OFF TO BISHOP--

We were on the road by 0405 this morning. The reason for the EARLY hour was to be ahead of the morning commute traffic around Rte. 60 and I-10 in Riverside County. We succeeded and had a very easy drive up to Bishop. The route takes you North on I-15 to the junction with US 395. This highway takes you North along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Usually there is quite a bit of snow on the peaks but this year there was very little. We really did not see any snow until we reached Lone Pine and there was scant snow around Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in California at 14,000+ft. The snow pack was about 40% below normal or average this year. California is already in a droit situation, and has had about two hundred more forest fires than normal for this time of year.

The day started out with some high cloudiness which persisted until mid-day. We did see a brilliant sundog which was quite brilliant as we were merging with Rte. 395. Regrettably there was no place to turn off for a photo op. A sundog occurs 22˚ from the sun and is a result of bending of the sun rays and the light passes through ice crystals. This one was quite brilliant but did not last long enough for us to get off the highway and photograph it.

This afternoon we watched mules in a couple of driving classes. One of our friends came away with a First, Third, and Fourth in three classes. Amy has a beautiful mule and they did very well. I will post pictures tomorrow.

We went to dinner at a very good Mexican Restaurant, Amigos, in Bishop. The special tonight was baby lobster enchiladas. They were delicious. We found this restaurant a few years back and usually go to dinner here a minimum of two times in the five or six days we are in town.

Off to bed. My daughter has a dressage class tomorrow at o 0800, and I am to be there to photograph the event. There will also be English jumping classes which are also fun to photograph.

BISHOP MULE DAYS 2013

What and Where??

Mule Days in Bishop, California is a week of activity with the MULE taking center stage. The mules are showcased in all Western Classes, as well as English Classes. Then there are the packing contests, driving contests, comedy classes, Americana classes, and rodeo classes (barrel racing, chariot racing, roping, etc.

This year will be the 44th meeting. I have been going for 15 years. I missed four due to travel, etc. I was introduced to it
when my daughter started competing with her mule in 1998. It is a fun family event though I am just the unofficial photographer for Tina and her friends.

Come along for the ride and enjoy the fun ---

(Theses are from 2009, to wet your appetite for some this year)

CHASING THE LIGHT - April 8

April - 8 CHASING LIGHT IN ARCHES N.P.

Today was basically our last day of shooting this trip. It started with an overcast morning as we tried to capture what little light was around on the structures: The Three Gossips, Tower of Babel, and the Organ. Did not have much luck. The sun was sleeping in!! It was also awfully windy and so we gave in, and went for breakfast. This we grabbed at McDonalds and took it back to the house so we could have two tutorials. The first was on how to clean your sensor, and the second was on Photoshop using two of our images we had shot yesterday.

It was raining most of the afternoon. Later in the afternoon we went to an early dinner at the Moab Brewery. As the Raven Maven I tried their Black Raven oatmeal stout. It was quite good. Lin and I shared a mushroom burger with fried onion rings for the meal. We treated our driver to his beer, and then Lin treated me to a souvenir glass with the Black Raven Logo on it.

After eating we headed back into the Park though it did not look very promising. Due to the rain we explored an area where water pockets form. It is an opportunity to get reflections of towers in the water pockets. The challenge is that you need a very wide angle lens and be very close and low to the ground. I had to do most of photography hand held so had to push the ISO up to 800. Will look at the pictures shortly to see how they came out. You also have to be sure that the horizon is straight, which is difficult when you are down on your knees or back. Thankfully I started using the in camera level feature. It really helped. We stayed out until after sunset which was about 1953.

Three Gossips

Dead Tree and Three Gossips

Park Avenue

Storm Clouds and Reflection

Water Pocket Reflection

Evening Storm Brewing

 

HOMEWARD BOUND - April 9

Our bags were packed and we were ready to go by 0530. We needed to vacate the two houses, dump trash, and get all our gear stored into the vehicles. We succeeded and headed back to the water pockets located fairly close to the road that we had photographed last night.

The skies were overcast with a drizzle falling. We got to the area, and assessed the situation. There was no hope of a break in the cloud cover so we headed back into town for breakfast at the Moab Diner. After breakfast those of us heading heading home, drove off to Grand Junction, CO to catch planes. Mark was driving onto Omaha, NB, to catch a train, while Roger was driving through to his home in Illinois. They were concerned about the weather, as a snow storm was forecasted for Colorado, and points East. Their main concern was getting over the Rockies before the storm became an issue. I believe that they succeeded.

Our flights went smoothly both to Salt Lake City and San Diego. We arrived back in San Diego to a lovely clear afternoon with light winds, about 25 minutes early. The flight from SLC was not full, and I shared my row of seats only with a gent who was on the aisle while I was in the window seat.

Once we had landed and gotten our luggage we were off to Point Loma Seafood for an early supper of crab sandwiches. They were most delicious. The drive back to the house went smoothly though it was the peak of the afternoon commute.

Lin took off as soon as we could load her car as her Mom had been admitted to the hospital with severe chills, and weakness. This may all be due to the fact that she has not been able to eat much for the past couple of months. They are checking her out quite thoroughly.

It looks like I will be home until we head to Bishop, CA, for Mule Days. This is always a great deal of fun, and we get to see and visit with our daughter, Tina, who comes out for the Mule Show from Swanton, OH. This year my husband George will do some fly fishing with our son-in-law, Justin, in the Eastern Sierras while we are up there. I will, of course, have my camera to photograph some of the many events such as English jumping classes, and pleasure classes; western classes, packing events for the pack teams, etc.

We head for the North Rim, Grand Canyon on May 29. We will be volunteering there for the summer so if you are in the area you may run into the Raven Maven giving a program or hiking trails. 

Backdrop to Salt Lake City, The Wasatch Range>>>>

The Salton Sea >>>>

 

San Diego and the Coronado Bridge >>>

SUNDAY IN ARCHES N. P. - April 7

SUNDAY HAPPENINGS - April 7

We had some good light this morning while we were at the Windows area for Sunrise. The other half of the group went up to the ledge East of North Window and capture Turret Arch through the window. The rest of us went below the North and South Windows, also called the Spectacles, for sunrise. We wandered around and found compositions with either rocks or small junipers to be foreground elements.

We regrouped in front of North Window and then shot some more images of Turret Arch before calling it a morning. I took the challenge of getting really close to the ground and a juniper trunk for framing. It took a long time for me to get the image right as I was propped up on an elbow, and  hand holding the camera. It was a good lesson though. As we continued to have sunlight we were off to Double Arch for some more photography. It is about a half mile walk to the arch. We enjoyed making compositions along the way, and then went under the arch and photographed up into the arch. Lots of fun. We also worked on getting star bursts along the edge of one of the arches.

Breakfast was really lunch back in town as we prepared for the afternoon hike to Delicate Arch, the icon of the state of Utah. We ordered sandwiches from Subway for our dinner to be eaten along the trail to Delicate Arch.

As you will see, we try different compositions at each location. This is not a study in point and shoot and move on, but compose, experiment, and shoot. All of the images were taken in Arches N.P.

Sunrise Light on North Window

Sunrise Light on the Spectacles

 

Ledge for shooting Turret Arch through North Window

Turret Arch

Photo Challenge - Turret Arch

Double Arch

Double Arch

Star Burst under Double Arch

Who Lives Here?

Sand Arch

Sand blowing in front of Sand Arch

Sand Falls in front of Sand Arch

Inukshuk showing way to Delicate Arch

 

A sense of size at Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch