Today Julia and I went scouting, primarily to see if the vultures have returned to Lake Elizabeth, but also to scout around for photo opportunities and gather inspiration.
The first thing we found along Elizabeth Lake Road, about halfway between Highland Ave and Godde Hill Rd, was a ranch with Bison. We didn't stop but it looked like you could get some pretty good shots from the road with a telephoto, or knock on their door and see if you can get some real closeups. Past Godde Hill Rd there were a couple of Llama ranches on the left. And, of course, there were the usual horses, cows, goats, and other critters. There were also lots of unique houses if you're into architecture.
At the recent bird walk Ron Smith said that crows were starting to move into the Antelope Valley because of the high population density areas, though normally they don't like the desert. Today Julia saw and heard her first crow, several of them actually, hanging around Lake Elizabeth. http://www.artforthemasses.us/castacon/viewtopic.php?start=15&t=1381
We stopped at the Lake Hughes Lakes and Valley's Art Guild, LVAG, to find out what's happening and gather inspiration. I talked to Ron Spees for a while about his photography, some of which he has displayed at the LVAG gallery. Several of the paintings on display were of places like Willow Springs, Tropico, and Daggett. One interesting painting of a cat caught my eye, partly because the background has a number of pastel blotches that seemed to enhance the cat, something that could be done with lighting for a photo. This is the type of inspiration I look for so that I can create photos that stand out because of their uniqueness, if I ever become that good. This gallery is a also a good place to display and sell your photos. I noticed that LPA Member Lyle Trusty had at least one hanging there.
From there we drove into the main residential area of Lake Elizabeth which is on the South side of the lake. There is a place where you can park your car and walk along the South side of the lake to get the sun behind you. You can also drive up the ridge and get some nice shots looking down onto the lake as well as the houses across the lake.
Then we moved on to Green Valley, only a few minutes away, and found a forest community that looks like the last 70 years of time have been stirred together. The two-lane country roads wound through, and under, old trees and bushes, past old and new houses with kids and dogs and bicycles, and giving off an odd feeling of peacefulness. I didn't find anything in particular to photograph, partly because of the midday lighting, but I did find myself wishing I lived there. Sort of a 'Willoughby' scene, if you're a Twilight Zone fan.
Then it was back to the desert and reality. We didn't find any "Eureka!" places today but I'm sure that there are many good photos in that area for the patient and observant photographer.
The first thing we found along Elizabeth Lake Road, about halfway between Highland Ave and Godde Hill Rd, was a ranch with Bison. We didn't stop but it looked like you could get some pretty good shots from the road with a telephoto, or knock on their door and see if you can get some real closeups. Past Godde Hill Rd there were a couple of Llama ranches on the left. And, of course, there were the usual horses, cows, goats, and other critters. There were also lots of unique houses if you're into architecture.
As we passed Lake Elizabeth there were no leaves on the trees, which is probably why there are no vultures hanging around. But the leaves are beginning to bud out. On the lake we saw what looked to be a Greater Egret http://users.mcmedia.com.au/~stocky/DO/GreatEgret3.jpg and a Great Cormorant
http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/great-cormorant:phalacrocorax-carbo-photo-2608.html. There were also many seagulls, ducks and other birds.
At the recent bird walk Ron Smith said that crows were starting to move into the Antelope Valley because of the high population density areas, though normally they don't like the desert. Today Julia saw and heard her first crow, several of them actually, hanging around Lake Elizabeth.
http://www.artforthemasses.us/castacon/viewtopic.php?start=15&t=1381
We stopped at the Lake Hughes Lakes and Valley's Art Guild, LVAG, to find out what's happening and gather inspiration. I talked to Ron Spees for a while about his photography, some of which he has displayed at the LVAG gallery. Several of the paintings on display were of places like Willow Springs, Tropico, and Daggett. One interesting painting of a cat caught my eye, partly because the background has a number of pastel blotches that seemed to enhance the cat, something that could be done with lighting for a photo. This is the type of inspiration I look for so that I can create photos that stand out because of their uniqueness, if I ever become that good. This gallery is a also a good place to display and sell your photos. I noticed that LPA Member Lyle Trusty had at least one hanging there.
From there we drove into the main residential area of Lake Elizabeth which is on the South side of the lake. There is a place where you can park your car and walk along the South side of the lake to get the sun behind you. You can also drive up the ridge and get some nice shots looking down onto the lake as well as the houses across the lake.
Then we moved on to Green Valley, only a few minutes away, and found a forest community that looks like the last 70 years of time have been stirred together. The two-lane country roads wound through, and under, old trees and bushes, past old and new houses with kids and dogs and bicycles, and giving off an odd feeling of peacefulness. I didn't find anything in particular to photograph, partly because of the midday lighting, but I did find myself wishing I lived there. Sort of a 'Willoughby' scene, if you're a Twilight Zone fan.
Then it was back to the desert and reality. We didn't find any "Eureka!" places today but I'm sure that there are many good photos in that area for the patient and observant photographer.