This weeks PhotoFriday theme, “Pristine,” is a word that I always associate with clean, white, untouched snow. I’ve only ever been skiing once and, since I spent most of my time falling down, I didn’t have my camera with me very much. So instead, I have the above image, taken near Lake Tahoe. The snow, despite it being July, is still pretty much untouched.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Cloudy.” I’m entry number 206.

I’ve a feeling that I’ve used this picture for at least one PhotoFriday before, but I can’t think of a better image that I’ve taken that says “Wilderness” any better. It was taken in Yosemite from Olmsted Point.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Building.” I’m entry number 226.

For this weeks PhotoFriday, I thought of a picture I took a couple of years ago in Stockholm. As I usually do, I searched to see if I’d used the same image for any other challenges. It turns out I had. For a challenge titled, “Contrast.” Well, at least I’m consistent.

The above image, of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, has pretty much the same idea.

I’m even later than usual this week — I was away from home is my excuse — so even though I posted an entry in last weeks challenge, it’s now too late to vote for it. Even I didn’t vote for myself!

People are impressed by the Academy Awards ceremony, all the glitz and glamour, the celebrities and the recognition for their work. However there are much easier ways to pick up your own Oscar statue.

This weeks PhotoFriday, “Nature,” is a much broader theme than we’ve had in the last few weeks. So lots of choices this time — too many — and in the end I figured that showing the vastness of a natural area, barely touched by man was the way to go. This image is originally from my tribute to Ansel Adams.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Lightness.” I’m entry number 220.

“Surfaces,” this weeks PhotoFriday theme, is kind of an odd subject, I mean in some sense almost everything is or has a surface. But what I liked about the Getty Museum in Los Angeles is that the whole building was strange shapes and surfaces, something that I tried to get across in this image. Which I thought made it a decent candidate for this weeks challenge.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Distant.” I’m entry 189.

My previous exploits in San Francisco have been well documented (1 2 3 4 5) so I shall just get straight into the images.

This time I have no particular theme to link the pictures together. I quite like the Golden Gate Bridge peeking through the fog and the yachts. I got a better day to visit Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid.

Despite Californian voters failing to reject Prop 8, the graffiti in Los Angeles shows that not everyone agrees: Post No Bills Prop.

In stark contrast to pretty much everything else, Time Lords in the US are clearly smaller than their British equivalent.

One thing that I wasn’t really expecting to see in Southern California were a series of wind farms. With their quiet grace and purpose against the desert backdrop they are oddly beautiful.