Yesterday (October 8, 2005) I drove a long loop east over the Sierra at Carson Pass, then south over Monitor Pass and down Hiway 395, and returning over Tioga Pass.

There were lots of spectacular fall colors, though this is not going to end up being the most spectacular fall in the Sierra. It looked like quite a few groves were past their peak, having lost many leaves. (Though the ghostly effect of leafless aspen groves is also interesting.)

There were still some great colors on Sonora Pass Hiway east of the summit and near Conway Summit north of Mono Lake. There are some striking stands of color on the Markleeville side of Monitor Pass but the extensive groves near the pass seemed past their prime. I saw other smaller but striking patches here and there.

I’ve never seen so many photographers in this area before. At some aspen groves there was no place to park. At one point there must have been over 20 cars stopped along the road near Conway Summit. All the motels in Lee Vining were full.

I’ll post a few of my photos later. And to prove that my sense of irony is intact, the first of my “fall color” photos will be of the aftermath of a range fire near Monitor Pass.

I have returned to my real job – music department faculty at my Silicon Valley college – and have less time to do photography now. I doubt I’ll be able to keep up the effort to post nearly daily photos now, though expect photographs on a less regular schedule.
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From Mike Johnson’s article (“The Magic Bullet”) at Luminous Landscape:

To be honest, most of my pictures suck. The saving grace of that admission is that most of your pictures suck, too. How could I possibly know such a thing? Because most of everybody’s pictures suck, that’s how. I’ve seen Cartier-Bresson’s contact sheets, and most of his pictures sucked. One of my teachers said that it was an epiphany for him when he took a class from Garry Winogrand and learned that most of Winogrand’s exposures sucked. It’s the way it is.

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On Tuesday I posted a note about the corrected dating of an Ansel Adams photo taken in Yosemite. Robert Pearce posted a note today pointing out that this has happened before:

This isn’t the first time this has been done. In Ansel Adams’
book “An Autobiography,” in the chapter on Nation Parks he discusses another date
correction done I’m assuming in the late 1970’s. Adams
had misdated MOONRISE for many years, labeling it 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944.
Dr. David Elmore computed the actual date to be October 31, 1941, between 4:00
and 4:05P.M.

Technology is amazing.

It is reassuring to know that I’m not the only one who can’t keep dates straight!
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