Today, we’re off to the Sierra Nevada for an 8-day backpacking/photography trip that will take us to the base of the Minarets, and along the John Muir trail to Yosemite Valley.  I’ll be posting journal entries as well as (hopefully) many new photos when we return at the end of July.  Be sure to check back for updates on the trip.

Its been 100+ at my home here in inland southern California for almost a week now; it will be nice to escape the heat in the high country.  I’m almost certain, however, that the mosquitoes will be numerous and large enough to pull me down the trail, if I can figure out a way to harness them.

My hiking partner put together a GPS file of our route.  We’ll be starting at Devil’s Postpile, in the lower right, and ending at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley.  You can click on the image to see a larger version.  Enjoy, have a great month, and see you when I return!

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I’ve been playing around with some older RAW files lately, and remembered a series of shots from my February Death Valley trip.  When we arrived in the park, we immediately walked a short distance out into Badwater (Lake Manly when it has water in it), just to admire the scene.  Afterwards, we drove up the road, turned on to the West Side Road and were blown away by the amount of water present.  Overall, the light was drab, and I wasn’t too excited about the photos I was getting.

However, I’ve been able to resurrect some of these “blah” images as black and white photos–the clouds were present, the contrast and tonality was present, why not make a black and white image?  To that end, here are a couple of images.

Panamint Mountains, Late Afternoon, February 2010

Stormy Skies, February 2010

The lesson here is simple: like these images AND in Death Valley, things may appear bleak on the surface, but if you’re willing to take the time and dig into them, you can find beauty just about anywhere.

To see all of my Death Valley images, click here.

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Last week, I blogged about the huge variety of wildlife present in Joshua Tree National Park during the hot summer months.  Among my favorite animals in the park are the collared lizards, Crotaphytus bicinctores.  Collareds are aggressive, carnivorous lizards and are extremely flashy this time of of year.  They mate in late May-early July, and because of that, they have some fantastic colors.

Male Great Basin Collared Lizard, July 2010

The rich yellows and oranges on the legs, blue under the neck and black in the pelvic and pectoral areas are all characteristic of this species, and in my opinion, what makes it so beautiful.  The lizard above is a very accommodating male we found on the 49 Palms Oasis trail.  The females, however, are much less vibrant.

Female Great Basin Collared Lizard, July 2010

Despite her more drab appearance, I still like the subtle hues present, especially the orange markings on the lateral sides of her body.  After the breeding season, these orange markings will fade, leaving the females a brownish color.  What do they mean?  While its long been known that animals change color, plumage, etc during their breeding season, a 2004 study published in the journal Herpetologica suggests that in female collared lizards, the orange markings signal to males that she is sexually receptive.  On average, orange female collared lizards were courted 5 times more frequently by males than non-orange females.

Its always important to remember that things that may just appear pretty (or sometimes, even ugly) to us very often have a function in nature.

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In my last post, I talked about some of the wildlife one can expect to find in the Mojave Desert on a hot summer day.  As it happens, that’s really only a small fraction of the diversity you’re bound to see.

After photographing birds, reptiles and insects, we headed over to my secret bighorn sheep location in hopes of finding at least one species of charismatic megafauna.  My spot did not disappoint: within about 20 minutes, I spotted a bighorn sheep ewe high on a rock, overlooking the landscape.

The Sentinel, July 2010

The ewe let us walk closer to her, probably because (a) she had a good view of us, and (b) it was too hot for her to care.  Because of her cooperation, I was able to make closer images, especially using my friend’s 800mm lens.

Desert Bighorn Sheep, July 2010

After about 10 minutes, another sheep walked up to join the one we had been photographing.  I made a few more images, then left, so as to not stress them out too much–especially on a hot day!  To see all of my desert bighorn sheep images, click here.

The Sentinel's relief, July 2010

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Last week, a friend and I headed out to Joshua Tree National Park in search of summer wildlife.  There’s no doubt the desert is not a fun place in July–we started the first of three hikes in 80+ degree temperatures and ended up hiking in 100+ degrees, but it was a productive trip.

We started the day near the Black Rock Campground in hopes of finding Scott’s Orioles to photograph.  We did see several orioles, but they buzzed by at top speed, with no interest in stopping for us to photograph them.  Instead, we did find several very accommodating Ash-throated Flycatchers, and I got some nice shots of these pleasant birds.  To see all of my Ash-throated Flycatcher images, click here.

Ash-throated Flycatcher, July 2010

After spending a couple of hours hiking in this area, we headed over to the 49 Palms Oasis trail, which is a fantastic place to photograph Chuckwallas and Collared Lizards.  We weren’t successful in finding many Chuckwallas, but we did find a few flashy and cooperative Collared Lizards.  These are some of my favorites, and I was very happy to find some that were so willing to let us photograph them.  To see all of my Collared Lizard images, click here.

