Yosemite & Mono Lake...

Had a couple of photo shooting sessions since I last wrote.
A couple of great sunsets and a trip out to Mono Lake via Yosemite.

These first few photos were taken from the ridge in Castro Valley overlooking San Leandro & The Bay.
My youngest Son & I took a sunset hike out there with our dog.

I know, it's just the boring old moon,
but it's the first boring old moon photo that I've taken that isn't just a white blob in the sky!
You can actually see some detail in the moon.

These next photos were taken up in Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland.
This first shot was taken on the Sequoia Bayview Trail.
I like the Enchanted Forest feel of this one.

These next shots were also taken from the Sequoia Bayview Trail.
Your typical bank of fog rolling into downtown San Francisco.
The last photo was shot through a star filter.

Off to Mono Lake!
My son was out of school this week so I took some vacation time and we headed out to Mono Lake.
We took Hwy. 120 out to Yosemite and then headed up over Tioga Pass.
These first photos were taken at Tanaya lake.

These next few shots were taken on the way down to Hwy. 395 after leaving Yosemite.

After that, we headed the rest of the way down Hwy. 120 and then stopped in the town of Lee Vining.
There we grabbed a bite to eat and found a place to spend the night.
Early the next morning we headed out to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake to get some sunrise shots.

I got in a number of photos and then just my luck, my camera broke,
(The shutter got stuck).
The rest of the shots were taken on my trusty old Kodak Easy Share Z740.

Once the sun came up, the Kodak camera captured the brilliant blues of the lake and the skies,
but the Tufa wound up getting overexposed and pretty washed out.
As we were heading out of Mono Lake, I stopped and laid down in the middle of the road to get this shot.

We had planned on continuing our trip down to Death Valley and perhaps Joshua tree,
but the lack of an SLR camera, (Which was pretty much the whole point of the trip), caused us to cut it short.
Just as we started back up Hwy. 120, we stopped at the Mobil station located on the left to gas up and eat some snacks.
While we were sitting there eating, we saw these poles set up on a hill overlooking Mono Lake.

It took me a minute to figure out that it was a trapeze setup.
How spectacularly random is that?
We finished eating and then it was back up the mountain with plans to stop in Yosemite Valley.
We hoped to take some video and a few shots with the Kodak camera there.
On the way back through Tioga Pass we stopped and took a some shots.
This one was taken just after re-entering the Park.

We drove a bit further and stopped at Lembert Dome to use the rest room and I wound up losing my kid there.
I thought he was in the bathroom and I was waiting and waiting and waiting and starting to get worried.
All of a sudden some movement catches my eye and I look up to see him way up on the Dome.
I grabbed the camera and hiked up there with him.
He saw how smooth the granite face of the dome was, so he had decided to skate it.

I love the cloud formations in those skating photos.
We also saw this sign there that gave us a good laugh.

No dogs at Dog Lake.
Now there's bureaucracy for you!
A quick stop at the West side of Tuolumne Meadows.

On to the Valley! (which we drove right through and on up to Glacier Point).
It was a bit hazy up there so I didn't get the greatest of photos,
but the clouds above Half Dome were rather spectacular.
This shot was pieced together from two photos I took up there.

After Glacier Point, we decided to go grab a bite to eat in the Valley and see if there were any Hotel rooms available.
On the way around the loop, we saw this bus stop and thought the lighting was rather cool.

We had dinner at the Ahwahnee and then went looking for a room.
No such luck on short notice.
We decided to see what was available outside the park and found a room at the Yosemite View Lodge.
It was just a few miles down along the Merced River.
In the morning, before we left, I took a few photos off our balcony that turned out pretty good.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.
Just driving home through the area we had already been through.
Well, that's all for this week.
See you again soon.

Mt. Diablo...

I took a drive instead of a hike this week.
The cloud cover was rather interesting today
so my youngest Son & I grabbed a couple of sandwiches and drove up Mt. Diablo.
We hoped to get some nice shots of the afternoon sun and with any luck, a spectacular sunset.

These first photos are of the light tower at the peak of Mt. Diablo
and of a Chimney on the east side of the Lodge.

These next few photos are of my son standing on the lookout platform at the peak.
The valley East of Mt. Diablo is in the background.

These next few photos show the shadows of the both peaks extending East out into the valley.

These photos are looking west into the setting sun, (Setting Son?).

Here are a couple of shots looking west just after the sun had set,
(With & without one of the communication towers).

After the sun set, we started down the mountain.
A couple of miles down, the sky started to color up.
We pulled over in a parking lot to get some shots.

My son decided to get in some skating while I was shooting the sunset.
I had him come over and skate in front of me while I laid on the ground and shot out into the sunset sky.

This last photo is my favorite of the series.
I love the position of his skateboard and the sliver of a moon shining between his legs.

After that we continued our journey down the Mountain
and stopped one last time on a turn-out to get in a last few shots of the moon.

Well, that's all for this week.
See you again soon.

Las Trampas...

I only got in one real hike this last week or so.
I went out with my dog to Las Trampas off of Crow Canyon Rd. in San Ramon.
We busted our lungs and calf muscles getting to the top of the Rocky Ridge View Trail,
(Hasn't anyone ever heard of switchbacks?!)
We then headed over to the Wind Caves on the Rocky Ridge Loop Trail that are located on the border of the EBMUD Lands.

These first couple of photos are of some of the weird stone formations inside of the wind caves.

This next shot is looking through a hole in the rocks down into the EBMUD Water Shed.

Here are a few shots of one of the rock outcroppings from a couple of slightly different angles.
I really like the Easter Island "Stone Giant" feel of this formation.

Here are a couple of shots of the whole wind cave area looking up from the trail.

This is a view down the valley that borders the Eastern side of the Wind Caves.

We then headed over to the Cuesta Trail and started back down the hill.
On this trail we found these dried up stalks, (French Broom perhaps).

We also found this one California Poppy that was well lighted and positioned.

After that it was back to the Rocky Ridge View Trail and back to the staging area.
These next few photos were shot in my Mom's garden when I was over for a visit.

The rest of the week was spent taking some shots for my photo class.
One of the assignments was to take shots of an object from a variety of angles.
I chose an Old School Sears Bicycle that my son and I fixed up and here a a couple of those photos.

This last photo was taken on a night shoot we did in class.
I have a ways to go on this skill, but I did like the way this one photo turned out that I shot with a star filter.

Well, that's all for this week.
See you again soon.