Favored Locations In The Eastern Sierras

As you may have gathered from previous posts, the Eastern Sierras is one of my favorite places to spend time. Here are a few of the spots that I particularly like. Highway 168 out of Bishop, CA, will take you into a beautiful area of the Sierras following Bishop Creek to the west and into the mountains. The scene above is Bishop Creek on the way to South Lake.

Not far away is North Lake a very pretty lake in late September and early October. It is the place to be early in the morning just before the sun hits the mountain peaks. You will know you are in the right place by the crowd of photographers. A picture of this lake was the screensaver image on iMacs a few years ago. Whenever I am in the Sierras in early October I head for this lake to catch a beautiful sunrise. What I really want is an image of this location during Autumn color with snow on the peaks. Just missed it a

couple of years ago.

The next best thing is North Lake with mirror-like reflections, autumn color, and clouds in the sky.

North of Bishop in Long Valley there is no end to the beauty. I photographed this little mountain one morning as the sunlight first reached it washing across those ridges (a different photo from above). It has been one of my favorite little mountains since. This was shot in the morning before sunrise. Notice the Belt of Venus behind the clouds in the distance, the Owens River in the foreground.

Looking to the west from the same location as the previous image the sun was just beginning to hit the storm clouds, lighting up the ridges.

A snowstorm in McGee Canyon transforms it into a magical place. I am particularly drawn to this canyon as McGee Creek flows here. I caught my first fish in this creek and we lived, at the time, in an old shack very close to where the creek runs out to Lake Crowley. I have been here in all kinds of weather but by far prefer it when the snow is falling.

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White Tailed Kites - A Family Affair

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Why “Notes to My Mother”? My mother was the one person in my life who was always interested in what I was doing, what I had to say, who I was. She was never too busy to listen and take an interest. Never critical, always accepting. Even when I was wrong or misguided, there would still be a gentle interested listener present. Though she has been gone over 6 years, I still get the urge to write or call her, to share an image I am proud of or share my latest adventure to some beautiful place. I know she would love to hear about it. My mother was an artist. She painted most of her life, right up to her passing at the age of 96. When I was 4 years old we lived on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range. She would take me out to paint with her - she with her easel, me with mine - and we would sit together creating our art. While I gave up on the medium she kept at it. Then, in the year she passed I picked up a digital camera and began my adventure into the world of landscape ph...

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Notes To My Mother

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