Expected departure 720 AM

That’s not my departure; my departure started at 500 this morning.  I have a 90 minute drive to the Bosque del Apache to catch the morning exodus of snow geese.  I have visited the Bosque several times; always catching their return at the end of the day.  It is a sight to see but the return is not as organized as the mass flight out in the morning.  Since my visit to the Bosque two weeks ago I decided to make the extra effort to see the morning flight.

Yosemite National Park (part 2)

Sentinel Dome

430 sure does come around early, especially when one is on vacation!  Yes I did get up at 430 so I could be ready and waiting for sunrise in Yosemite Valley.  I studied the maps so I’d know where to stop. Once you miss your stop it’s a long drive through the park to get back here.

As it turns out I am not the first up and about; as I get out of the car I already see climbers scaling up El Capitan.  In the dark, I could plainly see several groups of climber's headlamps sweeping up and down the rock face as they slowly moved up the mountain....

Bosque del Apache

Get out today or wait ‘till next year, (it’s Dec, 29^th) today's forecast is for sun and 50’s, although right now it is in the low 20’s.  Cold and windy conditions are forecast for the next several days.  Snow is possible.  We have had little to no snow this winter; I believe it is more hope than reality.  We have been planning a trip to the Bosque for the past few weeks so when the weather looked good we jumped on it.

Yosemite National Park (part 1)

Tenaya Lake

I’m on my own now.  No instructor to answer my questions on lighting, composition, what lens to use and no one to set the schedule to be on the road by 0500!

When I registered for the photography workshop I didn’t consider going to Yosemite.  I didn’t realize how close it is to where the workshop is being held.  I have seen photos and while it looks impressive it was never high on my list of places to see.

Eastern Sierra Workshop, part 9, final part

Today is the last day of the workshop.  Over the last 3+ days we have been out to nine locations looking for sunrises, sunsets and filling in with locations where lighting was not as critical.  We also fit in a critique midway through the workshop and will end the workshop today with a final critique hopefully seeing improvement in all our work.

We started at 530 at Mono Lake.  There are so many places to set up and compose images that this location could keep us busy for several more days.  I varied my locations and elevations along the shore including more foreground in my images.

Eastern Sierra Workshop part 8

Between returning from Lundy Canyon and going to Bodie, CA we stopped for lunch.  We stood in line at Mono Cone a small drive up which makes burgers of many different types, and ice cream cones.  The food was good but you have to plan when you go because this day in mid October was their last for the season.

Bodie State Historic Park is the original 1860’s – 1880’s mining town of Bodie.  In the early 1900’s the gold boom had run its course and Bodie soon became a ‘ghost town’.

Snowshoeing at the Valles Caldera

South Mountain trail

I have been going up to the Valles Caldera National Preserve, VC, a few times each year for the past several years.  I’ve taken a few of their guided tours and hiked around a bit on my own.  When I received an email announcing a ‘Guided Winter Wildlife Adaptations Snowshoeing Adventure’ I marked my calendar with the hope of snowshoeing.  I have never snowshoed before so this will be an adventure.  Now all we need is snow.

  

Eastern Sierra Workshop part 7

North of Lee Vining and the Mono Lake area is Lundy Canyon.  In fact the stream flowing through Lundy Canyon is one of the feeder streams for Mono Lake.  This canyon is known for fall colors and a pond that reflects the great fall colors and the mountainsides.

Eastern Sierra Workshop part 6

Since ‘our spots’ on Mono Lake are only about 20 minutes away we get to sleep in.  We are on the road by 515.  It is not nearly as crowded as last night.  In fact there are fewer than 10 vehicles in the parking lot with our group making up 5 of them.

Eastern Sierra Workshop part 5

This morning our destination is North Lake for another sunrise.  It is only our second full day of the workshop, it seems longer with all the different destinations we visited our first day.  We are approximately in the same location as South Lake, which we visited yesterday; just one valley over.

Jack wants us on the road by 5 today.  “There are not many prime photo spots, and we need to get there early”.