Rambler: Terry Drink in Hand: Carmichael Pinot Grigio
I've been just now getting to editing, or rather, going through images I took when Beth and I went to the Eastern Sierras earlier this fall. Most of my images from this trip were of the mountains or Mono Lake. However, I did make my first visit to Bodie and loved the old buildings.
Rambler: Beth Drink at Hand: 2008 Ventana Chardonnay...oh so buttery yummy!
Its Thirsty Thursday once again...time to pur something yummy and make those weekend plans...or in this case, re-live an awesome weekend gone-by.
I brought work home every night this week, and every night I played with photos from our latest trip to the Sierra instead. Work will always be there, right? But there will soon be more trips to the Sierra and I can't have unedited photos hanging in the queue. As you've probably already noticed from our previous posts or rambles/rants on twitter, facebook, etc, we had a great time in the mountains, despite the boring skies and lack of dramatic light. I told my boss when I got back that Tuesday, it was an incredibly beautiful weekend in the mountains and a horrible weekend for photography! But nevertheless, we still came away with a few nice images. Aaaaand, we didn't have to worry about frostbite, getting drenched in a thunderstorm, or wind blowing the tripod over (all things that have happened before!).
These are my favorites from the weekend. Perhaps you'll see something you like. If you do, leave a comment. And as always, thanks for stopping by!
Sunrise at Silver Lake.
Terry working his magic at Convict Lake.
Mono Lake is always a challenge for me. I rarely come away happy at sunrise or sunset. I suppose it didn't help that a bratty kid threw rocks at me this time around while I was composing a shot. He was lucky his parents called him back over not long after. This was from a hidden parking lot where there were no people, thank goodness.
Terry had never been to Bodie, so I was more than happy to show him around the old mining town. Love shooting here, just wish the park hours were a little more photographer friendly. Some morning light here would be fantastic.
On our last morning we went to Convict Lake again. We shot from the dam this time...a cliche composition of this lake, but I hadn't shot this angle before. Afterwards we hiked the trail around the lake, mainly so Massey could get a good run in before the 6-hour drive home. Some of my favorites from the weekend are from this hike.
Finally, in the last 10 minutes of our last hike, some clouds moved in and gave us a few shadows and a hint of drama. And then it was time to drive home.
A few years ago I went to the Bodie State Historic Park hidden in the hills north of Mono Lake as part of a photography workshop. Bodie is an old mining town better known today as one of the best-preserved ghost towns anywhere. When I learned that this photo workshop was going to Bodie, I wasn't happy...I was in the Eastern Sierra for the first time ever and you're taking me to a ghost town?! But as soon as I got there, I loved it. So many cool old buildings and abandoned bits and pieces of an by-gone era. I was a little sad when I had to leave that afternoon. I still have some of those Bodie photos posted on our Flickr page. Fast forward to October of this year. I was up in the Sierra doing another photo workshop (I highly recommend the Mountain High Workshops by the way), and I was very excited to hear that we were going to Bodie. But I also knew I had to challenge myself to find some unique vantage points. I had taken a lot of the obvious shots last time, and being with a group, I didn't want the exact same frames as everyone else. So I wandered around and crawled around in the grass for a bit and ultimately hiked a big hill overlooking the little town. It was tough with the harsh late-morning light, but I came away with a few I liked. Enjoy the sampling.
Special thanks to Kevin McNeal for encouraging me to find some new perspectives around town.
