A Beautiful Morning
My daughter has been begging me for a dog…specifically a Chihuahua, for the last 6 years and change. Me…I don’t like Chihuahuas. Yippy, snappy, barky, bitey, toe-biting rat dogs…I always said we would get a dog “someday”, but stressed that we would not get a Chihuahua. I’m such a sucker…
Yup…my daughter walking her 4-month old Chihuahua, Fleur…
This is them. 2 peas in a pod in only 3 days…
I went and hung out with this puppy for about an hour before I ever told Zayne anything about her. She is actually a very well-behaved puppy, and very easy to train.
Anyhow…on our little walk around the desert this morning, I took a few pics of the local Autumn wildlife…
Great Basin Fence Lizard
Common Sideblotch
All in all, it’s a beautiful morning. And yes…I know my kid is wearing 2 different shoes…
Thanks for stopping by!
Midnight Macros
I couldn’t sleep last night. Insomnia has always been an issue for me, so I’ve learned to deal with it. One of my tools is my camera…
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- Tan Praying Mantis
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- Green Praying Mantis
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- #18 Adams Soft Hackle variation
I couldn’t have created better lighting for the green Praying Mantis. It was sitting on the brass base of my porch light, glowing from the bare bulb above it, and I used a hand-held flash. I’m pretty happy with the results of all that brass and reflected lighting…
Thanks for looking!
I Love My Backyard
It’s not quite a year since I moved into this new place. By the time we got here in May last year, the flowers and trees had already been too neglected to recover by much. They did OK, but this year, with ready tending, watering, and cleaning, they are blooming like crazy. With that comes the insects…
Yellow Swallowtail
Yellow Swallowtail 2
There is also several acres of empty, rolling scrub land behind the house that usually has birds flitting about. This afternoon, I saw a cute little chipmunk…
Li'l Chipmunk
It’s nice to live in an area that has so many varied wildlife opportunities close at hand.
Thanks for lookin!
What a GORGEOUS Day!!
Ahh…it felt like Spring. Hell, it almost felt like summer! Woke up to a gorgeous sunrise, and had my first cup of coffee on the front porch listening to the sparrows as the sun crept up over the hills…
Sparrow at Sunrise
I got home from work and the Sphinx moths were back out, only this time they were after the freshly blossomed lilacs…
I had to go down to Big Pine to water some animals for a friend who is out of town. For giggles, I cruised up one of my favorite roads to see if by chance the snakes were awake, and wouldn’t you know it…
Panamint Rattlesnake--Crotalus stephensi
This little juvenile Panamint was very cool, chilling in the road on the way back down. So it’s official. First snake of the year means spring is officially here! I don’t care the weather thinks…
Thanks for looking!
Backyard Birding
When you haven’t got a lot of time, you work with what you got. I got a nice, big, empty desert loaded with songbirds and blossoming brush as a backyard…
Sure Signs of Spring
So I was outside this evening shortly before sunset, and I noticed my almond and peach trees were just glowing beautifully with fresh blossoms. So I grabbed my camera and my 105mm macro lens for some shots…
I have 2 peach trees. One provides LOADS of smaller, white fleshed peaches, and the other provides fewer, larger yellow fleshed ones. These are all from the white-flesh tree…
Then I saw this guy buzzing around my almond tree…
He knew he was further than I wanted him to be, so he flew down to the peach tree for a closer look…
That’s it. Just some sure signs of spring from my front yard. Thanks for looking!
Sunflower Sunrise
I went to an area known locally as “Farmer’s Pond”, this morning. In the winter, this entire area is flooded, and provides a lot of waterfowl habitat. In the summer, they drain the water off, and the entire area becomes flooded with wild sunflowers. One of the few places in the area that changes so drastically during the seasons, yet remains incredibly photogenic…
Sunflower Sunrise
Self Portrait
John
Bee
Grasshopper
Wheeler Crest
All in all, it was a really decent morning. Thanks for taking the time to look!
Baby Tree Frogs
As part of our commitment to the California Department of Fish and Game, the Eastern Sierra Herpetology Club went out to survey for Northern Leopard Frogs this morning. We didn’t find any, but we weren’t really expecting to. They haven’t been seen in this area in many years. We did find some freshly metamorphosed Pacific Tree Frogs(Pseudacris regila), though. A few of us found a breeding location, and spotted 15-20 or more froglets within 3 meters of each other.
