Experiments….

It's always fun to experiment with different lighting. On Christmas night I was having dinner at my son's home and he has this huge tree in the middle of a very large field. Using a thee million candlepower spotlight and painting the tree with light in the darkness created this scene. It's always fun to try something new. You never know how it's going to turn out until you try it.

Modesto is BEAUTIFUL at night during Christmas...

Here it is Friday night - December 18, 2009 and I just could not resist the lights of Christmas in Modesto. I started off just driving around and looking at the lights. My first stop was the McHenry Mansion and took this shot:



You can't help but view The Modesto Bee Newsboy and his dog from across the street"


Just around the corner and down the block across from where 10th Street meets K St. I spotted a beautiful display of lights by the Double Tree Hotel.


And where there a lights in the trees, you just have to have the old style street lights decorated too.





If you haven't had the opportunity to view the lights of Modesto... get out soon while they are still aglow.






On Satruday night (December 19, 2009) the McHenry Mansion had an open-house. The best open-house I've ever been toat the Mansion. It was billed as: "Christmas Candlelight Tours".
The docents were dressed in period garb and the lights were dimmed to reflect the late 1890's to early 1900's. Every aspect of the tour was great... I hope they have it again every year. FANTASTIC!!!!

(I wish they would have had a one half hour period before they opened when photo buffs could go in and take photos (with flash)... No flash was allowed and t was impossible to use a tripod... so, with the dimly lit period lighting, it was very difficult to get a well lit shot (even with high ISO)...

MAYBE NEXT YEAR?

Christmas Greeting

My 2009 Christmas Greeting to all those who have taken the time to view my photos and links. I want you all to know that I do appreciate you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Joy-filled New Year. God Bless you.


Saint James Episcopal Church at 42 Snell Street, Sonora, California is the most Christmas beautiful church I have ever seen. Driving up to the church just says... Merry Christmas. A must see when ever you are in the area.

End of October 2009

Just couldn't resist... October is almost over and I just had to get out and have one more shoot before Halloween. This time I was going to head back to the Sonora/Twain Harte area.... after passing Knights Ferry on Hwy 120, and just before reaching Jamestown (California), I guess I got a little distracted.... There it was, the turnoff for Chinese Camp and the Hwy 120/49 southern route. Next thing I knew, there I was having a hot cup of coffee in Bucks Meadow. By that point I figured "Why not? I'm almost there!".... So off I went, further south and on to ... yes, you guessed it... YOSEMITE.

Considering I was just out for a drive looking for more Fall color, and after checking the Yosemite web site (don't ever trust a web site that tells you there is not color: "The trees are all evergreens.") I had decided not to go to Yosemite, however something was just pulling me to the Valley floor. Am I ever glad I let the moment drag me along. Here are some of the views that greeted me on this very lazy Thursday. Next time you have that voice in the back of your mind say... (well, at least when it comes to photography) "Oh, what the heck, just go!" Well, "JUST GO"....

(I'll be adding more images over the next few days)...

More images from Plumas County area....

I'm beginning to wonder if God is giving me a sneak peek at what Heaven will look like. Every season I am discovering new and magnificant views, and with each changing season I'm seeing this beautiful Earth in greater detail. Photography (even though I have been shooting images for over fourty years) really does cause (force) me to look at my souroundings in a different light.

Here are some more images I captured this past month in the Quincy/Plumas County area.

I say this with each passing season, however true, there is so much to shoot and so little time to catch it at its peak. The days I was able to visit must have been the most perfect for this season. The week before here in Northern California we had heavy rains and high winds. The winds this week (today) are again high (with gusts up to 40-45 miles per hour). The days I was in Plumas County were perfect. The air was calm, the skies clear and bright, and the color.... WOW! Such color!...

(An old barn on Bucks Lake Road outside of Quincy, CA.)

Meadow near the Middle Fork of the Feather River near Gaeagle, Califonia (end of October 2009)

A quick catch-up after a long busy Summer 09

(View near Clio, California off Hwy 89 in Plumas County)......

WOW! Is it the end of October already? Where did the time go! Well, for me it's been a very busy summer and early fall 2009. Beside having taken more trips to the ocean and the Sierra Mountains, I've been trying to get my " imagesbywilliammoore.smugmug.com " photo web site up and running and adding some of my most recent images into that sight.

(Yes the rock jump with color near the Sardine Lake Road - Sardine Lake, California)

This past week I spent a few days in the Quincy, California (Tahoe National Forest) area. Yes, it's that time of the year again.... FALL COLOR! The Quincy/Plumas County area of the Sierra Mountains is one of the most colorful and spectacular viewing areas in Northern California. Over the next couple of weeks I hope to be adding dozens of photographs to both this site and the "images" site.

