On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youâre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Myself and some fellow photographers planned a trip up to the eastern Sierra, hiking up Little Lakes Valley to Long Lake to shoot a Milky Way reflection in the lake. I thought it’d be a nice idea to practice shooting reflection in water a bit closer and more accessible. So several of us headed up to Diaz Lake, just south of Lone Pine. It was a very long day for me, since I’ve secured gainful employment and had to work a morning shift(5am-1:30pm). The reflection part didn’t work all that well. There were reeds all along the lake which made that difficult and even the slight breeze and party boat that would stir up the water.
One hundred and fifty years ago, Diaz Lake didn’t exist. In March of 1872, one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded California history struck the Owens Valley causing a great deal of destruction and lose of lives. It also opened springs that filled a depression south of Lone Pine that is now Diaz Lake. The lake lies at the southern end of the Alabama Hills(a favorite for landscape astro-photographers and for Western movies), which where named by Confederate sympathizers in the area for the battleship Alabama. I arrived before sunset, but the sun had already set behind the high peaks of the eastern Sierra. While we were scouting out locations to shoot, I took some shots of the sunlight streaming over the Sierra peaks and noticed a couple of dead trees that I thought would make a good foreground for light painting with a Milky Way shot.
After shooting there for a hour or two, I packed up the Prius and headed further north to Manzanar. I shot the guard tower there last month after visiting the old Kearsarge station and ore loader. I didn’t have enough time before the Moon rose that day to shoot the Milky Way over the monument in the cemetery there that night. So I returned last night. One of the things that is difficult for photographers shooting the Milky Way is finding interesting foreground elements that not everyone else is shooting. At Joshua Tree, all of the “must shoot” foregrounds usually has a line, especially on weekends near the new Moon. It was refreshing being the only soul at the Manzanar cemetery, though a bit creepy. I shot the Milky Way as a stacked set and then light painted the monument from three sides. On the way out, I thought about shooting the guard station, a nice stone structure at the entrance, but I was just too tired and still had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of me(by the time I arrived home, I’d been up for 24 hours).
Wide shot of the clouds over the high Sierra.
You can see still sunlit Mt. Whitney at the left of the frame.
Just as the sun was setting behind the Sierra, Mt. Whitney just left of center is still lit by the setting sun. The peak at the far left is Mt. Langley, the most southern 14,000′ peak in the US.
The Milky Way over Diaz Lake.
The Milky Way over Diaz Lake with two dead trees illuminated.
The cemetery at Manzanar under the Milky Way.
eclare
The cemetery shot is gorgeous.
donatellonerd
what eclare said. also
Spanky
Well, I like ’em all.
Sorry about the job, Bill. Having money is good, though.
MomSense
Beautiful photos.
Wag
The cemetery photo is great. Â Nice light paint on the monument
arrieve
Wonderful, Bill. Your Milky Way shots are always gorgeous, but I just love the first picture of the clouds over the mountains. We are so lucky to live on such a beautiful planet.
cope
Shift workâŠblarg, picturesâŠstunning, thanks for showing them to us.
Iâm mostly impressed, though, with your resolve for putting in such long hours and yeomanâs efforts to get your shots. I consider myself Superman if I manage to get up at 2 in the morning and walk out on my pool deck to try to get a time exposure of a meteor shower or nighttime launch from Canaveral.
stinger
Breathtaking!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@eclare:
@donatellonerd: Thanks, I’ve been wanting to shoot that for a while. At first, I wasn’t sure that the camp would be open to shooting at night, but had a colleague to shot it and didn’t have an issue.
@Spanky: Glad you like’em. Just trying to survive here.
@MomSense: Thanks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Wag: Thanks, I’ve been following an Australian photographer who does this will old stuff down there and have been trying my own take here using his techniques. I like the results.
@arrieve: When I got out of the car at Diaz Lake, I knew that I had to shoot that sunset.
@cope: The work involves pulling products for orders so there’s a lot of walking involved and some lifting.
Since I live in a very light polluted area, pretty much the minimum drive to get to a place where I can shoot is about an hour to the coast and the drive time goes up from there. It was about 3 hours to Diaz Lake. I also do quite a bit of advance planning(Google Maps and checking the weather), I’m not going to invest the time and money for a trip if I don’t have a good chance of sucess.
@stinger: Thanks much.
SkyBluePink
You outdid yourself, Bill- cemeteries and trees, sun’s rays and Milky Ways!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SkyBluePink: Thanks, wait until you see the shots from the next week’s outing to Little Lake Valley.
Richard
I love that part of the world. I think you shared some photos of the “Fossil Falls ” with us a while back. They are near Olancha. I always enjoy your posts.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Richard: I’ve been spending a good bit of time in the Owens Valley this year. Thanks.