Wandering round the old Des Chambeau Ranch near Mono Lake and came across this mirror in a dilapidated garage.
Category Archives: Travelogue
Virginia City
This ace reminds a lot of Harpers Ferry. It’s larger and with a western flare of course and today much a tourist attraction. The signature here is mining and gold. Except that the veins being exploited come in cars and buses. Still, below the surface there’s a motherlode of history that defines the early western expansion.
Interestingly there are still a few tangible connections. The mining continues. The gunfights have moved on to the State House.
Memorial Day
I’m in California this Memorial Day (spoken as an Easterner) and I’m certain there are hundreds if not thousands of image possibilities nearby that would be appropriate for posting on this holiday but I’m stuck inside getting ready for the next week’s trip to Mono Lake for my continuing volunteer training. So, I dug into my archive and came up with these shots.
They were taken in June 2012; not on Memorial Day but close. I was downtown to attend a Summer Solstice ceremony being put on by the local Lithuanian Community, within which I have several friends.
I tried to take advantage of the early evening sun and then decided to stay on and attempt a few night shots of the WWII Memorial. To my eye it’s much more attractive at night than during the day. The shadows lend to the ethereal air. You can judge for yourself.
Click the photo to go to the portfolio containing all the photographs.
South Lake Tahoe
Change o’ Pace
I ‘follow’ my own blog (someone has to) if for no other reason than to be able to see what others see when it launches to the net. Sort of a quality control procedure I suppose. I rarely find anything wrong although with a little help from my old business associate Andrew in Australia I did learn that I had the settings for photo display set incorrectly and that anytime I posted a pic from my iPhone it was displaying in a very tiny pixel framework. It had nothing to do with the iPhone, which delivers excellent quality with its camera, but with my ignorance. After I got over the mental rant against WordPress and set about to research the issue I was able to make the necessary corrections. Then I had to mentally apologize to WordPress. Strange things rattle ’round inside my head at times – an alternate reality that hopefully will never see the light of day. Perhaps some of you can identify with that. Oh, and thank you Andrew! And just so you know I have been looking into making another trip downunder if I can figure out how to fit a month or so into my budget. Might finally have to get serious about my connection with CouchSurfing and AirBnB.
Something I did notice all too often when I checked my site was the inclusion of an ad at the bottom that WP claimed was necessary to help offset the expense of providing free siting. I did not like it but wasn’t disgruntled enough to fork over the extra dough to make it go away. Then I noticed I was getting all those links you see connected with various places like HuffPost and OutsideMagazine with the come-on titles and scantily clad models. I have nothing against scantily clad models mind you – but just not on my site.
So, I gave in last night and upgraded to the Big Kahuna package, which is why you’ll be receiving this from richardbegone.com instead of from richardbegone.wordpress.com. Hopefully this will not disappoint those of you who might have been dropping in for the prurient trimmings that will no longer be availble. As consolation I will try to occasionally find a model or two of my own whose images can be offered up. Problem with me there is I rarely shoot anything (other than dogs) that either breathes or moves. And dead models are of little interest to anyone outside a mortuary. We’ll see. I’m going on a photo-walk tomorrow in downtown LA; maybe something interesting will pop-up.
This will be my second Google+ Photographers’ ‘walk’. The last was in San Francisco on the 14th April. I don’t think I posted anything from that walk here on the blog other than an iPhone shot of Rodeo Beach on the Marin Headlands and an errant Street Car on Polk.
I’ll make up for that now.
The start of the walk at Marina and Scott about 1400 hours:
The walk leaders, Dave Powell (r) and Chris Cabot: Dave was visiting from Tokyo where he lives and works. Chris works locally for Google.
Some of the folk who joined in for the event:
“Accidental” Models along the way:
The Post-walk Camera Throw at the pizza place:
And last but far from least from my perspective my finally being able to get a couple of decent night shots of the Golden Gate Bridge – to add to the gazillion other shots that have been made but with my prints on the image.
