photography – Page 183 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Hummingbird Moth

The very first day of our vacation to Mammoth Lakes earlier this summer found us arriving at our B&B on a fine, sunny day. The balcony behind the house was brilliant in the sunshine, and to greet us was this Hummingbird Moth, fluttering around, and for all intents and purposes, looking and acting as a hummingbird does – quick darts, sudden stops, hovering in the air. Luckily my camera was able to capture this beauty. Interestingly enough, I had never heard about Hummingbird Moths until only a few days before I saw this one!

Heaven Help Me!

There are just days when one’s evil side takes over . . .

and things just deteriorate all the way.

But it sure is damned fun!

Time to Fly

Time to Fly 2-2

I always enjoy taking a color image and seeing what it looks like in B&W – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. With presets, the choices become even more interesting.

Time to Fly 2-1

Pano Problems Along the Trail

Another view of Mono Lake take while hiking back from Parker Lake in the Eastern Sierras. This is a pano of about 20 images . . . but if you compare the sky in the upper left and upper right corners of the photo, you will notice serious color differentiations. The dividing line is the pine tree in the center, and then moving left (dark) to right (lighter).

I had my polarizer on the lens, but shifted it during the taking without realizing it. Problem! I think I’ll shoot next time without it. Still, I liked this well enough to post.

Tourist Stop: Bodie, California

For what it’s worth, Josh and I went up Highway 395 to see what the Eastern Sierras has to hold. I’ve never been up there.

We decided to visit Bodie, the old silver-mining ghost town in the high desert of eastern California. It was amazing – not so much that it was a ghost town, but that at one point, it wasn’t a ghost town. The road in is about 13 miles long, the first 10 of which have been recently blacktopped, but the last 3 of which are gravel and washboard. We were there under a noonday sun.

Historically, about 5% of the original buildings remain, many of which had been destroyed by a fire sometime ago (1920s??). While it is rather desolate and barren, visiting and learning a bit of its history, you are amazed to see the civilization of an age past come to life.

Click on the images below for the slideshow!