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Mecca Hills Wilderness

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Late last week, we made a day trip out to the Mecca Hills Wilderness, which is located near Indio California in the Coachella Valley. The landscape twists and turns in a very unique and beautiful way; formed by the San Andreas fault, the Mecca Hills are a badlands with colors reminiscent of the Artists’ Palette in Death Valley National Park, and canyons that would rival even the narrowest of slot canyons in Utah.

While there, we made sure to stop and hike through the popular Ladder Canyon. Only 3-4′ wide in places and over 200′ deep, Ladder Canyon would be a technical ascent (or descent) if it weren’t for the ladders which give the canyon its name. Due to the hike’s popularity and proximity to Palm Springs, solitude came in sporadic bursts. Still, it was great to be in there, making images.

: Ladder Canyon, March 2011

A series of unusually strong late-season storms have been hitting southern California for the last week or so, too. Driving out, the fast-moving clouds from one of the systems had an interesting play on the light over the badlands.

Mecca Hills Wilderness Badlands, California

Badlands & Clouds, March 2011

I’m unplugging and heading off to Utah and Nevada for the week. Hope you have a good one!

Posted in california, locations | 7 Responses »
Tags: black and white, california, fine art, landscape photography, mecca hills, wilderness

Dumpster Diving

Friday, February 18th, 2011

/dump’-ster di:’-ving/ -n 1. The practice of searching through dumpsters for discarded, but still usable, goods such as food or clothes. 2. The practice of searching through one’s hard drive for RAW files that have not been processed before.

Its raining today, and I’ve got a 3-year-old in tow. Definitely not a day that’s conducive to be outside for serious photography. We’ve all been in this position before, when we’re dying to get out, but life just seems to get in the way. What to do? One thing I like to do is “dumpster dive”–go through my hard drive and revisit images that did not quite seem to make the cut before.

There are multiple reasons to dig through the rubbish of past shoots. Perhaps your post-processing skills have improved since you captured the RAW file, or you have new inspiration of how to process the image. Or simply, your tastes have changed, and something that didn’t appeal before is suddenly more attractive.

I processed this image a while ago, from a visit to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in December. I loved the scene of sun peeking out from behind this oak tree, but never could quite get the processing right. After coming back to the image a couple of months later, I was able to shed some new light on the processing problem. Now, its one of my favorites from this lovely wilderness area.

Do you have images that benefitted from an initial cast-off and subsequent revisiting? Please share links in the comments section!

Oak tree and sunburst at the Santa Rosa Plateau ecological reserve near temecula california

Sunburst, December 2010

Posted in technique, workflow | 5 Responses »
Tags: california, fine art, landscape photography, nature photography, santa rosa plateau, technique, workflow

Two Saints

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Because much of southern California lies at a relatively low altitude, several peaks in the surrounding mountain ranges are very prominent, and are quite impressive. Two of the twenty most prominent summits in the United States–San Jacinto Peak (10,834′) and San Gorgonio Mountain (11,503′)–are located here, and are both visible Palm Springs, in the Coachella Valley.

sunrise light on Mt. San Gorgonio in southern California

San Gorgonio Mountain, January 2011

Both peaks tower over the valley by more than two miles, one of the most impressive vertical drops in the United States. Because of the gap created by these two high mountain ranges, high winds often occur at the entrance to the Coachella Valley. As a result, a very large wind farm is maintained in this area; some of the windmills are visible in the image above, at the base of San Gorgonio Mountain.

Ambitious hikers can hike San Jacinto Peak from the valley floor–a vertical ascent over more than 10,000′! Others–like me–take the aerial tramway from Palm Springs to an elevation of 8,500′, making for a much more reasonable hike. Ultra-ambitious hikers who take on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) must descend 10,000′ down the San Jacinto Mountains into the Coachella Valley, and almost immediately re-ascend almost the same height back into the San Bernardino Mountains (where San Gorgonio Mountain is located). The constant up and down hiking through southern California’s mountains makes the southern part of the PCT rather unenjoyable for PCT through-hikers. I can understand why.

