Last Sunday I finally ran out of excuses not to walk up the mountain.

I started early. It was an overcast morning.

Here are some pictures I made along the way.

Finally, breaking through the clouds...

At the top of the mountain is the Observatory, started in about 1900. This is the 100 inch telescope...

Heading back down. The remenants of a fire that nearly destroyed the observatory a couple of years ago are still evident...

Back down to the San Gabriel Valley.

A good days walk.

Elevation gain: 5,710 feet

Distance covered: 16.5 miles

A leasurly 10 hours walk.

I hope you enjoyed the ride. Thanks for looking.

This is one aspect of my home town

Another kind of pattern...

Mt. Saint Helens 44 years after the big bang...

A different bit of geology in the making...

A river runs through it...

Cloud shadows...

Leaving Holland...

The Palos Verdes peninsula...

...and the big drama shot...

 ...So grab that window seat, you never know what you'll see.

Thanks for looking.

A collection of clouds...

Now for a bit of color...

Its been fun looking back through the collection on the iPhone....More to come...

Thanks for taking the time to have a look.

The plan was to take a look at was left.

One of the big new solar collectors on the way east...

On the dirt at last, a couple of Joshua's to lead me on...

This burn victem must have been an old tree, they only grow a few inches a year...

and another...

A couple of young 'uns...

A cholla to hold up a fence...

Not just the Joshuas burned....

I think of this as the last of the Mohicans...

The Joshua trees are threatened by the warming climate as they live in a narrow band of temperature and altitude. They won't be able to migrate fast enough to stay ahead of the changes. The only insect that pollinates them is a moth and that's suffering from the climate too...

...wish them, and the rest of us, luck.

I haven't had the camera out.

Easy to find reasons not to go picture taking...no subject...the light's bad...whatever.

The way to beat that state of mind is to take the camera and go take pictures.

So I did...

Palm trees, nice light, click...

A friend died recently...I saw this image and thought of him...

A bird on a roof and a good crop...Japanese print time...

Old town Pasadena has some empty spots still...the white door got my attention...

Twin Palms was an outdooor restaurant much loved in the day. Now the restaurant is gone and so are the palms...

This is where the band played...

Not much left inside either...

A walk in the other dirction takes you to the bridges over the Arroyo Seco...

And of course, a warning from the municipality...

It feels good to be out taking pictures again. 

A good friend found a hidden valley with a Joshua Tree forrest tucked into it. 

What better excuse for a drive.

Joshua Trees grow about 2 inches a year and live, on average, 500 years.

The ghost of Joshua past...

Young tree...

Looking up...

Looking through...

A tree for the ages, prehistory to now...Not sure these convoluted, beautiful monsters are going to make it through the warming. They propogate by means of the Yucca Moth, which lays its eggs in the trees' flowers and isn't doing well with climate change.

Click on an image to isolate it on your screen. Bigger screens are better. 

Thanks for looking.

I hope you enjoyed.

The heading is a quote from The Wasteland (by T.S. Eliot, who nicked it from Wagner), translates as "Empty and desolate is the sea"...which is true, but also true is how spectacularly it changes through the day.

Talk about "Never a dull moment..."

Peaceful...

Calm...

Pelicans...

...and a bit of Drama...

Thanks for looking.

PS: Technical note for those who lean that way...the vignetting in the first two shots came from a filter holder on the lens. I didn't notice it when taking the photo but I liked the old timey feel it left, so I kept it.

Click on the image to make it larger and a larger screen gives you more of everything.

I hope you all enjoy, Ding

It's a bit like trying to read hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone, whatever you see, so it is...

Just one image this week. Click on it to make it larger.

And a nod of the head to Mr. Penn.

Thanks for looking.

A friend of mine grew artichokes this year. They just went to flower. I couldn't resist, so I stole them.

They look a little prehistoric to me, or perhaps like sea anemones. 

They drift a bit...

Final shot...

As always, thanks for looking.

I hope everyone has a safe New Year.

I found three really small (maybe 2-1/2" diameter) white pumpkins at the market. 

Here are some shots for the season:

Now we go tho Black & White...

Enjoy the season. Love to all. 

I've always found something fascinating about 19th Century botanical illustrations, those meticulous drawings of plants that pull your eye into their excruciating detail.

That lead to this project.

Not too long ago we got a bunch of Epiphytes. They are pretty and distinctive in a spiky sort of way. Individually they brought my mind back to those 19C botanical illustrators.

The longer I looked at them, the more they seemed to show off personalities and even eccentricities.

I love the complexity of the intertwining leaves and fronds, some of them seem to strike a pose, attitude everywhere...

Here 's what the camera caught...

Right click on a picture to isolate it on screen (yes, a bigger screen shows off the pics better and if you're new to the blog, look to the bottom of the post for links to earlier stuff).
 

That's it for this post. Please feel free to hunt through older posts, below. 

As always, thanks for looking.

This is Lake Casitas in the Santa Inez Mountains, Ventura County, Southern California

Driving through theses hills I came on an old Avocado Grove. 

The white stumps offered interesting possibilities.  I asked the rancher, he was OK with letting me tramp around.

Here are the images that came from that.

Thanks to the owner, Jamie, and his manager, Ted, for letting me on the property. 

I hope you enjoy the results.

A friend lent me his 300 year old Japanese short sword the other day. Here are the results.

This simple little piece of bamboo is what holds the whole thing together. It pins the hilt to the sword itself. It's about 1/3" long.

Not much to it.

This is called the Habaki (blade collar). I'm convinced the maker had a meteor shower in mind...

Here it is, on the sword...

Last, but very much not least, is the word itself. A great deal of effort went into the temper line that flows like the ocean along the blade...

A beautiful, old, sophisticated and deadly.

Thanks for having a look.

Here's a look...

Further North, on the East side of Owens lake there's an old mining town know as Cerro Gordo (Fat Mountain). The mineshaft below this building goes down around 9,000 feet. 

The guy who now owns the Ghost Town has been down it, he's trying to get a well to work down there. The town's at about 8,500 above sea level.

A bit further east, between the Panamint and Saline valleys is an area called Lee's Flat. It's where you'll find one of the largest Joshua Tree forests in the USA. 

These trees are weird, wonderful and threatened by global warming. They only propagate in a narrow band between about 1,500 and 5,500 feet and require a moth that evolved with the trees (co-evolution in fancy speak)  to pollinate. If the moth goes so, probably, do the trees.

This one is starting to go...

This dancer is also on the way out. Note the forrest behind it, all Joshua Trees...

