Back at Huntley Meadows

After a looooong wait, filled with photography around the home and backyard, the time was right to travel again, even if only a local trip! It certainly felt great to be outside, photographing nature again at Huntley Meadows, a county park in northern Virginia. The turtles were out in force, including these red-eared sliders above.

The red-winged blackbirds were calling and posing on tree stumps and last year’s stalks.

As extra bonus features, there were beavers, bald eagles and a pair of wood ducks to enjoy again.

It was pretty good…..

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    Mono Like and Bodie Ghost Town

    Mono Lake, CA is often described as an alien landscape and just look at it, it’s a perfect description! The alkaline lake with its limestone tufas are certainly not your normal landscape. It is a fantastic location for sunrise and sunset photographs. The photo above, taken at sunrise, is typical of the sights you see there. On this morning, a nearby wildfire resulted in a thick line of smoke across the sky which turned orange with the sunrise light.

    Sunsets are just as nice at Mono Lake and more so when you have a nice set of clouds in the sky. Here in August, flowers were blooming around the tufas.

    The night sky in this area of California allows a great view of the milky way. This shot was taken near Navy Beach long the lake shore where short groups of tufas stand.

    Another sunrise morning at the lake. Another fortunate morning of clouds in the sky turning pink before the sun rises above the horizon.

    The ghost town of Bodie State Historical Park is a must see if you are in the area of Mono Lake. Created in the late 1800’s during the gold rush days, it became a ghost town when the mines died out. It is now preserved by the state of California and we had exclusive access after public visiting hours. We took advantage of the nighttime sky for milky way and star circles. Above is the one church remaining in the town of Bodie.

    We also had access to the interiors of buildings normally closed to the public. I found this painted floor covering in the lobby of the Dechambeau Hotel an interesting 20th century relic with its depictions of movie cowboys like Hopalong Cassidy and his horse, Topper.

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      Majestic Mount Rainier

      One of my favorite national parks is Mount Rainier in Washington. There is nothing better than getting up early to catch the sunrise light hitting the top of Mount Rainier in front of Reflection Lake covered in early morning fog. It is one of the great landscapes in this country. I was there in August 2019 which is peak visiting time as the crowds will attest. However, the park has plenty of places to find peaceful solitude.

      Mount Rainier has a lot of wildlife. We usually get to see a Black Bear (no Grizzlies there!) each time we visit. There are lots of deer in the meadows, many are acclimated to the human visitors, marmots are numerous among the rocky cliffs and plenty of birds such as the young Stellar’s Jay below who was looking for a handout among the visitors. We even had the chance to see the rare Cascades fox at night, though my iphone photo was pretty grainy.

      By far, the big attraction in summer are the multitude of wildflowers that spring up around the mountain. If you stay at Paradise Inn within the Park, you can easily step outside the door and be greeted by a very colorful display of flowers covering the landscape. Below is a photo taken just off the roadway.

      We returned to Reflection Lake for another sunrise. It’s just about a perfect location for a photograph. I hope you get to visit this National Park and see it all with your own eyes.

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        Visiting the Palouse

        Returning to the Palouse area of eastern Washington after a several year absence, I found many familiar views, some different views and some troubling views. The scenery is just as beautiful as ever, such as the view from Steptoe Butte, the highest point in the Palouse. It offers a view of the surrounding landscape of wheat fields, barns, granaries, etc. and really shows why this area is called the ‘Tuscany of America’. There were also some troubling views as a new batch of ‘No Trespassing’ signs have appeared. This has been mostly due to inconsiderate visitors not respecting private property. Unfortunately, most of these visitors are photographers who destroy crops and other property in pursuit of a photograph. Everyone who visits this area must understand that this land is the livelihood of the residents and property must be respected. I hope if you visit this wonderful area of the country, you will treat it with respect.

        One of the unexpected joys on this trip was finding a huge field of sunflowers amid the surrounding wheat fields. After locating the owner of the property and obtaining the owner’s permission, an early morning visit led to photographing the field under clouds of color as the sun rose behind me.

        The sunflower field was fascinating and I had the opportunity to take a number of close-up shots of sunflowers in various stages of bloom. Above is my favorite shot of the morning.

