Milky Way over Death Valley National Park

 

While we were high above the sweltering lowlands of Death Valley, we spent our evenings at the Charcoal Kilns. The night sky was amazing and the Milky Way was prominent. I experimented with off-camera flash to light the kilns while nature lit up the sky. 

I'm still getting the hang of astrophotography or the limited variety of astrophotography that I've been practicing.  In these shots, I didn't know about adjusting the white balance to get a more appealing color balance.  My friend Allan shared a link to Mark Gee's excellent tutorial and there I found an excellent capsule summary of all you need to know to get started. 

I have a few other shots in this Death Valley Highlands Gallery.

What Happened to April?

April? It was just here a minute ago. Now it's passed without a post. Huh...it was such a good month, too. Crazy good...I miss it already.

What happened in April was a trip to Toroweap Overlook on the (remote) north rim of the Grand Canyon, a photo outing to Trona Pinnacles and my Mom's 88th Birthday.  It was a busy month because there was also a celebration of photographer Ray McSavaney at the Camera Committee, the Otis College Kite Festival with my mom and sister, the LA Regional Foodbank's 2015 Food From the Bar campaign kickoffs, theater and movies with friends and some good visiting.

This Trona Pinnacles post is a small remedy and I'll try to post about Toroweap soon.

The weather was severely windy until late on Saturday. The early arrivals on Friday all put up and took down tents (or collected blown heaps of tent material). As you might guess from looking at the shot to the right, my tent poles are now tent pretzels. Doesn't that tent looks like it's trying to escape the frame? I packed it up and slept in the back of my Forester.

Conditions improved so that by 9:00pm Saturday, campers were able to pitch a tent that stayed in place.

At the top of this post, you see a sort of panoramic triptych looking northeast to clouds gathering over the "other range of pinnacles". We camped in a protected bowl among the pinnacles of the "front range", but still a long walk to the lone toilet (see below) and the interpretive materials.

Our days were largely overcast and cool but the night sky cleared enough to give us stars and cloudy texture. It was great for those composing starscapes and spinning star trails. We had plenty of moonlight to illuminate the pinnacles.

There was a nice bonus just before sunset on Saturday. The folks who were prepared to shoot captured a lovely rainbow. This MeetUp photo album has rainbows posted by Peter and Jeff.

    

Toroweap on the North Rim

Allan at a Toroweap Overlook

Morning light on the Colorado River
from Toroweap overlook

Last week, Allan took me to Toroweap Point on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I've been scheming on how to get back there ever since.

We had two nights in the Tuweap campground near the end of a long, 4WD road, just about a mile from the overlook on the east side. The road continues on to deliver you to a picnic area in the middle of the point with views to the east, south and west.

One morning we followed a longer, cairn-marked trail as it ran east from the campground through the landscape and turned south, along the rim almost to the picnic area. That was a nice walk.  Allan did it the second morning, too, while I tried to sprint ahead on the more "direct" road route to catch the pre-dawn light. I missed the best light but got the shot at the right above.

For a sampling of the landscape on the north rim have a look at the quick album of Toroweap photos in my Picasa collection.

This goofy pan below, give you an impression of what the 3,000 foot drop from Toroweap to the Colorado River looks like.

The Colorado River is about 3,000 feet down from here. 

A Night in Black Rock

Weird Sisters in Joshua Tree

Black Rock is the campground on the north side of Joshua Tree National Park where my companion for the trip gave me a clue about focusing my camera for night sky photos. He mentioned in a casual conversation over carrot cake that the default position for an electronically-focused lens is infinity.
I had to experiment and snapped several frames on the table top (sans tripod).

This series observing our neighbors by their campfire, with wonderful light on the Joshua tree blossoms, a spectral figure in the clouds and stars above all, was the perfect exercise!

New Photo Work

In my pre-retirement/unemployment days, I am hoping to hone my photo skills - especially visualization and printing. I've made a folder in my Picasa page for new work and hope to post images there that are nearing completion. These will be items I would show my pals for feedback. I hope folks will post a comment or dash off a note of critique.

Thanks for looking in occasionally.

Yosemite Digi-Snaps

 Heading up Tunnel View Trail with my friends

 The golden hour in Ahwahnee Meadow

 Lucky image capture while waiting for the shuttle to take us to dinner.

These balanced rocks are culturally and environmentally insensitive to some.
When I spy a display like this, I revel in the spirit of playfulness!

Magical parting visions. 

Click on this one at least to see a larger version.

If you want to see more snapshots, have a look at my
Yosemite Gallery on Picasa.

New Hat for 2015

I am wearing a new hat these days.

Newly Unemployed

Not the one in the picture...I've owned that one for ages without many occasions to bring it out. Figuratively, I am wearing a new hat but I don't know what to call it. I am no longer a salaried employee. I am resting for awhile and then, hopefully, I'll pick up a nice revenue stream.

I know I'll work a little for my former employer as we try to find a candidate that everyone agrees can do my old job. I think I may offer on-call assistance to law firms and I can imagine working in a law firm to fill in for a new mom or dad.

What I'd like to try is public library reference. And maybe dog grooming. And if anyone needs help with packing for a move or unpacking afterwards, I'm your girl. I love organizing kitchens and offices.

So, am I a Consulting Librarian? An Independent Contractor?

I kind of like the title Itinerant Librarian. I like the idea that I might follow a job circuit and find myself working in Wyoming or Oregon or Upstate New York.

For the moment though, I am just Downstairs on Cashio Street.