In situ froglet
Pacific Tree Frog
Pseudocris regila
These little amphibians are absolutely adorable. Given the size and number of bass and bullfrogs we found in the area, it’s really quite a testament to this tree frog’s resiliency that they are coming back and doing so well. Hopefully, we can find a population of Northern Leopard frogs that have been hiding…
We also saw a ton of dragon flies, some of which I posted earlier. Here are a few more of those, as well…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Dragon Flies
I love dragonflies. They flit about eating insects, and look cool as hell doing it…
Thanks for looking!
Eastern Sierra Herpetology Club
The ESHC is well into it’s second year of existence, and today was one of the most exciting days for the membership, and for me, personally, as a founding member.
Some may remember last year at about this time, I posted that the club was going to ask for seasonal closures of a specific road to help protect a breeding population of the incredibly rare California Black Toad (Bufo exuls). We successful in getting a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Fish and Game. As part of that MOU, the club is obligated to volunteer time and man-hours for maintenance of the habitat in the breeding location. That’s just fine by us.
We met with a leading DFG biologist that has been working to protect these toads for a long time. We had a great day installing blockades, cleaning the area, and of course…documenting animals and flowers…
James and Ceale working to install a T-post at one of the stream crossings
The gang, observation a swarm of bees. I stayed far away from that nonsense.
Great Basin Whiptail--Aspidocelis tigris tigris
Barrel Cactus in bloom
Beavertail Cactus blossom
California Black Toad--Bufo exuls
Black Neck Hummingbird eggs
All in all it was a fantastic day! We were asked by the DFG to participate in a few studies in specific areas, looking for and documenting, various reptiles and amphibians for inclusion in a variety of environmental reports and studies. Hopefully, you will start seeing some great improvements to the habitat and conservation efforts of the reptiles and amphibians that inhabit the Eastern Sierra!
Thanks for looking!
Trip to San Francisco
So…anyone that’s been reading knows that I have been in the process of moving. I have been living in a small, 2 bedroom apartment with my daughter and a room-mate for the last 4 years. It wasn’t the best, but we made it work. Not long ago, my girlfriend asked if I was interested in getting a place together with her, and we jumped at the chance. So, me, my daughter, my girlfriend, and her daughter al share a really nice 4 bedroom, 2 bath house. Moving sucks ASS, and I despise the process. But the results are well worth it.
So…as a little bit of a break, my good friend John and his wife took me to San Francisco for a night. It still amazes me how easily my stress melts away with a camera in my hand…
Wild Rose growing in my new front yard
Bueatiful Swallowtail Butterfly
This guy threatened to break my camera if I took his picture. I wished him luck with that...
Awaiting the Bite
Alcatraz
The Rock
Alcatraz Guard Tower
Forbes Island
Seagull you fly across the horizon...
Telegraph Hill from The Embarcadero
The Golden Gate in B&W
Crosstown Traffic
It was a really fun, albeit short-lived trip to the Bay. I had never been there before, so it was a very worthwhile endeavor.
Thanks for coming along!
Backyard Macros
So…I’m in the process of moving out of my tiny-ass apartment, and in to a large house. For the past 4 years, my daughter and I have shared a 2-bedroom apartment with a room mate, which means I have been sleeping on the couch for longer than I care to remember. We are finally moving in to a large 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom house with my girlfriend and her daughter. What a fantastic change!
However…this leaves me very little time to go out and shoot. So…backyard “wilderness” will have to suffice…
Western Longnose-Rhinocheilus lecontei
Make A Wish
Looking at the world through a Fly's Eyes
The Nucleus
One more great aspect of our new house…PLENTY of open habitat to explore. I haven’t walked around too much to explore the property in depth, but I know there are about 1,000 acres or so of public land surrounding us. I also know that I received 3 different rattlesnake removal calls from this area last year, and all 3 were very nice Panamint Rattlers. Rarely are removal calls actually for rattlesnakes. Most of the time, they are big gophersnakes, occasionally a kingsnake, and even a few garter snakes. But in this area, they have all been actual rattlers, and that makes me very happy, contrary to what one might think, considering there are 2 young girls running around. But my daughter is well trained in identification, and my girlfriend’s daughter is quickly learning…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Walk About Town
Just walking through town yesterday morning with my camera and 105mm macro lens…
Some kind of cultivated Rose
A sure sign of summer in the Town Park
Some kind of clingy-tree-vine with pretty flowers
Gathering nectar
Thanks for taking the time to look!