(You don't have to go far off the beaten path to capture some of natural beauty of Northern California - this photo was taken just to the east of Lower Sarine Lake... The utility company was nice enough to clear a path through the forest for low growing and very colorful plants to thrive and display their color.)

(After returning from the Quincy area I still had the bug for fall color so I took a quick treck up to Twain Heart, California (just east of Sonora)... Several miles up a gravel road (Middle Camp Raod - Longway Rd. just past Phoenix Lake Rd. to be exact).... I took this photo. Being that I'm never totally satisfied with just taking an image (like this one)

I often times will convert the photo image to an oil paint image. On canvas these photo conversions look as if I had spent hours painting the canvas from the photograph. You can see every curve and brush stroke.

In case you hadn't seen my other photo site, hopefully these photos will inspire you to take a look. It's time to get back to taking pictures. I hope you drop in from time to time as I add more photos for you to enjoy. If you get the chance to get up into the hills, this is the best time of year for capturing the splendor of Mother Nature.

Too many photos ----- Too little time.

(Bodie - Before the Storm).... (Note: just click on the photos for a larger view)
For the past month (or more) I have been in one of those great dilemmas for a person who loves to take phots. Too many photo opportunities and so little time to process them. Over this (what seems like a very short summer), it has been "go ~ go ~ go!". A few days shooting from just south of Morro Bay up to Monterey. Then a few more days from Monterey to Half Moon Bay. A quick week trip to Lake Tahoe and Virginia City (Nevada). Not even back a week or so and then a Highway 1 trip from Bodega Bay to Fort Bragg and more fantastic views of the Pacific Coast (sunny days all - which the locals say never happens in a row). And then, this past week it was off with some photo friends for a few days at Tioga Pass near Yosemite, Mono Lake (and the amazingly beautiful "Tufa" that spring out of the lake); the ghost town of Bodie and back over Sonora Pass and the rugged beauty of the high Sierras.


"Bodie in Decay"(Bodie School)

Well, as I said, too many photos and no time to process them. These pictures are just a tease of some of the shots (and at last count for the past six weeks the count is over 3,000 of them) I have been fortunate to capture.
(Tufa on Mono Lake - Light Painting) (Point Arena Lighthouse) (Friends at Glass Beach - Fort Bragg, Calif.)
(Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, Mendocino, California)

Over the next few months I'll be posting more of this summers shots. Right now I'm working on several for the Modesto Photographers Collective's showing at the Mistlin Gallery (this will be the gallery's final show after many years of presenting local artists in the Modesto area). Hope you enjoy this tease. Just a view "Looking throught my eyes..."...

Lake Tahoe and Virginia City - opposites attract!

It's funny (as in peculiar) how you can go weeks (and months sometimes) and kind of feel uninspired (photo wise), then go in spurts where you just can not get enough time behind the lens. The family (all the kids and grand-children) just returned from a week at South Lake Tahoe (and day trips around the lake and into Nevada (around Virginia City). The weather was cool at the lake and the skies (especially the sunsets like this one) were beautiful.

(South Shore sunset)

Those all allusive bellowing clouds that are so few and far between here in the Central Valley were in abundance in the Sierra range. Sunsets were spectacular and the views from the mountains around the lake were breathtaking.

(Still snow capped peaks in late June)

I shot until I could shoot no more (actually, I shot until my wife told me we needed to go)... I shot hundreds upon hundreds of photos (these are just a very small sample). Everthing just seemed to shoult: "Over here! Shoot there! Look here!".

I did and these are some of what I saw. I probably have at least a months worth of work to catch up on not that I'm back home and slowing down (it's near 108 degrees here today so this is a good time to just stay indoors and do a little work getting some of my photos ready to post on this blog.

(Beauty even after the fires)

(The water really is Emerald Green).

(At every turn there is a suprise)...

(Shooting in black and white and using different colored filters gives you great effects)

(Virginia City, Nevada) Boot Hill - history all around)

(Old saloons and bars dot main street Virginia City)

((Not to mention all the candies you can haul away in a truck)

Back to the lake and some of the other two legged critters I attracted with my camera.

I hope you enjoy viewing the photos as much as I did taking them. Living in this part of California is really great. Just a couple of hours (if that) to the vast Pacific Ocean; a couple of hours to Yosemite Valley, San Francisco, the gold mining country, the rivers and lakes (just out of town), the wine country, and the coastal range mountains.

There is just so much to see and so much beauty all around. It's difficult sometimes to decide which way to go. I know.... life is rough! I feel very blessed to live where I do and to have the choices I have to be creative.

(Until next time)......