Sunrise on Mt. San Jacinto, in southern California

San Jacinto Peak, January 2011

I was able to photograph these two impressive mountains last weekend as we got an early start driving to Phoenix. We’ve had unseasonably warm temperatures in southern California for the last week or so due to a high pressure system over the Great Basin, but the snow is still heavy at the high altitudes, as you can see in these photos. The thing I like about these peaks is that you can go from a true desert ecosystem to an alpine ecosystem, while coving a very small horizontal distance.

I hope you enjoy these impressive mountains as much as I do!

Posted in california, locations | 9 Responses »
Tags: california, geography, landscape photography, mountains, sunrise photo

The Bone Yard

Friday, December 17th, 2010

Fire is a crucial element in southern California’s ecology and culture. Every fall, fueled by the Santa Ana winds, fire descends upon the sage scrub communities, cleaning out the underbrush, allowing life to start anew. The Santa Anas (and to some extent their homologues in other Mediterranean climates) have an almost mythical status, and are the subject of Crime Noir novels (The Underground Man, 1971) and even punk rock (Bad Religion’s Los Angeles is Burning).

I photographed this burn area last weekend (it burned in late July) in the–appropriately named–Santa Ana Mountains of southern California. While life is starting to spring back up, the area is still largely a bone yard.

Burn area in southern California's Santa Ana Mountains

The Bone Yard, December 2010

Posted in california, locations | 1 Response »
Tags: black and white, california, ecology, santa ana winds

Photo of the Month–December

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Another year is coming to an end. Already. Just as the sun sets on another year, I’ll share a sunset image from our recent Sequoia National Park trip for this month’s image. This image was taken from the top of Moro Rock, a large, exfoliated granite dome, much like those found all over the Sierra Nevada mountains. You’re looking over hill layers toward the great central valley of California (the San Joaquin Valley); haze from the valley is contributing to the unique effect you see in this image.

Sunset as seen from Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, California

Moro Rock sunset, November 2010

Have a great month, and see you in 2011!

Posted in california, locations, national park, Photo of the month | 1 Response »
Tags: california, landscape photography, sequoia, sierra nevada, sunset photo

The last vestiges of Autumn

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Last weekend, we took advantage of some nice fall weather to visit Sequoia National Park (I recently posted another image from that trip here). It really couldn’t have been nicer weather. Not only were we wearing t-shirts at lower elevations, but we really enjoyed the brisk temperatures in the Giant Forest. In addition to some find landscape opportunities, we saw two black bears (which our son absolutely loved). Not a bad weekend at all.

For me, some of the prettiest scenery was in the area just at the entry of the Giant Forest, where the oaks and other deciduous trees were still hanging on to the final vestiges of fall color. I spent some time with the big trees one morning, and on my way out, I stopped to photograph this tree, which seemed to be completely ensconced in fall colors.

Since visiting Sequoia, a major winter storm has hit the Sierra, probably (by my best guess) obliterating this beautiful fall color. Fortunately, we were able to catch the tail end of this great show…

A giant sequoia tree (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in autumn, Sequoia National Park, California

Sequoiadendron giganteum, November 2010

Click here to see all of my images from Sequoia National Park.

Posted in california, locations, national park, sierra nevada | 6 Responses »
Tags: california, fall color, landscape photography, sequoia, sierra nevada

Labyrinth

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Yesterday we returned from a weekend trip to Sequoia National Park. While the standing trees are awe-inspiring and amazing to look at, the dried roots of the trees that had fallen were just amazing to me. Looking *up* at roots isn’t something I’m used to doing.

Many of the Sequoias are 2,000-3,000 years old so those roots have been around through so many great events on our planet, and were there before many of those things even happened. Its humbling to try to creatively photograph something that was already ancient when Christ walked the earth, or when the Roman Empire was the greatest civilization on earth.

While processing this image, I thought monochrome would work best in accentuating the shapes and textures in the wood.

Roots of a Sequoia tree in Sequoia National Park, California

Ancient Roots, November 2010

I have to admit, though, that I got a little carried away with Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro. The “Antique Solarization” treatment gave an interesting effect that really seemed to accentuate the shapes present in this image. While it may not be your cup of tea, this image really is growing on me.