        Some of the familiar views of the Palouse are the old structures that dot the landscape. Many of these structures have disappeared since I last visited the area. If you enjoy photographing old barns and other buildings, I would recommend you visit the Palouse sooner rather than later. Each year will likely see more of these buildings vanish.

        An early morning visit to the Palouse wind farm led to a colorful sunrise. This is a great place to photograph, the wind turbines provide nice graphical elements against the landscape.

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          Rennsport Reunion VI

          The Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI was held in September 2018 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA. A four-day event full of historic and modern racing Porsches, past and present factory drivers, and thousands of Porsche fans. This was the second reunion I attended and I photographed hundreds of cars on display and out on the racetrack. It was an amazing event and I hope attend the next reunion when it’s held in 3 years or so.

          Above is the front end of the very first Porsche, built in 1948. A mid-engined, two-seater, it has been restored and usually sits in the Porsche Museum in Germany, but made the trip to the U.S. for the Rennsport Reunion. It even took a few laps around the race course.

          One of the thrills of being at the reunion was the opportunity to see and hear from Dr. Wolfgang Porsche (on the left), currently Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche. He is the son of Ferry Porsche (who created that first Porsche car above) and the grandson of company founder, Ferdinand Porsche.

          Fan events during the reunion included the autograph sessions with the drivers and engineers of the past, the folks who created and drove the cars that won thousands of races over the past 70 years. Above, automotive engineer, Hans Metzger, signs an autograph for me. He was responsible for designing many of the engines that powered Porsche race cars for decades.

          One last photo below. I had the opportunity to drive on the Laguna Seca race track that features the famous “Corkscrew” which drops a total of 109 feet (about a 10 story building). I was only driving a rented Porsche Macan SUV but it was still exciting and a ton of fun. Someone was taking a photo of each car that passed through the corkscrew and sent me this pic of my drive.

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            Remembering Iceland

            Back in late September, I traveled to Iceland for our annual photo workshop. A country that I have visited each of the last five years. I cannot think of any other location that offers so much to the landscape photographer. The terrain ranges from mossy to barren, from black sand beach to glacier covered mountains. There are continuously alternating weather patterns, full sun to dramatic clouds, rain to snow and brilliant rainbows too numerous to count. Then, there are the waterfalls. If there is one feature that makes Iceland a must-see travel destination, it is the multitude of beautiful waterfalls. One of the more famous is Seljalandsfoss, pictured above. We were lucky as the setting sun broke through the cloud cover to light up the falls in a wonderful orange glow at sunset.

            Another of the great waterfall areas is Kirkjufellsfoss, below. This was my first visit to this place and it did not disappoint.

            About those rainbows, finding a rainbow is not a difficult task in Iceland. The constant cycle of rain and then sun during the day provides plenty of opportunities to photograph a rainbow, which in the image below, happened to be arching over the famous black church at Budir.

            Our workshops to Iceland are scheduled in the fall when the landscape colors burst out. Below, the lava field waterfalls known as Hraunfossar, are surrounded by the spectacular fall color.

            Another reason we schedule fall workshops here is to increase the opportunity to see the Northern Lights as the nights grow longer in the fall. We additionally schedule during the new moon to maximize the visual effect. During this trip, we contended with a number of cloud covered nights, but finally on the last night there, the skies were clear enough to see the fantastic natural light display. The lights seemed to burst out directly overhead to form lines and waving sheets of color. My advice to landscape photographers….get thee to Iceland!

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              Wet and wild British Columbia

              Our JKPW workshop on Vancouver Island, British Columbia in late August was a wildlife focused thrill ride. We spent most of our time on the water, either searching for whales and black bears along the coastline or traveling to a First Nation area where grizzlies roam the streams and rivers in search of food for the coming winter. The grizzly above was one such hunter, looking for the salmon that gathered after spawning.

              Black bears also were on the search for food along the island coastlines, turing over rocks for anything edible.

              This area of Canada attracts a tremendous amount of wildlife, including a large population of eagles, sea lions, harbor seals, wolves, and shorebirds.

              Whale sightings were numerous. We watched gray whales and pods of Orcas and encountered a curious humpback who spent a good 20 minutes taking several looks at us strange humans, coming incredibly close to our boats without every touching us. Pretty amazing for such huge creatures.

              In the Strait of Georgia we followed a pod of Oracas as they glided by a landscape with Mt. Baker in the background.

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