They give a photographer some pretty interesting shapes to play with...

And...

Back up at Cerro Gordo, I found a bit of tin that took me back to Aaron Siskind, a photographer with a wonderful eye for the abstract...In homage...

And a final look around caught a bit of old Robo Culture...

The gap where you stick in the hand crank gives it away...

Thanks  for looking, I hope you enjoyed.

I've been there many times over the years and tried to make a lot of photos of the area.

This time I went back with a specific light in mind. I was looking for a setting sun shot that would backlight the island and still give a bit of light along the mountain behind it.

I think it worked.

This isn't the only picture from the trip, but the rest will follow in a separate post.

Thanks for taking a look.

The chairs speak of that period.

When I saw this, before taking the picture, it felt like either the beginning or the end of a story.

The light, which was just the 5:30 pm light on that day, looked theatrical, suggested some sort of drama.

There are two of everything, two chairs, two trees two colors...black and white...

So are the chairs waiting for someone to come and sit on them, or did someone just leave?

As always, thanks for taking the time to have a look.

I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone who wants to.

So what did the year amount to? 

For me, four haircuts about sums it up...

The next one should be better.

Have a wonderful, happy, peaceful kind and loving 2021.

And Ginko trees are amongst the few deciduous trees we have.

Good excuse to try some still lives.

Irving Penn did a shot of two ginko leaves and it ended up on the cover of his book, Passage.

This first image is my knock-off of that shot.

The original had a bit less negative space, but his leaves were a different shape. Also, he used a white backdrop but I love my rusty old bit of steel. 

So much for tributes to the master!

A chalice...

And a single leaf...

Another pair...

A softer image to close on...

Lots of texture and interesting shapes.

A bit of trivia. The Ginkgo is one of the oldest extant trees.  Fossils dating back 270 million years have been found.

Perhaps leading us to hope for the future...

I drove through there in a hurry last year and missed the chance of a photo of a grand old cottenwood tree. I told myself I'd be back to collect it. 

Well the cottonwood in question didn't make it, but I got some images anyway. 

Click on an image to get rid of the verbiage and isolate the photo.

Before getting to the tree in question there was some road to cover...

Up the hill at Mahogany Flats you'll find a series of old charcoal kilns. They were only in use for about three years (presumably the mine where the charcoal was used to extract ore ran out of the good stuff) but they are well built and still there to see...

From the inside...

At sunset...

The next morning...

Speaking of that tree I set out to find...

Looking back, there are a couple of younger trees coming up to replace the old one...

A photographer who's work I like a lot (Richard Misrach, google him for some intersting stuff) has an image of tumbleweed. I stole that idea for this shot (not tumbleweed, I don't know what the plant is)....

One can spend a while trying to sort that...

The next night I ended up above one of the few remaining Joshua Tree forrests.

Looking back down the alluvial fan from my campsite...

I plan another trip to the trees soon.

Providing things don't erode before I get a chance.

As always, thanks for looking.

This first one is a bit brutal...

Apartment building or cruise ship, or something in between...

This is LosAngeles, so these things count as architecture hereabouts...

102 degrees fahrenheit in Pasadena today, it might be getting closer to autumn where you live.

Thanks for taking a look.

I think this will be an ongoing project.

Here are four images to start with.

In case you wondered...paper window shades from a big box with the early light catching them from outside...

Speaks for itself, as does this  one...

The next shot is one I've been meaning to stop for for a while. Its a townhouse complex next to the Ventura Freeway in Burbank and when the light catches it right, it looks a little sinister to me...

 Or perhaps a bit of a throwback to Bill Brandts' roofs.

See you again soon. Thanks for looking, as always.

Then things got a little more crowded...Incoming...

Just the two shots.

Thanks for taking the time. 

I really liked the texture and color of the veggies and that old sheet of rusty steel offered a nice textured background.

See if you like them.

Click on an image to center it on your screen.

Thanks for looking and stay well.

Makes me think of an old elephant more than anything else...

The white stuff on the bark is sap.

Thanks for looking. I hope you enjoyed.

I've always liked eggs. Not just to eat. They have this perfection of form that pulls all kinds of aesthetic levers for me. 

I haven't tried to photograph them for a while, but as we are still indoors (who knows when the doors get flung open again) it felt like a good time to give them another try.

Here goes, clicking on an image will center it on your screen:

Last not least...

As always, thanks for looking and I hope not to have wasted your time.

Jan asked to see some photos of the actual sword. Not unreasonable, regarding...

A little background. The sword was manufactured at the Waffenfabrik Neuhausen,in Northern Switzerland. It is a cavalry trooper's weapon, model 1897. It would have been manufactured at about the period of World War I.

I still love it and consider it a thing of beauty. Form follows function to the Nth degree ...

So here are three images. Jan, I hope you like them...

Look closely and you can see the Swiss cross stamped on the top of the blade, just below the factory stamp. I like the cut on the grip too.

Something dangerous and inherently beautiful. 

Thanks for looking. Clicking on an image will center it on your screen.

Some sixty years later, I still have the sword. However the leather fittings have suffered through time and one of the hooks that would have hung the sword from the cavelryman's belt, came off.

I love the shape of that hook. Here are some photos.

Actually, I think I like the steel background as much as the hook.

Thanks for looking.

Picked some of it up and started to look closely. 

I have a window with a nice soft North light so I laid the bits and pieces out on a sheet of drawing paper.

Here are the results.

Still lives are interesting graphic exercises.

How things balance, direction, points of contact and tension, negative space, all the acedemic stuff.

It's all a bit of a dilemma...And a lot of fun to mess around with.

...I hope you enjoy.

Time to visit it's more contemporary partner.

Here are the two of them...

Sort of a brutalist cathedral to transportation...

For some reason this one makes me think of the underside of an elephant, not that I've ever been to such a place...

Enough Black & White, it's spring!

Keep safe.

He wasn't keen on getting his picture taken. 

The response to his image was pretty intense so I'm putting this out.

I think his character speaks for itself in the image.

On Wednesday last I picked up the camera and went for a walk through Pasadena, a small town (pop.140,000)  on the edge of the Los Angeles conurbation. This is where I live.

Here is what I saw. Remember, clicking on an image makes it bigger.

This in the window of what used to be a high end stereo equipmant dealer, now for lease. These guys left town before the lock down, so the "For Lease" sign isn't relative to the current situation, just adds a certain poignancy.

The main drag...3:00 p.m. March 25th 2020...

The bars are closed...

Outdoor seats looking a little abandoned...

Stores boarded up...

