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)......

May and June 2009 ~ Very busy months

(Faces in the rock - Natural Bridges State Beach)

(The three sisters)

(Pigeon Point Lighthouse)

Where did the time go? It's been a very busy month and a half since my last posting in early May. I took a few days away from Valley life and went along the Pacific Coast (from just south of Morro Bay up past Monterey and a short stop at the mission at San Luis Rey (that was May 20th through 22nd). I guess I needed to get back to the coast as it was starting to warm up in the Central Valley of California. Just a couple of weeks later I was back again, this second trip started just south of Santa Cruz and meandered up past Half Mood Bay along Hwy. 1. Just a couple of days. Beautiful weather and great views!

(Natural Bridges State Park - Santa Cruz)

(Morrow Bay Rock)

(Natural Bridges)

(Just another stop along Hwy 1 north of Morro Bay)

(Beach head)

(Fox tacks in the sand)

(Elephant Seal Beach)

(Warm glow at a cold sunset)

Is it the East Coast or the West Coast?

Black and White photos can be interesting and bring a different perspective.

(Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk June 2009.... looks like the 1940's)...

(Small boats along the Monterey Bay pier)

(Under the Boardwalk near the cement ship)

Well, rather than just ramble on; here are some of my photos... I hope you enjoy.

Also look at the next post of the Lake Tahoe and Virginia City, Nevada area)....

IS IT "STILL LIFE"..............

As the picture stated.... you don't take still photos, at least not
in the conventional meaning of photography. Being able to create
still life photos is having the ability to - yes; first of all be able to
take a photo; however, it's also an art form all by itself. It's a very
demanding art form where the person taking the photo is also
expected to look at the inanimate subject matter and form
the final photograph based on the photographers sense of lighting,
compositional skills, and the relationships with the objects to each other.

You don't take still life; you make it and then allow the camera
to capture the photograph. It's more than just taking a snap
shot of what has already been created, it's the full expression of
the photographer and their view of what they see and feel
while taking the still life. It's much like the painter or composer,
only this time with the use of a camera (digital in this case).
You're only restricted by your own mind and the limits you
place upon yourself.

With a change in light and filter, a silver serving set suddenly
becomes pitchers and goblets of gold... fit for a king.

Wooden strings and tarnished horns become old or new
with just the right lighting.




You control the form, the light, the tone, the mood.

Christmas ornaments transform any season.....

You can even change your still life photo into a still life

work of art....

Something plain and simple can catch the eye and create

the illusion of something unique and different.

Adding a cloth can make the simple - eligant.

And it can make something new seem old and as if were

painted by the Masters.

Background change the mood... and you have control...

It's all up to what you'll let your creativity try....

Still life photography can be simple or very complex. Your

choice! It's fun - try it...