California

A Scene at Muir Woods revisited some 12 years later

by Kurt December 20, 2010 in California, National Park System 0 comments

I have been a lover of trees for as long as I can remember. My back yard growing up was basically a section of forest. I loved being in forests and smelling the autumn leaves turning. I loved their different shapes and colors and smells. The greatest of trees it seemed were the redwoods. In my back yard growing up we had 3 or 4 dawn redwoods. These were relatively small as they were very young. I had read about the great coastal redwoods but had never seen them until in 1998 I made a trip out west. In this trip my dad and I made a stop at Muir Woods, and being a photography lover I had my Mamiya 645 with me. As we walked that wonderful grove, I made several pictures that to this day are some of my favorite photos that I have ever taken. Below is one of those images.

Walking along the trail I was fascinated by these trees that will fall over and then keep growing in their new orientation, sprouting limbs straight up from the fallen log in cases. These stood and fell in the shadow of the wonderful redwoods around. This one had somehow grown into a near perfect arch and stopped me in my tracks. The combination of the arch with the redwoods all around was instantly a must-shoot composition. After some searching around I found a spot that seemed to minimize the impact of the wooden boardwalk in the background and emphasized the arch. This is that picture. The light was soft and beautiful, emphasizing the colors.

Just recently I had the opportunity to revisit Muir Woods for the first time since that trip in 1998. I hit the loop and made my way through. We only had about two hours of light left, but I soon recognized the spot, or nearly anyway, where I had taken that arched branch photo all those years before. This time I did not have my Mamiya (I had forgotten it in the car! Next time I will not forget). Instead I had my my trusty Canon 5D Mark II which is my standard operating camera these days. Armed with cell phone service in the park I suddenly had the idea to try and take the same photo again. I had located the spot by memory, but couldn’t quite get the angle right. I called up a copy of the film image on my phone and did the best I could to get the right angle. What I got is pretty close. It’s definitely the same general position. However, you can obviously tell the landscape has changed! A whole new crop of leaves has enveloped the foreground and right side of the image. Looking at the two side by side, it seems as if the right most trunk had fallen over in the camera’s direction and then sprouted up all those branches and leaves. So, the picture I took all those years ago is not possible anymore. The foreground clutter just doesn’t give you the same effect. The arched tree is still there, growing slowly. In coming years it will no doubt look much different still.

Muir Woods is a magical place to me. My first exposure to the mighty coastal redwoods. I hope everyone has the opportunity to visit the redwoods somewhere one day. Stay tuned for more images from Muir Woods as soon as I can process them!

A stormy morning at Joshua Tree

by Kurt October 7, 2010 in California, Desert, Joshua Tree 0 comments

The scene above is one of my favorites from my recent trip to Joshua Tree. The sun had just broken over the top of the thunderstorm line that had produced the lightning show a few hours earlier. The rain left a nice low level fog amongst the joshua tree forest ahead.

Here you can see the ground level fog. The backlight did not last long. As we got closer the sun dipped behind the clouds. We were on our way out at this point. The sun would emerge a short time later but the light had turned harsh. The previous morning was a different experience.

Taken at the Boy Scout Trail head where we began our journey, these three pictures show the storm that would shortly hammer us.

On this backpacking trip we encountered few wild animals. During one rest stop I looked over and spotted this tarantula walking across the southern slopes of Quail Mountain. I am not sure if it was looking for food or if it was a male looking for a mate (and its doom).

Our expedition was to summit Quail Mountain, which is the high point in the Little San Bernardino Mountains and also the high point in the park.

As a landscape photographer, I find a place like Joshua Tree can be very challenging to shoot. The cloudless skies we have in southern California can sometimes make things a bit dull. On this trip however the skies played nice. Clouds tend to make what might be an interesting photograph an exceptional one.

Big Pine Lakes and Palisades Glacier

by Kurt September 27, 2010 in Night, Sierra Nevada 3 comments

Wow! Really that is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about this trip. It was truly amazing. My first ever summertime backpacking trip really rocked my world. We went to an area called Big Pine Lakes to camp. This is a wonderful set of lakes some of which are fed by glacial waters from higher up. The glacial sediments suspended in the water make the water an incredible shade of blue. It’s just amazing to see.

