Wildflowers of Sequoia and Yosemite

Click on any photo for a larger view.

It's been about 6 weeks since June and I got back from our trip to Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks and I'm still working through the images from that trip.  There was such a variety of things to see and photograph in those two parks, plus Bodie and Mono Lake that I've been overwhelmed.   I shared some photos from that trip at work today, which motivated me to get busy and start publishing some of the photos.

We were surprised by the number and variety of wildflowers that were in bloom in mid-June.   It was exciting to see many flowers that we don't have in the east.   It's also a challenge to identify them without a good wildflower book for the Sierra Mountain area of California.   I have published 26 photos in my Photo Gallery under Nature, Sierra Wildflowers   I've been able to identify several of them, but not all.   If you can help me identify others please drop me a note and give me a hint.  I'm especially curious about the yellow and white flowers on the left.  They almost look like someone hand painted them with a white top half and a yellow bottom half.  

Since I've started photographing nature, and especially wildflowers, June and I have both been amazed and the beauty and detail we have been missing all these years.   A few years ago we would have walked past these and said something like "those are nice", without really looking at them or remembering them later.  Now we stop and look closely at God's creation.   Like these Yawning Penstemon (I think that's what they are).

When you get up and look at them they look like they have folded arms and are balding on top.  Some flowers are very tiny and you have to get right up on them to appreciate them.  

I have to share this last photo with you.   Isn't it beautiful and isn't it a great photo of a wildflower?  June took this while patiently waiting on me to finish up shooting something else close by.  I'm very proud of her photo.   It's even more impressive because she took it with a Canon Powershot compact digital camera.

I hope you can appreciate what God has done with these little beauties when you explore the Sierra Wildflowers Gallery.

Balloons and Moons

Every year Kingsport Tennessee puts on a 9 day celebration called Fun Fest.  One of the highlights of Fun Fest is the Hot Air Balloons on the second weekend.  The big balloon event is Saturday morning but this year I was in Jonesborough leading the Photowalk and couldn't make it to the Fun Fest Balloon Race.  I did get out Friday night for the Balloon Glow.   Several hot air balloons are set up outside the stadium where the concerts are going on.  They fill them with air and light them up like giant multi-colored light bulbs!

The location is full of power lines, street lights, buildings and other distracting objects making photographing the balloons a challenge.  This year we had cloudless skies and a full moon so I decided to see what I could do with the moon and balloons.

The first shot was taken just before sunset when the sky was still blue.  I liked the contrast between the orange balloon and the blue sky.  In hindsight I think I might have done better with a long telephoto lens from a ways back instead of my short lens up next to the balloon.  That might have made the moon look much larger in the photo.  

The second shot was later after the sun had gone down and the sky was dark.   Getting the balloon exposed correctly meant over exposing the moon.  As a result there are no details on moon and it just looks like a white dot.

The last two shots include the street, street lights, buildings and some of the thousands of people that were down there.   The balloon in the foreground in the third shot had just been taken down and was in the process of being folded up.  

Shooting the balloons required some timing.  They are very bright when they are being lit, which can result in a very over exposed subject, like the balloon behind the Remax balloon in the third shot.  I found it was sometimes easier if I waited until a nearby balloon was lit, which illuminated the other balloons with a soft light, like in the last photo.  A relatively small aperture (f/10) created the star burst effect on the street lights.   I was using an ISO of 800 and even at that, the photos were around 1 - 2 seconds long.

This was a fun event to photograph.  If you go, bring your tripod, a remote shutter release, and a couple different lenses. 

Third Annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk is History

On July 24, 33,483 photographers participated in 1,111 photowalks around the globe.   A photowalk is a social photography event where photographers get together (usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town) to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.   This annual event is sponsored by Scott Kelby and a number of photography businesses.  

I led the Jonesborough Tennessee walk where 35 local photographers spent 3 hours shooting in Tennessee's oldest town.    Lots of interesting architecture, history, and off the wall art can be shot in just a few blocks.   The walk occurs on the same day worldwide, which turned out to be the hottest day of the year in Jonesborough.

Each photographer now has to select their best photo to submit to the photowalk contest and I have the unenviable duty to pick one winner from the 35.   I know they will all have excellent photos and I'm not looking forward to having to pick the one.   Here's a link to some of the groups photos on flickr

As walk leader I'm not eligible for the contest.  That's a good thing because I wouldn't want to compete against these folks!   Here's a couple of my photos from the day.   I didn't take many, but had fun taking photos of the other photographers.

I started the walk out by trying to take a group photo without a memory card in my camera.  After running back to the car I got this group shot, minus a couple late arrivals.

I had a great time and hope the others did as well.  Some new friendships were formed and we're talking about an unofficial local photowalk later in the year when it's not so hot.

Bodie - An American Gold Rush Ghost Town

You can get a larger version of any of these photos by clicking on them.

While vacationing in Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, June and I took a trip over to the east side of the mountains.  One of the places we went was Bodie California, or rather the remains of Bodie.   Only 5% of the buildings from it's heyday in the 1880's remain.   Several fires, elements, and time have consumed the rest of the town.   What's left is now a California State Historic Park, preserved just the way it was when the last two families left in the 1960s. 

