Little Lakes Valley
Went for a quick hike up through Little Lakes Valley this morning. Such a beautiful area…
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- Paintbrush
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- Heart Lake
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- Golden Mantle
Tyee Lakes Trail
I took the kids and the dog for a day hike up to the first of the Tyee Lakes. It’s one of my favorite day hikes in the Bishop area, and I try to get up there right around my birthday every year. This year I’m a week early. Anyhow…some photos…
Just about half way...
Zayne and Roach
Roach is Spike’s dog. He is 50/50 Timber Wolf and Malamute.
Roach, looking like he belongs there...
Tyee Falls
This is a seasonal falls, meaning it is typically dried up by the end of August. I guess the late thaw and moderate temperatures have kept it flowing longer than normal. Can’t complain about that!
Thanks for looking!
Looking Back…
You know me by now… when I haven’t got the time to get out and shoot, I go back through older photos, looking for new perspectives. So…here you go!
White Mountain Portrait
Bishop Range Eastern Sierra--3shot Pano
And a little manipulation a a shot I took in 2009…
Alcatraz Guard Tower
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Wild Iris
Well, flowers are starting to bloom, and spring is trying to be here, but for some reason, this cold wind just doesn’t seem to want to release its grip on the valley. So rather than battle the wind and shoot fast shutter speeds, or wait for the wind (and the Iris) to die, I decided to just go with it…
Wild Iris
There was a couple of other photographers out shooting, but the color never popped, and the wind was incessant. Rather than battle the conditions, I went with it, stopped down to f/22, and even dropped a 3stop ND filter on to slow it down and really exaggerate the blur. I think it came out fairly neat!
The Victoria and Wild Rose are blooming in the front yard, too…
Victoria
Wild Rose
And this is the closest I have ever gotten to a good shot of a Whiptail lizard…
Great Basin Whiptail--Aspidocelis tigris tigris
One of these days, spring will actually get here and stay for a little while…
Thanks for looking!
Strollin’ through the Park one day…..
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- Black Neck Hummingbird
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- House Finch
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- House Finch
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- White Crowned Sparrow
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- Artesian Oasis
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- Nesting Sparrow
I found a new artesian well, too. Prettier than the other one, in my opinion. I’ll be back again…
Thanks for looking!
A few more random shots…
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- Osprey with a fresh catch
The Buttermilks and Mono Lake
Turkey Vulture
- Panamint Rattler–Crotalus stephensi
- Panamint Rattler–Crotalus stephensi
It was quite a lovely day…
- Kevin trying to get the shot
- Little Peak
- Buttermilk Ridgeline
Kevin’s flight back home was this afternoon, so we left the house around 5am, and headed up to Mono Lake, to get some early morning shots before he had to go. It was another spectacular day…
- Mono Lake Tufa
- Looking for a shot
- South Tufa Portrait
This has been one of the most incredible weeks of my life. I’m really glad I took a chance and reached out to my son. I’m even more thrilled that he responded positively. I think we have a good thing to build on here…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Landscapes, Lizards, and More Fire
Kevin flies back to Colorado tomorrow. It’s been an incredible week, but I’ll be sad to see him go. We’re making plans for him to come visit again in August, and that will be really nice, but…I’m gonna miss him when he leaves…
Yea, it’s really been an incredible week. I met my son. Zayne met her brother. And we really enjoyed each others’ company. It will definitely be sad to watch him go, but I know he’ll be coming back…
Thanks for looking!
What a Day!
So…I picked my son up at the airport on Sunday. I haven’t seen him since he was 2 years old, and he has no conscious memory of me at all. He’s a 21-year-old Army combat veteran, now. We had a 4 hour drive from the airport to the house, and we spent 99% of it talking, laughing, and getting to know each other. It really surprises me how much we have in common, both in terms of things we enjoy, and our personalities…the way we think. We share similar opinions on many subjects, and enjoy many of the same hobbies and activities.
It’s really been a nice couple of days. We went for a walk around the Buttermilk area, looking for snake and lizards, and taking pictures yesterday afternoon…
My son, Kevin, looking for snakes and lizards, camera 'round his neck
We did manage to find a few lizards, but no snakes…
Great Basin Fence Lizard--Sceloporus occidentalis longipes
And a B&W panorama of some of my favorite mountains…
2 shot pano--Paiute Crag to Mt. Humphries
Last night, Kevin and I went road cruising for snakes for a little bit. We didn’t see any snakes, but we did find a Great Basin Spadefoot toad, which is always a welcome and rare treat in Inyo County…
Great Basin Spadefoot--Spea intermontana
It’s been fantastic so far! We are going to pick up Zayne either tonight or tomorrow. These two haven’t met, yet, so I’m pretty excited to get them both together…
Thanks for looking!
HDR from Last Night…
While shooting the sunset last night, I took a chance and shot a 4 exposure HDR, at 1stop intervals. I don’t do HDR very often, but occasionally, it works out…
As the Sun Goes Down...
I also thought I would share a couple of bird shots from yesterday morning. I’m really diggin’ the new 70-300mm lens, but I am already drooling over the Zuiko 2X tele-converter…
Anyhow…bird shots…
Grey bird in the tree...I'm not real good with bird ID's...
Cool looking blackbird with a bright yellow breast and orange head...
That’s it. Just a few more from yesterday. Thanks for looking!
Finally…A Sunset!
FINALLY!! Decent weather, not too cold, decent cloud coverage, and good lighting…I went out for some landscape shots…
Black Mountain
Sierra Sunset
White Mountain Sunset
Not a bad night. Thanks for coming along!
More from yesterday morning…
Just a couple more shots from yesterday morning I felt like sharing…
Bishop Range-Eastern Sierra
Jessica, James, and Little Man
Thanks for stopping by!
