Mountain Man JC13's photostream  

I started taking pictures about 9 years ago. It began as a way of chronicling for my wife and daughter the wonders of the west, as I went to visit my brother who had moved from Tampa, Fla to Reno.

I did not own a camera, and had taken no pictures up until this trip.

I had grown up in the San Juaquin Valley , and loved the mountains and deserts of my youth.

Both my wife and daughter were native Hoosiers, and so flat landers.

The Sony Mavica that my daughter had purchased to shoot pictures of Lego creations for her internet website, provided me an inexpensive way to chonicle the trip.

So I proceeded snapping away to my hearts content, without fear of running out of film. First the Arch in St Louis the gateway to the west, then the LLano Estacodo in New Mexico.

On through Arizona to Las Vegas. A city I had last seen as only a slender strip in the desert had grown to a population of over 2 million. Up the west side of Nevada to Reno.

My brother and I then embarked on a tour of the state we had grown up in, California.
We started in Tahoe, a lake on the California-Nevada border which took my breath away due to its awesome beauty.

On to Hwy 395 along the stunningly beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains. We ran thier length, and swung west through the mojave desert past our favorite stay as AIr Force brats, Edwards Air force base.

When we reached Bakersfield we headed north through the San Juaquin Valley and then up into the mountains again to Seqouia National Park and finally Yosemite which was only about an hour from where he was born, and I attended elementary school.
All along the way I was snapping pictures, not having a clue as to how to compose my shots, relying on the marvelous automatic features that allowed me to come back with more than just blurred facsimiles of the wonders I had seen.

Upon returning from my journey, I down loaded my catch onto my computer, and was greatly discouraged at the lack of detail, color and clarity that was revealed.

That is how I got hooked.

The story I wanted to tell was now unsupported by the glorious visions I had seen. Those scenes had however burned an impression in my mind and heart, and I knew that I would return often, only I would be prepared to tell my story accompanied with vivid pictoral evidence.

Up until this point, my efforts to produce quality representations of the wonderful scenes that God has presented me on my travels, and in everyday work life, have been difficult. Technology and the rising expenses of keeping up with it, have presented an obstacle, but not an insurmountable one.
I have learned much from my failures, about me, the equipment, nature, and light.
I hope you enjoy the efforts my limited technological, and photographical skills have produced.

If you do enjoy the expressions of my work, that show the natural world from the prospective of one who wonders at the Creators mighty works, then consider Him who created it, for my photographs are simply testamony to His creative majesty.