Yosemite and More

Last week I took a quick trip to Yosemite and then decided to go on over Tioga Pass to Mono Lake. It turned out to be a very interesting day weather wise, from warm and sunny,  to puffy clouds, then rain and a slushy drive on the way home. Mostly I'll share some of the animals I saw in Yosemite, mostly. This female Mallard swam very close, hoping I'm sure for a quick meal. There were a lot of Acorn Woodpeckers, this one kept coming to the same branch, but would fly away if I got too close. I seemed to spend quite a bit of time chasing very elusive butterflies Then on to Mono Lake and some puffy clouds As with most outings sometime you just need to look behind you. It's hard to see the Alkali Flies, they're usually just a mass of black. For California Gulls the Alkali Flies are a major food source. Foreboding of things to come. It started to sprinkle just as I left Mono Lake. On the way up from Mono Basin I saw what was ahead of me. There wasn't  actual snow on the r...

 Looked outside from doing housework and noticed some enticing clouds. Got in my car and took a little trip. Low and behold the almond trees are in blossom. This is the result. Of course I took a LOT more than are posted here decisions, decisions!! Go, See, Enjoy, Stay Safe and Photograph Dave

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

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...

I recently had to go to Seattle Washington on a business trip. It started out that I would work a couple of days and take a few off. Well work turned out to take a little longer. But that was Okay since it rained almost the whole time I was up there. I did take the time to go to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. The day was such that I could only shoot in the inside of the museum. That posed the problem of lots of busy things in your and your cameras sight-line. So closeups or looking up seemed the order of the day. I don't know if this is a distinction to be proud of but apparently the Italians were the first to use aircraft in combat during a war with Turkey. And the first to develop a fighter plane the Beriot. On one of my days off the weather report was cloudy but only a 5% chance of rain. I headed out to a Railroad Museum south of Seattle. Before it started to rain real hard I snapped a few shots, but not many. ...

Since the Almond Blossoms are beginning to wane I thought it might be time to edit and post a few of my photos. I had decided that I had too much to do and had probably thousands of almond photos and so this year I would skip the annual blossom. Well that lasted until the other day when I was headed to Home Depot, turned around, got my camera and ............. What really caught my eye was all the water that had accumulated in this one particular orchard. While the water wasn't exactly clear it still provided a nice reflection. Then I turned around and saw this fence. While this photo doesn't have Almond Blossoms it does have trees and wonderful puffy clouds. And last but not least Blossoms and Puffy Clouds. Go, See, Enjoy, put down the tools and Photograph Dave

The weather report said that it was going to snow in Yosemite Valley. So.... Friedhelm and I headed up that way. Well there wasn't any snow except on the peaks but there was fog and great photo opportunities. Except for a few of exceptions, in this post, I tried to stay away  from the iconic photographs. Some photos I changed to  Black and White some stayed color. First up is Bridal Veil Falls in B & W. I thought this  highlighted the falls itself better. As usual anywhere you look in Yosemite you have a pretty good view. The fog and clouds just added to the beauty. Sometimes you look straight up.  As I mentioned the snow was on the peaks and sometimes they just peeked through. Okay another bad 'Dave' pun. But the Clouds turned out spectacular for a short period later in the day You know that I had to feature at least one photograph that was all about the lines. This was taken o...