Abstract image of roots from a giant Sequoia, Sequoia National Park California

Ancient Roots II, November 2010

I’ll put up all of my images soon on a webpage for Sequoia National Park. In the meantime, ponder the labyrinth of time!

Posted in california, national park, technical | 5 Responses »
Tags: abstract, black and white, california, landscape photography, sequoia

Falling Back

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

“Its only one hour,” I tell myself twice a year. And, two times each year my poor internal clock gets completely flummoxed by the time change. I become an insomniac, get grouchy, and hit the snooze button way too many times all in an attempt to make up for that hour lost or gained.

Last Saturday a friend and I went out at dawn to a local wildlife area. I knew it was my last day to get up and enjoy a late sunrise; the next morning the sun would come up at an ungodly hour again. Unfortunately, there weren’t many birds flying, but the spectacular sunrise more than made up for it.

Being treated to a sunrise like this almost makes you forget about being a photographer, and just staring because its so darned beautiful.

Fiery Sunrise at Bolsa chica Wetlands near Huntington Beach, California

Fiery Sunrise I

Fiery Sunrise II

Don’t get me wrong; I love being up to see the sunrise at any time of the year, but the week after the time change always murders me.

How do you deal with the time change? If the majority of comments come in at 2am, I’ll know you’re also suffering from insomnia.

Posted in california, locations | 6 Responses »
Tags: california, landscape photography, sunrise photo

Here There Be Witches*

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Although the main draw of autumn in the mountains is the beautiful show put on by (among others) groves of aspens, I think that bare aspens that have dropped their leaves carry a certain mystique as well. Recently, while spending time in an aspen grove in the eastern Sierra, I noted this group of small trees that had already dropped their leaves. I loved the interplay between the writhing tree trunks, the naked branches, and the shadows in the background.

A grove of bare aspen trees near Convict Lake in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains

Spooky, October 2010

To process this image, I manually blended two images: one to accentuate the bright trunks and another to close off the shadows in the background. I further increased contrast during black and white conversion using Nik Silver Efex Pro and cropped a small amount of the grass out of the bottom of the frame.

*This is also the title of a book written by Jane Yolen; I just thought the image really screamed “spooky” and the name was appropriate.

Posted in california, sierra nevada | 4 Responses »
Tags: black and white, california, landscape photography, sierra nevada

A path into thin air

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

“In the high country of the mind one has to become adjusted to the thinner air of uncertainty…”–Robert M. Pirsig

Late last week, we decided to take a last-minute trip to the east side of the Sierra Nevada to visit the beautiful fall colors. Having grown up in the Rocky Mountains, my wife and I both miss the crisp air and changing colors of autumn. We arrived in Mammoth Lakes late Friday night, and I was able to photograph sunrise at nearby Convict Lake the following morning. Not only are the fall colors at the end of this image beautiful, but I love the textures present on Laurel Mountain, which is at the western border of the lake.

Sunrise at Convict Lake with Laurel Mountain in the background

Laurel Mountain alpenglow, October 2010

After shooting sunrise, I walked over to the aspen grove you see in the above photo. These days, it seems like photographers go hand-in-hand with aspen groves in the eastern Sierra. Some people might argue that the photographers outnumber the aspen trees! The beautiful thing about this aspen grove was that although small, I had it completely to myself. I was able to walk through the trees in silence, enjoying their beautiful show.

This time of year, the blogosphere is flooded with beautiful images of fall colors, however I have a confession. Photographing these aspen groves is difficult for me; while beautiful, Sierra aspen groves feel “chaotic” to me, and making an original composition is difficult. However, the quote that began this blog post applies to my feelings on my “dilemma.” One of the best lessons to learn as a landscape photographer, in my opinion, is to not force compositions out of the landscape, but rather to let the landscape guide you. In other words, when I found myself in this uncertain, chaotic situation, I had to let the landscape guide me, thinking outside of what I normally would do; that’s when the true creativity began to happen.