Yosemite and More

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...

Here's my second installment on my trip to Bodie. Jeff Sullivan was leading our workshop. He was a great help to me since I had never had much success with trying to photograph the Milky Way. Jeff runs a number of workshops during the year. Check  out    http://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/. I learned a little about photoshop and post editing trying to bring these photos to life. I used a 16-22mm lens on a full frame Canon 6D. This wide angle of a lens leads to a lot of distortion, something that has kept me in the past from using wide angle lenses. During post processing I used the warp tool to bring a better prospective  and modify some of the distortion. I also used a layer mask for color correction on the area that were 'lightpainted'. I left the  Milky Way pretty much alone. Not going to add a lot of comments this time. Bet you weren't expecting that from me. Go See, Enjoy and Pho...

I full-filled a Bucket List item about a week ago. I had the pleasure of being able to go into some of the interiors of the buildings at Bodie State Park. This was something I've wanted to  do since I started going to Bodie. It is a once in a lifetime experience for me.... okay maybe twice depending on $$ and opportunity. Jeff Sullivan of Jeff Sullivan Photography (go figure) was our guide and really a great guy. A friend warned me about posting too many photos, is 19 too many. I could even add more. And this doesn't include the exteriors, night with Milkyway  or Mono Lake.  I change a lot to black and white some using sepia tone, some split toned some I left color. I took a lot, I mean a lot of photos and am not completely sure where they  where all taken, I believe this one is from the Lottie Johl house. A lady of some repute, good and bad. This is from the Lottie Johl House as well. This is from the Barbe...