Poppy Bud, originally uploaded by erin_designr.

photo friday (a little late)

View down on Wilder Ranch. Last image of the day during the Application of Craft workshop with Stuart Scofield.

Oak and Lupine on the hillside near Sonora.

this tiny alpine plan grows in the rocks at 11,000 feet in the white mountains all around the bristlecone pines. this flower was about 1/4 inch in size. if you looked down you barely even saw them unless you got low and had your face near the earth.

yosemite falls reflected in the river

The cascade of the creek at the end of the Cascade Falls in Yosemite park. Pinhole polaroid.

snow covered grassy mounds dot the river's edge in yosemite

ft. lauderdale, florida earlier this summer.

peering through a leafy screen

"Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not."
—Georgia O’Keefe

experimenting with black and white digitally

the rocks are carved by the water and the tide is coming in.

slightly north of santa cruz, lies a really interesting beach full of carved rock formations.

motion always adds unexpected surprises. an image from wilder ranch, macro, canon 1Ds.

window through the rock.
the alabama hills are pretty intense. at the base of mt. whitney, the boulders and rock formations are incredible. lots to photograph and explore.

looking towards mt. whitney and the sierra—climbing out of death valley and crossing over the last range i am greeted by an incredible tableau of snow covered sierras.

a spot I have to go back to. eureka dunes is in the northern part of death valley park, in the valley west of the main valley generally known as death valley. it is isolated, off several miles of unpaved roads and 4 wheel drive roads and incredibly amazing. next time i am camping here and saying goodbye to the motel accomodations.

am now 2 1/2 weeks into the new job. yahoo! is a great place to work and i am really glad i decided to make this change. incredibly busy already as i am trying to jump in feet first. and I started here just in time for a stock split and a new advertising campaign. good stuff!

i drove out of death valley the northern way. the way across unpaved roads and up past ubhebe crater. this took a couple of hours but was incredible as the landscape subtly changed. the road not only headed north but gradually rose in elevation as well so the temperatures were much more pleasant.

driving north toward ubehebe crater, the landscape starts to support more traditional desert flora, including this really interesting cactus.

thank god that it was warm and dry. i can only imagine what this place is like when there is rain and the mud moves. 20 mule canyon is a really interesting place to drive through and explore. very monochromatic and the cool images come when you stop and spend time looking closely.

on my trip to death valley, i explored the west side road around badwater. this included a stop to check out the remains of an old borax mound from an abandoned refining operation. pretty weird stuff.

the wildflowers have started in death valley. this was shot coming around the bend from badwater and the whole sweep of the slope was covered in these intensely bright yellow flowers. I expect that as the spring progresses others will come along as well. i saw purple and pink flowers too, but not in the numbers of these.

(click to popup a larger version) a panorama I spliced together of the Eureka Dunes in the northern part of Death Valley. This is shot from about a mile away. I spent the better part of last week there exploring the desert, shooting with the 1ds camera and 4w driving on really cool roads. As usual, not enough time - midday isn't the best time to visit the dunes for shooting. More images to come this weekend.

remnants from when there used to be a dock here

strange remnants of industry out along the levee and the bike trail

yellow

painted clouds across the sky

flowers bloom along the levees out at alviso

an old dock gate down at Alviso. this is such a beautiful area. i would have liked to have seen it before the bay was drained down here and all the salt ponds created.

a little closer to the gnarled and textured bark of the orchard trees

Rows of older trees in an orchard in the Central Valley. I was struck by the rigid grid and the fact that these trees seemed dormant after years of hard work producing (probably almonds or something)

a formal portrait of a joshua tree in the desert above death valley

one more shot of rock formations in the Alabama Hills. I was there right at noon, so I had to work to get a decent exposure - the sun was high and hot and the shadows are harsh. But I think these all came out ok.

all the pictures from shooting day one | day two | day three | day four | day five | day six | day seven | day eight | of my trip are now posted

Another grouping of rocks in the Alabama Hills. Off highway 395 on the Mt. Whitney portal road. These shots of the Alabama Hills were shot with color transparency slides (which is why they aren't in the collections below which were all shot digitally).

all the pictures from shooting day one | day two | day three | day four | day five | day six | day seven | day eight | of my trip are now posted

boulder formations in the Alabama Hills. South of Big Pine on Highway 395 on the way to Mt. Whitney. Really cool place

all the pictures from shooting day one | day two | day three | day four | day five | day six | day seven | day eight | of my trip are now posted

all the pictures from shooting day one | day two | day three | day four | day five | day six | day seven | day eight | of my trip are now posted

wildflowers at sunset, outside Big Pine | check out day two of my trip | day One

Day two of my ten day photo excursion and workshop is posted. Images cover a visit to Bodie and Big Pine, California. | Day One

Two boulders and half dome

Day one of my 10 day photo trip and workshop is now online. enjoy! | Day two

finally home from my week long photo workshop. all the pics coming soon, but here is a start. controlled burn in the depths of the woods in yosemite. smoke was across the road and around the other side I shot this. september 19, 2003

i’m getting ready for another trip—another photography workshop—this time over in the white mountains. the white mountains are below mono lake and above death valley. they are up to 14,000ft and are very stark compared to the sierra nevada. they are also the home of the ancient bristlecone pine trees—which are the oldest trees on earth. i promise i will have an amazing assortment of images when i return on the 30th. until then enjoy some old travel images