Abandoned protective clothing, the new rubbish phenom.

For me this photo harks back to a series of images Irving Penn made of work gloves. Look him up, his stuff, especially his fashion shoots for Vogue and his advertising images for Neutragena, are worth a look, as are his Peruvian (Cusco Kids) and African images.

Lastley I met a homeless guy. If we think this situation is tough with a roof over our heads, without it must be dreadful. Despite the image, he was brave and cheerful.

Strongest photo of the day.

That's it for today.

Who knows what next week brings, but for as long as it's feasible, I'll be out looking for images.

Beware low flying anything, stay safe.

Hang in there.

I don't know how things are in the part of the world you inhabit, but here things are a bit shakey. 

Only one image today and it feels just about right.

So lets keep hanging on.

Best to all, Ding

This version has a different crop, more interesting stuff happening in the sky and the fog is gone.

I like them both.

Remember, clicking on a picture will make it larger.

As always, thanks for looking and I hope everyone, everywhere has a peaceful and happy New Year.

...This lead to a series of still lives, I hope you like 'em.

The first image was made in indirect daylight, the rest were lit using strobes.

Amazing colors and lovely detail.

Fascination!

I also spotted some eggs, this shell was tiny, but it worked with the whole bird theme...

The Bluebird (Western Mountain Blubird, for those who care about such things) feathers were amazingly delicate, translucent...

So the ostritch feather seemed a good foil...

Not to mention the raven ...

This image includes (from the bottom up) a woodpecker, the bluebird, parrot and a very young hawk.

As always, thanks for taking the time to have a look.

That allowed me two shots, I'll be interested to see which one appeals the most...

First something more traditional...

Pretty light and one can see the reflection of the rest of the bunch of flowers on the glass tabletop...

This image was a deliberately slow shutter speed, hand held to guarantee blur...

The whole thing seems at the same time more dynamic and more abstract ...

I hope you have fun with the images. Thanks for looking.

This tomato was irresistible...

Bright sunlight was the light. Very contrasty but great color...

And...

A different look...

That was inside a Japanese noodle bowl.

This one took me in a Frank Gehry direction...

The thing tasted pretty good too...

As always, click on an image to make it larger.

And thanks for looking.

(Click on an image to make it larger).

We also had 40 mile an hour winds and a big sea...The pines to the right are somewhere north of 30 feet high...just a perspective thing...

Later that day I took a sunset walk along the beach... Amazing rocks...

After that things moved to black and white as the sun set into the mist offshore...

Quiet reflections...

Different scale...

I hope you liked what I saw.

Thanks for looking, Ding

I liked the reflections.

Welcome to spring...

Best, Ding

Then we worked our way over to Dante's View, which overlooks Badwater in Death Valley...

From there there was nothing for it but to drive back down to Badwater...

The salt growing back on the floor of the valley after recent rains...

Salt to snow...

Zabriskie Point, something different every time I  go there...

A final view, leaving Death Valley to the south...

The last two blog posts have dealt with a three day trip through California. This place can provide an amazing variety of scenery...

I hope you enjoyed the ride.

Ding

We drove south from San Juan Bautista, one of the old mission townes dating from the Californio days before America collected California from Spanish Mexico. .

The old mission sits right on the San Andreas Fault and has somehow survived since its founding in 1797. The town around it retains the flavor of the times...

These guys still hang out on the town's streets. This was the "cock of the walk". I named him The Rooster Donald...

A memorial from the town cemetery ...

Heading south on Route 25 during a green and rainy winter...

I love the gigantic California Oaks...

Route 25 is also known as the Airline Highway. Contrails are ubiquitous...

We drove it early in the morning just as the sun was coming up...

Along the way is the Pinnacles National Park...

Early light...

From there we head south to Lone Pine, Mount Whitney and Death Valley. They'll show up in the next post.

Until then,  thanks for looking, as always.

This year we are having a real rainy season, snow pack in the Sierra is at 115% for the time of year and the garden is shouting "More....give me more" as the rains come down.

Also, our nameless tree, who's fruit is much beloved by the feral parrots, has a bumper crop, and the flock comes in to feed in the morning and at sunset.

Two images of spring:

A leaf under water...

This shot taken from the underside of a skylight during a rainstorm...

And the parrots...

This flock is relatively small at about 30 members. I've seen flocks around town that number upwards of 100 birds. But that's just a guess, I just can't count that high, that fast...

Welcome to the new year.

Click on an image to make it larger.

For 2019

I Hope We

Sail Into A New Year of Peace and

Harmony

Merry Christmas

Seasons Greetings

....And fewer tweets!

There are always interesting looking people around and asking them for permission to take a shot leads to some very selfconscious images. 

Since everyone has a smartphone nowadays, and is constantly fiddling with the thing, no one notices another one...

Here are some unselfconscious portraits taken on the Metro and the Tube in November.

Far, Far Away

Metro Violin

Fellow Travelers

Are We There Yet?

A Long Day's Journey

Thanks for looking as always...

Happy photographer...

Click on an image to make it larger...

Marc, my traveling companion, pointed out these clouds...

On the way out of the Racetrack we ran into this view of the Panamint Valley. Good afternoon Mr. Bierstadt, we're a long way from the Hudson Valley now...

After a night in Lone Pine, an early morning run home led past this blue view of Owens Lake...

Remember, keep running...

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Thanks for taking the time to look.

A winter storm was lurking around the corner which gave us some good skys.

Early morning, first light...

You run into geology in the raw...

Leaving Titus Canyon...

Which leads to this view over the floor of the valley...

We headed up towards the Racetrack, a route that takes you past Teakettle Junction...

The first view of the Racetrack...

From the floor of the Playa...

Sunrise from the mouth of Titus Canyon...

One of the great things about travelling around in the desert, one meets some interesting characters...

As the bumper sticker says "Not a UFO"...Sure, O.K., I believe it...

'Till next time, I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for taking the time to look.

Nowadays that is almost always a smartphone.

I almost never download my smartphone photography and look at it, but the other day i trawled through what I had on the thing and here are some of the results...

The great thing about the phone as a camera is that it allows absolute spontaneity ...

Hanging out in the kitchen...

For some reason the drying rack gets my attention, often...

Who let the dog in...

Finally, these things always look a little sad faced to me...

Keep smiling, see you next week.

I also liked the hard edged graphic shape of the steel against the softer contour of the skull.

The apparent glow in the eyes of the bird is a result of the strong backlight shining through the cranium. 

It's been fun working with just one subject and seeing where it took me.

I hope you've enjoyed the experiment as much as I have.

