Paul Porter Photography's photostream  

First, my apologies for being out of touch on Flickr; posting and running as some would say. I promise to catch up to everyone's streams in the next couple weeks.

I think its really cool that while mankind has made huge technological leaps since the birth of the industrial age, we're probably pretty similar in many ways to our hunter/gatherer ancestors. Once they figured out how to express themselves through language and art, they made their mark in some remarkable ways, like painting the limestone caves in what's now France, to tapping out meaningful symbols on volcanic basalt to last for ages. In that same time mankind has made these leaps in progress, the planet has changed in very minute ways geologically, offering us these historical markers that remain as windows into who we used to be as humans, knowing that after the passing of the last ice age, the planet appears much the same as when these ancient unnamed artisans tapped out these myriad symbols.

This is from a Fall 2010 trip to the east side, when friend and long time local Robb Hardin treated Marc and I to Sky Rock. I've seen so many images of this place, many much more dramatic, but here's my midday take on this wonder and the stunning vistas from the Volcanic Tablelands. I would love to see more sites like these and learn the meaning of the symbols, assuming its not just ancient graffiti.

When the sun peaked out from behind the forested ridges above Cataract Falls, I figured my shooting opportunities were fading fast, until I noticed there was something unique happening as beams of sunlight, filtered through the trees above, began igniting random spots along the falls. This one lasted for a few minutes, offering a chance to capture the sun's masterful alchemy with the rushing waters. A little extra moment of flash sparked a few drops in flight.

As the earth spun towards the east we regarded El Capitan, following the full moon's light marching down its face, something I'm sure those big wall climbers appreciated for their evening activities. Standing beside me, whiling away the hours of shooting were photography friends Jean, Matt and Ellie. Thanks for the fond memories from a wonderful summer weekend of shooting adventures.

Thanks for stopping by for a look.

I'm glad I made it up to the White Mountains in October. While I was scouting for an iconic tree subject for sunrise, I walked all around Patriarch and almost settled on this one, but the placement in the surroundings just wasn't doing it for me. While I continued walking alone on this particular hill, I found what looked like Mountain Lion tracks in some of the larger patches of snow, so I thought I would try something closer to the car.

Thanks for dropping by for a look.

A little while after the early Fall Sierra storm, the Owens Valley returned to normal Fall conditions, with short sleeve warm days and clear cool nights. It was on one of those fine evenings, after a delicious sit down dinner with fellow photographers at Rob Hardin's family's house in Starlight, when we wandered off onto an unnamed dirt road and lined ourselves up facing the Sierra with the moon at our backs.

We were waiting and watching for a this single layer lenny to develop into a mothership and also move a little to the east so Basin Mtn would be fully bathed in moonlight, but it parked itself right there the whole time and eventually started to evaporate so we took advantage of the conditions handed us. We had a great time laughing and shooting until we were too tired to stand anymore. Well maybe Matt had a couple more hours left in him.

I want to thank fellow photographers Marc Briggs, Matt (Mattman) Granz, Miguel (Amigo) de la Cruz, Darv Atkinson and Rob Hardin for a wonderful long week weekend seeking the magic of Fall color on the East Side. Until next year...

Thanks for stopping by for a look.