Yosemite and More

Friedhelm and I went to Yosemite the other day. The weather was predicted to be in the teens in the morning and high twenties  in the afternoon. We were lucky, it was cold but nowhere near those lows. Yosemite can be like most places a little drab, colorwise, in the winter months. So you look for color and contrast where you can find it. This is  my favorite photos from this trip. It's a toadstool growing  out of the side of a tree.  This one is more interesting than artistic. At first glace is looked like some ice frozen to a small area of a tree. Closer look showed it was actually sap. We took about a 4 mile hike to Mirror Lake. Along the way there were a number of puddles with some interesting reflections. When you first look at this it's a little confusing. Remember it's a reflection. Here's a panorama of Mirror Lake. As we drove around after Mirror Lake we noticed that portions of the Valley

I bought myself a early Christmas present.  A Sigma 100-400mm lens.  Since the weather was reasonable yesterday I decided to go to the Merced Wildlife Refuge  and see if I made a good decision or not. There weren't a lot of birds around but those I did see were pretty cooperative.  At a distance anyway. Most of the following were not cropped much. This lens is worth  every penny I paid. This photo of a Red Tail Hawk was not cropped at all. Next along the road was a Northern Shoveler Duck that had just dived into to  water a couple of times and decided to shake some of the water off. This Juvenile Harrier Hawk was pretty cooperative. Of course it flew off just as I took my camera away from my eye. Don't know the name of this bird. If anyone does please comment. There are so many small birds. I couldn't fine one with the eye and ruffle on the top combination. As I drove through the refuge I wondered if

As I mentioned in my last post, when I went to the east side of the  Sierras the weather was somewhat unsettled. That allowed for some interesting skies. Leaving the hills above Bishop I encountered scenes like this. As I proceeded to the hills between Bishop and Lee Vining the sun started to set and  the storm clouds really started to form. I must have stopped a least 10 times taking photos  of the various cloud formations that were changing constantly. It seemed like everywhere you looked, front, back, left or right there were beautiful colors. As I neared Lee Vining some lenticular clouds seemed to be forming in front of me. Then I met George, you can see George's face, right? Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph Dave

A good friend, Dorothy Nielsen, and I went over to the eastern side of the Sierras the other day. It was a great time and she showed me the area around Bishop. An area I had not explored before and was amazed at the color and amount of Aspens.  I had a lot of trouble deciding which photos to post. Hope you agree with my decisions. Comments are always welcome. Okay so the first and second photos aren't of Aspens. My blog, my choice... I love the contrast in these two. As you head down the hill from Tioga Pass if you looked behind you this was just part of the view.  You'll notice no locations are given. They're a secret, and it's not because I can't remember some of the names or that we visited a whole lot of locations. The weather was variable through much of the time we were there. In fact we weren't sure we wouldn't get rained out. Luckily one night it snowed at the higher elevation

I took a couple of days and went up to the Mt. Shasta area. While my photography time was somewhat limited I was able to get a few shots I liked. Fall was evident and so.... Some ferns in the shaded areas of the forest had turned, some  not so much. Love the way the light shines thru the 'hairs' The Milky Way was not as prominent as I would have hoped but it still showed up. The Milky Way is best viewed in the summer since it it predominantly in the southern hemisphere. I was planning on going back near this location the next night but it was pouring rain. Still, better than nothing. If you look west from Mt. Shasta you'll see the Eddy's. The sun just happens to set over these hills that are part of the Cascade Mountains.  The morning after the storm it was still overcast. I was actually heading south on Interstate 5, going home when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw Black Butte, with a cap

The last thing I did during my trip to Bodie was shooting  star trails. I'd never had much luck but Jeff Sullivan provided me with guidance and  let me borrow a intervalometer. This consists of 65 30 second shots with a 1 second delay between each shot. Then I processed them through StarStaX software. It took me this long to process them because I was afraid it would be a bust. Might just have to buy one of those intervalometers.  I believe the streak across the bottom-middle is a comet. Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph Dave

Friedhelm and I went to Hornitos the other day. Been there a number of times and honestly it hadn't changed much, and my expectations were low. It's a small mining town that is literally about 3 blocks long in a 'Y' shape. No side streets except the one that goes to the old church. I decided to post some photos anyway and change them to black and white. There was a full moon but I was disappointed with my photographs so we won't go there. Here's a couple of fixer-uppers. A lone tree on a hill to the east of the town. One of the icons of Hornitos is this old wagon. Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph Dave

Before my night photo shoot in Bodie (see previous posts) I was thinking about afterwards getting up early and going to Mono Lake  and catch the sunrise. However we got done with the night photography around 1 am and I was kinda wound up and didn't get to bed until 3 am. 'That would have meant about 2 hours sleep.  If I was staying another night I probably  would have gotten up but since I would be driving home I thought a little sleep  was in order. Not sure if it was the right decision,  the sky was wonderful and I'm sure the sunrise was well WOW. Anyway here's my later morning photos of Mono Lake and it's Tuffa's. If someone knows what this bird is please leave a comment. I couldn't find a  combination of the coloring, black bill and black eye. Mono Lake has about 235 different species of birds, I checked several of them out but couldn't come up with a direct match. As I said the clouds and sky were wonderful