Mono Lake, Bodie Ghost Town and Autumn Colors - Si

We found this little creek flowing along and under Highway 182, leading from the town of Bridgeport into Nevada.

On close inspection of the bottom of the reservoir, we found a collection of odd plants, many of them strung together with spider webs.

We began our photography a few miles out of the town we were staying in, Bridgeport, California. What at first appeared to be a dried-up reservoir turned out to be a rich harvest of colors.

A small, colorful and quietly burbling flow of water issued from a boulder field.

Curt and Stacy led our group to one of the waterfalls visible near Tioga Pass. This one was surrounded by chunks of ice that probably measured six feet in height.

Sometimes it pays to look up while wandering through the woods.

We had to wait for sunset to present its true colors.

I commanded my camera to emphasize the turning color in the sky as evening drew near.

A 1/6th to 1/8th second exposure is usually enough to give a nice sense of blur to water.

Setting the camera in "Shade" mode warmed up what was, in Suto White Balance, a rather blue and green photograph.

We found some good color in Lee Vining Canyon.

The white smear on the mountain in the background is Horsetail Falls (also known as Rush Creek Falls).

He keeps the sheep safe near the ghost town of Bodie.

The owner of the sheep - originally from Spain and up from Bakersfield, on the opposite side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains - spent the afternoon herding and inoculating his sheep from disease. He danced and shouted and mouthed funny sounds to move the sheep into a corral. He waved a cattle prod in his hand, which he used liberally once the sheep were in a pen.

Just one photograph, no double exposures, no manipulation in Photoshop. Do YOU believe in ghosts?

Having a fair amount of experience with travel and nature photography, I'm often attuned to the nuances of objects both near and far in a scene. That was the case here, when I realized I could put the church steeple and birds in close juxtaposition with the moon.

When I showed some of those in our group what I had photographed, by letting them look at the LCD on the back of my camera, they found the image revelatory. They had looked out at what I looked out at, and then, simply for lack of experience, had failed to see what I saw. Soon enough, with a little practice of their own, they were learning to carve out their own vision of the world around them.