More Flowers…
Spring is definitely in the air. Wildflowers are starting to pop up all over the place! Evening Snow Blanket is covering many a hillside in the early morning, gilia blankets anywhere there is dirt and some moisture, scalebud and tidy tips are popping up in the most unlikely of places… Yes, my friends…spring is here!
Chapparal and a Friend
Great Basin Gilia
Great Basin Gilia cluster
Another type of gilia
Great Basin Gili
Desert Paintbrush
Scalebud Clusters
Single Gilia
Tiny yellow...Gilia? Anyone know what this is?
Scalebud and Tidy Tips hillside
Thanks for coming along!
Walk About Town
I took a quick walk around town yesterday afternoon, just looking for things to shoot…
Thanks for looking!
Gorgeous Day
What a fantastic morning! My buddy John and I took a drive out to the east side of the Tungsten Hills in search of lizards. We didn’t find any lizards but we discovered that the wildflowers had started to bloom…
Daisey
Scalebud
Cherry Blossom
Cherry Blossom
Gilia of some variety
John getting "The Shot"
Mating Turkey Vultures
On the way home, we were gifted with the opportunity to see this pair of Turkey Vultures mating in a tree on the side of the road.
All in all it was a really nice day. Thanks for coming along!
The Range of Light
The eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California is often referred to as “The Range of Light”. There is good reason for this. Where I live, in Bishop, California, I live in a HUGE valley nestled between the Western Slope of the Inyo/White Moutanins and the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I live in the perfect place for clouds and light to come out and play in the mountains together…
Pre-dawn Silouhette
Good Morning!
Basin Mt. and Mt. Tom basking in some alpenglow...
Waking Mt. Tom--shot in monotone
Into the distance; A Ribbon of Black--shot ion monotone
Granite Glow
Portrait in Granite
Colorful Cascade
And of course, while at Pine Creek, I took some shots using the 2X + 4X Prinze Closeup filters…
A very cold fly...
At least they don't die alone...
Season's Change
Thanks for following me! It was a LOT warmer than I expected it to be this morning, which was nice. I hate getting up early as it is, but freezing my balls off to do it just sucks…
Randomness
More random photos and stuff.
I’ve been playing with some of the car show pictures and wanted to share this one, as I am reasonably happy with it. Actually…the best one, in my opinion. What do you think?
This was probably the “cleanest” shot of the day, with very few distractions, no telephone wires, and very few people milling about. So…I converted it to monochrome, pasted that on top of the original, erased the car from the monochrome version, and added a Gaussian blur to the monochrome. I think it came out fairly well…
And of course…some more macros…
Western Pygmy Blue Butterfly
Degrees of Change
Almost Gone
Fallen Beauty
Sticky Situation
So…that’s about it. Just some random signs of the coming of winter, and a really cool shot of a really neat old truck. Thanks for looking!
More Random Macros…
Yea…you know…I’ve been spending a lot of time with my wide angle lens and some closeup filters…plodding around town, bothering the bees and butterflies, and stealing the light from the flowers. But I’ve taken so many macro shots over the last 2 weeks, that I simply have not had the time (or the inclination, to be frank…) to share them.
So…here it is. Another “Random” post, only this time…with macros.
Bearded Dragon from the shop
African Hingeback Tortoise from the shop
So there you have it. Just a bunch o’ randomness and photographs from the last couple weeks. Hope you enjoyed them!
Ok…I’m Hooked…
Wow. That’s all I can say. This closeup filter I’ve been playing with has opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about photos. And there is always something worth shooting lying around…
I’m gonna pass on the story. These are all just random leaves and stuff around the house that I shot while I was smoking. Now you can see why I’m so happy with this filter.
Thanks again for looking!
