On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
On The Road and In Your Backyard is a weekday feature spotlighting reader submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, please share your part of the world, whether you’re traveling or just in your locality. Share some photos and a narrative, let us see through your pictures and words. We’re so lucky each and every day to see and appreciate the world around us!
Submissions from commenters are welcome at tools.balloon-juice.com
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter ?BillinGlendaleCA.
View from my “second home”
I’ve posted pictures of the winter view of Downtown LA from the Baldwin Hills in the past. Last week we received a great deal of rain here in Southern California from some cold storms. This meant that our local mountains received a good deal of snow at lower elevations(2500 feet). So, once the clouds had mostly cleared, I braved the traffic and headed up to Kenneth Hahn(he was a long serving member of our county governing body, the Board of Supervisors). Various parts of the park are named for his family, the grassy bowl area just west of where these shots were taken is named after his daughter Janice(who currently has his seat on the Board). I made 3 trips up there in the past week: the first I shot the snow at its greatest coverage, the second I shot IR and the summits of the mountains without clouds, and the third was a shoot with the local photography meetup group(no mountains were visible).
Taken on 2019-02-06 00:00:00
Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Los Angeles, CA
Upon my arrival at the upper portion of the park(it is the Baldwin Hills), I was greeted with this view. The air was crisp and clear with a strong breeze, but there were clouds in front of the summit of the mountains. I waited for a better shot, but the clouds never completely cleared.
Taken on Various
Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Los Angeles, CA
So checking the weather the following day, visibility was still pretty good, so I headed back to the Baldwin Hills to shoot the mountains with less cloud cover. There were a couple of problems, the breeze had stopped and there was more haze and there had been some snow melt. This panorama(it’s part of a much larger one), was shot on my first trip, but I’ve added the mountain summits from the next day so that the clouds appear to be behind the mountains.
Taken on 2019-02-07 00:00:00
Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Los Angeles, CA
One of the advantages of IR is that you don’t see mild haze that would degrade a visible light shot. This shot is composed of two shots: one shot with my IR camera and the same scene shot with my visible light camera. The visible image is overlayed(technically it’s a color blend in Photoshop) over the IR image to return some of the color back into the final image.
Taken on 2019-02-07 00:00:00
Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Los Angeles, CA
In addition to the fine views of DTLA, they also have a Hummingbird Forest(a brushy canyon with hummingbird feeders). I got a few shots of the little buggers before some larger birds scared them off.
Taken on 2019-02-10 00:00:00
Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Los Angeles, CA
After two trips to the Baldwin Hills, I received an email that my photogroup was also going to shoot up there as well. Even though, there was rain predicted for the morning and early afternoon, I headed back for some golden hour pics. We did get a nice sunset but the mountains were completely obscured by cloud cover. The photogroup lead jokingly asked if I lived in the park.
Thank you so much ?BillinGlendaleCA, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
Mary G
Neato! The teens and I left the house, saw the ocean, went around the curve in the I-5 into the Saddleback Valley a couple of minutes later and saw mountains covered with snow in the distance. We are going to have an amazing wildflower season this year. You should start checking the Theodore Payne Foundation website in a few weeks, Bill.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: A couple years ago when we had a wet winter, the Mojave bloomed but I didn’t have a car that I’d trust to get me there. I’m hoping for a repeat and get up to Amboy and get some pics.
ETA: When I was up at Hahn, I could see some snow up on Saddleback
JPL
Bill, I never tire of the pictures of the LA skyline. Thanks
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Thanks, I need to shoot some more from the east and south.
David Evans
The first picture is the one that really appeals to me. It does such a good job of showing the different visual and ecological zones. I don’t like the IR so much. It’s interesting for a while but then looks wrong. Maybe I would feel differently if I had an IR-capable camera.
Baud
@JPL: Me either.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@David Evans: The first and second pics are pretty much the same pic, the second was shot a few minutes later and is part of a larger pano(Fairfax district to Saddleback). The main difference is I took the mountain summits from the second day and put them in the pic from the first day. I love the IR, it gives a whole other take on a familiar scene, but YMMV.
@Baud: Thanks!
Aleta
wow
Aleta
The buildings look like a fata morgana. Or just a tad unearthly.
stinger
The IR pic could be titled “LA: After the Volcano”. They’re all so striking. Hello, little hummers!
rikyrah
These are beautiful :)
J R in WV
First one is the very best one!
There’s the soaring raptor, the snow-capped mountains, the city, and the clouds ripping off the highest ridgetop just make the whole thing better, to me.
The mountains in SE AS, which I just got home from late last night, had clouds like that a few times while I was out there… high desert was so stark and beautiful!
stinger
@J R in WV:
Agreed. They add an extra dimension to an already richly layered composition.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
Beautiful – thanks for showing us.
Mart
Thanks again for sharing your work. I remember being told back in the 80’s that you almost never get a chance to see the mountains due to air pollution. Is that more better now?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: Thanks, I think the distance contributes to the effect.
@stinger: I usually hear comments about snow with the IR pics.
@rikyrah: Thanks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV:
@stinger: What I didn’t like about the first one(or anything from my first shoot) is that the clouds were obscuring the shape of the mountain, so I went back the next day and reshot them. I was perfectly happy with the clouds behind the peaks, but not obscuring their shape.
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Thanks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mart: It’s much better now. We still have some smoggy days, but more often the mountains being obscured is due to the marine layer(LA being a coastal city). You can usually see at least the outline of the mountains.