Bodie grew up from one man to a population of about 10,000 in just 20 years.   These were gold miners looking for fortune and gold in the Sierra Mountains.   Bodie developed a reputation as a bad town full of "Bad Men From Bodie".   One little girl, whose family was taking her to the remote and infamous town, wrote in her diary: "Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie."   At the peak there were 65 saloons, daily fights and murders.   This was a wild west town.

The buildings remain pretty much as they were, in a state of arrested decay.   The church and one home were open for walking through but most buildings are locked and we had to be satisfied with looking in through dirty windows.  I found I could get decent photos through the windows by placing the front of the lens directly on the window, blocking any light from hitting the window glass and causing reflections.

Some buildings were leaning or falling down, including an outhouse that was falling into the pit.

The town sits at over 8000 feet above sea level.  The day we were there the sky was a beautiful clear blue with wispy clouds.   The sun was very bright, making harsh shadows.  All this made taking photos a real challenge.

If you go to Bodie, be sure to allow 1/2 a day to visit.   It's like no other park you'll visit and you'll not want to rush through.

I have created a short slide show of photos from our time at Bodie.  You can watch it on Youtube

July Fourth in Jonesborough TN

July Fourth Fireworks.

June and I took her brother Jerry to the fireworks show in Jonesbrough TN last night.   It was the end of Jonesborough Days and the people were everywhere waiting to see the show.   We got there only about 30 minutes before they started but were able to find a decent parking spot right across the highway from where they were shooting the fireworks off.   Turned out to be a great spot to photograph the show.

I was on the side of Highway 11E with cars going by all during the show.  I was able to block much of the light from cars headlights by standing next to a large black pickup and extending my tripod as high as it would go.   This had the added benefit of giving me some protection from the drivers watching the show and not the road.  It was a pretty clear for a summer night in Tennessee and the little wind was at our backs so the smoke blew away from us.   The one challenge with this spot was we were almost too close.   I was using my wide angle 17mm lens and still couldn't get them all in.  

Here's some info on how I shot these.   I set the lens to 17mm, f/8.0, manually focused at infinity, and set the camera to ISO 100, and used daylight white balance.   I used a wired remote shutter release and set the camera to BULB.  As soon as I would hear one launch I would press and hold the button on the shutter release.  I would then hold it open long enough to get several bursts of fireworks.   I found getting more than four bursts in one shot tended to be too much.  One burst can be interesting but two or three seemed to be the best.  I post processed these in Lightroom to add +36 vibrance and clarity.  I adjusted the tone curve to cut down on the  shadow setting, which cut down on a lot of the smoke.

There are 10 photos in my photo gallery.

I hope you enjoy these.

Grandfather Mountain Nature Photography Weekend

Every year Grandfather Mountain hosts a weekend gathering of about 150 nature photographers from around the country.   I attended for the first time June 4 - 6 and had a blast!   Most everyone camps on the mountain for the weekend.  This is a special privilege because they don't normally allow anyone to camp.  We had the full run of the mountain 24 hours a day from Friday afternoon through Sunday.   The weekend includes lectures and shows by some of the top nature photographers in the country.  It just doesn't get any better!  

After getting settled in I took off up the mountain looking for subjects.   I took a couple of wildflower shots before heading down for the first lecture.   The next morning I was up at 5:15 to get set for sunrise.  It was windy, overcast and the top of the mountain was fogged in.  If I had thought of it I would have headed up there to get a shot of the mile high swinging bridge disappearing into the fog.  Oh well, maybe next time.

The sunrise Saturday didn't have a lot of color, but there was a lot of fog hanging in the valleys below the mountain, making some interesting layer compositions.

After having a little breakfast I took of hiking in search of photos to enter in the weekend contest.   I didn't come away with any winners but I did find a nice trail off the Blue Ridge Parkway with some small streams and waterfalls to enjoy.

Saturday evening I was up on top of the mountain looking for that killer sunset shot.  Brilliant sunrises or sunsets just weren't in the cards for this year.   I did try some different compositions to see what I could make out of it.

One of the programs Saturday night was Nature Photography After Dark by Kevin Adams, which was an excellent program.  One thing I learned was how to take pictures of the night sky.   As soon as it was dark enough I headed down the road to an overlook I had noticed earlier and I thought would be a good place to try out my newly learned skill.   I wasn't the only one to have that idea and spent the next 30 minutes shooting the stars with about ten other photographers.  Here's my favorite night sky shot.  

I met a lot of nice people and had a great time on my weekend.  I'm already planning on signing up next year.

Remember to click on these images to get full sized views. 

3rd Annual Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk

I'm so excited!  I just signed up to lead a walk in Jonesborough, TN the morning of July 24.   This is part of a world wide event that takes place in hundreds of sites around the world, all on the same day.   I participated in the 2nd annual event last year and had a blast.   It's a great opportunity to get out, take photos, meet other photographers, and learn from each other.   Plus, there are great prizes involved!!

You can learn more about the walk at the Scott Kelby site and sign up for the Jonesborough walk on this page.   If you don't live near Jonesborough TN you can probably find another walk near you.   Go to the Scott Kelby site and browse for sites.  More sites are being added all the time so if you don't see one, check back later.

The walk is limited to 50 people and I had my first person sign up less than 5 minutes after it was posted!   Sign up and pass the word.