More Macros…
Well, like any other new technique I am trying to learn…I am currently shooting a ton of macros. I like the fact that I no longer need to find an interesting subject…I just need an interesting picture. Textures, colors, shades, tones, lines…the tiniest little details become so much more important, and the scope of photography takes on a different feeling.
Anyhow…
Ashes to Ashes
Summer's End
Make a Wish
These butterflies…they actualy let me get within a couple of inches before they got spooked and took off. I’m not sure if it was the temperature, the season, or what could have made them so patient, but they had no problem with me getting down on my belly and inching my lens closer to them for shots. They were cool…
“Shorter of Breath…”
“…and, one day, closer to death.” Pink Floyd is awesome…Anyhow…
Yup…Another year has passed. I “celebrated” my 36th birthday yesterday. I’m officially closer to 40 than I am to 30. I guess it ain’t so bad. I feel good, I still look relatively good with more brown hair than grey, and still more hair on my head than my ears or back. And hell, I’m happy and having a ton of fun just living life. I guess growing up ain’t so bad…
Anyhow…in lieu of any sort of Birthday Celebration, I spent a good portion of the day hiking a rather short but steep trail by myself in the John Muir Wilderness. About 2 miles and about 2,000′ in elevation gain to the first lake…where I stopped…
The First of the Tyee Lakes
I’m fairly certain that this is looking towards the south. I could be wrong as I don’t usually carry a compass on a fairly popular day hike. I suppose it doesn’t really matter much…
Ovipositing Dragonfly
I managed to see this big ol’ dragonfly laying some eggs in the reeds at the edge of the lake. She landed close enough to me that I was able to get a decent shot of her ovipositing…
Small Cascades
On the way back down the trail, I followed the faint sound of trickling water to this tiny little outlet stream, and got what I think is a really decent shot of a tiny little cascade.
South Fork Falls
This is the second try at these falls for me. This is a small feeder stream that flows into the South Fork of Bishop Creek after going over this really nice fall. The last time I shot it with limited filters, and got a decent shot…but this one is better.
Anyhow…that’s how IO spent the ol’ birthday…walking around in the wilderness, disturbing everything around me. Couldn’t have asked for a better day. To top it off, a friend took me out for Sushi and pool in the evening. Great way to end the day!
Thanks for taking the time to read!
Old Shots Re-visited
I got a new monitor. YAY for ME!! It is WAY better than the old piece of shit I was using. Since getting it, I have been able to properly calibrate it, so that I can actually view my images the way everyone else sees them!
See…up until now…when I’ve been processing photos, I have been acutely aware of my monitor’s shortcomings, and “guessing” where the photos needed to be to ook right to other people. Well…them days are over!
I remembered taking a bunch of photos that I never processed because I simply couldn’t get them to look good on the old monitor. SO I have re-visited some of these images, and managed to properly process them. So here they are!
Great Basin Gophersnake
Great Basin Gophersnake
Panamint Rattlesnake
Desert Nightsnake
And a closeup shot of a REALLY creepy Dobson Fly I took last night:
Creepy, creepy face. Must be an alien...
Thanks for taking the time to look!!
Insect Macros
Anyone that knows me, knows that I am an absolute wuss when it comes to insects. Flying, biting, stinging, crawling, ugly, big, little…I don’t like ‘em. The only ones I like are the ones that trout eat. And I only like those ’cause I like to fly fish. Can’t have one without the other, so I have learned to love damselflies, Dobson’s flies, mayflies, stoneflies, caddis, midges and the like. But everything else is fair game for the fly swatter as far as I’m concerned. But I digress…
Anyone that knows me well, also knows that I can’t pass up a cool photo opportunity if my camera is within easy walking distance. So when I went out onto the porch last night and saw a bunch of really cool looking spiders chilin’ in a web…I had to snap a couple close-ups…
The Underbelly
The Backside
I have no idea what these spiders are, but they were hanging out with 5 or 6 others that looked exactly the same, all in one giant web in the corner, underneath my porch light…like any smart spider would be… Anyone that knows what they are, feel free to let me know via comment!
I also saw this cool beetle-looking thing in the early evening, and my daughter wanted a picture of it, so…I’ll share it…
Cool looking thing...for a bug...
Well…that’s about it. Just a couple cool macro shots of some front porch wildlife. Thanks for looking!