Great Basin Collared Lizard, July 2010

Great Basin Collared Lizard, July 2010

When its over 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside, its easy to see why these heat-loving lizards would seek refuge in the bushes rather than the rocks–its much cooler!  Even in the upper photo, you can see the lizard’s toes lifted off the rock–presumably they stay cooler this way.

After these two very hot hikes, we headed into the main part of the park to look for antelope ground squirrels and dragonflies.  No squirrels were to be found, but we did find a scavenger-like scrub jay, as well as several dragonflies, including a new one for me: red saddlebags.

Western Scrub Jay, July 2010

Red Saddlebags, July 2010

In addition to this, we found several desert bighorn sheep (future post), and a few other cool things.  Despite the heat, it was a great day in our local National Park!

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Lately, I’ve been using Nik Software’s plug-ins for Photoshop and have to admit that I’m loving them.  As a result, I’ve been revisiting some old images in an attempt to breathe some new life into them.  One image in particular that I’ve had in mind is this shot of the Pacific Ocean that I took in April on my visit to Anacapa Island in Channel Islands National Park.

Wave Abstract, April 2010

In this shot, I wanted to accentuate the detail in the waves, as well as the water texture in both the leading and tailing edges of the waves.  By processing the lower lefthand part of the image as monochrome using Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro and leaving the upper righthand part of the image in color, I was able to accentuate the difference in these areas of the water.

Incidentally, in my last post on my Channel Islands trip, I talked about how intense the wind was.  For most of the night, we dealt with wind gusts of 50-65 miles per hour, with no vegetative cover.  Equipment takes a beating in that kind of wind, and today I received an image from my friend, whose tent we used that night on Anacapa.  These tent poles used to be straight.

The Wrath of Anacapa

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I took this photo over Memorial Day weekend when I got up early to photograph the morning light on Mammoth Mountain.  I loved the light on this rugged peak very much, and I like the way the light contrasts with the sagebrush in the foreground.  However, I do not know the name of this peak…can you help?

The mountain-whose-name-is-unknown is visible from California 203 (its south of the highway), not far from the junction with US 395.  Any help is appreciated.  If you can’t help, then at least enjoy the image!

Morning light in the Sierra Nevada, May 2010

To see all of my photographs from the Sierra Nevada, click here.

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Despite the fact its one of the more cliché and popular mountains in the Sierra, Mammoth Mountain is one of my favorites.  Why?  For starters, its a very tectonic hill.

Mammoth is a lava dome complex that is known primarily for the large ski area that bears the same name.  Mammoth Mountain was formed in a series of eruptions that ended 57,000 years ago. However, it still produces hazardous volcanic gases that kill trees and have caused ski patroller fatalities in 2006.

In addition to being very active geologically, Mammoth is also well known for its unusually high amount of snowfall–about 400″ annually.  In the summer, mountain bikers take over the mountain, with the Kamikaze downhill run being very popular.

Mammoth Mountain at dawn, May 2010

To see all of my photographs from the Sierra Nevada, click here.

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Yesterday I went hiking near my home in the Santa Ana Mountains, which are a short, peninsular, mountain range found along the southern California coast.  I had a couple of hikes in mind, but on the urging of a friend, was excited to visit a local waterfall.

Upper cascade of San Juan Falls, June 2010

San Juan Creek begins in the southern Santa Ana Mountains, a few miles northwest of Lake Elsinore. Its highest elevation is 5,100 feet (1,600 m) above sea level. Paralleling the Ortega Highway (California State Route 74) the creek flows erratically south, west and occasionally northwest. In the furthest upper reaches of the watershed, the creek is typically ephemeral. The creek channel in the uppermost few miles is a narrow mountain stream with many rapids and waterfalls, which include a series of large 5-to-15-foot cascades, known as San Juan Falls.

I was able to spend about 25 minutes with the falls before the sun peeked over the horizon, making photography difficult.  Hope you enjoy these photos!

Upper cascade of San Juan Falls, June 2010

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With our recent trip to the Sierra, I’ve been thinking of revisiting some photos that I’ve taken previously.  One that comes to mind is a panorama of Lone Pine Peak and Mt. Whitney (the ‘Whitney Crest’) from the Alabama Hills that I took last fall.  I shot this shortly after sunrise, and after shooting Mobius (Galen’s) Arch in the predawn light.  As one person noted, this is one of my favorite views.  Indeed.

Click on the photo to enjoy this image big.  It would, of course, look better hanging over your couch!

Whitney Crest at dawn, October 2009

Photographic notes: It is a panoramic image created from 5 horizontal frames.  I processed the RAW images twice, once for the highlights, and once for shadows, and blended the two resulting panos using luminosity masks.

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