Notes To My Mother

  I have titled the above image "The Window".  It was taken from a dirt road on the way to Buttermilk Boulders east of Bishop.  Bishop is out of sight below the horizon in the middle of the image.  The distant mountains are the White Mountains to the East of Bishop.  This is illustrative of how the storm was all around bishop with Bishop remaining in sunshine. Bishop Ponds were especially attractive in the late afternoon light as the sages seemed to glow. The early morning light in Pleasant Valley with the storm seeming to clear.  For the time being. 30 miles north of this 395 was still closed due to the storm.  This is a popular trout fishing area blessed by the Owens River.

In the fall of 2023 I became aware of a composition I wanted to capture in the Eastern Sierras.  The problem was not knowing exactly were it was.  I had seen a picture of it and knew it was in the Bishop area due to the particular mountains in the scene. I was pretty sure it was taken from Table Lands north of Bishop.   I started searching, driving around, walking to the edge of Table Lands with no luck.   I was able to rule out a number of locations.   Then I resorted to Google Earth and, finally after much exploring, figured out what I thought was at least the approximate location.  I had found a dirt road and knew I could continue my quest on that road and get fairly close to where I thought I should be.  I began planning a trip to the Bishop area but what I needed for success was a good storm to bring the snow down the eastern faces of the Sierra mountains.  Finally, a good storm was predicted for early March 2024.    ...

In November 2021 my grandson, Levi, and I headed to the Eastern Sierras to do some photography and enjoy the east side.  Levi is a budding photographer (just sold his first print last week) and immerses himself fully into the pursuit of great images.   Lundy Lake on a cold morning but enjoyable nonetheless.   Just south of Mammoth Lakes, Mount Morrison rises to the heavens.   This image was taken at sunset.  Had the wind been just a bit calmer some very nice reflections would have graced our view.  Maybe next time.  

  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 ...

  In 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, my grandson, Levi, and I took a road trip to the Eastern Sierras. These images are from that trip and are intended to be examples of a few of the different kinds of light you can experience at relatively high altitudes.  These were all taken at around 7,000 feet.  The one above is morning light on Laurel Mountain with foreground reflections separated in the man made fence, mid ground. One of the delightful characteristics of the weather in the Eastern Sierras revolves around cloud formations.  Clouds will often build first thing in the morning as the sun is making its first appearance.  They can then pretty much disappear.  Later in the afternoon clouds will often begin to build again.  I recall one time being up Lee Vining Canyon and getting caught under one of those afternoon build ups and getting drenched in rain and pelted by hail.  On the afternoon depicted above one of those storms was developing wit...

   Traveling from Sonoma County to the Eastern Sierras I will often stay overnight in Topaz Lake to break up the long drive and give myself a little more time to explore along the way.  Topaz is an unincorporated community located on highway 395 just south of the Carson Valley.  The California-Nevada border goes right through the middle of the lake. It is a quiet, mostly residential area with a couple of motels, a gas station and a casino.  Waking up before sunrise is a real treat as the community has not yet begun to stir and it is such a serene scene.   To the south of town there are a number of side roads to explore that run across the valley to the east, along with a road that runs on the east side of the valley, roughly parallel to 395 for a stretch.  The picture above is a morning shot from the east side of the valley. This is an image of the valley south of Topaz, looking north at sunset.  At about this time of day the coyotes begin ca...

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 colo...