Clicking on a picture will make it larger.

To go back to the two earlier posts in the series look for the button at the bottom of this post.

Thanks for looking.

Here are a further series of images exploring this lovely little piece of detritus...

All taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

I suspect I'm not done with this subject yet.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

I live in a house with a lot of glass, several walls are pretty much all glass. This gives us great views and a wonderful sense of bringing in the outdoors, but it's a bit rough on the local bird population. They tend to crash into the windows. Sometimes they are knocked silly for a little while then pick themselves up and go about their business. Sometimes they die.

This one died.

I left him for the ants to clean up and by last week they had stripped him down to the bone.

The skull is beautiful.

These images are the start of a study. These were all taken in bright sunlight at a little after four in the afternoon. At this time of the year that gives the light a nice angle but leaves the contrast strong.

These are the first four images...

The background object is a dried artichoke flower. Amazing texture.

Click on an image to enlarge and a larger screen etc...

Prairie dog instant karma...Ohmmmmm...

All good things etc...We put 4,960 miles on the truck during the 17 days we were on the road.

Here are a few images to finish with...

A road across the prairie in Nebraska...

Another look at the Little Big Horn battlefield...

Garden Valley in the Great Basin portion of Nevada...

Leaving Utah the same morning, the Bonneville Salt Flats...

At the start of the trip, heading into Las Vegas, these things appeared in the desert close to the freeway...

A little like the Moai decided to visit from Easter Island, and got dressed up for the trip!

Finally, when you have to dance you have to dance...

Keep dancing!

Thanks for looking at the images.

Fair warning, one of these shots appeared in a previous post in black and white. I have to admit, I prefer the color version.

One of the more amazing natural phenomena along the way is the Devil's Tower...

Not to mention what people get up to there...

Look for two stalwarts ...

These strange white flowers thrive on the lava flows...

Also the odd sunflower...

This is a view of the The Little Big Horn, also know as the Greasy Grass...

Again, the colors in the grass never stop changing...

A bit more sky to end with...

The skyscapes only reinforce the impression. 

And yes, Black & White rules...

Near Ely, Nevada...

This is Nebraska...

Some drama is the clouds...

It's been a long fire season. We were told this one had reached 7,000 acres...

Cloud on cloud...

Heading down into the Nevada part of the Great Basin...

It really pays to stay off the tarmac! 

This guy was helping his dad wash down a young bull, ready for the auction...

This gent's job was to keep track of the bids...

The rodeo was on it's last night when we got there, Patriot Night, and started with the National Anthem...

This is the bottled water man...

The contestants for Miss Cassia County Rodeo were strutting their stuff...

And, of course, roping...

...and bucking...

And some cattle with BIG horns...

Burley indeed.

We headed North, up into Idaho, Montana, South Dakota and eventually Nebraska.

Big country...

Glacier National Park was on fire but we saw some of the eastern part of it...

Lots of smoke but eerie and beautiful...

And some high drama...

Further out on the plains the farms have been consolidating...

leaving some behind...

The grain trains keep on running though...

In this case on the horizon beyond a recently harvested wheat field...

Glad to be back on the blog and I hope you continue to enjoy...

The flight path to Los Angeles Airport travels across it from east to west (left to right in the photo). When the airspace over the entire United States was shut down on September 11th 2001 this sky went quiet.

I remember the feelings of relief and return to normalcy when the unending tracery of aircraft lights came back to the night sky.

Perhaps the American holiday of Memorial Day is a good time to let that thought percolate...

Thanks for looking.

I noticed the dam whilst driving by and stopped. It looked like I had found a new subject for an old (and, I suspect, never ending) project, The Edge.

The Edge deals with the things one finds between the end of the city and the beginning of whatever comes beyond.

I walked up to the top of the dam and then worked my way down to the lake. As I moved down the hill, I thought I'd found a story ...

Despite the City of San Diego's dire warning, graffiti covered every inch of the dam, someone must have clung like a bat to the higher reaches to get paint on the surface...

There's a pond between the dam and the lower lake...

Off to the side of the pond I found this memento mori. 

What happened here? Did it have to do with the dam, with the graffiti?

The fresh flowers spoke to a recent visit.

Further down the hill there is a passageway under the road...Was this, too, a part of the memorial?

San Diego is still discouraging visitors...

Passing through leads to Lower Otay Lake. Picturesque in it's own way...

Mysterious place, the Edge...

As always, thanks for looking. Here are links to earlier posts from the same project...

http://reflectedlight.zenfolio.com/blog/2015/9/edges-continued

http://reflectedlight.zenfolio.com/blog/2015/9/the-edge-3

http://reflectedlight.zenfolio.com/blog/2015/11/more-edge

http://reflectedlight.zenfolio.com/blog/2016/8/back-to-the-edge

I walked out the back door one morning and found a birds nest on the pathway.

We have a lot of a small birds called Black Phoebes in the neighborhood and this may well have belonged to a nesting pair. 

I don't know the story. Had the chicks survived and flown on, or had the nest come down early with less happy results? 

In any case, I found the thing fascinating and it led to the following series of images...

With a tip of the hat to Irving Penn.

I hope you find them as compelling as I do.

The exhibition is being put on by a local charity called Art Matters. Some of the proceeds go to the Art Center College of Design, from whence I graduated with a BA in photography many moons ago. 

The show will only be up for a few days. It's being shown at the Huntington Library in San Marino on Saturday and Sunday, May 5th and 6th and will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entry to the Huntington Gardens is $29.00 per adult on the weekend and gains you admission to the show. 

The Huntington Gardens and Library are to be found at : 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. If you're driving the gates to the Huntington face the end of Allen Avenue just south of California Blvd.

For those of you who can't make it to the show here are the images...

This was taken in the Palouse, eastern Washington State in 2013...

1/ 640s, at f/14 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2013:08:19 15:07:24

I found this one in Ninh Binh province, North Vietnam, this spring...

As always, thanks for looking. With any luck we'll sell 'em both!

If you fit Death Valley into your mental map, Panamint is one valley to the west. A lot of old dirt roads and they mostly lead to old mines.

Not to mention great views...

This area of eastern California is popular with Navel aviators who spend quite a lot of time practicing low over the desert... 

This photo was taken with a 24mm lens (for non-photographers, that's a pretty wide angel lens). The guy definitely ruffled my hair.

The next morning I worked my way north to the Saline Valley. Sand dunes...

True to it's name, the Saline valley was once a big producer of table salt. This is what's left of the works...

Here is a look back at the Panamint Valley from 6,100 feet...

