Confederates

Alabama Hills are part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. They were named by prospectors in California that were sympathetic to the Confederates. In the recreation area you will find rock formations that have weathered into arches like the one above. The most popular arch is Mobius Arch (photographed above) and when we arrived there at 6:30am it was already being photographed by a few other photographers. I climbed up onto a big boulder about 10ft in height to get this shot of Lone Pine Peak looking through Mobius Arch.

Frank & Debbie Again!!

So I got some good feedback on the photograph I posted on Monday with the hint of color in it. I also mentioned I'd post another one, so here it is. This is of the old railway boxcar at Rice in eastern Riverside County. I kept a bit more color in this one just to show a difference. Hope you like it.

The Color of Falling Water

20 miles North of Lone Pine is Independence. Independence is the County seat for Inyo County. My trip to Lone Pine also took us into a small area of secluded cabins just west of Independence. These cabins are owned by the US Government and are leased to people on a 20 year lease basis. The area these cabins are situated is in a small woodland with a small creek running through it. It's a very quiet and tranquil area and while we photographed it we even had a visit from some inquisitive deer. This little creek was just beautiful and we spent almost 2 hours wandering around trying for that good photograph. The leaves on the trees had turned a wonderful golden brown color and were falling as we walked around. I wandered a bit more upstream from the rest of the group and found this area where a couple of small streams flowed into the creek. I thought it made for the perfect photograph.

Adding Some Color To Life

Today I decided to revisit a photograph I have already posted but with a change. While away on the photography workshop in Lone Pine I was chatting with a real nice guy called Kurt. Kurt showed me a book of photographs where only the portion of the photo that was important kept it's color and the rest was changed to black & white. I found it fascinating and instantly thought of some photos I had that this technique would work on. So here is the first one, this is the sign in Death Valley, close to Furnace Creek that depicts Sea Level. Let me know what you think and I'll share a couple more with you.

The Parts Of Life

You ever look at a view or a photograph and it makes you think about life? I didn't when I took this one but now I'm looking at it I do and I will explain how I think this represents life.

The colors represent the brightness and differences that people bring to us as they pass though our lives. The water reminds me of the life that comes to us through family and friends, constantly flowing and moving, but always there for us. The Fall season (or Autumn to the Brits) is the changes that happen to us through our lives that comes to us for better and for worse. The mountains in the distance makes me think of the challenges that we will face alone and together in the future. And finally the Sun represents the life and the love that comes from those that are nearest and dearest to us and are always a constant.

Paramount Pictures

As I was standing around in the cold morning air with a like minded group of photographers, looking for that "Great" shot, a thought occurred to me. I looked at my fellow, warmly wrapped photographers and said "You know what this photograph makes me think of?' They looked back and said "A mountain top?" I said "No, it reminds me of the opening scenes of a Paramount Pictures movie." It was just such a wonderful setting and our instructor had done us proud finding the ideal spot for this mornings sunrise jaunt. It was cold (of course I was wearing shorts, nothing new there). It was early and I was tired, but here I was watching Lone Pine Peak light up and bask in the orange glow of the morning sunrise. It was spectacular and beautiful and I can't wait to do it again.

Whitney Portal

One of the best places we got to visit during the photography workshop was Whitney Portal. Whitney Portal is the parking lot for all those that want to climb Mount Whitney. We arrived in the parking lot and walked 5 paces and there was this amazing waterfall surrounded by amazing Fall colors. During my pursuit of the best photograph I climbed all over that waterfall and a couple of times risked life and limb (well at least falling in it and getting wet). What was nice is that I had about 90 minutes to capture a photograph with other like minded souls.

An Artist At Work

Our first photo session on the Lone Pine photography workshop was Lake Diaz just outside Lone Pine. When we arrived there it didn't look very exciting, but we quickly learned that you could create some beautiful photographs here. As I was walking around looking for an interesting photo, the instructors friend Judy was setting her camera up for a photo. Judy is a retired middle school teacher that taught Art. I just saw a moment to photograph her doing what se loves the most. Click on the image for a larger version.

How I Spent My Weekend!

On Friday I went to the small town of Lone Pine in Owens Valley. Lone Pine is the gateway to Mount Whitney, the highest summit in the contiguous United States. The reason I went to Lone Pine was not to climb Mount Whitney, but to photograph Owens Valley. I met up with a like minded group and an instructor for a workshop to improve our photography. So over the next few days I will post some photographs from this workshop.

The photograph above is of Lone Pine Peak on the left and Mount Whitney on the right. Mount Whitney is set a lot further back, so it's perspective makes it look smaller. Mount Whitney is in fact 14,505ft high. This photograph was taken first thing in the morning as the sun rose over the mountain range to the east of the valley. As the sun appeared so the mountain tops lit up as this wonderful orangey red color. And as you can see they have already had a dusting of snow.

Walking The Planks

This is a photograph of the Prom Deck on the Queen Mary berthed at Long Beach, California. I thought it appropriate for this to be a Black & White photograph because of how old the RMS Queen Mary is. She started sailing the North Atlantic in 1936 until 1967. As I looked down the Prom Deck I wondered just how many people had walked the planks of her deck during those voyages. People that were heading to a new life or just on a vacation. See if you can imagine that, I can.