944 Magazine Profile: Unscene & Untouched

The October issue of 944 Magazine (Orange County) edition includes a profile of my photography and win of the Orange County stop of the Unscene Photography Tour.

Many thanks to Julie Chytrowsky at the Unscene Tour, Katie Pegler and Kim Rose at 944 Magazine, and Chris Camargo for the photo shoot.

Click here for the link to the story.

New Photos Added: Eastern Sierras in Infrared

New infrared photos have been added to the site from a trip to the Eastern Sierras. Click on the images, or here to view the updates.

Trona Pinnacles
The Trona Pinnacles are one of the most unusual geological features in the California Desert National Conservation Area. The unusual landscape consists of more than 500 tufa spires (porous rock formed as a deposit from springs of streams), some as high as 140 feet, rising from the bed of the Searles Lake basin. The pinnacles vary in size and shape from short and squat to tall and thin, and are composed primarily of calcium carbonate (tufa). They now sit isolated and slowly crumbling away near the south end of the valley, surrounded by many square miles of flat, dried mud and with stark mountain ranges at either side. The Pinnacles are located within 3,800 acres (15 km2) of federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Trona Pinnacles are inside a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) designated to protect and preserve unique resources.




Manzanar
Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is approximately 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Manzanar (which means “apple orchard” in Spanish) was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the former camp sites, and was designated the Manzanar National Historic Site.

146 prisoners died at Manzanar. Fifteen prisoners were buried there, but only five graves remain, as most were later reburied elsewhere by their families.

The Manzanar cemetery site is marked by a monument that was built by prisoner stonemason Ryozo Kado in 1943. An inscription in Japanese on the front of the monument reads, 慰靈塔 (Soul Consoling Tower). The inscription on the back reads "Erected by the Manzanar Japanese" on the left, and "August 1943" on the right. Today, the monument is often draped in strings of origami, and sometimes offerings of personal items are left by survivors and other visitors. The National Park Service periodically collects and catalogues these items.



Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, located in the White Mountains of California, is home to the oldest known living trees on earth, the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Pinus longaeva. The oldest tree, nicknamed "Methuselah", is more than 4,750 years old, and is not marked to ensure added protection from vandals.

The image here was taken in the Patriarch Grove at 11,000 feet above sea level, near the tree line. The grove is the home of the world's largest Bristlecone Pine, the Patriarch Tree. Its splendid remoteness and moonscape appearance gives the Patriarch Grove a surreal atmosphere. Bristlecone pines and limber pines dot the landscape with a background view of the Great Basin in Nevada.

New Photos Added: Cerro Gordo in Infrared

New infrared photos have been added to the site from the Cerro Gordo Mine site. Click here or on the image to view the photos.

Cerro Gordo, Spanish for "Fat Hill," was a silver mining city high in the Inyo Mountains of Owens Valley. First discovered by Mexican prospectors in 1865, nothing much happened until a Mexican miner showed some silver ore to some mining people in Virginia City. That was all that was needed. An engineer named Mortimer Belshaw took over a mine that was producing lead which Belshaw needed if smelting was to be done at the site of the silver mine. This he did to save the cost of hauling the ore to Los Angeles for smelting and thence to San Pedro. Operations continued until about 1959 when all machinery was removed and taken to Candelaria, Nevada. Enough remains at Cerro Gordo to warrant a visit including the hotel, livery stable and other original buildings.

Cerro Gordo is located on the east side of the Sierra mountains in the Inyo Range some 9,000 feet high. From this abandoned town, now reached by eight miles of steep and winding dirt road, once flowed as much as $13,000,000 in silver and lead bullion. Deserted today, it stands as the greatest silver and lead producer in California history. From the little village of Keeler on the east shore of Owens dry lake, a dirt road heads up into the Inyo Range and Cerro Gordo.

New Photos Added: Bodie State Historic Park in Infrared

New photos from Bodie State Historic Park have been added to the site. Click here or on the image to view the photos.

Bodie State Historic Park is a ghost town east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe. As Bodie Historic District, the U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes it as a National Historic Landmark. The ghost town has been administered by California State Parks since becoming a state historic park in 1962.

Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859 by prospector W. S. Bodey (also spelled Body). That November, Bodey perished in a blizzard after making a supply trip to nearby Monoville.

In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold-bearing ore, which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp comprising a few prospectors and company employees to a Wild West boomtown. Rich discoveries in the adjacent Bodie Mine during 1878 attracted even more hopeful people. By 1880, Bodie had a population of 7 - 8,000. Over the years, Bodie's mines produced gold valued at more than $34 million.

As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including two banks, a brass band, railroad, miner's and mechanic's unions, several newspapers, and a jail. At its peak 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long.

Gold bullion from the town's nine stamp mills was shipped to Carson City, Nevada by way of Aurora, Wellington and Gardnerville. Most shipments were accompanied by an armed guard. Once the bullion reached Carson City, it was delivered to the mint or sent by rail to the mint in San Francisco.

Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survives. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Bodie is open all year, but the long road that leads to it is usually closed in the winter due to heavy snowfall, so the most comfortable time to visit is during the summer months.