And then it was over:
Ok, not quite. I loved this dog-chases-ball series so I’m tacking it on:
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Blue Ridge Sunset
No, I’m not back on the East Coast yet, though if I were I’d be in Lexington with David Toczko at the Rolex Three Day. It was a highlight of my year in 2012. This particular picture was a backdrop for another type of highlight in 2010, the sort that comes ones way just as they’re falling over the edge of a cliff. The good with the bad you know. It was taken in North Carolina. And like the song says, for a while falling can feel like flying. It looks much more appealing to me today than it did in the days shortly after it was taken. Still….
I’m throwing it up because for the last couple of years I’ve been shooting craggy western peaks and the sunsets that seem to crash over them on their way to Australia and beyond. The eastern mountains that I grew up with have a more soothing effect. The peaks older and smoother and covered with evergreens dotted with patches of deciduous trees here and there: Just enough to ensure a colorful display each autumn. The ridges interlock with one another creating corridors that zig and zag and invite you to explore further. They draw you in. This particular sunset was especially hypnotic and on the day it was taken was all but intoxicating. The results were so predictable – to everyone but me.
I miss these vistas. They can be replicated to a degree by the mountains that surround the northern boundaries for the Los Angeles Basin, the Santa Monica hills to the northwest and the San Gabriels immediately to the north and east. Given just the right amount of haze they take on that blue aura so familiar too habitués of the eastern mid-Atlantic. But sage brush and juniper give the illusion away. They have their own appeal of course and I’d be the first to tell you that it is no less compelling an environment than the one with which I am most familiar. Just not the same.
When you stand on the Blue Ridge and look west you’re gazing at the long-held promise of America. Everything you see for as far as you can see constitutes the portfolio of freedom that has stood at the core of our existence since before we were a nation. What you see is the tangible vision that fueled our drive to explore and discover and claim and capture and hold dear. It was not always a clear vision. Not at all. Our saving grace has been that it prevailed.
When I stand on the mountaintops here in California and look west I see the periphery of the largest ocean on earth. For decades it provided a boundary that protected our endeavors and a sea upon which we could pursue more diversified interests than were available to us otherwise. But to my mind it never ever drove us to achieve the way that Blue Ridge promise did. The ocean has always been something we could take or leave – at least so far as our national identity is concerned. In fact that is not true; in feeling it is spot on.
I wound up where I am now for many of the same reasons that our ancestors did. I am working on gaining a greater understanding of the tagline Mr. Thurber provided for this blog. I’m grateful for the trails my predecessors blazed. They certainly made it easier for me to get here. But it’s left to me to figure out why. And to take in any sunset anywhere for what it’s really worth: the promise, though not the guarantee, of a new day to come.
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A Touch Of Tahoe
I had really hoped to catch up on a weeks worth of shooting today. I’ve covered a lot of territory and have more to explore before reaching home base on Friday. Two days in San Francisco that included lunch with my brother Pat and a Google + Photo Walk led by Dave Powell and Chris Cabot. Then a short drive by Pt Reyes that consumed nearly an entire day. And last night a trip up to Tahoe through a driving snow storm. Phew!
And we’re only half way.
So let me throw some iPhone pics at you for now and get some other stuff later.
This is Emerald Bay near South Lake Tahoe. The island is called the Tea House.
The pier at Sugar Pine Point State Park.
King’s Beach Launch Area
The most common view of the Lake as you circle it is through gorgeous evergreen stands like this one.
And finally a rocky out cropping near Memorial Point on the Nevada side.
Back In San Francisco
Drove up to San Francisco for the weekend to participate in a Google+ Photographers Photo Walk led by Chris Cabot and Dave Powell. Dave authors ShootTokyo.com, a blog I’ve followed for quite a while and I jumped at the opportunity to meet him and quite a few other people who I’ve only know electronically. I also got to see my brother Pat for the first time in more than eighteen months.
Weather is gorgeous if a bit windy but what the heck: it’s The City. Hard not to just enjoy being in a place like this.
I ran across the Golden Gate to the Marin Headlands on Saturday evening for shots of Pt Bonita, Rodeo Beach and of the GG Bridge at night.