The lake in the Saline Valley was still as can be in the early evening...

This region is inhabited by a local variant of the Agave, called a Joshua Tree. They grow in some dramatic places...

Here is a view overlooking the Saline Valley, east over the successive hills that lead to Death Valley. Imagine crossing Death Valley, with relief, only to find yourself and your wagons here...

Once again, this photographer falls prey to a "Road goes on forever..." shot. Just can't help it...

Sometimes one image grabs your imagination. Then you turn 180 degrees and something else leaps out at you.

Talk about a "Heart of Stone"...

Very old lava...

Good night Joshua.

It feels very good to be back into the world of Black & White photography.

Thanks for having a look, I hope you enjoyed the images.

We approached the main temple complex walking past the great moat, serene in the early light...

This leads to  an allée which opens to the main temple building.

It gives a sense of one's significance in the scheme of things...

The sun breaks the horizon...

The window bars are repeated everywhere, complex, beautiful and the least significant all the stone carving...

Some of the more intricate carving shows the creation of the world. If I understood part of the story, the dancing girls at the top of the image were there to distract the crew pulling the snake. Gods can be a little tricky...

The Gods were in charge of the project, it helps if the overseer is a little terrifying...

The scale is sometimes deceptive, look at the tourist on the steps of the small temple to get a sense of it...

Sometimes that works the other way, this statue of Shiva is immense...

The temple complex...

Buddha through the window...

Time has laid a hand on things...

I lack words to describe Angkor Wat, I hope the photos give you some sense of it.

Cambodian's said they felt they were, perhaps, ten years behind Vietnam in economic development.

Early morning on the Mekong, before the Cambodian boarder, Vietnamese sand dredges are starting the days work...

Walking down a country lane in Cambodia, near Angkor Wat, we saw these two little girls riding their bikes. 

It reminded me of a shot by Eugene Smith, A Walk into Paradise Garden...my apologies to Mr. Smith...

A monks robe over the back of a chair caught the window light...

We visited a rural school. It received some help from the Aqua Mekong, the boat we were travelling on. The children were captivating...

...and this guy, serious and very self contained...

This woman ran a paper making business (full disclosure, in Vietnam, not Cambodia, but I like the image and it fit in here)...

Back in rural Cambodia, we met this elderly nun...

A woman selling in a market...

And a mum on a boat, this near Tonle Sap lake...

This young monk was working to repair the bridge that led to his monastery...

A lot of parents send their boys off to join the monks at around 10 or eleven years old. There is no lifetime commitment  and a good, free, education is available to them...

The light and this young monk's expression caught me...

And to leave for now, an older monk on the streets of Saigon...

Note the flag over his left shoulder.

Thanks for looking, as always.

You be the judge...

Rice getting started...

A very blue stoop...

A saffron wall, mopeds included...

Another moped thing...These guys are at the market...

Some people along the way...

If this guy doesn't remind you of Uncle Ho...

The piece of wood in the foreground is the bar that carries her panniers of goods to sell...

A bit of lipstick and her jade earrings on...ready to go...

Why do I think this guys seen it all...

Need your shoe fixed?

Tea break... 

And the deliveries must go on...

This is Bun Bo Hue, a dish from Hue, done Danang style.

The prep...

 Cooking...

These are a kind of pancake/crepe filled with all kinds of goodies and eaten wrapped in rice paper and lettuce leaves...

Not to mention the amazing sandwiches, known as Bhan Mi. You can thank the French colonial heritage for the amazing bread...

A Danang restauranteur called Summer Le showed us around Danang's finest...

Lot's of street food too...

Breakfast on the go...

Or hustling up something else...

In a small village we went to market with the family...

Which produced this amazing spread, heavy with Tet delicacies as the New Year was just a few days away...

Everything comes with tea...

That's all for now.

Thanks for looking. 

A little south of Hanoi lies Ninh Binh Province, home of the worlds finest cabbages ...

And some ethereal views. They rain may have to do with both.

I tend to landscape photography when given the choice, but on this trip the people we met kept pulling me away from the scenery. 

I mentioned we'd run into hats again, here they are...Sharp needle...

Big hat...

This hat making is a family business. Here is the owner...

...and grandfather, retired from the military and proud...

In a different village we met the retired Headman...He told us some of the history of the village, and what he'd done to keep the kids in school and the local economy intact, though like many small towns, the kids were leaving, looking for the big city opportunities ...

Our guide, Nguyen Linh,  was a good and invaluable traveling companion...

We started today in the garden and might as well end there...

As always, thanks for looking.

I had no idea what to expect.

The mysterious "East"...Indochina...

Or something more up to date...

Of course there is always something familiar...

Even Uber takes a break...

This guy has seen other days...

So much for first impressions.

Thanks for looking.

This time the early rising sun backlit the grass on the eastern facing bit of the garden. The color helped by the smoke from the wildfires burning around Southern California this week. 

The hillside across the canyon from our garden still hadn't caught the morning sun, giving these images a nice dramatic backdrop.

This is the same species as last weeks' shot, but outside in the morning light...and in color...

Thanks for looking.

Mariël, peace and love.

It caught my attention.

Here are a couple of photos...

And another angle...

Feels right for the season.

After a very red sunrise and what promised to be a grey day, the clouds cleared out. I caught these two before they made their exit. 

Feels a bit underwater to me...

Thanks for looking.

But along came Marisol, who has seen my blog, and asked me to take some pictures of her dog.

Who am I to say no to the lady.

Here are the results...

Cute dog. It was fun.

As always, click on a picture to make it bigger and thanks for looking.

I couldn't resist. 

I called this formation Equus...

And this reminded me of the Buddha (wearing a pillbox hat) staring at a cat...

A tenacious tree...

Another rock tower...

And finally, found just outside the monument and on the Navaho Nation...A Moai (think Easter Island statues)...

That's it for this quick trip along the Utah/Arizona border regions. Let's hope the narcissist in chief doesn't decide to toss this amazing part of the Western U.S. on the scrap heap.

As always, thanks for looking.

This is a view of the Navaho Generating Station looking south from the Grand Staircase Escalante ...

This huge rock reminds me of an Olmec sculpture...

Monument Valley used to be my favorite part of the four corners country. Over the years access has become much more limited and it feels a little like Disneyland...

So I tend to skip it...

Some how this one needs John Wayne riding his horse in the middle distance...

I call this shot "Return to the Mothership"...

I hope you enjoyed, thanks for looking.

It's still "Big Sky" country but it's also empty and life looks unforgiving.

It takes gumption to live up there...

