Green Dreams – Mt. Whitney Abrstract Reflection

Abstract reflection of Mt Whitney in a high elevation tarn above the tree line in the John Muir Wilderness.

What I liked about this viewpoint is you have one the Sierra’s most famous icons but it’s so different from just looking at it from highway 395 or the Alabama Hills. We are creative photographers right? We can come up with a new view right? We don’t have a list of photos we intend to copy or slightly twist to call our own idea, do we? Sometimes we just stand in a place where we fall into deep thought… .

The sky is so heavy and full of rocks in the scene it’s hard to make out what is correct if the scene is real? You can stand underneath these California Sky Scrapers and feel the rise from the bottom. I couldn’t imagine climbing up the face of one of those peaks but who knows maybe someday.. . You can almost make out the East Buttress or the East Face. I didn’t take either one of those routes, instead I took the mountaineer’s route up to the top which only involved a 500ft section of some mixed class 3 and 4 climbing. I’ve been yet to try any alpine class 5 yet but my friends are pushing me to do it. I had the chance to speak to a free soloist at the campsites, an older man http://www.sierenphotography.com/photos/i-976cBDx/0/M/i-976cBDx-M.jpg from Canada. He gave me thoughts on how to improve my climbing just by breathing consciously but he also gave me the impression that there was no other place he’d rather be but in the Sierra where the mountains are much warmer then Canada. It likely to be the last place he will ever lays eyes on. (I took that photo so it’s not me in the photo). The guy is actually chatting with my friends who are very small in this picture somewhere. . .

I really enjoy any challenge I can handle with preparation. For the most part I love photography and little climbing here and there keeps me on my toes and fingers.

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A California Moonscape

A scene more common to the deserts of Utah and Arizona can be found right here in the Mojave Desert of California. It just might take a lot more seaching to find something you like since there are no iconic "stand here" spots so it’s best to just wander and create your own stand here spot. Then you can always return when you like with no worries about the crowd. This is one of the goals in life so I can hopefully leave something behind besides just pretty photographs.

With so much nature out there do we need these so called stand here spots where it doesn’t change much a few yards over to the left or right?

It’s been 25 days since my last so called iconic visit, I’m going to see how long this will last. I think I can do 100 days piece of cake.

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Life at Badwater

Twenty thousand years ago Death Valley was submerged by a lake 600ft deep. Could you imagine a place such as Badwater to be actually green at one time in the past? Life did exist here and that is the feeling I wanted to capture in this image. The unique clouds in the sky and hovering planet float above the basin like a spirits in the sky.

When something is seen in the skies that is unusual or uncommon, it’s easy to just say that is not real or it’s trick. The photographer might be trying to fool us, “we’ll have to keep an eye him and catch him sometime.” I can’t blame anyone for thinking that way, I’ve seen some odd things and have thought the same thing myself. The only way I can find a way to relate this to anyone is if you have actually stood in the Owens Valley long after the sunset glow has dissappeared and seen the oddly shaped lenticular clouds catch their light so long after every other cloud has lost it’s color. If you have seen this you know the clouds must be so high up in the atmosphere for this to occur. At the time of this capture I was a hundred miles east of the Owens Valley so I’m seeing the backside of one of these so called UFO’s. We all know the most famous guy for photographing these lenticular clouds so I don’t need to mention his name but he does have a nice example on page 5 of his Eastern Sierra gallery in color.

There is a little bit of unnaturalness happening here, I did use my i-phone to light up the dead stems during the long exposure. That isn’t much light so I don’t know if we could call it light painting. As for that planet there in the sky, I’m not an astronomer and I do not know which one it is but I did take this a few days earlier this week.

If you have any questions on how this was photo was created or think it’s not real either way I would love to hear it. If you are into night photography or it’s not your cup of tea please feel free to voice your thoughts and opinions.

One last thing there is life on the badwater basin, it’s a microscopic bug called an extremophile, it thrives in the 120 degree heat of summer and it’s name suites it well. What kind of slang could we call them, fire lice maybe? hmmm.. .

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Varying your Ocean Portfolio

On average most first time photographs of the ocean are sky, sea, and sand, agree? After you figure this out you will begin to want more variety because, like counting sheep, a hundred photos of sand will put you to sleep. Adding rocks and a sunset sky can really make things more interesting but will that give a portfolio the variety it needs to stand out among others? As photographers we all lose a viewers interest eventually but it is necessary to keep interest as long as possible.

Images like this can anchor portfolios but can become repititve.

Most portfolios don’t go beyond a sunset set sky, rocks and moving surf. You will need to show something more to hold a viewers interest while they look through your work. Once you’ve mastered capturing the light you might begin to crave other things that are the complete opposite of what you ordinarily see while visiting the sea. Just a quick walk around with an open mind before you pull out the camera will bring so many different opportunistic subjects to your attention. This goes beyond sea stacks, cliffs, and tide pools, those are the obivous. Here is very useful list that may help you in your search to diversify your seascape portfolio.

The main colors orange and green here are not often associated with beach scenery.

Sea Caves – Dramatic Surf
Seasonal Waterfalls – Wild Life
Rivers – Stars/trails
Land – Flowers
Lagoons – Large Dunes
Recreation – Trees

There are plenty more right?

Many of the subjects are only found in certain areas so you might have to do little bit of traveling but not much.
If you really don’t have any of these elements around there are many coastal ecosystems such as flood plains, coastal hills and forests you can include in your collection. Do not forget your portfolio should reflect your best work so creating a uniqueness to your portfolio is not something that can be achieved overnight. I see it as a life long work in progress for photographers.

Southern California
Big Sur and Central California Coast
California’s Rugged North Coast
Baja California

The Point Buchon Trail is not accessable during sunset or sunrise hours but it has some fasinating cliffs and seastacks. Finding less often photographed beaches can help come up with new ideas.