Manzanar

Part of our Eastern Adventure was to share some of the Eastside’s incredible history. One of its sadder part of History took place at Manzanar. It is a very complicated, sad and eye opening story from our past.

It’s not a landscape photography mecca by any stretch of the imagination. Ansel Adams did though spent time here and one of his images has become the iconic symbol for Manzanar. If you’re on the Eastside and heading north out of Lone Pine, I want to encourage you to take a moment and visit the center.

Last Morning of The Adventure – Alabama Hills

The Alabama Hills at the base of Mt Whitney have pulled me in for decades. Every time I’m there shooting, I always ask me what is it that keeps pulling me back. Beyond their color, shape and play with light, I’ve not found the answer but I know I’ll keep going back in search of what it is.

Before the sun even kissed the top of mt Whitney, we were out shooting the sunrise. The glow coming over the White Mtns lights up the hills in very unique ways. With -3 exp comp dialed into the camera, I shot this one face of the hills with the 200-400VR at 320mm. I just really love the play of light around the boulders. The under exposure pumps up the color and heightens the contrast making the face come to life.

Then, after getting past the signs, I went up and kissed the rocks. The patterns in the cracks and colors are a lifetime study in shape, form and texture. Continuing on with my pursuit of the Tilt function of the PC-E lenses, I looked for patterns that I could capture without using Tilt. I like this one, it’s a miniature of the photo above in its pattern.

I was up one of the “hills” when the sun peaked over the horizon. I love the God beams coming in, which I had cleaned the front element to remove all the UFOs. I had taken two photos thinking I would merge them to have the information top and bottom but ended up using just one of the images, applying the Nik Neutral Density to the top to bring the detail I want. Once the sun came up, I found something new that took my attention in another direction. mtc

Photos captured by D3x, 200-400 / 85PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

Where Did I Leave Off… Ah Yes, Bristlecone Pines

The Bristlecone Pines are such magnificent lives living truly on the edge of the planet. We went to the Patriarch Grove at 11,361 feet in altitude and literally to the top of the White Mountains. It is a simply gorgeous place that takes your breath away, literally!

There are many, many, many ways to work the pines, I went with the most difficult and that was to walk up the hill and find where the sun, as it would set, paint the foreground with shadow while the pines themselves would be in the last rays. Why is this the most difficult? First, you had to walk up hill when you’re already at altitude. The other, you’re chasing a really quickly fading light. Just to add to the fun, I shot with the 16Fish to take it all in. Laying down worked to slow down the heart and dramatize the angle of the pine with the Fisheye.

This was a bitch of a photo to capture. Why? There was no place to lay down let alone be a sturdy camera platform, let alone get out of my own way. Shooting with the Fish, I had knees, elbows and other body parts I had to keep extracting out of the frame. I’m just glad no one photographed the yoga position I was in to make the final capture.

After the sun went off the slope I chased the detail shots. What you can’t tell here is that I pulled sharpness throughout the images using the Tilt feature of the 85PC-E. It was a new challenge for me to pull total focus on these curving, sensuous, golden, natural sculptures.  It required from 4 to 9 degrees of tilt to make the image, but all were shot at f/8 so I was pleased with myself to make it work. It did require a bit of chimping to check critical focus from corner to corner but the lenses delivered. The drive down and the Alpine Glow was fantastic as well. Simply put, it was an amazing day with a killer finish!

Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish / 85PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

04:00 Wheels up time

I had such good intentions, I was going to come home and get a bunch of stuff finished, stories told and all posted to entertain you with from our Eastern Sierra Adventure. 04:00 found us back at it which was really early after getting back in the night before from the Bristlecone Pines at 22:00. Bottomline, I was simply too blurry eyed to get the work done.

Here’s a little proof that our Sunday started early. We were in the Alabama Hills for a little star action, it was great. Even had the Space Station go through some of the trails. I felt more like some just stars so just took some 1min exposures. We had a quarter moon illuminating the rocks which was all that was needed for the exposure you see here. It was a really great start to a really great day! Oh, yeah, that is the Big Dipper.

Photo captured by D3x, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

Sure didn’t expect that!

Saturday came and went and the images started to pile up. Despite continuing bald skies the photography just kept getting better and better. It’s now Sunday night and we’re home and I have 1800 images to select from and finish in an attempt to get caught up. So I’ll start with this.

We headed up to Bristlecone Pine for the afternoon and evening and were treated to a royal light show. We were working at 11,285 in altitude and just lovin it! To make this shot, I did a 7image HDR composite and to get the starburt, shot closed down all the way. This is the worst of the images I came back with from the afternoon. Sure didn’t expect the photography to be this hot with bald skies. There is mtc

Photo captured by D3x, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Sure didn't expect that!

Saturday came and went and the images started to pile up. Despite continuing bald skies the photography just kept getting better and better. It’s now Sunday night and we’re home and I have 1800 images to select from and finish in an attempt to get caught up. So I’ll start with this.

We headed up to Bristlecone Pine for the afternoon and evening and were treated to a royal light show. We were working at 11,285 in altitude and just lovin it! To make this shot, I did a 7image HDR composite and to get the starburt, shot closed down all the way. This is the worst of the images I came back with from the afternoon. Sure didn’t expect the photography to be this hot with bald skies. There is mtc

Photo captured by D3x, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Small Victories

What can I say, the magic wore out, karma used up, weather gods didn’t want to play. whatever it was, the morning just didn’t have any drama. Not that it’s a particular horrible thing because we were still in a gorgeous place. Took the gang to a favorite haunt of mine, one few get to and they enjoyed it so it was rewarding very much so in those regards.

