Burned II

Link to previous post…

Burned

The previous post above hopefully gives a good impression of the place and so now I present some of my images. The landscape and conditions were well suited to black and white. Here I have a mix of neutral toned and warm-toned images. I am experimenting with a warm-tone and find it works in some cases by softening the image slightly. The panoramas were …

Morse Brothers StudiosDoug Morse

By the time I got back to the campground the first evening the rain was kicking up again. I had already unloaded some waterproof items so I crawled in the back of the truck to wait out this next thrashing. Alas, the rain did not let up and I ended up making a sandwich in the back of the truck for dinner before settling in for some reading and then heading off to sleep. The rain beat down incessantly until the early morning. I rose early and did my best to make coffee and cereal as quietly as possible. I packed up camp and drove out to a quiet overlook and watched the light shift and got caught up on photo editing.

It was a sublime time, the air still held the scent of the desert plants, birds made their morning calls and a breeze blew through the grasses. Below is a short audio soundscape from that morning on the overlook. The clicking I believe is some insects signalling to each other.

Later I drove to where the rain had prevented me from taking a few photos yesterday.

[Technical Note: Except as noted these were taken with an Olympus 135mm f2.8 prime adapted to he Fuji GFX 50sii. They are shot as full frame 35mm 3:2 aspect ratio.]

The first is the bare manzanita bush. It has a crazy skeletal quality to it.

This next color image uses the indian paintbrush to stand against the dead and burnt shrubs in the background.

Next I drove out to Skull Cave and walked awhile out onto Lyon’s trail. It was beginning to get warmer as the sun rose. In one cave entrance I captured the color of the lichens.

I then made my way over to Fleeney Chimneys which are splatter cones.

And then to Black Crater.

Black Crater was situated in the middle of a recent lava flow and featured many untouched juniper trees. Those junipers that seeded in the inhospitable newer lava beds were rewarded as the vast unvegetated areas acted as a fire break and kept these trees from being burnt.

These old unburnt trunks make nice black and white subjects.

Finally some small flowers and grass shelter in the sharp lava.

Burned III

I am perched today at an overlook contemplating my exit from the park. I look out over the vast Tule Lake and the lava fields just below. I watch as another thunderstorm grows out of the southeast and seems intent on heading this way. A moment ago I parked in the shade to avoid the intense sun but now the storm is mak…

Morse Brothers StudiosDoug Morse