Back now from our two-week getaway from rainy Washington to the sunny California deserts... Errr, that was supposed to be how it worked, but ironically our stay in the Coachella Valley of the Mojave desert started with inch-a-day rain. Envision roads covered with sandy mud or totally flooded. Well, I thought a water-logged desert was an unusual photographic opportunity!
I took along two Bronica RF645 bodies, one for fast color and the other for Tri-X/Diafine with an orange filter and the 65 and 45mm lenses. And a Pentax 67, using only its 75mm lens. Shot 12 rolls of 220 film.
I'm disappointed I wasn't able to figure out a photographic approach to the big wind farm just west of Palm Springs, since I just know there must be some good opportunities there. But I snapped away inside business as we shopped and dined, and at the Living Desert (zoo and botanical gardens), and up in the San Jacinto Mountains south of the valley.
We passed through Yosemite on the way back, stopping frequently for photos of spectacular scenery, and saw plenty of other photogs busy with their tripod-mounted gear, all of us surely thinking of Ansel Adams. It was especially interesting as the sun sank lower in a sky producing occasional rain showers. By the time we exited the Park eastward we'd used up the last of the daylight.
Of course, coming out of Yosemite that way just plopped us down near two other photographer "magnets"; Mono Lake and Bodie. The next morning we could see that the Sierras had gotten an attractive coat of white snow overnight, and the highway back into Yosemite was closed. We took the morning to explore some of the south shore of Mono Lake where there are many examples of "tufa"; white stalagmite-like outcroppings of minerals deposited on the alkali lake-bed, bared by the lake level now some 45 feet lower than 60 years ago. For this I used a couple rolls of Fuji NPH 400 in the Pentax, and proceeded on to...
...The ghost town of Bodie, which we reached by a road heading north from the north shore of Mono Lake, the first few miles roughly paved, and the next dozen miles rutted and washboard gravel, winding up to the town's higher elevation. Plenty of 4x5 view cameras and Rolleis on tripods up there that day roaming the muddy streets among the 200 or so old buildings still standing... weathered wood patched with tin containers pounded flat. Dusty household goods remained in many abandoned residences, and a lot of mining machinery gradually rusting away. Here I used only the RF645 with 65mm lens with orange filter and couple of rolls of Tri-X. A much better mostly-paved road exited westward to join US395. Fall color added extra interest to the scenery...
From there we sped for home on US395 through Reno, and transitioned to US97 via Hwy 31 in Oregon where near Summer Lake we passed through a wet snow-storm, as if we needed a reminder of the coming season!
Now looking forward to renewed participation in RFF, freed from sharing my wife's laptop. 😉
I took along two Bronica RF645 bodies, one for fast color and the other for Tri-X/Diafine with an orange filter and the 65 and 45mm lenses. And a Pentax 67, using only its 75mm lens. Shot 12 rolls of 220 film.
I'm disappointed I wasn't able to figure out a photographic approach to the big wind farm just west of Palm Springs, since I just know there must be some good opportunities there. But I snapped away inside business as we shopped and dined, and at the Living Desert (zoo and botanical gardens), and up in the San Jacinto Mountains south of the valley.
We passed through Yosemite on the way back, stopping frequently for photos of spectacular scenery, and saw plenty of other photogs busy with their tripod-mounted gear, all of us surely thinking of Ansel Adams. It was especially interesting as the sun sank lower in a sky producing occasional rain showers. By the time we exited the Park eastward we'd used up the last of the daylight.
Of course, coming out of Yosemite that way just plopped us down near two other photographer "magnets"; Mono Lake and Bodie. The next morning we could see that the Sierras had gotten an attractive coat of white snow overnight, and the highway back into Yosemite was closed. We took the morning to explore some of the south shore of Mono Lake where there are many examples of "tufa"; white stalagmite-like outcroppings of minerals deposited on the alkali lake-bed, bared by the lake level now some 45 feet lower than 60 years ago. For this I used a couple rolls of Fuji NPH 400 in the Pentax, and proceeded on to...
...The ghost town of Bodie, which we reached by a road heading north from the north shore of Mono Lake, the first few miles roughly paved, and the next dozen miles rutted and washboard gravel, winding up to the town's higher elevation. Plenty of 4x5 view cameras and Rolleis on tripods up there that day roaming the muddy streets among the 200 or so old buildings still standing... weathered wood patched with tin containers pounded flat. Dusty household goods remained in many abandoned residences, and a lot of mining machinery gradually rusting away. Here I used only the RF645 with 65mm lens with orange filter and couple of rolls of Tri-X. A much better mostly-paved road exited westward to join US395. Fall color added extra interest to the scenery...
From there we sped for home on US395 through Reno, and transitioned to US97 via Hwy 31 in Oregon where near Summer Lake we passed through a wet snow-storm, as if we needed a reminder of the coming season!
Now looking forward to renewed participation in RFF, freed from sharing my wife's laptop. 😉
