We recently returned from an amazing night photography workshop in the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra, followed by a week long camping adventure in the surrounding areas. We’ll write more later, but wanted to get a couple new pictures up from one of our favorite locations: Mono Lake.

Mono Lake Castle


Mono in Mono

Tufa Reflections, This photo was done with a technique called “painting with light”–we illuminated the tufas with large flashlights, leaving the shutter open for anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes.

A couple more from the streets of Santa Barbara, Ca……

Day Spa

Blues Man 2

Someone in our camera club once said, “It ain’t all about pretty pictures.” How true. Sometimes it really is all about what’s not so pretty…

Home Sweet Home

The Truth

The Blues

As you may know, we recently got back from another trip to the Eastern Sierras where the wildflowers were nothing short of spectacular. We had gone in search of any wild iris fields which  hadn’t yet fried in the record temperatures and found a couple of amazing spots at the base of the mountains north of Bishop. A landscape photographer’s dream shoot and indeed Heather scored with some fabulous shots, a few of which were posted here earlier.

I, on the other hand, did nothing but struggle to get even any keepers. It was an exercise in sheer frustration and I was tempted to just pack up and go. Dang it all, I’m beginning to think landscape just isn’t my strong suit no matter how I wish it were! Sigh.

But I finally figured that just because I was there in the midst of all that glory it didn’t mean I had to capture the whole picture. My photographer’s eye was a blur and so what the heck. Shoot as such! Here’s another perspective of some of the most amazing iris fields you’ll ever see. (You just won’t actually know that they were the most amazing fields you’ll ever see!)

Okay, so the following wasn’t in the iris fields. But my blurry vision persists…

Just a quick posting today….we were fortunate to spend an hour watching and photographing a pair of marmots on our recent Sierra trip. Gosh these guys are cute, aren’t they?

Yellow-Bellied Marmot near Lake Sabrina, Eastern Sierra, CA

Another one from the Eastern Sierra…this one taken at sunset in the “Buttermilks” west of Bishop.

Here’s a couple more from the Eastern Sierra……the lupine fields were amazing, especially along Division Creek. These look a little pixellated (and the first one over-sharpened) because I only have the small emailed files on this computer. I’m in the process now of migrating four days worth of photos from my laptop onto my working pc, so more to come soon.

Enjoy!

Bush Lupines at Sunrise, Division Creek

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Howdy Folks!

I just returned from four days of photographing and exploring the landscapes now exploding with wildflowers in the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra. The 5 a.m. mornings were brutal on this night owl, but bearing witness to the sweet morning light as it pushed back the night was worth every second of lost sleep.  I was lucky enough to photograph truly amazing displays of wild iris, lupine, paintbrush, fiery red mariposa lilies, and many many more.

Jenn was shooting a wedding this weekend and didn’t get to go, but after seeing my pictures, she’s putting in for some well earned vacation days and we’re heading back a week from Friday! I can never get enough of that place….obviously she had to twist my arm….not!

Stay wild,

Heather

(Only one photo for now, as the rest are still on the laptop. More to come shortly.)

Wild Iris, Brockman Meadow, Bishop Ca

Howdy!

In anticipation of our Eastern Sierra wildflower excursion next week, here’s a taste from a couple years past. Two very different interpretations of the same subject (the out of focus blobs of orange in the first photo are paintbrush too).

Stay Wild,

The Pixel Chix

Mountain Daisies, near Bishop Creek, Eastern Sierra’s

Indian Paintbrush, with a little help from Photoshop (same locale as above)

Okay, okay. So we’re waaaay late in getting anything posted. But better late than never, though, eh?!

Never having been there, our recent trip to JT was a delight. Having Dog-Man with us made hiking to remote areas impossible (no pets allowed on trails cuz supposedly they could have diseases that would virtually wipe out all animal life in the desert.) However, the roads allowed for some spectacular views and we were actually able to get out and about a little bit here and there. (Oops, don’t tell the rangers!) Three weeks ago when we were there the flowers were amazing at the southern end of the park with dozens of different wildflowers, brush and cactii blanketing the sandy floor. We can only imagine what it must be like now–there was a tremendous amount of plant life elsewhere in the park just on the verge of exploding.

Neither one of us got what we were hoping for in the way of spectacular photos. We both had the usual excuses like “the lighting was terrible, the sunsets were anti-climactic, the wind was howling (but it was!) and blah, blah, blah. It didn’t help that we were both too into sleeping in (it was a vacation, after all) to snag the sunrises, either. But it was an inspiring trip nonetheless. We scouted out a number of great locations and it’s definitely a place we both are itching to get back to with camping gear, no dog (sorry, T!) and good hiking boots. (Oh, and a totally bitchin’ hybrid 4×4 would be nice, too.)

Here’s just a small random sampling of some snappies we shot. Stay tuned for more…

Sunset

Wildlife

Skull Rock

Southern End

On our way home, we detoured through the Salton Sea area and were fascinated by it’s vulgar beauty. Years ago a posh recreation area for the likes of Hollywood royalty, it is now in a state of decay and devastation. On the other hand, it is now home to about a gazillion birds and the Sonny Bono Bird Sanctuary is beyond words–absolutely incredible. The Sea and surrounding “towns” have been utterly destroyed by flooding and human neglect with dead fish lying on shore by the thousands. However, it is also undeniably beautiful in its vast loneliness, the water a blue unlike any other and the remnants of a bygone era are in evidence virtually everywhere you look. More on this later as well…

Here’s a look at the some of the “junk”…

Dead Fish

Flooded

Abandoned Trailer

Just More Trash