Against all odds...

Small farm, big storm...

And again...

The scale is still very different here and helps develop a perspective...

As always, thanks for looking.

Two of the National Monuments our current leader wants to "review" are in this part of the country and I wanted to see them before they turn into uranium mines.

These are the Grand Staircase Escalante  (President Clinton) and the Bears Ears (Obama).

Worth the trip...

Big sky country (apologies to Montana, which, despite its claim to a big sky monopoly, can't really own such). It's the West, you get a lot of sky all over the place out here...

Sometimes dark, sometimes not...

This one felt a little Modigliani...

Dinosaur bones said Rebecca, well, maybe...

Navaho Mountain, seen from the north shore of Lake Powell, early evening...

Thanks for looking, click on a picture to make it bigger...

If we get a cloud free morning, the early sun comes into our kitchen window through a white blind. I find it very pretty, almost self filling, with just a taste of contrast...No nose to speak of...(sorry, couldn't help it!).

Anyway I grabbed what was to hand and made a couple of pictures that made the best use I could of that light...

I hope you enjoy them.

Those of you who have followed the blog for a while will remember my occasional dive into still lives...here we go again. I think this one balanced out rather well, and of course, the light...

Thanks for looking.

I've called this blog "Reflected Light" because without it (light, reflecting off things) we would see nothing. Of course one could argue that if there was no light we would "see" differently, blind fish in caverns etc...However, there is light, we do see and we see because that light reflects off everything. Enough of circular logic...

Like other photographers from the beginning of the medium (think of Man Ray, Bernice Abbott, Nicholas Alan Cope etc...ad nauseam) I am fascinated, perhaps bewitched, by light and how we see it less abstractly than when we just look at it reflecting off stuff.

Anyway, I've started to indulge the obsession and take some pictures.

Here are three:

That last one slightly less abstract, until you recognize that the whole thing is a reflection and upside down to boot...so much for mystery.

A click will enlarge the image , thanks for looking.

Here are the first flowers and leaves on a Red Bud (Cercis Canadensis for the horticulturalists among you).

Flowers first...

Then leaves...

And a few more leaves...

That's it for now.

Thanks for looking...clicking on an image makes it bigger...and a big screen doesn't hurt photos of small flowers...

I didn't have a wide enough lens to catch the whole thing but the wonderful light gave some good looking backlight at ground level...

That light gave me a Turner sky (take a look at his painting of Salisbury Cathedral sometime, the sky and rainbow leading to the right hand side of the painting)...

To finish on a more peaceful note ... A full moon the month before...

That's it for the weather pics for now.

I hope you enjoyed them, click on an image to make it larger, and thanks for taking a look.

Nothing very new here, except I bothered to take a look and was fascinated by what developed.

Grab the camera, hang an old hank of black velvet behind the thing and start taking pictures...

The shadow hints at what's to come...

And, because I always go a little too far, this last one, as the rain started again...

Though the raindrop on the stamen was worth it...

This is one bright creature with personality to spare.

Also, for a change, we're talking color photos.

This pose brought to mind Winston Spencer Churchill...

Clearly a student of the movies...Are you ready for your close up?

Staying with the movie theme...You lookin' at me?

Hail fellow well met...

I've lived here for 43 years, no excuses left, it was time to go and see Yosemite.

The first look you get at the park (at least, in Winter) is also the best known image. Everyone takes this photo, I couldn't help it either:

El Capitain to your left, Bridal Veil falls center right and Half Dome dead center in the distance...It's the establishing shot!

The temperature brought on something known as Frazil Ice:

A pond and a barren coppice of Aspen...

El Capitain from the valley floor. This is one large hunk of rock...

And a look at the Bridal Veil from a closer perspective...

Nothing can get you ready for this place. Teddy Roosevelt made it the first national park. He was right.

...sometimes being a stubborn S.O.B. gets me stuck in places I don't want to be...

Early last year I found myself staying with friends up in the Sierra and this led to dawn photography at a place called Convict Lake. I had had a mental image the photo I wanted for for ever. Granted the picture I wanted was a total photographic cliche, right along with "The Road Goes on Forever", but sometimes there is satisfaction to be had from pulling off a well executed cliche.

Naturally the image I had imagined was Black & White!

I fought that B & W picture for weeks in post production (that's fancy language for trying to get a print I was happy with) and failed.

Nearly a year later I went back at it and, bowing to the facts (never easy) tried a couple of versions in color...I'll let you be the judges...

1/ 20s, at f/16 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 320 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2015:02:13 08:06:17

Here is the Black and White version, lot's of detail, there is real white and a full-on black to to be had, nicely enough composed, and the photographer gets extra points for getting up at oh-dark-thirty and freezing his proverbial off in the pursuit of his passion.

But BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1/ 20s, at f/16 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 320 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2015:02:13 08:06:17

Color version #1. Slightly less detail in the water foreground, same composition, same frozen photographer's whatsit, but that first early light (in color) gives the thing a bit more interest...

Still, pretty boring...

1/ 60s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 320 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2015:02:13 09:16:05

About twenty minutes later, the sun is further up and the sky has become a big blue dome, filling the shadows with that color.

Fair enough, this is the way cameras see things, not the way humans do. To most people's eye the blue shadows are too much and don't look "real".  Our minds filter out the excess blue in real life and we don't expect it in an image.

For me though this is a really satisfying picture at last.

The big graphic elements (two arrows coming towards the center) are emphasized by the color (contrasting warm on the right, cold on the left). The size of the sunlit piece of mountain and it's reflection are balanced and the dark blue foreground helps lead a viewer into the image, instead of tripping him (ok: her/him/it; you know what I meant!) up in the rocks under the water...

Probably the wordiest blog post I've ever put out, so thanks for your patience.

Last, but not least, Happy New Year from a delightfully rainy Pasadena.

Best Wishes for a Splendid New Year

Let there be lots of love to share and here's

hoping the New Year brings everyone the things they wished for.

Just a reminder...The most spectacular photo show of the year opens on December 10th at 6pm (wine and cheese included!).

Etosha Pan

Be there or be square:

Walt Girdner Gallery

27 S. El Molino Ave.

Pasadena, CA 91101

The images will remain up in the gallery through December 31st, so if you can't make the opening (wine and cheese included!)you can still see the amazing images.

Best, Ding

PS: From the Shameless Commerce department...These images make excellent Christmas gifts for your most artistically discerning friends!

Should you wonder why I haven't posted anything new lately, I've been getting ready for a solo show at the  Walt Girdner Photo Gallery in Pasadena.