My small victory this morning was cheating the wind of taking away the one subject that was working, the blooming Rabbit Brush. The only tool I know of combating the wind is shutter speed. But when it’s dark and you want DOF, shutter speed is really on the skinny side. Well, I wondered to myself if I used the PC-E correctly for a change, could I tilt the lens enough to pull DOF while shooting at f/2.8 which permitted the fastest possible shutter speed (no, I don’t raise ISO to solve the problem).

I was quite pleased to see that I could. The top photo was shot at f/2.8 & 4 degrees of tilt (pretty impressive range of DOF) and the bottom image shot at f2.8 with 4 degrees of tilt. And both are sharp, no blossom blur from the wind. Something to stick in the back of my mind for future use. That’s actually the bigger challenge, remembering what I learned.

Photos captured by D3x, 24PC-E / 85PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

The simple beauty of a simple tree

The afternoon was one of those classic Eastern Sierra days, warm sun, clear skies and the sleepies on the breeze. So we took a drive and the gang was introduced to some parts of California none knew existed. We then headed up a canyon that is not well known either and we played with the Aspens. The snow of last week sent the trees into fall color mode only to be hit by a heat wave so the leaves are just turning brown rather than any show. Despite this, the elegant trunks against the Sierra gray granite made for a ton of great photography. Enjoy.

Photos captured by D3x 70-300VR / 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Doing bald is such a challenge

The radar picture was clear when I went to bed, it was clear when I awoke, it was going to be a bald sky morning. If landscape photography weren’t a challenge enough, we had this to deal with as well. We’re so lucky here on the Eastside to have a great place for just such a morning, Convict Lake.

Before the sun is even close to making an appearance the light starts to bounce around in the massive bowl. Shooting at -2, photo opps abound when you think in a more graphic style of shooting. This is when symmetry comes into play and probably when I chimp a lot. I tend to have the image on the monitor and stare at it just to be sure I like how all is aligned.

Then once the light does hit the top of Mt Morrison, the color is as one of our adventurers put it, spiritual. The intensity in the color is from the underexposure and nothing else. It doesn’t last long but it’s long enough. We ‘re heading south today to explore some more of the East Side. I’ll be blogging through the weekend to keep you informed and inspired.

Photos captured by D3x, 85PC-E, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

Eyes where wide open

The afternoon found my favorite, bald skies, staring us in the face. Decided to take the gang to a special place, an old mine up in the hills. You’ve seen many images from here over the years as I often take photographers up to the old site. Why? It’s a bloody challenge! As soon as you walk in you just know there are images all around, they just tend to not be in the viewfinder. I’ve made a couple of favorites here though so the challenge keeps calling me back. I knew this image was here, today though I found it in the viewfinder

It’s an screened, outside cooler for pies and cakes (must have smelled great). The black tar paper is just about everywhere so not including it is not an option. Making it something is the challenge and the light this afternoon along with the weathered warmth of the wood just clicked for me.

I like both images though they are totally different. I think one is stronger than the other, just don’t know which one, yet.

A monkey could have found this last image so the moose fell into it easily. It was a good day!

Photos captured by D3x, 85PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film.

When is Exp Comp NOT applicable?

It was one of those mornings for me when 1+1=2 and 2 was the right answer for the day. After a solid, productive shoot at Mono Lake, as McNally would say, we heard the call of the wild pancake. After breakfast the light was getting had so perfect time to hit the falls. Up the hill we went and we were rewarded with a couple of hours of sweet photography.

I was just starting to get in the grove when I came up to this subject. The nasty highlights on the left just wouldn’t leave though the cool light on the right was fading. I’m already shooting at f/32, ISO L.1 and polarizer attached to get the blurred effect I want. Normally I would just dial in exposure compensation and be done with them, but what’s the problem with the solution? Yeap, you got it, it would increase my shutter speed making it faster and the water sharper. That’s not a solution.

So what was the solution? I’m so proud of myself to think of this. I used a 2 stop screw-in neutral density filter and rotated it so it basically darkened the left side while not effecting the right side. of the image That’s such an obvious solution and when I actually think of those right at the time I need them and not after I’m putting the tripod in the trunk, I’m proud of myself.

Photos captured by D3x, 45PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

Back in the Saddle again

You’ve probably been wondering “where the heck is Moose?” Probably just been wondering were are the blog posts. I came back from PSW with a little bug which laid me flat and bed ridden for a few days. I couldn’t find a button on the TV remote let alone type. So, no posts. But I’m vertical again and good timing, we started out Eastern Sierra Adventure today.

We started our day at Mono Lake for a very schweeeet sunrise! It was a great start because it helped the really great group of shooter we have learn that shooting sunrise doesn’t mean you have to point your camera to the east. The light as it bounced of the Tufas was as soft as can be and lucky for us, the only clouds for hundreds of miles where in the right place for us. This is my first image from the morning and we’re having a short break so wanted to get it up to say I live.

You might be able to see in the image what appears a narrow band of focus. The minimum DOF I started with at Brooks earlier this summer continues to invade my thought process. I like it a lot here. This was shot at f/2.8.

The rest of the morning was great for me. While it’s not earth shatering, whenever I think of an obvious solution to a problem for the first time, I pat myself on the back. what was the solution? That will come next post when I have more time.

Photo captured by D3x, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

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