Another Gorgeous Morning
So I woke up early, went to get some breakfast with a couple of friends, and went out for photos. I missed the actual sunrise, but it wasn’t spectacular due to too many clouds in the east. But just as the sun crested the peaks of the White Mountains, the clouds began to gather over the Sierras, and it turned into a gorgeous morning…
3-shot pano of The Buttermilks
Checkered Demon, Emmerson Peak, Mt Humphries, Little Peak, and Basin Mountains
Buttermilk Morning--HDR
This last one is virtually the same composition as the panorama above, but it is a single exposure, converted to B&W…
Bishop Range, Sierra Nevada Mountains
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Rare Occasion…
OK, so every once in a while, I get bit by the HDR bug, and decide to play around a little bit. The other night, while out shooting B&W storm clouds, I also shot through some brackets for an HDR merge. This is what I got…
Northern Inyo COunty--HDR
Not too bad. I don’t like super-saturated, over-cooked HDR images. I like them when they are subtle…you wouldn’t really know it’s an HDR unless someone told you. I think this one satisfies that description, but still puts together a nice, wide dynamic range. What do you think?
Thanks for looking!
Spring…In Places…
So, I dropped the girls off for school this morning, and brought my camera bag with me…just in case. On the way back, I couldn’t help but catch the storm over the Sierras, moving in from the west…
Bishop Range--3-shot Panoramic
I decided to try a pano shot this morning. Most of my landscapes are shot at 14-20mm(28-40mm equivalent). This one was taken with 3 shots in portrait orientation, at 42mm(84mmequiv.), stitched in CS4. Below is a single exposure at 21mm…
Bishop Range
Just when it’s starting to look like winter isn’t done with us, yet, I pull in the driveway and find tiny, purple Storksbill flowers blooming everywhere! So here are the first wildflower macros of the season!!
Portrait, in full sunlight
Pretty Pair
It is starting to warm up around here. I imagine it won’t be but a couple of weeks before smaller wildflowers start springing up everywhere. Seems a trip to the Alabama Hills again may be in order…
Thanks for coming along!
Storms From All Around
Took a quick trip out to a spot along the Owens River to take some photos of the gathering clouds to the north…
Northern Whites
Storm Over the Owens River
Just a quick afternoon trip for some cool B&W shots…
Thanks for looking!
Westgard Pass
I took a trip with members of the Eastern Sierra Herpetology Club and the California Department of Fish and Game to do some work maintaining California Black Toad habitat. Coming home, I couldn’t resist stopping for a picture or two…
Big Pine Overlook
Coming Home
There was a ton of hard work, cutting out aquatic vegetation to make improved breeding grounds, but we got it done, and these photos at the end of the day were just the icing on the cake.
Thanks for coming along!
More from The Alabama Hills
Just a few more shots from our trip to The Alabama Hills the other day…
Over The Hills we go...
Squirrel's Eye View
Mt Whitney and The Arch...minus the girls...
Just a quick post with a couple more images. Thanks for looking!
Mt. Whitney for Lunch
So Annette, Rose, and I all headed down to the Alabama Hills for some hiking amid the rocks, and because Annette had never seen any of the natural arch formations. We found the only one I know how to get to…
The Girls, The Arch, and Mt. Whitney
Millions of picture of this arch from this angle floating about, but this is the only one with Annette and Rose… 
Looking North Towards Independence
Sage to Summit
Tunnel View
I love walking around the Alabama Hills. Thanks for coming with me!
The White Mountains in Shades of Grey
I went out just after sunrise this morning, looking for great lighting, awesome clouds, and some B&W landscapes. I was not disappointed…
And of course, morning would not be complete without at least one shot of the Eastern Sierras…
Wheeler Crest
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Revisiting “The Relic”
This is “The Round Valley Relic”. I’ve posted shots of it before. A couple of times, actually. HERE and HERE, if you would care to look. Honestly, I think this morning’s shots were my favorite. Perhaps because I took my friend Rich out there for his first visit…
Revisiting The Relic
I think this will be a place I visit many more times before I wear it out. It’s got a great potential for composition and drama…
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Sunrise…A Good Time to be Me…
I took a quick drive out to a spot I was alerted to by my friend Bob Rice. I saw an outstanding B&W print he made at this location, and he was kind enough to share directions with me. What better time than sunrise?
Sunrise at Wheeler Crest--HDR
This first one is an HDR using 3 exposures at -4EV, -2EV, and 0EV. I used Photoshop CS4 to process the HDR, and the Photomatix Tone Mapping plug-in. I was trying to be subtle…
Window to Wheeler Crest
This one is not HDR. This is a single 5 second exposure.
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Frozen Lakes and Snow
Anyone that has followed this blog for any length of time, knows that I am not a fan of snow, cold, wind, ice, or winter in general. But they also know that these conditions produce outstanding photographs much of the time, and so, as a willing photographer, I must brave the brutality of Nature in order to capture her beauty.
It’s a fair trade…
Frosty Morning on Mono
Crowley lake, Frozen Over
Yup…I dislike winter. But I LOVE how it transform our local landscapes.
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Re-visiting January
I went back through some of my shots from this month. I didn’t get out very much, and here it is almost February. I only have 3 days of shooting for the whole month, which is pretty sad. But, I got some really nice images, and I had good fun on each outing, so I’m happy.
Here’s a couple more from earlier this month that I overlooked the first time around…
Farmer’s Pond is a favorite location of mine. I visit often. I took this one on a day that I had devoted to B&W, and for some reason, I never even tried processing one of them in color. This one came out decent.
This one was taken on an excellent day, filled with several really good shots, and just got overlooked in processing.
Thanks for stopping by!