Here’s are a couple of iPhone pics of the beach and the point with a gratuitous cable car thrown in for good measure. The others are still processing through DxO. But I can tell you, the bridge shots are simply soectaclortous!
We’re shooting in the Marina in the afternoon. Some of those later.
Jellies
My favorite exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Cholla Garden
Not exactly in chronological order but Thursday we set out from LA in search of Hadley Farm in Cabazon and wound up day tripping into Joshua Tree NP. The Cholla Garden is a highlight In the park and we managed to reach it just as the sun was setting.
These plants are gorgeous and damned dangerous. The spines are needle thin and razor sharp. The garden provides cover for small critters since the larger predators aren’t dumb enough to run into the place or for that matter swoop in.
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Yosemite Redux
Back in Yosemite this weekend for the annual Yosemite Conservancy Spring Opener. Another shot of a shot of Half Dome. Very mild winter here snow was never heavy and is all but gone since the visit in February. Drought may be in the forecast.
Interesting chat with a Canadian photog named Bruce who had been on the road for most of three years. Had this neat minivan he’d converted to a sleeper. I need to look into that. If you read this Bruce, drop me a note. And let me know how it went in Death Valley.
China Ranch
(This post has been languishing in my draft queue for many weeks. It all took place early December 2012. Hopefully no less interesting. )
I never seemed to have gotten many visuals up from my visit to the Amargosa Valley and to China Ranch so mabye now is a good time. I learned of China Ranch when I happened ot mention my love of dates (specifically fresh dates which I am having a hard time finding in Los Angeles) to my son who’s a near expert on the local territory. He pointed me south and east of Death Valley, where I was encamped, into the Amargosa that runs along the California and Nevada borders. This took the better part of a day but was well worth the trip.
The route to the Ranch traverses through Shoshone, CA and then Tecopa, home to some hot springs, both commercially exploited and naturally available, as well as through a gorgeous desert landscape that was displaying its late fall colors. I’m beginning to beleive that this is the absolute best time to be in the desert but I’m reserving my opinion until I get to see one in bloom this coming spring. Perhaps it will be a tie.
I stopped in Shoshone long enough to get directions from a sheriff’s deputy who was standing next to the Shoshone Museum and visitor’s center and to grab a couple of pictures of that august establishment. When I left the town I zigged at the fork instead of zagging and found out 30 miles later that I’d taken the wrong turn. Things like this used to upset me. But it was beautiful scenery, a bright and sunny day and these days I spell ‘schedule’ with a very small ‘s’. The only shortcoming was that at this time of year the light is not available for long and I had just cut some of what I would need out of the picture.
I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect at China Ranch. First off I was thinking of it in terms of a, well, of a ranch. Livestock, Ranch implements. Fields. And maybe a cowpoke here or there. Typical eastern imaginings of western terrain. But I couldn’t reconcile all that with dates. I couldn’t imagine them being poked or corralled or rounded up. And to tell you the truth I wasn’t sure just how dates made the journey from God’s lips to the Whole Foods Market. People my age are supposed to know these things right? Do you believe it is only recently that I learned that blueberries grow on bushes? (That was a very tough lesson but also another story.) Maybe it’s that I had never thought about it before. But I had also never thought about the source of dates either. Trees? Bushes? Vines? Roots? Not a clue.
It wasn’t until about ten years ago on a business trip to Abu Dhabi that I made a serious first encounter with a date. My hotel room was stocked with them and no sooner had I finished the supply they’d be replenished. They were unbelievably fresh, melt in your mouth delicious. A real treat. The only thing I remember about that trip, despite having sold quite a bit of product. I had been on a quest for similarly fresh dates ever since but the closest I came was the Reston Harris Teeter’s offering of Mejools. But in Los Angeles? Nothing.
I drove through Tecopa, up the China Ranch Road and past Cynthia’s Desert Hostel arriving finally at a steep decline that snaked its way down into the creek wash that contains China Ranch proper. No cattle. No Cowpokes. No horses (in sight) even but date palms scattered all over. Dates, you see, grow on palm trees. But you knew that, right?
