Tag: photos

Black Rock Desert and Relearning the Lesson

At the Landscape workshop I attended there was of course a lot of technical talk of composition, light, exposure and post processing tricks and tips. The single most important take away for me was not any of that, but rather the importance of seizing opportunities. I know that seems simple and basic common sense but I needed to hear it. The photographer who taught the class talked of spending weeks in exotic far flung locations to get that one shot that was worth keeping. As he talked about the work and time that went into each beautiful photo he showed us I felt the enlightenment creeping in. Looking at beautiful landscape photography I would always think why can’t I take photos like that? Why do my photos turn out dull and ordinary? Now I knew.

Being honest with myself was the first step. Not getting out of bed to get there for the best light; done that a million times. Not staying late enough for the best light because I did not want to drive or walk out of a place in the dark, done that too many times to count. Hearing the rain in the middle of the night means I should get up and get ready to go at 3:00 AM or seeing the weather report predicting a storm should signal that I need to prepare to be out in it or soon after. That is when the light and clouds will help produce a great photograph. It is too tempting to snuggle into the covers or sit with a hot cup of tea and look out at the weather and think I will go later. Later is too late. You have to go when it isn’t pleasant to go to be where you need to be for those great shots.

Simple right? All of you great landscape photographers already knew this. I guess I knew it but now I will live by it. Yesterday was a perfect example. We got a rainstorm in the night and I thought no, it will be too overcast. Sun came up and the clouds broke beautifully for what would have been great light and drama if I had got myself out in it. Didn’t. I did take advantage of the afternoon evening to take these pictures of the Black Rock Desert with pretty good light and cloud drama but I had to motivate myself to get out there. Obviously it is a lesson I will have to keep learning.

P.S. My luck with wild horses held and got to see two very colorful wild paint horses in the desert.

Utah, Landscapes and Me

Yes it has been a long time since I have posted anything. I have been taking photographs but posting them on Facebook because it was easier and the immediate gratification without the discipline of writing a post is seductive isn’t it?

I took a long anticipated trip to and across southern Utah in October and attended a Landscape workshop in Moab. I have always wanted to pursue the art of Landscape photography but it is a daunting endeavor. Wildlife photography for me was more accessible both from a skill and opportunity standpoint. I learned at the workshop what I guess I always knew to be true; Landscape photography is not easy! Far from discouraged I actually left with a new sense of purpose. I will always be interested in shooting wildlife but I want to push myself to try to create landscape images I can be proud of too. So often I am in beautiful places looking for wildlife at sunrise and sunset that shooting landscapes in addition wildlife seems a natural right? We will see how this goes.

I visited Cathedral Valley on the way to Moab. It is a remote area in north Capital Reef National park. A stunning place I would like to visit again and of course shoot some Landscapes. These photos are of two of the most well known monoliths in the Valley, The Temple of the Sun and The Temple of the Moon.

Tree Skeletons

On Tuesday, my husband, our dog Maddie and I made a trip out to the edge of the Smoke Creek Desert. There was an old ranch, the Bonham ranch, abandoned for at least 75 years that I wanted to photograph. I have taken photos of it before but wanted to again as I believe I had learned a few things since the last time.
We got up early to be there at dawn. I thought I remembered where it was. It was still fairly dark when I saw some trees ahead showing where the ranch should be. Trees are a rare thing out here and usually there is something of interest if a place sports a few. At least there might be water.
We slowed down and didn’t see any buildings so we got into one of those discussions as we continued on rattling down the dirt road. “I think that was it.” But there weren’t any buildings?” “Did you see any buildings?” “No but that had to be it.” “It couldn’t have been. There was a ranch house and several outbuildings the last time we were here.” “It has been awhile maybe they burned down.” Ok, turn around let’s give it a look over.”
We were disappointed to say the least to see that all that was left of the ranch were charred ashes and a few trees. It looked like it had been burned down deliberately and everything hauled away. Not sure why that was done after so many years but gone is gone. I had to be satisfied with this photo of the tree at dawn.
We headed back the way we came hoping to see some antelope or desert bighorns. We stopped at Pyramid lake and walked through a lovely stand of Fremont Cottonwoods where I think I salvaged the trip with these black and white shots of dead trees.

I love My Camo!

Last year I watched the Outdoor channel a lot getting ideas from hunters about how to get close to animals especially deer. I watched a lot of archery deer hunting shows with my finger on the remote and clicked away as the hunter released their arrow. I can’t watch the kill shot. I am not anti-hunting as long as hunting is done legally and responsibly I don’t have a beef
So I made several trips to the Sportsman Warehouse and got some good desert Camo, pants, jacket, face mask, hat, the works. After studying the archery hunters I learned about scent killing techniques as well. Back to Sportsman’s for special soap, detergent, even mouth wash to neutralize human scent. This stuff is amazing! I have had deer walk right by me without knowing I was there. I can’t always get a picture but have had many heart pounding moments. Sometimes they catch a whiff or sense something is not right and bound off but when everything works right it is pretty exciting.
I took this photo of a nice sized Mule deer buck the day after my coyote trapper encounter. I got out to the river around dawn and sat with my back to some sagebrush along a heavily used deer trail. Within 15 minutes of sitting down I saw this buck coming my way. He never saw me. He looks like he sees me in the photo but that alert, ears up look is from him hearing the camera clicks. He kept coming and walked within 20 feet of me. Actually he got too close for my lens.
I am sure I look ridiculous when I am in my camouflage but I almost feel like I have the power of invisibility. I sat in a bush at another location and had a flock of shy, tiny birds land all around me very close to me as they did not realize I was there.
I am learning the value of sitting very still in a zen like state, patiently waiting for what will come rather than hurrying around trying to find what is out there. Please, just don’t send me a mountain lion. 😉

Tufa Rock Formations

The most famous Tufa Rock is found around Mono Lake in California. It is a popular destination for photographers. I have not made my way down there yet though I may soon as this type of landscape photography is of interest to me. We have the same type of Tufa rock formations in and around Pyramid Lake. When we have cloudy days, and I have time I try to get out there to photograph the rocks. Last week the clouds and my schedule aligned so I was able to get a few shots that I liked.

