Aug 5, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Looking out the window at dinner I see a down pour to the north and looking east, it was dry. Freakie! But I knew that thunderstorm was forming. Leaving the restaurant I looked south to see this thunderhead. Great cloud! Suckie foreground! Gotta move…now!
We head southeast looking for a good foreground. Sharon stopped me from climbing a construction crane behind a fence so kept on moving. We find a little parking area with trees. Click. Light is moving and I need to move. So glad I have a camera with me. I love a good challenge!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Aug 4, 2011 | Wildlife Photography
We live in paradise, the Eastern Sierra is a magical, special place. That is except for August, that is if you’re into wildlife photography. August sucks when it comes to wildlife photography even out my own office window. All the birds are done nesting so we have ugly kids and adults starting their molt. So if you like to photograph a wet, half plucked feather duster you’re in luck right now at my house. But that doesn’t really thrill me. Our little ground mammals like this Least Chipmunk are molting now as well. I just don’t do moth eaten. This all tends to put me in a real funk!
Here’s the other problem I face, you might as well. You’ve spent your wad on vacation or that great shoot and then what? I know where there are critters that can be photographed in August but they all require money to get to. Right now is a great time for Columbian Ground Squirrels as they are supper active getting ready for winter (yeah, that’s on their mind right now). The problem for me is, they aren’t in my backyard. this one photographed up in the Big Hole valley in MT is a two day drive away. I would love to go work our local Belding’s Grnd Squirrels but they too look a bit moth eaten. They are gorgeous in abut 30 days, but what to shoot until then?
Of course this Rocky Mtn Bighorn & lamb get lots of the aaahhh factor so who wouldn’t travel to photograph them? The problem is that while I knew where these critters were this day, I know they won’t be there tomorrow. So getting on a plane, renting a car and heading the the slope in MT where I know they should be, I might have to wait five days before I get glass on them. And even then, look at the light! This photo would be one helluva a lot better and grab more heart strings if it weren’t highnoon light. You might be saying, “You could fix that in post.” And that’s correct unless you’re me, I don’t “fix” any of my wildlife photos.
Then there is the magical land of Alaska where August is a marvelous time for lots of critters like this Hoary Marmot. Trust me, if I had the time and capitol to go and sit and shoot in AK just for the fun of it, I wouldn’t be blogging right now! So what’s the point of this blog? I’ve gone through a couple of decades of Augusts on the eastside and know that I will be climbing the walls to get glass on wildlife. Since I don’t have critters right at hand I look for other subjects, testing, experiments, almost anything I can find to photograph except weddings and wild flowers. Frustration comes to us all at times for different reasons. The trick is to find something else fun to photograph to fill the time, keep skills sharp and work through the “slow” period until the good stuff comes out. I’m on the road right now and I’m here to warn all wildlife in route, if I see you you’re fair game. I’m one frustrated wildlife photographer, that’s my problem with August!
Jul 29, 2011 | Landscape Photography
One aspect of Bodie I always enjoyed was the evenings and night. This is when the town would be all ours again, the tourists were gone with the park being closed (this is when I would find the thieves though which got old). We decided to do star trails and what you see here is the progression over the first year. The star trail exposure was the easy part. The exterior and interior lighting was the tricky part. You can see how it got better over time with the bottom frame of the Boone Store being the best. The technique from then would not be how I would do it today except for the lighting method. It is all flash, lighting painting with flash. I would walk around and just hit the open flash button. Today it would be much easier to do with the Pocket Wizards, TTL and LCD. That’s if you could do it because like any tourist, I’m kicked out long before sunset these days.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little bit about your heritage and how to photograph it. Keep in mind everything from this week was done with film and no Photoshop. It does show you the possibilities by using old fashion photography craft. I hope that I’ve given you a little bug to “Go West Young Man, Go West” and that some day I meet up with you on the streets of Bodie!
Jul 29, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Since you can’t get up on the bluff, many look up from the town and see the water tower. Most assume it’s from the train that ran from Mono Mills to the bluff (it didn’t carry passenger, just tons of cords of wood). That tower is not for the train and if you’re like most, you won’t believe what it is for. But that water tower was for the first flush toilet in town. Yeap, all that water was to simply flush the two heads in the bottom floor!
This is the train office, not very glamorous, just a plain structure but if you’re in the right place in Bodie, you can see its roof line. What you can’t see anymore even where you’re on the bluff is the town that was on top of the bluff. Was it a big town? I don’t know that but I was present when there were digs on the bluff and they found the butcher shop and whore house foundation. I didn’t ever find much written material or photographs from up here but heard a couple of stories that always intrigued me. If you’re up at the train office bldg and you look southeast, you can see down in the ravine where Bodey first found gold and where is also died coming back one winter day with supplies to help out his sick partner. He never saw the riches nor fame his name sake town would produce.
Jul 28, 2011 | Landscape Photography
The building in the foreground is the old ice house. You ever been to Bodie, you can’t imagine they had such a thing but with the Sierra snow pack, finding ice was real simple. Storing it was too with the Ice House which is full of sawdust and other primitive insulation. The roof top you see behind it was one of the well to do home of Bodie. Bodie had quite the high society back in the day living in grand homes, home paid for on the money made making money on those digging up the money. That part of the gold camp history has always fascinated me.
The Sway Back Barn (I can never remember the real name for this because we always called it that) is something I expect every time I visit to have finally fallen to the Sierra winters. Yet it persists. Both of these images demonstrate a favorite technique I rarely talk about. That’s combining the polarizer and split grad. That combination has always produced a drama in light on the verge of its own drama that I really like. You first rotate the polarizer to remove the refletion (blue) and then move the split grad into place to finish it off. Some folks like the effect, some don’t and not that I use it on every photo, I use it a lot in Bodie.
Jul 28, 2011 | Landscape Photography
The Union Hotel is a favorite of mine, it is simply the old west personified! It is also a shadow of its former self. What many think is an awning is actually what’s left of the second story balcony where the well to do of Bodie would sit and watch life go by or stand and cheer on the 4th of July parade. Looking in the front window you can see the pool table I wrote about yesterday. And in the back, what you can see a slight hint of looking through the back window, are the transformers from the original electrical system. If you look from the back of the Union toward the cemetery, you can see a remnant of the old power poles. Back in the day, they were concerned electricity would jump the line if it weren’t straight. So they made a straight line from Green Creek Power Plant to the back of the Union. The funny thing is, the power line went up and down hills. Guess electricity doesn’t jump the line going that way. Keep in mind, this is the location for the first transmission on the planet.
Photographing the Union is think is best either with the August thunderstorms as you see above or in October. The drama in the light in August with the storms (enhanced with a split grad) is hard to ignore. The mellow, late afternoon light in October is so romantic, everything looks good. Shooting wide to exaggerate that angles works well. I have gone to Bodie with the 24PC and tried to “clean” up the angles but you know, nothing in Bodie is even close to plum so when you shoot it plum, it just looks wrong. But following the light is the key, it makes the old town just shine!
