Sierra Sublime Blog

The Sierra is a magical place. You can say it is sublime. To truly get the most from this magical place if you are there a lot and you meander through it slowly. I have the luxury of doing both and this blog is designed to visually share my adventures.

Heaven

A few years ago, I experienced a drought of clouds for what seemed like an eternity.  Every time I went on a photo expedition it was nothing but blue skies. It was frustrating as I love clouds in my landscape images.  Well this spring ended the cloud drought in a spectacular way!

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A Perfectly Cloudy Day

Me and my camera took off for the high country.  When we got there, it was cloudy.  Perfectly cloudy to be exact.  You see lots of people love blue skies, but photographers think blue skies are boring and long for partly cloudy skies.  Especially Cumulus, Cumulonimbus, Stratocumulus, and Lenticular clouds. The first three are what the Lord gave me this “I got to go” trip.

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My Path to Better Wildflower Images

I am now on a quest to take the best wildflower image I ever have. This post is a combination of my experience so far this season combined with the research I have done to help my images get better. I thought it would be good to share before the 2019 season comes to an end.  Here goes.

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March in Like a Lion ( and leave the same way!)

For me this was a March for the history books! For me March has been a Lion all the way through. I cannot remember a March in which I experienced such a diversity of photographic experiences.

March roars in like a lion
So fierce,
The wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.

The month rolls on
And Spring draws near,
And March goes out
Like a lamb so dear

Lori Hill

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Lone Pine the Little Town Below a Big Mountain

I have been going to Mammoth since I was a teenager. Until we bought our place in Mammoth we would do a non-stop drive to Mammoth ignoring all the amazing stuff between LA and Mammoth. With a place of our own we started spending more time in the Eastern Sierra. With that regularity the need to rush straight through to Mammoth went away We started exploring cool things all along Hwy 395. It was then I fell in love with the towns in the Owens Valley. These towns seem one dimensional as you drive through but when you get to know them they have multiple layers that make them gems in their own right. Today’s post focuses on the town I know best - Lone Pine.

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The Wildflowers are Coming, the Wildflowers are Coming; are You Prepared?

It’s February and raining and snowing a lot.  The skiers in the Eastern Sierra are in heaven, but what are the non-skiers to do with our time? Prepare for the wildflower season of course.  The flowers are already popping up here and there already.  I wanted to provide a list resources to help you plan your wildflower hunting season.  We will cover:

  •   Where to look for wildflowers and websites that track the wildflower blooms

  • How to know what you are looking at.  Yes, there is an app for that and I found a great website.

  •   Tips on how to take great wildflower pictures

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My 12 Best Images of 2018

The 12 Best of 2018

Why 12?  To be different.  Everyone else has a Top 10.  Besides I like the idea of one for each month.  Even though I did not take as many images last year, it was an awesome year for my photography. Mainly for two reasons.

  1. During most of my trips up to the Eastern Sierra there were luscious clouds in the sky.  Nothing improves a landscape photo like clouds.

  2.   I started concentrating on the improving the composition of my images. Specifically working on improving the foreground area.  To me, it made a huge difference.

So here we go.

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Dad Why Do the Trees Change Colors?

Every year I reluctantly hang on to summer and resist the coming of Fall.  Despite my best efforts the days keep getting noticeably shorter, the nights have a chill, and heck it is mid-September and just snowed in the Sierra!  So, I will throw in the towel and look forward to Halloween and Fall colors.  Hopefully, this post will give you a bit of trivia and a lot of information on how to successfully see Fall colors in the Sierra.

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Eastern Sierra Early Morning Scramble (ESMS)

A great Eastern Sierra Morning Scramble (ESMS) is a plate of “Golden Hour” Light, beautiful puffy, clouds, and a side of water (a still lake or a running stream will do.) When you get up to enjoy ESMS that is cooked right it truly is a moving experience!

The problem is you need to get up pretty early to get served because once nature runs out it is gone for the day!

