I took a four day trip to the Eastern Sierra October 5-8th 2006. Fall color timing was almost perfect, although some trees had dropped their leaves early there was a good mix of golds with some green leaves interspersed. I met up with some of the guys from the California section of NaturePhotographers.net. It was a much needed getaway, and I managed some decent snaps.
Thursday morning I headed out from San Jose around 8am. I was concerned about Tioga Pass being closed so called the info line which said it was open. By the time I got to Yosemite park entrance it was raining pretty good, and the ranger informed me that the pass was closed. So I backtracked and headed over Sonoran pass, down to Bishop Creek and arrived around 4pm.
Friday morning I headed to North Lake for a brisk sunrise. The lake was just starting to freeze up on the edges and the aspen were beautiful. I was a bit surprised when I arrived at the parking lot to find it full of SUVs, and the lakeshore lined with tripods! A local gallery was conducting a photography workshop that weekend.
Saturday was a gorgeous day in Owens Valley. Dark, ominous clouds hugged the Sierra while the valley was warm with scattered, very photogenic clouds. I spent a few hours at Lundy Canyon before moving on to Mono crater and then Mono lake itself. That evening I hooked up with some fellow photographers and we setup at South Lake. The cloud cover was fairly thick for sunset, but the sun managed to peak through at the very end and give some great “magic” light, unfortunately not in the direction we could make a strong photo. Oh well it was still a beatiful show to behold.
Sunday morning I headed out early to grab a bite at my favorite diner, Jack’s. As I rounded the bend, however, a magnificent moonset was unfolding before my eyes. The morning light was shining bright on some clouds that were hugging the peaks while a full moon was slowly sinking in a dark blue sky. I spent an hour or so watching the moonset then headed to Jack’s to down a short stack and head over Tioga pass back home.
Here are some of my images:
Technical Info:
For the 3 1/2 days of shooting I exposed 31 unique photos using Kodak T-Max 100 Readyloads, this does not count the occasional duplicate for “insurance” shots or to get better light etc. These negatives were developed in a Jobo CPA-2 using the Jobo Expert Drum 3010, contact sheets made, and then 8×10 work prints created. From these 8×10 work prints I made 300spi scans on an Epson 2450.