The opening is December 10th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Address:

Walt Girdner Gallery

27 S. El Molino Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91101

Phone: (626)817-9083

There are 25 color images, all taken in the Namibian desert. 

I very much hope to see you at the gallery. If you can't make it to the opening, the show runs through December 30th.

Regards, Ding

PS: There is underground parking in the building across the street from the gallery, more parking behind the theater next door and some on-street parking on both El Molino and Green streets (the closest cross street).

On the surface this is true, except the rainy season and we we haven't seen much of that lately. No fall color, the temperature doesn't change much, but, wait for it, the light changes.

I've just started to see that Autumn light sneak into the garden.

Some photos...

And fireworks to finish...

Not a lot to say, just light in the garden.

I hope you enjoyed and thanks for looking.

No surprise, the park's all about rocks and Joshua Trees (basically a big yucca).

It's a national park, so you get road signs etc...

Rocks and Joshua Trees...

This one feels vaguely African...

The trees take on some fairly strange shapes...

And rocks...

And another pile of rocks...

Kind of a double thumbs up, so on that cheerful note, thanks for looking and a click on the image will make it bigger.

They grow a lot of dates up there and I've always been a complete sucker for Palm Trees...

An older grove...

The barren hills in the background let you know where you are...

I liked the graphics of the greenhouses in the foreground...

Click on an image to make it larger.

Thanks for looking...

To re-start it, I took a little ride over three days last week, down to Borego Springs, back up the west side of the Salton Sea and out through Joshua Tree. The plan was to truck camp but it turned out a little warm for that so it was low rent motels and early starts.

The heat influenced things! It was 119 degrees Fahrenheit  at Coachella as I drove by on Tuesday at about 11:00 am!

A series of images...not originally conceived as a story-line for the trip, but coming out that way anyway...

Anyone who has gone photo hunting in the  desert knows the feeling here. It's the coolest moment of the day. No one else is around. You step out of the motel door and the light is just a promise...

The light and the frame on this feels a little John Ford, but here there be dragons...

Annoyed by what the ubiquitous black plastic bag has done to the world we live in, perhaps my view of one of the old marinas at Salton City was a bit jaded, but I don't think so...

And did I mention it was HOT...

Back up in Joshua Tree the rocks look on...

Click on the image to make it bigger, look at it on the biggest screen you can manage...Thanks for sticking around long enough to check out the photos.

My original idea had been to shoot it in Black and White, no surprise there... Until I looked at it through the camera and fell in love with the color...

Playing around with the light took me here, high drama...

And finally this shot, which is my favorite...

For the ultimate bell pepper reference shot, check out Edward Weston, Bell Pepper number 30, shot in 1930! He stuck with the B & W.

Thanks for looking, Ding

1/ 200s, at f/3.2 || E.Comp:-18 / 6 || 52mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:05:02 22:21:49

That was an early sunrise / moonset...

I called this next image "The Great Divide"...

1/ 50s, at f/20 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 70mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1600 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:05:05 09:26:57

These things are referred to as Menhires, and if you were ever a fan of Asterix, his pal Obelix always had a couple tucked under his arm (If you don't know who these guys are, look them up, the best...).

1/ 100s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1250 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:05:06 04:05:59

Originally placed somewhere between 4,000 and 2,800 B.C. these things weigh up to 27 tons each and stand up to  3 meters (almost 10 feet) high. he site is pretty unassuming  and other tourists wander around but I had a strong emotional response to the stones. The supposition is that the setup had astrological meaning and reveals a variety of solstices (Charts etc available on Wikipedia, look up Menhire and Evora).

1/ 50s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-12 / 6 || 48mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:05:03 04:23:49  First absorb the golden glow of the ceiling, then let your eyes wander down to the corners...

This was late May in the Alentejo region...eat your heart out California poppies...

1/ 160s, at f/22 || E.Comp:0 || 70mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1250 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:05:07 02:29:29

As always, click on an image to make it larger and if you have nothing better to do, click on the links at the bottom of the post to see earlier versions.

Thanks again for looking, who knows what's next...

Best, Ding

Steep and deep would describe the place. So would terraced to within an inch... No spot goes un-vined  (or un-olived).

It all counts...

1/ 200s, at f/18 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:28 03:36:49

Although the occasionally non-fruiting plant gets by. For drama I guess...

1/ 250s, at f/22 || E.Comp:0 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:29 03:28:15

Pretty light cuts across olives and some old terraces...

1/ 125s, at f/18 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:28 01:52:49

The walls are made from the local Schist stone, and it's not very forgiving...

1/ 30s, at f/13 || E.Comp:1 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:27 03:48:31

In the summer the temperature can get close to 100 F. And, did  I mention steep...

1/ 125s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:29 04:00:41

1/ 80s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:30 02:06:13

Some views across the river offer visual relief...

1/ 4000s, at f/3.2 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:30 02:08:49

And stuff grows almost everywhere...

1/ 80s, at f/18 || E.Comp:0 || 44mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:27 04:20:18

Thanks for looking, some of the wines were exceptional too...

1/ 250s, at f/3.2 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 70mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 05:10:44

Lisbon was an urban pile of delight...

1/ 1250s, at f/11 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 112mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 09:44:11

1/ 250s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 98mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 09:50:26

1/ 160s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 11:38:41

1/ 1000s, at f/13 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 70mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 09:11:14

1/ 4000s, at f/13 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 102mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1250 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 04:57:37

1/ 1250s, at f/11 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 70mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 09:38:51

1/ 2000s, at f/11 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 185mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 09:41:15

1/ 160s, at f/18 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 116mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 08:59:42

And an old relic at the tile museum, some things etc...

1/ 50s, at f/4.5 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1250 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 04:33:09

A window in the arts district...

1/ 640s, at f/5.6 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 48mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 05:58:37

And a bite to finish for today...

1/ 500s, at f/2.8 || E.Comp:-12 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 06:12:42

We saw a lot of great graphic work in Portugal! How better to wrap a can of tuna?

I hope you enjoyed the images.

Thanks for looking.

1/ 125s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 52mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1250 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:05:06 23:02:38

I found a quality of light in Portugal that was somewhere between Southern California (the sun sets over the sea, as it does in LA) and the light in Southern England, perhaps because we had a little rain, which softens things...

Early tram in Lisbon...

1/ 100s, at f/9 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 48mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 23:46:52

And the guy in the background...

1/ 1000s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-12 / 6 || 52mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 04:23:11

The big lift in Lisbon has a lovely taste of the real Steampunk...