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FIVE SIMPLE STEPS TO ENJOY YOSEMITE ON A CROWDED WEEKEND

Yosemite can be the most beautiful place on earth or a crowded hell.  Five steps to make your visit a truly pleasant and memorable trip.

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Mom, why is the sky blue? Mom, Why is the sunset red? Mom, why does it always looks better in the Eastern Sierra? Answers to questions you May have always wanted to know

Man is not the only one who can produce beautiful fireworks.  Nature does a pretty fine job herself!  Lake Crowley sunset.  Have you ever wanted to be able to predict when the clouds are going to go nuclear?   Want to know why the sunrise/sunsets are usually yellow, orange and red?  Check out my latets blog post.

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Clouds are the Photographers Spice of Life

Clouds are a landscape photographer's spice to add flavor to their images.  Don't believe me, do a google on "Ansel Adam on cloud" and see how many hits come up of his images that have "cloud" in the name.  

My point is this,  There are a lot of good images that have a bright blue cloudless sky.  There are many more "great" images of the same location that have clouds in the sky!  I love the Owens Valley, it is gorgeous.   That said, would the above image be so moving if it did not have those wonderful clouds in the sky? I think not.

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Sunrise to Sunset in Southern California

My brother and his family come home every holiday season. He is a photographer too, so we look for some time while he is here to go out to shoot. I enjoy his company and it forces me over the rest of the year to get out and to check out places in Southern California for his next visit.

Now I am a 3rd generation Angeleno.  I have lived in Southern California all my life. Between work and exploring I get around a lot and considered myself a seasoned local.  I thought I had been to most of the interesting places we have here. Wow was I wrong. After a few years of checking sites out for our shooting day, I have realized there is absolutely no way possible you could ever see all that is interesting in Southern California.

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Don Henley was Wrong You can go Back

In Don Henley's song the “Boys of Summer” there are the lyrics:

Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.
A little voice inside my head said:
"Don't look back, you can never look back."
I thought I knew what love was.
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever.
I should just let 'em go, but

Well this last weekend I successfully looked back and came away with a smile. Forgive the long winded set up to this story but it will put in perspective how I “went back this weekend.”

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Quests in the Owens Valley are Fun

Over the years I have had fun with quests finding the Petroglyphs that are in the Owens Valley and the Tablelands. The first quest started with some photography friends; Paul, George, Kahlee, Nate, Dave, and some others. We were at a meet up in Lone Pine when I convinced them we should try and find the Petroglyphs near Keeler. We looked near and far and came up empty. Over the course of next few summers I finally found a ranger that gave me the clues that allowed me to find them.

You see most people won't tell you exact directions to where they are. If you are nice they will give you clues. That's it clues. Giving just clues are done for good reason. The Petroglyphs are treasures, looks into the past, some 6,000 years old. Some folks don't do well in respecting how valuable they are. They either vandalize them or put their own mark next to them to try and become immortal themselves. Sorry to tell them “Betsy and Mark 1983” will only get folks extremely mad and you will be cursed at for the next 5,000 years . So to find these sites you have to do your research on the internet and talk to people to get clues. Then you weave it all together to guess where they are. Finally, you have to go out and look.

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Dia de los Muertos 2016

Over the last several years I have become big fan of Dia de los Muertos. I look forward to it every year. The celebration at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the reason this celebration of the Dead has won me over. At the Hollywood Forever Dia de los Muertos; the alters are awesome, the stories of the particpants are heartfelt, the costumes are off the chart. If that is not enough they have great food, beer and margaritas! Hell one year one of the alters had a full Mariachi Band! What a great way to spend a day.

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Tom's Place

When we are in the Sierra we really enjoy visiting Toms Place.  The bar is a perfect local rustic dive bar you would find in small towns back east.  The bartenders we have come to be friends with, Jo Jo and Donna, are the best.  Great Margaritas and Bloody Mary. The food in the restaurant is delicious comfort food.

On Labor Day Toms Place has a Car Show and BBQ.  It makes for a fun visit and this year there were over twenty pretty "sweet" cars at the show.  The images below are just a sampling of the cars that were "in attendance."

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