Mt. Shasta covered with snow was awesome the way it towers over the landscape, which seemingly comes into view from over 100 miles out. My dad, brother and I started out really early in the morning to get to Shasta, so we could spend some time there since daylight is still pretty short, and it takes about four hours to get there.

In trying to find a great picture of mountain, we somehow ended up in the town of McCloud, and while the Mt. Shasta was in the background, the town was home to many rail cars, some covered in snow, and it made a wonderful shoot.

What really amazed me about shooting Shasta was how far away from it we were, how high up it is, and yet, how much detail of the mountain I picked up with my camera. With it, I could even tell where it looked like a broken off snow ridge and an avalanche occurred. With the naked eye, you couldn’t see where it that easy. If you’re ever in the area in the winter time when the mountain is snowcapped, do yourself a photographic favor, and stop by. You can see the images of Mt. Shasta here, and I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did making them.

Now, Clarksville, just outside of El Droado Hills, is a town of local historical significance, and it’s going to be torn down for development. In several ways, it reminded me of Bodie since it was deserted, but unlike Bodie, isn’t in a state of arrested decay, and the land is privately owned.

On the ground are the reminants of an old Wells Fargo Bank, an empty open space where a shcoolhouse once sat, and a few homes. The schoolhouse was moved up the hill a bit and turned into stables. Also, there are a few old homes that are falling apart and looking kind of like shanties that a peroson can picture in the deep South.

I was privledged to get to shoot one-time town of Clarksville and document what had been there because it isn’t open to public, and I will probalby be one of the last professional photographers to really photograph the place. As for the images of Clarksville I’ve published, you can see them here. With all but one, I gave them an old looking flavor to add to the time-period.

I was really proud to do the kind of work I did in Clarksville because I got to help preserve something for the historical record that will probably not be there in the next couple of years.

The image I wanted to make was of the winter snow-capped mountains from a distance, but that didn’t pan out, as the road I had to be on to get the view I wanted was closed due to snow. I would have thought that it would a be a plowed road. I thought about turning around and going home, but I decided against that. It was a nice day out, but I should have gone with my first instinct to turn back.

I made two images, and while I like them, it wasn’t what I wanted. Both are snowscapes, one in black and white and one in color. You can enjoy them here and here.

If the weather is permitting, next weekend I plan on shooting Mt. Shasta, as it’s covered with snow, and I’ve been wanting to image it in the winter for two years now.

I’ve shied away from it because of how daunting it seemed, but I’ve got some experience under my belt, and it’s really not as difficult as I had been led to believe. To check out my wedding services, you can look here.

My style is photojournalistic, which is a natural carry-over from my award winning work as a photojournalist.

At a recent wedding I shot, I really had a lot of fun working it with fellow photographer Michael Kriby, who I’ve worked with at the Auburn Journal.

The apes made beautiful images, each of them told their own visual story. Their facial expressions were almost human, and you had to wonder what they were thinking about, as they sat in their enclosures looking back at the people looking at them. The Silverback looked sad most of the time. He retreated inside several times where he couldn’t be seen, and then he sat in the doorway a lot looking at his fellow apes and the people looking at him. Something was up with him. The images of the apes and chimpanzee I imaged can be seen in this. I also posted more images from Bodie, which I went back to last week.

I was supposed to go with another photographer friend, but he got ill, and there were still some images I wanted, so I went back on my own. I plan on at least two more trips to ghost town in the future, but I’m not sure when. It’s odd – most of my life I’ve wanted to go there, and then all of sudden I’ve been there three times in past few months. It really is a beautiful drive there, and the town itself is in a state of arrested decay, whcih is worth seeing. It’s very interesting.

I was afraid that I missed the good stuff, as I checked weather.com‘s fall foliage map, and it said the area was pretty much passed its peak. To my delight, that wasn’t quite accurate. Yes, a lot of the trees were missing their leaves, but some hadn’t started to turn yet, while others had turned and others were ready to drop their leaves. Anybody who knows me knows I’m really not all that full of myself, and I really don’t have time for people who are, but I was pretty impressed with what I came back with today. It also might be because I came back with a lot of yellow, and it is my favorite color. I bet none of you knew that!

I was really taken back with how many shooters were out on the road doing that same thing I was, both amateur and professional. I was in good company.

While photographing leaves is one of my favorite natural features to photograph, there are ways to photograph them to make them stand out and “glow” using natural light. I couldn’t use that technique today because it was overcast, and I also didn’t want to wait for the sun to be in the right position if it did come out from behind the clouds – I could have been there all day, and I wanted to be home before dark. To make leaves glow, capture them with the light of the sun coming in from behind them instead of in front of them. They look so much better, and not too many people capture leaves this way, so yours will stand out.

I know my last post was related to what I do at the paper, and I don’t really like to talk about “work” on this blog, but I was out on assignment last week, and I came across previously submerged tree stumps with their roots now exposed at Folsom Lake, and I captured one of them while I was out there and added it to my personal collection. If you’re in the area, now is a great time to get out there for this kind of stuff, since the lake is so low.