Along the banks of the North Fork of Big Pine Creek

From the trailhead, we hiked 6 miles or so to our camp at Third Lake. From here, at around 10,000 feet, we would camp and set out for the Palisades Glacier the next day.

Sam Mack Meadow is a beautiful stopover on the way up to the glacier. We stopped here to take a few moments to refill our water supplies before heading on up. Elevation here is about 11,000 feet.

First, Second and Third Lakes from above

As we climbed, we got a good view of First, Second and Third lakes (top to bottom in the above pic).

Finally, we got the view we were working towards. The Palisades Glacier. This glacier is the largest in the Sierras, and they are amongst the southernmost in North America. This was a truly breathtaking sight. Our view was from a ridge above the terminal lake at about 12,300 feet. We were essentially standing on the terminal moraine of the glacier when it extended much further.

Click on the above panorama for a larger version on flickr.

Above the Glacier are several 14,000 foot peaks (and some a little bit less), including North Palisade, Starlight Peak, Thunderbolt Peak, Mount Sill and Polemonium Peak. It’s a magnificent area.

North Palisade (left) and Starlight Peak

I was really captivated by Temple Crag, which loomed above our campsite. I could probably spend a week photographing this single mountain.

Clouds casting shadows directly onto nearby Temple Crag

Finally, the Perseid Meteor Shower was happening at the time we were there, and I tried to capture a few of them while looking at the amazing Temple Crag.

It was an amazing trip. I hope to go back and explore the glacier up close, something our group voted not to do. It really was some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen with my own eyes.

Old Baldy

by Kurt September 21, 2010 in Los Angeles County 0 comments

In preparation for an ascent of Mount Whitney, I twice went up the summit of the local 10,000 footer, Mount San Antonio, also known as Mount Baldy or Old Baldy. This is a nice fairly demanding hike that helped me get into shape for the much larger climb I would be doing in a few months. On both trips, I brought my photo gear to capture beautiful images along the way and also just to have some extra weight for conditioning.

Of particular note on the first trip were the crazy cloud patterns. I watched as clouds passed over the summit and were seemingly destroyed by the crazy air currents circulating overhead. It reminded me of a photo by the famous Galen Rowell called Split Rock and Cloud (you can see a copy at amazon on a poster here). Having seen a print of this picture in person, I had always pondered the clouds, and even thought they were somehow unreal. But, here on the slopes of Mount Baldy I was witnessing the same phenomenon right before my eyes. I set up the camera on my tripod and captured a little video of the phenomenon.

The wind and cloud patterns also produced a couple of UFOs over Mount Harwood.

Looking north-ish from Old Baldy's summit

On the second trip up I captured this couple sitting by the Sierra Club Ski Hut enjoying the mountain environment.

The second ascent also yielded some nice wildflower displays

And finally a quick shot of the Devil’s Backbone section of the trail from the ski lift. Climbing Baldy allows for a diverse selection of mountain landscapes, and a big broad summit where you can hang out and eat lunch. It’s a strenuous enough workout to help get you into mountaineering shape and I will be going back again and again next summer for sure.

Some Hot Air

by Kurt September 8, 2010 in California, Night 1 comment

Let there be light! At the end of July, the town of Santa Paula, California hosted the Citrus Classic Balloon Festival. Like many people, I had never actually seen a hot air balloon up close. They were always things that I saw in the distance while driving on the highway or in pictures that other people had taken. Driving up on a Friday evening I took up my photo gear and headed into this unknown territory. It turned out to be really amazing.

Essentially, the event has a large field in which the balloons set up. Each balloon is rolled out onto the ground and carefully unfolded. To start the inflation process, large fans start blowing into the balloons on their side to get some air in there. Here you see the view of the inside of a balloon that is being inflated by fans. Once the ballon gets enough air from the fans, the basket is tilted and the burners can be fired. This is what you see in the first picture. I had no idea the burners produced such massive flames.

The main event of the evening was called the “Evening Glow.” For this event, the balloon captains fire their burners in unison to illuminate all the balloons at once. It was really quite a sight.

Finally, when it’s time to pack up one of the balloon captains flew his balloon into the trailer (with the help of several people holding it down). After this they would pull the balloon down with ropes so that it laid down straight to be folded up until the next time.

It was a really fun event to shoot. The light levels were really challenging and in every direction there was something to shoot.