Couple More Portraits
Thought I would share a couple more portrait shots that I took with my 105mm lens…
Nut
Annette
Rex
Elizabeth Rose--Annette's Daughter
Thanks for stopping by!
Went for a Walk…
Got off work a little earlier than expected yesterday, so I grabbed my camera and went for a walk.
Now…you know I didn’t walk around all afternoon without stopping to say hi to my new friend, the Curious Pony…
Of course…it just wouldn’t be right if I only shared a color profile of Curious Pony…
After that, I went down into town. There was nothing going on in town. It was kinda cold, and grey and gloomy, and there just wasn’t many interesting people walking around. So I went to the Bean for a cuppa Joe.
While sitting there drinking my Caramel White Mocha, no whipped cream, I noticed a really neat thing that happens here every once in a while…
Wave Breaking Over Bishop
We get these cool cloud formations around here known as “Sierra Waves”. Just these really pretty wave-shaped clouds that form. I happened to look up and catch this Sierra Wave as it started to break up over Main St…
Thanks for stopping by!
Buttermilk Bouldering
Back in the day, before my wonderful daughter was born and my not-so-wonderful body started giving out, I spent many a day bouldering and rock climbing in and around the Bishop area. When my daughter was born, I lost some of my balls for climbing. She added a new dimension that I never knew before…fear of the consequences. Last thing in the world you need is self-doubt and consequential worries a thousand feet off the deck, so I put aside the ropes,’biners, and gear, and got back into bouldering. Of course…I had some injuries here and there, and my fat old ass doesn’t do what it used to do anymore. But the Buttermilk area is still one of my favorite places to be, year-round…
Parking Lot View at the Birthday Boulders Area
The Birthday Boulders Area
The Iron Man Traverse...err...Iron WOMAN Traverse...
Basin Mountain from The Iron Man Traverse
Topping out on perfect Buttermilk Granite
Bishop Creek Headwaters Basin from The Peabody Area
It was a beautiful day, with the sun a-shinin’, the birds a-chirpin’ and climbers a-climbin’. A great place and time to be me…
Thanks for coming along!!
Random Crap…
So…I haven’t been out taking shots the way I should be. It’s just been too damn cold. But…I did manage to get a few shots today. They are wholly unrelated shots, and there is really no story to go with them…just a random selection of shots…
Cali the Tortoise munching some cactus
This dude is always walking around...I think he's homeless...or just crazy...
Main St. Bishop
Thanks for coming along!!
Bishop City Park
I went to the park with Annette and Rose today. It was a pretty nice day, and Rose is quite the camera-ham, though she pretends otherwise at first…
Reflection of Change
Pond at the Park
Thanksgiving Cottonwoods
Rosie Posie
Rosie
Thanks for coming along!
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!
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!
Local and Live!
Bishop. It’s a tiny little town nestled quietly between the western slope of the White/Inyo Mountains that border California and Nevada, and the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which separate Coastal California from the rest of the U.S. We have about 4,000 full-time, year-round residents, a total of 4 stop lights, 3 bars, a grocery store, and a K-Mart. We don’t even have a Wal-Mart…
But one thing we do have is a great appreciation for all genres of live music, and community events. This weekend was the Inyo County Council for the Arts Main St. Festival. Part of the festival is the ability of local artists to display their works along the Main St. Promenade. Another aspect is the great live music scattered about town. This is about the music…
Fiddlin' Pete and Neal
Fiddlin' Pete
Pete and Neal
Pete and Neal. These guys were a lot of fun. They played a mix of folk, country, and blues, and each song had a story about the History of the Owen’s Valley. It was really a nice afternoon.
Special Thanks to Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott for allowing me to photograph the event, and post these pictures. Great Job, Gentlemen!
Today’s Spotlights…
Went and talked with a couple local shopkeepers today, and convinced them to let me take some shots while I was there.
