10 years ago, my wife and I went to the Joshua Tree National Park and spent a magical few hours there. It’s a barren desertscape with joshua trees standing in rows like a Christmas tree farm. The trees are spiny, seems to be more like a study in geometric lines than botany.
10 years later, the sight is even more magical with the oncoming storm:
My main love is of course, B&W photos:
And here is the full set:
http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/JoshuaTree010/
Enjoy!
Salton Sea is like nothing else. A ring of towns becoming ghost towns. Dying fish lined the shore, RVs being swallowed up. The smell is different. The sight is different. It is like nothing else.
Yet life goes on. May be from a NYC band doing a music video, or the local kids who are never tired of the yet another sunset.
The full set is here:
http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/SaltonSea010/
I hope you enjoy it.
What do you do when the World ends? Why, shoot a music video of course:
And here’s a rainbow for you:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/richardman/L9993473.jpg.html
Salton Sea was dotted with vibrant communities a mere 30-40 years ago, but now the sea is dying, and so are fish, birds, and the communities. Each beach, each community, has a different story to tell. Today I only a few hours spent at the Bombay Beach. I even took a couple pictures of a rock band doing a music video in a decayed house, and a couple local kids driving a dune buggy, but those pictures have to wait until I get home and develop the film etc.
Meanwhile, enjoy some cell phone pics. I think it’s a Megapixel camera? Don’t know how to zoom though. These fancy phone/camera is too smart for me 
More pics here: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/richardman/BombayBeach010
I hope to get up at godawful hours to catch Sunrise at the Joshua Tree National Park.
Crossing over a year is a funny thing – my last set of photos spans two years!
We were taking photos of the lights on Christmas Eve. Then I took photo of our daughter taking photos…
(click MORE to see more photos…)
I collected the Big Basin photos as a mini-photo essays. Check it out. Click: http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/BigBasin09/
Teaser pic
To be a successful photographer (or painter, illustrator etc.) of a particular subject, you must grok the subject. You must see from the viewpoints of the subject, as well as the viewpoints of the viewers who will look at the photograph later. What are you trying to say, besides that you have brought a camera?
I don’t think I grok trees yet. I spent 5 hours hiking in the Big Basin State Park, often “petting” the trees, trying to get them tell me their secrets.
But they are mysterious. Their life is their own. One day, I hope to grok it.
Many blog entries and now even a book have been written about Oolong and his ability to balance ordinary and not so ordinary objects on his head. Kaiya, on the other hand, is a very anxious and earnest dog. For example, she would rush to the door and scratch at it when we come home, can’t wait for us to come through the door, to the point that the inside of our door is quite marred.
My wife, who has the patience of a Bodhisattva when it comes to small animals and started teaching Kaiya to calm down enough, at least for a picture or two:
The Northern and Southern trails run along this small California state park, perhaps for no more than 2 or 3 miles, but what a sight to behold. While Yosemite reminds you how small you are with its giant granite faces and unreal sized trees, Point Lobos is different. With the sea lions barking in the distance, the waves pounding at the rocks, the cypress trees stand proudly, it’s a unique place like no others. The ocean waves calm you, the texture of the beaches mesmerize you. No wonder this is the place where three generations of the Weston called home, and in their honor, in turn they named a beach after them.
A full set of 15 photos can be found here:
http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/PtLobos09
p.s. some people inquired earlier: yes, any photos on my sites are for sale. Send me email if interested.
My favorite set of 41 photos from the 41st International Taiko Festival pictures is here:
http://www.rfman.com/Taiko/41st-International-Taiko/Best-Of/
The whole set if here:
http://www.rfman.com/Taiko/41st-International-Taiko/Nov-14-2009/
