A Visit to Keeler

Keeler is an old mining town, nestled between the foothills of the White/Inyo Mountains, and the vast desert of the Owens Dry Lake.  At one point in history, several eons ago(before LADWP), the area was a vast watershed, with HUGE amounts of healthy riparian habitat, giant spring-fed wetlands, and water, water everywhere. 

Now…it’s a barren salt flat, where daily dust storms cause bronchial infections in the very young and very old, animals struggle to scrape out a living(along with the tough locals that stick around), and the deserted landscape is as vast and empty as the LA Aqueduct is deep and wet…

Abandoned

The first thing I noticed about Keeler was the sense of abandonment.  It seems that everywhere you looked, something was rusted, rotted, empty, or falling down under the weight of decades of desert environment and neglect.

Keeler Firehouse

We went by the Keeler Volunteer Fire Department.  Their vehicles were all more than 50 years old, most of them retired from other fire districts and most likely donated to the KVFD.  Sometimes you do your best with what you got. At least they HAVE a fire house…

Broke Down Palace?

This stone house is probably over 150 years old, though I couldn’t say for certain.  Makes a nice contrast to the vastness of the desert and the beauty of the Eastern Sierra in the background.  Nestled among the peaks back there is Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the Continental U.S.  And about 1 hour south(behind me in this photo) is Death Valley and Badwater, which is the lowest point in the Continental U.S.

Mother Nature Never Fails

And where men have fought, and fallen, struggled to eke out a living in the vast, dry desert, Mother Nature still makes a stand…

Thanks for reading!

Round Valley Relic

The storm clouds rolling in while taking my daughter to school this morning were simply incredible.  I was racking my brain the whole way to school and back home, trying to figure out where I could go, close by, and get some decent shots.  Than I remembered this old, rusted, gutted, half of a car out behind Kaylee’s mom’s house…

And my favorite shot of the morning…

I really like this last shot.  I actually took 3 exposures from this angle, intending to make an HDR photo merge, but when I got the files uploaded, I realized I didn’t need it, so I discarded the other 2 files, and processed this one as normal.  I think it came out fairly decent.

I will be going back here, after a nice dusting of fresh snow hits Round Valley…

Thanks for looking!

Grey Skies and Great Mountains

I went out to the Buttermilks with a couple friends the other day.  The girls wanted to hike where it was warm, and I wanted to re-visit a favorite place of mine, and try and get a couple different perspectives.  The ladies were happy…and so was I.

Grey Skies Over Mt. Tom

This shot uses the same dead tree as my “Storm Over Wheeler Crest” shot from August of this year.  I wanted a new perspective, and with the much higher cloud base, I was able to get Mt. Tom in the shot this time.  Than I looked south…

Basin Mt. and Mt. Tom

This other fallen tree seemed to beg for attention.  I gave it some, but I didn’t get this one quite right.  It’s not bad, but I’m gonna go back.  I think a blanket of fresh snow at sunrise might be in order…

Thanks for looking!

Trying Something New

So…I picked up a photography magazine the other day.  Can’t remember which one, but it’s around here somewhere…  Anyhow…  It had this article on creating a really neat optical illusion.  You take a normal photograph, and make it look as though the viewer is looking at a miniaturized model of whatever your subject is.  So I tried it out…

Desert Diorama

Tiny Sabrina

Paradise, CA and Mt. Tom

I don’t know…it’s pretty neat.  I suspect it will be over used and become cliche fairly quickly, but…it’s a neat trick, and can make an interesting image from something you might not otherwise even process.

Let me know what you think, and if you want to know how…I’llbe happy to explain.  Or I can find the magazine and tell you what it was.  Wish I could remember…

Thanks for reading!

Local Legend

The Sierra Phantom.  He’s a local legend…sort of.  One part eccentric, one part mountaineer, 3 parts Enigma.  Add contents to bowl, mix thoroughly, and pour into a local river.  What you get is the Sierra Phantom…

Sierra Phantom

He’s in his mid-60’s now, but he doesn’t let that slow him down.  He spent many years living the life of a hermit, up in the mountains, in the backcountry, eking out a living from the bounty of the backcountry through fishing, hunting, and what little gardening can be done at 11,000′.  He has played an important role in the Search and Rescue of countless individuals lost in the mountains.  He has been party to searches, pack trains, mining companies, and environmental lawsuits.  The man has seen a lot…

I made arrangements with him to get together on a nice warm day, head to the river for some fishing, and to get some really good shots of the Phantom playing in his environment.  I hope we can really make that happen…

I also ran across a really neat car yesterday…

Cadillac LaSalle

You don’t see many of these anymore.  I have no idea what year she is, but I know her owner, so I can find out.  Sure is a beauty of an old luxury car, though, ain’t she?

Thanks for coming along!