I found that not only could I buy dates here but that I could buy them from seven different strains (brands? lines? What?). I could also buy date bread and date butter and maybe date wine – I didn’t inquire – and I didn’t even have to drive out here each week because the good folk at CR ship. I bought my mejools and some date bread for Mitzi and some pumpkin butter and then chatted a bit with the owner. She was familiar with Charles’ Green Tortoise Adventure Travel. All you have to say out here is Big Green Bus (not to be confused with this Big Green Bus) and everyone is familiar with it. They don’t know what it is but they’ve seen it somewhere. GT gets around. I also learned that the Ranch covers a lot of acreage and that trails of varying difficulty have been cut through it. So I took off to see some of the rest of the place. The watershed that runs through the wash and supplies the ranch with its life blood also feeds hundreds of cottonwood and mesquite trees. The former were in full fall bloom. It was an incongrous sight all this arid area awash in leafy color. A veritable oasis. But it was certainly a sight worth seeing.
Along the walk I ran into Cynthia of Cynthia;s Desert Lodging and we chatted about her business. She noticed my camera gear and wondered if I might have time to drop by and capture a few images for her web site overhaul. But was running short of light and had a long way to go ti get back to my camp at Furnace Creek. So I declined. Being an amateur has its benefits. As you can see though I managed a few shots of the ranch. Well, of things around the ranch.
And also of the surrounding area.
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PineRidge: Sunrise to Sunset
Mo asked me the other day how I go about selecting the photographs I post. Now I’d like to say that I diligently process the images as a I go along and attempt to post each one in chronological order replete with backstory. Obviously that’s not the case although I do occasionally give it some thought.
Recently I’ve been randomly culling through my archive and post-processing files that have languished all too long. And as I do that and see a few things I like I pull them out for the blog and beyond. You’ll notice too – I hope – that these are now click-through links to the SmugMug galleries I’m beginning to (finally) populate. If you don’t know what a click-through link is just put your cursor on the face of the picture and click. 🙂 And not to worry; your machine will not explode. This image comes from the PineRidge Indian Reservation that surrounds Badlands National Park in South Dakota. It was taken when I passed through there in August 2011. It was the first area I tent camped in on that particular trip. That was a big deal for me at the time. That was many tent-poles ago.
There are lots of ridges in this area of the country but I do not recall seeing any pines.
Scotty’s Garage
Scotty’s Garage
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Along Merced Creek
On the outskirts of Yosemite Valley
Yosemite
Checked into Yosemite today in hopes of catching a shot of
this years Firefall at Horsetail Falls. It was a no go today – not enough melt to create the ‘falls’. So I ran up and took some shots at Tunnel View. Had I not left my laptop’s power cord in LA you would have seen some of those. But alas….. So here you have the iPhone shot and I suppose that’s all you’ll get until I get home and upload some stuff to Smugmug.
A Valentine’s Day to Remember
Blue sky. Sunshine. Comfortably cool temps. A small park in West Hollywood along the edge of what used to be Rt 66. Anne Hathaway: a thirty-something looking not a day over 15. Jane Fonda: a seventy-something looking about Hathaway’s age. Marisa Tomei: looking, well, just like Marisa Tomei. And dozens of women, as well as a few men here and there, decked out in various shades of red and pink engaged in dance routines that would fit well into almost any zumba room. For V-Day? Not exactly.
This was One Billion Rising, a planned flashmob (oxymoronic?) occurring today worldwide to raise the level of awareness of the violence imposed daily on women and girls and to support a sustained movement to bring it to an end.
I was there because Mitzi and her client and friend, Bonnie, had signed up and had practiced their participation for a week and invited me to come along and bring the camera. I didn’t research the event and honestly wasn’t sure what would happen other than a bunch of women would be carrying signs and dancing in the street. And I suppose if you’re of a certain jadedness that would be one way to look at it.