Infrared Photography

In the coming weeks I will be adding a portfolio of infrared photography images. When using infrared photography, the film or image sensor used is sensitive to infrared light. The part of the spectrum used is referred to as near-infrared to distinguish it from far-infrared, which is the domain of thermal imaging. Wavelengths used for infrared photography range from about 700 nm to about 900 nm.

A filter is placed over the lens that completely blocks all "visible light." The filter is completely opaque and only allows light in the infrared spectrum into the camera body. Photos taken with these filters and special films (or digital sensors) exhibit what is knows as the "Wood Effect."

The effect is mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow. There is a small contribution from chlorophyll fluorescence, but this is extremely small and is not the real cause of the brightness seen in infrared photographs.

The other attributes of infrared photographs include nearly black skies and penetration of atmospheric haze, caused by reduced Rayleigh scattering and Mie scattering, respectively, compared to visible light. The dark skies, in turn, result in less infrared light in shadows and dark reflections of those skies from water, and clouds will stand out strongly.

I have experimented with two types of infrared film, Kodak HIE and Macophot 820c. Kodak HIE is a much "faster" film and is well known for its large grain, a feature of prints from this film. Kodak HIE also does not have an anti-halation layer on the back of the film, this often results in a glowing, or halo effect from strong infrared light sources. Macophot 820c is a much slower film and is much smoother in grain appearance. However, my strong preference is for digital infrared photography. I have shot with both Fuji S2 Pro and Fuji S3 Pro cameras.

Shutter speeds for most IR captures are quite long and lend themselves to capture movement, or ghost like images. I like to use IR photography to portray scenes in a darker mood, or those that express a feeling of emptyness or abandonment.

New Photos Added: Hawaiian Sunrises & Sunsets

New photos from Hawaii have been added to the site, to view them, please click here or on the image.

These photos were taken on: 1) the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, north of Kona, 2) the Wailiea Coast of Maui, 3) the Lihue Coast of Kauai.

Kohala Coast
Kohala is the name of two districts — North Kohala and South Kohala — on the northwest portion of the island of Hawai‘i in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Both the northern and southern portions of the district that lines the western shore is commonly known as the Kohala Coast, homes to the area's premier golf courses and seaside resorts.

King Kamehameha I, the first King of the unified Hawai‘ian Islands, was born in North Kohala near Hāwī. The original Kamehameha Statue stands in front of the community centre in Kapa‘au, and duplicates are found at Ali‘iolani Hale in Honolulu, and in the US Capitol in Washington, D.C..

The natural habitats in Kohala range across a wide rainfall gradient in a very short distance - from less than 5 inches a year on the coast near Kawaihae to more than 150 inches a year near the summit of Kohala Mountain, a distance of just 11 miles. Near the coast are remnants of dry forests, and near the summit is a montane cloud forest, a type of rain forest so called because it obtains some of its moisture from "cloud drip" in addition to precipitation.

Wailea
Wailea Resort is a 1,500 acre, master-planned resort located on Maui's sunny, southern leeward coast. Its development is guided by two important documents: a master plan that allegedly ensures low density and good community planning, and the Wailea Community Association's design guidelines which claim to preserve Maui's island environment in all new building projects. Wailea was named one of the country's 99 Best Recreational & Residential Private Communities in America. Many of Wailea's single-family and condominium complexes offer gated entryways for enhanced security and privacy. Utilities are buried underground, and roadways are landscaped. Nearby are Wailea's many amenities, including restaurants, championship golf courses, tennis facilities, shopping, and beaches.

Wailea is home to several prominent resort properties including Grand Wailea Resort & Spa, Wailea Beach Marriott, Four Seasons Maui, Fairmont Kea Lani Maui, Wailea Beach Villas, and the Maui Prince.

Lihue
Līhuʻeis the county seat of Kauaʻi County, Hawaii. Līhuʻe (literally, "cold chill" in Hawaiian) is the second largest town on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi.

California State Parks Foundation "Photo of the Month"

Crystal Cove Sunset #001 was recently named Photo of the Month by the California State Parks Foundation.

The California State Parks Foundation was founded in 1969 by William Penn Mott, Jr., former director of both California's Department of Parks and Recreation and the National Park Service. With our 95,000 members, CSPF is the only statewide independent nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting, enhancing and advocating for California's magnificent state parks. Since 1969, CSPF has contributed more than $136 million to benefit state parks. CSPF is committed to improving the quality of life for all Californians by expanding access to the natural beauty, rich culture and history, and recreational and educational opportunities offered by California's 278 state parks—the largest state park system in the United States.

Some of the major areas of work for the CSPF include:

• Serving as the independent voice for state parks by facilitating capital improvements, advocating for adequate funding and sound policies for state parks, including deferred maintenance support, and funding educational programs, habitat restoration and land acquisition.
  
  
• Cultivating stewardship of state parks by hosting annual Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup programs and supporting Volunteer Enhancement programs.
  
  
• Encouraging environmental education and visitation of state parks by supporting programs such as Coast Alive!, FamCamp®, Bay Youth for the Environment, Junior Rangers and Junior Lifeguards.
  

One of the prizes for the California State Parks Foundation Photo of the Month is an annual pass to California's State Parks... I look forward to using to take more photos!