Notes To My Mother

  Whenever I think of the Eastern Sierras one of the first images that comes to mind is Mono Lake.  I've. known this lake since I was 4 years old and I can remember driving by it on highway 395 with the water very near the road.  It has lost a lot of water since then (1946-47) but it retains its beauty.  This image was taken in February when the Milky Way is low in the horizon in the early morning.  You may already know it is best to shoot the stars in the darkest hours and that would be after Astronomical Twilight ends at night and before it begins again in the morning.  It goes like this:  in the morning first there is Astronomical Twilight when the dimmest light begins(about 30 min), then Nautical Twilight (another 30 min) then Civil twilight followed by sunrise. The Golden Hour is just before and after sunrise.  This image was taken in the last moments of darkness just as Astronomical Twilight was beginning.  You can see the beginning of ...

It is hard to pick a favorite place to be at night in the Sierras because there are so many great places. Lake Sabrina ranks very hight on my list for a number of reasons.  One, its elevation is very high at just over 9,100 ft which helps with reducing the atmosphere between the camera and the stars.  It is also a very scenic spot, both in the daytime and at night.  In the middle of the drought the water level was very low which made a shot like this one impossible.  But during wet years it is a joy to shoot.  It is also very scenic in the daytime, especially first thing in the morning.  And finally, it is easy to get to being just 18 miles on highway 168 out of Bishop.  Another easily accessible night location is Tioga Lake located along highway 120 just past the top of Tioga Pass when heading west.  The only problem with this location are the cars that keep coming on the highway to the left of this scene.  A little patience and you will get...

Late last Fall a buddy of mine, Mike Cohen (an amazing bird photographer), and I met up in Albuquerque, NM., to photograph sandhill cranes.  The location we photographed was in and around Bosque del Apache during the Festival of the Cranes.  In Bosque dirt roads run through the refuge and you can drive these roads in search of cranes and other wildlife.  One morning we were driving the perimeter and drove past this sweet scene.  We came back a few times hopefully to capture it with some mist on the water along with the morning sunrise lighting up the trees and shrubs.   This was my first encounter with Sandhill Cranes as I had never seen one before this.  At Bosque Del Apache there is no shortage of cranes to see.  They roost at night in the ponds and then relocate at sunrise to the fields where the eat and squabble with each other durning the day.  In the image above the are relocating in the morning light. As night is falling the Sandhill C...

Last year my grandson, Levi Davis-Lundblad, and I went to Mt. Shasta to see if we could get some images of the Milky Way over the mountain. We stayed just north of Weed and went exploring. We were looking for good views of the mountain and instead found a wonderful sculpture garden dedicated to veterans of war. It is located about 11 miles north of Weed on highway 97. We switched gears and dedicated our limited time to shooting the sculptures at night with the stars as our backdrop. The sculpture above is titled "Why?" and represents the upper portion of the work. "Nurses Never Sleep" is dedicated to all of the nurses who have served during wartime. "The Flute Player"During times of war a flutist were used to communicate with the troops as the sound would carry much better than the human voice. To all veterans Photo by Levi Davis-Lundblad. I am planning to return to this area during the dark skies in June to see if I can capture that image of the Milky Way...

Cliff-Side Delights This is one of those years where super blooms are being spotted all over California.  But it doesn't take a super bloom year to have great flower discoveries on the North Coast.  These images were taken in 2021 in the middle of the drought and the pandemic.   With a little exploring you will find flowers on many of the cliffs.  These seaside daisies are pretty easy to find and they are often found right on the edge of a cliff making a great foreground object for you photographers. Just be very careful as with all of the rain we have had the cliffs will be especially vulnerable this year.  Stay back a safe distance and enjoy.   All of these images were taken in early June. You will find that some locations are in constant change so that what you see one week will be dramatically different a week later.   This is especially true at Stump Beach where you can walk on the trail and view gorgeous ocean scenes as well as an ...

  The Sonoma Coast is loaded with photographic opportunities.  Some areas are in constant change and what you see at one time of year will be much different at another.  Take this first image, the waterfall at Stump Beach is usually a rather quiet, peaceful scene with the waterfall spilling over the edge of the cliffs.  At a normal tide the cliff's are a good 20 feet tall.  On this particular day the peace and quiet was  replaced by a raging tide and enormous waves.  In quieter times, as seen below, an occasional walker can be seen strolling along the edge of the cliff.  Had anyone been walking there on this day, they would have been drenched! Same waterfall with no rain so less of a waterfall, and a day with a much calmer ocean. If you like walking along the coast and haven't yet found the Kortum Trail, you might want to give it a try.  It is a nice walking trail and if you are on it early or late you will be likely be treated to some gorgeo...

  Dallas Creek Road I have not spent enough time in Colorado.  It has such amazing beauty.  The one place I did spend some time was in the San Juan Mountains.  I was there about 10 days, first with a group of photographers and then with my wife, Jan.  The scene above is on Dallas Creek Road.  I had been there a few days earlier with the group of photographers but the sky was boring and the snow was missing.  One morning, after the photographers had left Jan and I were staying in Ouray.  It snowed! I was up before dawn and headed for this location.  In the dark I missed the turn off and did a bit of frantic wandering until I finally found the road.  I knew this location with fall color, snow on the mountains and a dramatic cloudy sky could be an exceptional scene to photograph.  That is Mt Sneffles in the background and Dallas Creek in the foreground right.     This is a closer look at the scene on the left of the prev...