But these women, young, old and everywhere in between, were on a mission.
And they loved it.
And it showed.
And it was impossible not to get caught up in the energy-charged net of enthusiasm they spread all over their assigned section of Santa Monica Boulevard. And that’s what I tried to capture. I’ll let you be the judge. In addition to the photos included here – my favorites – I’ve posted a few more in this gallery. For those of you who took my card and asked where they would be published – this is the place. Feel free to use the images but also please make sure you attribute them to Richard Harrison (moi).
And!!!!!! Be sure to catch the video produced by Voyage Vixens. There are several on the net but none even comes close to the Vixens’ production quality.
And incidentally, that lead pic was a deliberate tease to get you to click the link and learn about something a little more important than cleavage.
One last note: I’m coming to believe that no event is complete without a dog. Pina De Rosa
feels the same and brought Wellington along to prove it. Put a couple of extra pluses on a day inundated with them. But Wellington came out on top. You can learn all about him here.
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Here and There
China Ranch – Built Ford Tough – Your Mileage May Vary
A chicken in every pot – a Ford in every garage – if you have a garage. If not just park it in the desert.
Hopper
I was reading the latest post at Leanne Cole Photography last night about how she had been influenced by various artists but in particular by Edward Hopper – one of my favorites. It’s a good post that generated some interesting feedback.
People seem torn between Hopper, the artist of renown, and Hopper the self-centered egotistical wife-abuser.
I can admire his work as a gift to humanity without connection to his character defects although I doubt I would have wanted to be personally acquainted. Knowing him through his art is fine with me. And in that respect he is a giant of a human being, whose work, as a result of its later commercialization, is probably better known to the public than that of many of his peers. If you’ve never seen his tremendously popular painting Nighthawks , you almost certainly have seen one of the many parodies.
Anyway, I was culling through some of my pics this afternoon to select a couple more for my 500px gallery and I came across this one. It’s from a series of shots I took last October in early morning in eastern Montana and the lighting in it is unlike anything else I’ve ever captured. The distinct lack of shadow tends to flatten the scene, eliminating much of the depth of field. It appeared both strange and familiar to me but I could not quite put my finger on why. Now I know.
The photo is a link and if you follow it you’ll find one other of the series. I shot them both from the roadway. This one was on my left, the other on my right. Incidentally, the photos depict a scene of utmost calm but there was a strong wind blowing that made it difficult to steady the camera. I felt lucky and pleased to have gotten what I did.
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Santa Monica Red
Sunset At Pt Dume State Park, Malibu
On 12 Jan Mitzi and I went to the first major west coast exhibition of the Kelly Collection of American Illustration Art (thekellycollection.org) at the Weisman Museum at Pepperdine University. By invitation of the collection owner I might add. The opening reception ran from 5-7 to be followed by dinner at a restaurant a few miles up the coast. We over-estimated traffic and arrived early so I drove up the PCH to make sure I knew the restaurant’s exact location. As it turned out it was on the entrance road to the Park. So we drove out to the beach to see what we could see. Now you can see what we saw.
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Birds In Flight
I’m getting a little better at capturing birds in flight – or maybe they are taking pity on me and slowing down when I come into sight – so I thought I would put a Flickr set together that I could collect them into. This is the first installment – some gulls that came my way on a recent trip up the coast to Santa Barbara. These were in Port Hueneme.
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Icons
Here’s a couple of photographs that so far as I know I haven’t posted anywhere. The first: Mt Whitney, at 14,505 feet the tallest peak in the lower 48. Just a touch of snow at the time – early December 2012.
I like it. But I had not gone into the Alabama Hills that morning to shoot Whitney. I was after a shot of another icon, the Möbius Arch, the signature natural landmark in the Hills.
I was out early and was lucky enough to run into two other photogs who were skilled and who had been there before. So I followed their moves. That’s how I got not only my best Arch shot but in process managed an image of an icon within an icon. The peak to the left which appears to be higher – and isn’t- is Lone Pine Peak.
Anyway.