Nnenah Freelon rocks the jazz festival in the last performance of the day. Her percussionist works hard.

a sea of umbrellas dot the crowd in the late afternoon sun, san jose jazz festival 2003

looking up from the ground in paradise park

paradise park, surrounded by redwoods and hills, this neighborhood/village is an oasis just over the mountain from san jose. if you didn't know about it, you would never know it existed—like brigadoon.
5 days until i am over-the-hill_ack! I am turning 40

around san jose, there are still the remnants of the orchards. the del monte tower rises above the cannery which closed last year

something's up with the gnome

team picnic yesterday underneath this really awesome tree. looking up through the lattice of branches and leaves

a brilliant green fern tucked away alongside a creek in the big basin redwoods state park

a single tree lit by the filtered sun

The trunks of the very large redwoods in Big Basin Redwoods State park. The bark of these trees bear the marks of a past fire.

hiking today through big basin redwoods state park. the trees are large. really large. I am in awe and have captured quite a few images that I am working on in print form. I also carried the trusty pencam and shot this view up to the sky.

old bed springs create an interesting contrast to the mountains, rhyolite, death valley

Jackrabbit in the brush and the caretaker’s house in the distance, Rhyolite, Death Valley

old car in rhyolite, death valley

sheds in rhyolite, death valley

dawn over the dunes and the light is golden which causes the dunes to glow with a reddish cast

mines in 20 mule canyon, death valley

lagoon at the oasis hotel in furnace creek, death valley

sunset on the mountains north of rhyolite

dune, death valley, ca 2003

evening light hits the dunes in death valley

signs of life, even fleeting, are everywhere in death valley. even in the dunes.

dawn on the dunes in death valley—we got up at 5 am to get situated for the sunrise

dawn comes overcast and the hills are flat and painterly

view from the top of dante's peak—looking out across the salt river flats in the valley

marble canyon: looking back down the path

rhyolite caboose: sits at the top of the hill

early dawn is blue light on the dunes

panorama spliced together of death valley —looking down on the valley from the mouth of marble canyon

20 mule canyon —raincloud over the valley

death valley hills :: february 27 2003

after spending 5 days down in death valley with cameras and fellow photographers, i have decided to take a break from this site to focus time on the craft of photography and on refining my photo portfolio (not online). i'm sure i'll be back after a rest and some creative rejuvenation.

sometime, the pencam can actually capture some pretty interesting things. a seagull out as shoreline.

fence and sky: shoreline

a small group of geese along the water's edge. i think i unintentionally harassed them a bit.

remnants of pylons in the water

Shot some Lomo shots out at Shoreline this past September. The grasses were beginning to turn, the pelicans were still around in large groups. The water is low and the rains are still a few weeks away. I like that the images have a painterly feel to them.

Went to see Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme at the Curran Theatre on Sunday. The opera was pretty good. The sets and look were astounding.

Just two of the several cool old motel signs that flank both sides of Monterey Highway as it comes into downtown San Jose. I took a bike ride this afternoon down there - usually I am in the car and in a hurry - but today I decided to ride down and snap a couple of pics. There are lots more - for those kind of drive in motels that became popular in the 1950's. A couple even have little carports next to each room.

Wanted to share the other color infrared shots from Mono Lake. Since this was my first roll of this type of film, I only ended up with 5 shots worth scanning, and at $32 a roll, I don't think this is something I will shoot a lot of. But it sure is cool looking.

Another in the Color Infrared series of Mono Lake.
(this was not altered in photoshop - it really came out this way.)

Went camping last weekend to the high sierra. We drove over to Mono lake and camped on June lake. The drive was long - through Yosemite and over the mountains. But it was beautiful. We loaded up the jeep with us, our cameras and the dogs. I shot a lot with the large digital as well as slides and black and white. All that film is yet to be processed. I also snapped a few with the pencam and managed to capture some of the cool windmills coming through the Altamont pass on the way home.

i have been dragging my lomo around with me in my bag and in my car for the last couple of months and finished off the latest roll over the fourth weekend. I finally took the pics to be processed and have put together an album.

summer is almost here!

In response to the 9/11 tragedy. I hung the flag outside our front door. A lot of the neighbors did the same. It is very moving to drive around the neighborhood and see the flags on houses and the red, white and blue ribbons on cars and porches.
In a quite unpatriotic gesture, someone stole my flag this weekend.

all images popup a larger instance

the pied piper	little piggie	stephen's meat products
stephen's meat products	motel city center	motel city center
alma bowl	alma bowl & pizza	5 spot drive in on first street
5 spot drive	stop at the 5 spot drive	garden theater
behind elite	elite	elite cleaners
garden theater

around town, not far from where i live are a ton of signs sporting neon and interesting typography. most of these seem to be older signs from the 50s or 60s and are still in use today. i haven't been by at night to know if the neon is still being used. there are more out there - san jose seems to be a mecca for this type of sign and hasn't been "upgraded" yet. these are a few captured with the new digital camera and experiementing with the in camera saturation.

5 years here in California, this month. I realized last week that I had just passed my 5 year mark here. This is the longest I have ever lived anywhere. It's kind of cool!