1/ 60s, at f/8 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 58mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 23:30:28

But, look down, and the cobbles are a wonder...

1/ 60s, at f/8 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 23:25:47

1/ 125s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 48mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 06:24:30

1/ 30s, at f/8 || E.Comp:0 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 23:23:48

1/ 160s, at f/9 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 00:18:37

The boulevardier lives...

1/ 15s, at f/20 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 48mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:22 03:31:13

And a detail from the tile museum...

1/ 60s, at f/11 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 44mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1250 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:04:23 04:20:03

Thanks for looking, as always, it all look better on a bigger screen, click on the image to get it on it's own...

O.K., here are three shots, one seen before in color, but I like the B & W better...

1/ 200s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 09:06:20

Another "Big Rock"...

1/ 500s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:17 09:21:32

And, finally another tip of the hat to Paul Strand...

1/ 1000s, at f/11 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:16 06:59:49

I hope you enjoy...bigger is better...

Best, Ding

Salt, sand and sky...

1/ 400s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:16 14:34:41

That's some of the salt, here's some sand...

1/ 250s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 70mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:16 14:32:36

Sometimes things just line up...

1/ 200s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-2 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:16 12:12:04

Then there's the Salar de Atacama, a huge salt deposit that resulted from deglaciation some 12,000 years ago...

1/ 640s, at f/14 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:17 14:31:33

Another angle...

1/ 60s, at f/22 || E.Comp:0 || 70mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:17 15:13:26

Did I mention Volcanoes?

1/ 500s, at f/14 || E.Comp:-2 / 6 || 220mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:17 11:29:33

And at about 14,000 feet, a lake...

1/ 1600s, at f/14 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:17 12:01:56

The clarity at that altitude is breathtaking.

Further down the mountains, a hill and some clouds juxtapose...

1/ 400s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:20 09:44:26

Wild beasts too...

1/ 400s, at f/14 || E.Comp:-2 / 6 || 400mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:17 11:28:43

Thanks for looking!

Click on an image to make it bigger etc...you know the drill...

Around the turn of the last century a lot of different countries set up mining outposts around Chile. This is whats left of a large administrative area in the desert between Chanaral and Antofagasta. Desolate then and now...

1/ 320s, at f/16 || E.Comp:0 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 08:56:15

1/ 250s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 09:13:59

A more recent abandoned memory...

1/ 400s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 09:31:01

And of course, lots of people were born, lived and died there...

1/ 5000s, at f/14 || E.Comp:-18 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:14 11:29:44

Which leads me to the next subject.

If you've driven the roads of the Western U.S. and now further afield, you've become used to the sight of small shrines set up in the memory of victims of the road.

This is popular in Chile too, only there it has become a very much bigger thing.

To begin with, I was reluctant to photograph these. A sense of intruding on someone else's unhappiness, or perhaps not wanting to exploit that, I'm not sure. In Chile though, these shrines are very characteristic of the country and each one is extremely individualistic and worth a close look...

1/ 500s, at f/16 || E.Comp:0 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 08:43:35

They often tell the story ... see above...

1/ 200s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-2 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 09:55:09

Some are very simple, and more poignant for it...

1/ 400s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 44mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:20 06:47:44

Or very elaborate ...

1/ 160s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 12:59:14

They often include somewhere to sit and spend a little time...

1/ 250s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-2 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 09:45:02

1/ 400s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 11:22:57

1/ 1000s, at f/11 || E.Comp:-2 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 13:50:25

1/ 400s, at f/11 || E.Comp:4/6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:15 13:51:09

A tree for shade where none can grow...

1/ 320s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:19 12:50:36

To end, a cry often heard in the desert...

1/ 250s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:20 09:25:11

I certainly don't mean this post as a downer, but the images certainly made me think as I took them...

I'll be gone for a while, so the posts resume when I get back.

As always, thanks for looking.

1/ 400s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 58mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:05 13:51:26

1/ 250s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:05 13:50:41

1/ 250s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 48mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:05 13:57:42

1/ 3200s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:05 13:57:20

1/ 640s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:05 13:54:15

1/ 160s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-2 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:05 13:59:52

1/ 640s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-18 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 250 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:05 12:45:20

Some of the tools are powered now, but the technique probably hasn't changed much.

Click on an image to make it larger.

Thanks for looking...

This first was taken in the town of Antofagasta. I loved the way the light fell on the building and the boy...

1/ 80s, at f/16 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:14 15:29:34

Before we got that far we spent a day (long day) driving up to and through the Parque Nacional Nevada de Tres Cruces. This is a tiny park well off the beaten track (in fact nobody we asked about it, and we asked a lot of people, had ever heard of it). But this suited our criteria, which basically has to do with finding the empty bits on a map and then going there.

1/ 160s, at f/20 || E.Comp:0 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 09:59:53

Further on up the road...

1/ 200s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 40mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 09:06:20

...and further still...

1/ 400s, at f/20 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 11:40:46

Finally at somewhere north of 14,000 we came to this lake...

1/ 2500s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-22 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 12:17:46

Amazing colors.

Further north yet...

1/ 6400s, at f/6.3 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 85mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 13:17:26

The lovely purity of a desert landscape...

Add clouds...

1/ 6400s, at f/6.3 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 14:07:38

Coming back down the mountain was perhaps, a bit more terrifying...

1/ 160s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-6 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 15:03:36

The road was very well engineered, but the angle of repose, not so restful...

Good sunsets at that altitude though...

1/ 250s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-10 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:13 14:27:16

A word about the blue skies, at that altitude there is relatively less atmosphere, so the skies go almost to black...

Once again, thanks for taking a look.

1/ 5000s, at f/16 || E.Comp:-24 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:08 08:27:04

We skipped Santiago and stopped at Valparaiso.

If you ever need a blast of "Urban" and Chaotic" and "Colorful" this is your town...

1/ 60s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:11 14:13:21

Did I say something about "Colorful"?...

1/ 400s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-22 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:11 14:21:29

Valparaiso is built on...(if you want to call it that, I prefer: clings precariously to...) a series of hills. They came up with a a good solution to getting up and down them, albeit in the 1890's, still running though...

1/ 50s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:11 13:48:15

1/ 200s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:11 13:48:56

View from the inside...

1/ 6s, at f/22 || E.Comp:-8 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 800 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:11 13:52:44

A view from our hotel...

1/ 40s, at f/4 || E.Comp:-12 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1600 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:11 16:35:59

The reception area...

1/ 60s, at f/7.1 || E.Comp:-14 / 6 || 35mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 1600 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2016:03:11 13:13:57