It’s my shot but I’d never have gotten it without help from Bernie and Jim. Thanks guys!
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At The Point
So, how’s your day coming along?
Sunrise – Moonset – Sand Dunes
One of the things I had been looking forward to on my recent camping trip to Death Valley – also my first visit – was seeing the night sky from one of the darkest places on earth. Being an eastern urbanite that sky is something that I am otherwise routinely deprived of. I wasn’t fully aware of the depths of my deprivation until one summer night sitting outside my dwelling in Arroyo Seco, near Taos, I glanced up and really saw the Milky Way for the first time. It was almost as if I were looking at the underside of a very sparkly lid – it was that tangibly imposing to me. I had been in a few planetariums in my life and in a few dark areas; but nothing I ever saw displayed in any of them came close to looking at the real thing hanging there over my head that night. So, I figured this would be one of the many treats to expect in the Valley. A super dark sky and a big ol Milky Way.
Typically, I paid no attention to the state of the sky before arriving. I just go. I thought I would see exactly what I intended to see: A gazillion stars spread out endlessly across the night sky. The moon had different plans and for most of my stay was up early shining like a flood light and not setting until late the next morning. But even had I done the research ahead of time my visit schedule wasn’t going to change. Fortunately I’m going to be under wide open western skies for some time and the Valley is only a short 5 hour drive from my base camp in Los Angeles. There will be other chances, assuming the Mayans weren’t hiding the real date somewhere.
I went with what I had and since I had to be up early for sunrise lighting I was also able to get moonsets. I suppose I could have done the moonrise but when it’s full like this it’s very difficult to acquire any contrast on its face and a moon without contrast just looks like – well, a big flood light. Nothing especially interesting about that.
I already posted one of my Zabriskie shots on Google+ in the Death Valley Photographers Community – a part of which I now count myself, but nothing’s come through the blog yet so here you have a sunrise scene that I took from the top side of the Texas Springs campground area – nice when the shots come to you – and then a shot of the moon setting on the western side of the Valley over the Panamint Range. These were shot on different days because the sunrise shots I got from the Zabriskie overlook just didn’t work. (I feel as if I’m lucky when any of them turn out.)
I also have to admit that this sunrise caught me by surprise. I was a little late getting out of the tent on this morning and hadn’t expected to see anything other than a bright morning sky. The gear was locked in the car. The camera had no lens mounted. So I had to scramble. Hand held. The shutter was a little on the slow side to get the image and it suffered as a result from a lack of sharpness. But still. I can’t remember the last time I saw so much sunfire in the morning sky. It is what it is. And that ‘is’ works for me.
I was more prepared for the moonset and I like the result. The geology and the astronomy that manifest their ways in Death Valley make it a wondrous place. This Valley certainly earned its name. It holds the bones of many men and animals who arrived in its depths at the wrong time and became permanent footnotes in its long and violent history. Even today taking anything in this place for granted can cost you your next sunrise – all your next sunrises. No matter. It is a visual delight and one of the grandest exhibitions Nature puts on anywhere on earth.
Since I’ve been recalcitrant in getting any of the première shots online let me add one more; this of the Mesquite Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. I’m sure as people make return trips to DV that favorites places established in earlier visits become replaced by new ones that hadn’t quite resolved for them earlier. This place is simply too grandiose (is that redundant?) for anyone to make a selection for all time. But they can one at a time – and I did. The Dunes. They are mesmerizing. They are also easy to get lost in if you fail to hold the high ground. I posted a couple of videos on Facebook of my walking round these piles of sand and acquired a pretty spiffy self-portrait that is posted in the Selfy-Sunday Group on Google +. This shot is my favorite – so far. It’s a soft exposure and I just like the way so many of the colors that define this place blend together in it.
This was taken late morning and so the light here is also from the sunrise. The area in the foreground I think is referred to as The Devil’s Corn Field but I’m not entirely sure. If it weren’t so late and if I weren’t so lazy, I’d look it up. As it is, if you’re really curious – or perhaps know – you can chime in.
This
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RichardBeGone 