Brian and Brian of Aerohead Cycles were busy, but they didn’t mind that I snapped a few candids while they worked…
Than I went over and talked to Brent. If you’ve ever needed an electronic device fixed in Bishop, you probably know Brent, or at least you’ve spoken. He wasn’t busy, but he didn’t mind muggin’ about while I took pictures. At least…he didn’t mind too much…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Walkabout with Zayne…
Well…I’ve been walking around town lately, snapping portrait shots of just about anyone willing to sit still long enough for a shot to be taken. I’ve walked away with some decent shots, and a new avenue and perspective on photography. That’s always a bonus…
But, today…I went back to my roots and went for a walk with my daughter. I tried to apply some of the things I have learned by shooting strangers, too…
Saw this life size Micro-Machine, too. Really cool little super-sub-compact antique…
Thanks for checking it out!
Old Timer…
Dan is a character. He is an old school mule packer with about 10,000,000 stories. Doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from, Dan has a story that you can either relate to or be thrilled by. And I have no doubt that every single one of them is 100% true…whether it really happened or not… 
Good Ol' Dan
Nowadays, Dan can usually be found behind the counter at a corner fly shop in town, tending the till and sharin’ stories with anyone that happens to wander in. Stop in and say Howdy sometime. Heck, right now they got Metz #1 Badger Saddles for $5. That’s worth the trip alone…
Thanks for reading!
Another Walkabout…
I went for another walk around town with my camera over my shoulder yesterday. I’m really excited about “discovering” Environmental Portraiture. It’s really neat going out and talking to random people, getting to know them a little bit, and getting good shots. It’s great practice, as well. It’s easy to take pictures of my daughter because I know her, and I love her dearly…it’s a pleasure. It’s a bit more difficult taking GOOD shots of complete strangers, so this whole Environmental Portraiture aspect of photography is great fun AND great practice.
Anyhow…
50 Year Local
This is Chris. He has lived in Bishop, CA for 50 years now. I didn’t catch his age, so I don’t know if he was born here or not. I also don’t know if he has ever spent time elsewhere, or if Bishop has always been home. I DO know that he has no interest in leaving anytime soon…
Desert Rat
Not a local in the traditional sense of the word, but this gentleman knows the surrounding desert better than anyone else I’ve ever met. He spends his days, and even some nights, wandering the desert, studying the land, and disovering petroglyphs and Native American sites for anthropological and archaelogical study. I didn’t catch if he was a clinical anthropologist or a geologist, or what, exactly…but he’s quite proud of his desert days…and he should be.
Thanks for coming along! Hopefully, over the next several months, I’ll be able to introduce you to a few more Bishop Locals, and maybe give you a peek into their lives…
Needed a ‘Cut…
I was out and about, walking around town today, seeking out interesting individuals to take photos of. I walked past the barbershop, and as usual…it was bustling. Meh…I needed a cut anyhow…
2-Bits
Around the Ears
Distinguished Gentlemen
Satisfied Customer
All of these were shot in monotone. And I am quite happy with my cut, thank you.
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Another Random Post…
I know I’ve been doin’ this a lot lately, but I just haven’t been getting out to shoot the way I should be. So I’m mostly falling back on going through older shots from earlier in the summer, and finding the gems that were lost in the shuffle previously. I’ve come up with a couple more…
Sweet Innocence
Invisible Summits
Mt. Tom and Wheeler Crest
This last one is a color conversion using the Channel Mixer that I took earlier tonight. The lighting never really got good, but this one came out OK…at least…I think it did…
Thanks for stopping by!
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!
The Weight
He sat with a solid “thump” onto a metal bench on Main St., as I was shooting macro shots of nearby flowers and honeybees. He was a large and solid man, but his eyes were heavy. He pulled out a sweet smelling cigar, stuck it in his mouth, struck a match and puffed.
As the blue-grey smoke whirled about his face and head, he smiled softly to himself, grateful for the peace of the morning, or simply releasing another of his burdens back to the world. He intrigued me.
I asked if I could take his picture, and he responded yes, “Though I can’t see why. I’m just an old man.” I told him that he didn’t need to do anything but be himself, and continue doing whatever made him comfortable.
