Alabama Hills

This image was taken during a sunrise shoot at the Alabama Hills, in California, near Lone Pine. The Alabama Hills are famous for being the location where many famous old time western movies were made from the 1920's to recently made movies like Star Trek and Ironman. The hills are located directly in front of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and contrast the sharp jagged shapes in the Sierra range with rounded boulder shapes. In this image I de-saturated the grey rocks in the background so that the foreground yellowish rocks would stand out. In fact the whole foreground is in contrast to the background. If the background colour was not de-saturated then it would compete with the nice colourful stones in front. Incidentally, the foreground has also been de-saturated somewhat as well. I see myself doing more of this in my photographs, rather than the opposite, that of increasing the saturation of colours.

Bristlecone Pine Forest

In the Inyo National forest, in California, one can find the Bristlecone Pine forest. After driving up a well paved road for most of the way there, you end up on a very sandy and sometimes rough road at an elevation of close to 14,000 feet. Immediately you are enthralled by the magnificent shapes of these 4000+ year old trees. The day we arrived there, the air was a bit chilly, compared to the 90+ degrees we left at the base of the Inyo forest. It was unusual to not see any snow at this location in October, as my companions mentioned. However, we did not waste any time and made our separate ways to find suitable specimens to photograph. This one exhibited magnificent shapes, and was my favourite shot taken here. I decided to shoot it in black and white, as it seemed to me that   this would portray the feeling I had about this area. I also liked the shapes that are evident in the image, basically triangular in form, which always creates interest. The camera I had with me was my Leica M9, and the lens I used was my Summicron 28 mm, which allowed me to get very close to the tree, and still allow me to incorporate the full width of the branches.

Grand Canyon Grey Day

This is a favourite of mine, even though the light was not the greatest when I took the shot. The time was late afternoon, the sun was nearing the horizon, and it was windy and cold. The location was Lipan outlook, at the eastern end of Desert View Drive, Grand Canyon. It's a great viewpoint, and not very many tourists usually go here. The road entering the viewpoint climbs up to a high location. I was able to extract a lot of colour out of the grey cliffs and clouds, using photoshop. The original raw file was quite dark, and did not show a lot of colour. This is one benefit of using photoshop, and also of knowing how to use it. The raw file directly out of the camera would normally be discarded by the camera novice, due to its dark appearance. I prefer low light images over the bright sunny day images that some seem to prefer. Even though the image may appear dark at first glance, with a little effort and know how, a reasonable image may be extracted.

Mono Lake California

I recently took a trip to the US southwest, travelling between Arizona, Nevada, and California. I flew into Vegas, and drove through Death Valley to Lone Pine, California, Bishop California, and then to Lee Vining California, where the site of this photo was taken. This is Mono Lake, a very popular site for photography, as witnessed by the large number of photographers present. Mono Lake is a very interesting phenomena, as it is a saline soda lake, with no outlet to the Pacific Ocean. It is also believed to be one of the oldest lakes in the United Staes. Calcite deposits, called tufas,  are present at the shoreline, which create the interesting shapes that people like to photograph. The colours range from pure white, to grey, and depending on the light, yellow or red. In the late afternoon and evening, the colours tend to range in the reddish spectrum. The footing can be a little challenging, as the calcite deposits are very hard, and can be sharp as well. There are paths in and around the deposits, and it is discouraged to climb onto the tufas. Very interesting colours can be created by the setting sun, and one can take photos well after sunset. This shot was taken in late afternoon, shortly after I arrived.

Sunrise at Abraham Lake

During my trip to David Thompson country in Alberta, west of Rocky Mountain House, I got up early in the morning and drove to Windy Point, on Abraham Lake. I have photographed at this location several times, usually with a strong wind at my back. This location is called Windy Point for a reason, and it is not unusual to have to brave a 50 - 60 km/hr west wind, as it funnels down the lake. But this morning it was very still, although the first sign of a ripple was evident in the water. I shot this on a tripod, with my Leica M9, through my 90 mm Summarit lens. This lens doesn't get much publicity, and it can be challenging to shoot with wide open, due to its narrow in focus range at f2.5, but it is extremely sharp. Here I shot it at f16, giving me a greater depth of field, but necessitating a slower shutter speed, and the use of a tripod. The sun had not yet risen above the horizon, but the sky was illuminated nicely with golden rays. Images like this can only be taken early in the day, or later in the evening. Some of the nicest shots can be taken well after the sun sets, or well before it rises.

This week I made a quick trip to David Thompson country, near Abraham Lake in Alberta, Canada. I hadn't been there with my camera for some time. I arrived early in the evening, just as the sun was setting, and made my way to the Bighorn River, above Crescent waterfall. I took this shot just after the sun was below the horizon, with my new Summicron 25 mm lens on my Leica M9. There was quite a bit of contrast between the trees and the sky, and I was a bit worried that I would not be able to capture the complete spectrum of light, but my histogram on the camera showed that I did capture it all. The picture that resulted straight out of the camera did display the sharp contrast that the LCD  showed. I used a very useful tool in Photoshop called Shadows/highlights, and it allowed my to cut down the contrast very nicely, yet still maintain the complete spectrum of tones available. The shot was taken as a DNG file, and this kind of file captures much more information than a jpeg does. As a result, the file is quite large, but that is manageable. A few other adjustments brought out the wonderful colours that were captured, and the result is what we see here. I hadn't taken a colour landscape for some time, and thoroughly enjoyed getting back into it again. I will post some more images from the same trip in the coming days.

28 mm Summicron F2

Got a new Leica lens: a 28 mm Summicron F2. The shot above was taken late in the evening during a full moon. This doesn't really highlight the great characteristics of this lens, but I couldn't wait to put it up. The shot exhibits a kind of sinister feeling that is determined by the pose of my dog Max. Night shots give quite different feelings that those taken during daylight, and I think it might be fun to explore this a bit.

The 28 mm Summicron  has a very good reputation as a reportage lens. It is a favourite of street photographers and journalist photographers as well. This is an area that I have not explored in any great detail, but I do like to photograph the streets in major cities like Toronto, and recently in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia shots were taken with my 50 mm Summicron.