The first image I’m working on from last week’s Death Valley workshop is from the final day.  The shoot was at Zabriskie Point, one of my favorite sunrise locations.  The image is of Manley Beacon.  Here’s how it’s shaping up.  More images to follow.

The election is over and history has been made, more so than any other election in my lifetime.  I am excited by Obama’s victory. 

But I just read McCain’s concession speech.  And while I lost some respect for him in the final weeks and days of the campaign because of his tactics, it has been fully regained and more so.  His dignity and passionate commitment to our country is extraordinary.  Obama has already reached out to him and I’m hoping that Obama’s vision and inspiration and McCain’s reform and dedication will combine to strengthen our country in the next four years.

The Death Valley workshop starts Thursday.  I’m heading out tomorrow (Sunday) for a little pre-workshop activity.  I’ll let you know how it went when I get back.

I checked the weather forecast and, while it’s going to be hot the first of the week (with temperatures flirting with 100) a storm front is forecast to move through about the time the workshop starts.  Let’s hope for some good Galen Rowell weather.

I print my photographs using Image Print on my Epson 4800.  It’s a great RIP with terrific ICC profiles for tons and tons of papers.  And it solves one of the most distressing problems with the 4800.  If you want to switch between matte and glossy or luster papers you have to replace the Matte Black ink cartridge with the Photo Black cartridge.  When you do this the printer purges the lines for ALL 8 cartridges, wasting about $75 worth of ink. 

Continue reading this post…

I see you look at me, walk up and touch me.  You set up your fancy camera gear and then sit down on our Mother Earth.  I see you become very quite.  I know what you are feeling.  “This is a sacred place.”  The moon has risen.  The darkening sky behind us has bathed us in all the colors of the rainbow; just the blues and purples remain now for a few more moments before night covers us both.

See the moon.  Here, I’ll point it out to you with my branches.  We are eternal, at least from your fleeting point of view.  When you were born I was here on this rocky slope, greeting the moon just as we did this day.  When you go back to your camp I will be here all night in the company of the moon.  When the winter snows come and the cold mountain winds blow, I will still be here in this thin air as I have been for thousands of winters.  When you and your children and your children’s children have all departed, the sun and the moon and the stars and our Mother Earth and I will still be here.

Bristlecone Moon

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

Here are more developments in the Schulman Grove Visitor Center file.

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/119017/27/

http://www.ksrw.sierrawave.net/site/content/view/1346/48/

The Schulman Grove Visitor Center in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest was destroyed by fire on Sept 4th of this year.

Previous posts

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/19/even-more-on-it-just-takes-one/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/11/still-more-on-it-takes-just-one/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/11/more-on-it-just-takes-one-2/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/09/more-on-it-just-takes-one/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/08/it-just-takes-one/

When I start out for a day, I usually have something in mind, but I don’t fixate on it.  Finding subject matter is the process of narrowing down the possibilities.  I’m always open to whatever nature provides me.  I can be driving in the middle of nowhere and see something that attracts my eye, something that makes it special, and I have to listen - even if it’s not on my list.

This year’s trip up the Eastern Sierra did not end at its usual destination of Mono Lake.  In fact, it didn’t actually end up in the Eastern Sierra as the camping and most of the shooting was done in the White Mountains.  But nobody knows about the White Mountains or where they are.  They are one of the mountain ranges to your east as you drive up highway 395 through the Owens Valley.  Most people are gawking at the spectacular escarpment of the Eastern Sierra Nevada to the west and hardly pay any attention to the towering mountains to the east.

But starting east of Big Pine and extending north past Bishop is the White Mountain range which boasts the third tallest peak in California - White Mountain at 14,252 feet (4,344 m).  The White Mountains get their name from the dolomite formations there, a light gray sedimentary rock composed of calcium magnesium carbonate.  Dolomite gives the soil its high acidity, making this area perfect for the Ancient Bristlecone Pine.

And that brings us to the objective of this year’s Eastern Sierra trip - the Bristlecone Pine.  The trip was timed to be in the Bristlecone Pine forest for the September full moon which this year fell on Monday, September 15th.  An ancient, craggy Bristlecone Pine with the full moon rising behind it, that was the vision.

And how did it go?  Stay tuned….

The investigation of the Shulman Grove Visitor Center fire is complete but the results have not yet been released.  Here’s a recent post.  http://www.ksrw.sierrawave.net/site/content/view/1304/48/

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.  The celebration in the Schulman Grove will continue as planned on September 20.  Also, the Methuselah Trail that was closed for a while after the fire has been reopened.  The Methuselah Trail winds its way through the oldest trees in the forest including the Methuselah tree whose age is determined to be 4,700 years old.  However, the tree is not identified.  Here’s the post from the Inyo National Forest regarding the celebration.  http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/bristlecone/index.shtml

Other postings announcing the celebration include:

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/117328/27/

http://yubanet.com/california/Celebration-of-50th-Anniversary-of-Ancient-Bristlecone-Pine-Forest-September-20th_printer.php

Following the John Christiana angle of the story, Christiana pleaded not guilty to felony charges of auto theft, grand theft and receiving stolen property.  Sheriff’s investigators have enough hard evidence to link him to the rash of vandalisms that occurred in recent weeks in the Big Pine Creek and Bishop Creek areas.  The Inyo Register reports the following…

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/116920/27/