We sat an talked for a few minutes, sharing a bench, he with a cigar, myself with a cigarette. He told some of his war stories. I can’t for the life of me remember which war, and I seriously doubt that it would matter. These eyes have seen many things. Some wonderful, some historical, and some atrocious. I can hardly envision the things he has seen. I can hardly comprehend the things he has yet to see.
He said it was an honor to share a fine morning and a good conversation. I assured him that the Honor was mine, entirely.
The Weight
Black and Whites
I took a couple of monotone images while hanging out at my friend Annette’s house this afternoon.
Git yer frisbee!
Rex is a good dog, but he’s afraid of the camera. I wanted to get some shots of him playing frisbee, but he wouldn’t play if he saw the camera. Maybe next time…
Mr Fat Cat
Mr. Fat Cat. What can you say…he’s fat, he’s a cat…he’s Mister. That’s all there is to it…
And by now you must know that Zayne is always ready to pose for the camera…
Thanks for looking!
Hiking with Zayne
I went on a hike with Zayne the other day, up around Little Lakes Valley, just to see what we could find…
Indian Paintbrush
Some sort of cool Daisey
Mosquito Flats
Some sort of buttercups...
Checking out the Paintbrush
Thanks for looking!
More Photos of Zayne
The weather has been cool, and the ful moon cycle has been passing through. That means the snakes are all hiding. So one of my favorite subjects is unavailable.
But my daughter is always ready to go outside and let me take some photos of her, so…here they are!
Thanks for taking the time to look!!
Hummingbird Babies
There are a bunch of hummingbiord feeders in my apartment complex. And thus, there are a lot of hummingbirds.
Earlier in the spring, I saw a nest just outside my front door in a tree. I live on the second floor, so as I walk out onto my porch, I am eye level with a nest that is about 15′ away. I knew it would come in handy…
I saw the female sitting in ther nest a LOT about a month ago. about a week ago I heard chirping, but no mother. Today…I saw 2 feathered babies, probably only a few weeks from fledging and taking off on their own. So I snapped a couple pictures…
"What you lookin' at?!"
"It sees us!!" "No it doesn't. Just sit still and it will go away..."
Two adorable little baby hummingbirds. I’ve no idea what kind they are, but I got individual photos of the parents earlier in the spring feeding from a neighbor’s feeder:
Father getting a drink
Mother being VERY cautious approaching the feeder...
I saw the above 2 birds at the nest site earlier in the spring. While I didn’t actually observe the mating process, I did observe what I assume to be a courting ritual in and around the nest site, and I observed the female sitting in the nest, presumable on eggs, several times. If anyone can positively ID the species, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks for looking!!
More Portraits
Ok…so…some of you have probably figured out that I have two favorite subjects for my photography…snakes and my daughter. Snakes are a lot of fun, and always a treat to interact with. But my daughter is my pride and joy.
I don’t share all the pictures I take of her. Hell…not even close. Not even HALF! But I like these ones…
I hope you enjoyed looking at them, too! Thanks for letting me be a proud father…
Black and Whites
Took some monotone images of my daughter playing around yesterday afternoon. Thought I would share…
Simple Portrait
Deep in Thought
I love taking pictures of my daughter. She knows how to pose, without anyone telling her. She’s truly a natural, and she makes it easy to take good photos.
I hope you enjoyed looking at these!
More Pics from Today
Just wanted to share some more pictures I took today…
Thanks again, for taking the time to look!
Portraits of Variety
I went for a walk around town today with my daughter. We had a lot of fun, and I got a few portraits taken…of a few different things…
Zayne Swinging
Curious little blackbird
Church and sky using infra red
Painted Lady Moth(I think...not positive)
Pretty cluster of dometsicflowers
Portraits can come in all shapes and sizes. In each of the above pictures, my focus was on catching “the moment”…that split-second that gives the subject life and sould…even in animate subjects. I think I was moderately successful…for a first try…
Thanks for looking!