Taylor Creek Bears

Every October a little bit of Alaska can be found at Taylor Creek. Taylor creek is a small creek on the south end of Lake Tahoe. It only runs a few miles between Fallen Leaf Lake and Tahoe but this time of year you can find a lot of action there.

Back in the 1940’s the non native Kokanee Salmon were introduced to Lake Tahoe and they thrived. Each autumn thousands of the bright red fish make their way up Taylor Creek to spawn and die. The native black bears, always a resourceful animal, have made eating the fish an important part of their preparation for their long winter sleep.
The bears are concentrating on fattening up and pay little attention to the people that gather to watch them. I made my first trip up there today and was lucky to have the opportunity to photograph this big mama bear and her cub.

I am aware of bear safety. These photos were taken with a telephoto lens from a safe distance. It was amazing to watch the bears fishing, foraging and going about their day as if they had the forest to themselves.

I think I will go back up next week. I heard that as the fish start to die in large numbers even more bears are apt to show up.

Feeling Abandoned?

I know it has been a long time since my last post. I had a lot going on with family visiting and traveling to visit family. In addition to that, we suffered for weeks here with the smoke from the Yosemite fires. For a month it was impossible and considered very unhealthy to go outside. The ugly smoke hung on our side of the Sierra’s like a dirty blanket for a month. I escaped for a week to visit my sister in Alaska and hoped to get photos up there but it rained everyday I was there. I hope this does not sound too whiney. 🙂 Anyway, I traveled back to Ash Creek this week and the animals were not cooperating. The deer and antelope were playing but way too far away for good photographs. I took landscape shots of the old barns and an abandoned homestead I saw on the drive up. I caught a glimpse of this house through the trees and hiked quite a ways from the road to photograph it. I think these places are a little spooky. While walking around the house a breeze kicked up and a door creaked on it’s hinges loudly in the house and banged against something inside. I would have liked to look around inside but frankly I got the willies. There was a small band of wild horses hanging in the meadow close to the house. I found their presence calming. They would not have been there if a monster was in the house right? 😉

Ash Creek Wildlife Area

I have not posted in so long. It was not for lack of trying. I have been hiking with my camera a lot and walking in all my favorite haunts. I took lots of photos and ended up throwing lots of photos out. I needed a change. I decided to drive to Northern California and visit the Ash Creek Wildlife area hoping to see Pronghorn. I had never been there but had high hopes.
What a wonderful place Ash Creek turned out to be! There were deer everywhere. I think they are Columbia Blacktail. I did find Pronghorn and managed to get some photos of them. I was amazed to surprise a family of River Otters who actually were quite curious about me and followed me as I walked down the road beside the canal. They did not seem to be alarmed at my presence and they sounded like they were scolding me as I walked along. When I got home and started editing the photos I saw that the male otter is missing an eye. This is only the second time I have ever seen River Otters and it was quite a treat to be able to observe them for so long.
In addition to the wildlife, the Refuge has several large old barns dotting the landscape. I am looking forward to returning to try to take some better landscape photos of those this fall. The trip was well worth the drive.

Wetlands

I have been trying to get more walking in and there are a lot of good paths through protected Wetlands around here. Of course in the desert, any area with water attracts concentrations of wildlife so the photo opportunities abound.

The birdsong is almost deafening this time of year in the mornings as mating and defending territories is in full swing right now. I was able to finally get some good photos of a Marsh Wren which is what I think this little brown bird singing so loudly is. They are tiny birds that flit through the reeds never allowing me to get a photo until today. This little bird was intent on singing and stayed still in plain site long enough to be photographed.

I was also able to observe this common tern fishing over one of the ponds and see him catch a fish.

Stallions

This time of year the foals are the show stealers for sure but the stallions always command my attention. The herd stallions have a presence that is captivating and for photographers trying to get close they must be watched carefully. You could put yourself in real danger if you did not pay close attention to what they are doing, their body language and their mood. Sometimes they graze quietly not at all alarmed as you come close, at other times they are in a definitely protective mode and then you had better watch out if they are showing you that they consider you a threat.
Each band of horses has a social structure that includes a stallion, a lead mare, a few mares with foals and half-grown offspring of varying ages that have not left the band yet or been driven off by the Stallion. These bands come fairly close to one another at times and that is when the fighting between the stallions breaks out. They seem to have a tolerance level of about 50 to a hundred yards. Within that zone one of the stallions will feel threatened and charges out to challenge. Sometimes nothing happens, the other stallion will round-up his band and move off, at other times a battle will ensue with roaring and squealing, biting and kicking. These types of photos are exciting to capture but the photographer has to be extremely careful to stay well out-of-the-way. I have been watching some of these stallions for years now and while they are familiar to me I don’t take it for granted that they are truly a wild animal.
Horses seem to me to be special in the animal world in that they know they are beautiful. If ordinary horses know that they are beautiful, then wild stallions know this tenfold. I have included some photos here of herd stallions and one young appaloosa stallion that I saw for the first time a couple of days ago hanging out with his bachelor friend. He is the first appaloosa I have seen in the wild bands. I hope to see him gather some mares in the next few years and pass on his genes. He certainly knows he is beautiful and he is.