am revisiting my images from my March trip to Pinnacles National Park. This landscape scene is located not far from the park. It is in a portion of the state that I never visited prior to this trip. The hills were dabbled with some new green grass as it had rained a week or so before. I doubt that the green lasted, and I imagine the cattle in that area are eating imported feed.
I am saw more disturbing signs of the drought while I was in Yosemite last month. The snow pack was only evident on the high peaks, and at Tuolumne there was a near total absence of snow.
Where we live in the redwood forest, there is a stream just behind our property – it is as dry now as I have ever seen it be. Our weather has been ideal for this month. It is sunny every day, and the normal summer-time fog is flat out absent. I understand that the redwoods rely at least in part, on fog for their hydration. It seems that if this is related to climate change that we are acquiring the climate that the Monterey Bay area has/had. I suppose that I should just enjoy it, but I cannot escape the fact that my wells are drying up and that we may need to get by on extreme rationing – soon. I sure do hope that people in the rest of the west come to terms with the idea of conservation.
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About Thomas Bethune
THOMAS ALLEN BETHUNE
I have been interested in photography for most of my life. I started taking photographs with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera when I was eight years old. My early subjects were trains and engineered structures as well as landscapes and family portraits. My interests and vision have matured, but the subjects that catch my eye continue to be of the same genre as my earliest visions.
A neighbor man had a darkroom, and he showed me the basics of camera operation and darkroom processing. I took courses in art and photography in high school and college. I worked as an apprentice to a commercial wedding and event photographer, and I was in charge of a recreational dark room while I was in the military. As an adult, I earned a bachelor’s degree in photography from Humboldt State University. My experience with film formats included 35mm, 2 ¼”, and 4”x 5”. I exhibited at galleries near my home in Arcata California, and in Santa Fe New Mexico.
All my current work is digital. I am scanning many of my legacy negatives and slides. I sometimes process and print the scanned negatives. I often post them on my blog. I process all of my prints with archival media.
An award winning fine art photographer living in a redwood forest.
BA Photography
Director, Redwood Art Association, Eureka CA
Co-curator, F Street Foto Gallery, Eureka CA
Thomas Bethune's Photographic Journal 
This shot looks as if it could have been taken within miles of our home in South Dakota.
I hope the rains find you.
I would love to photograph in your part of the country someday.