JMT Shot of the day

“Since I like thinking about the JMT and I noticed a few people will be hiking this glorious trail this summer, I think I'll post a photo a day from my hike a couple summers ago. Not that my shots are great or anything, but the country sure is. They'll be random.



Zis is a shot from the outlet of Evolution Lake at sunset. The water falls sharply here and cascades to the head of Evolution Valley, where it will be greeted casually by Colby, McClure, and Evolution Meadows. Whenever I'm in the area, which is pretty much every summer, I make a point to camp near the outlet of Evolution Lake because I love it so much. It's a spectacular view no matter which way you look. It was extra special on our JMT thru hike because we camped here on the night that Mars was the closest to earth since the advent of McDonald's, or something like that. We ate dinner that night. Anyway, the AT sucks. Kidding. Ha!”

“Nice..makes me yearn for the time that I'll be able to return to the JMT...What a great hike...”

“Wow Buck I have stood in that exact same spot!!! Along with the rest of Sierrapalooza
gang. Cool shot it almost looks like fire water 8)”

“Hey, thanks, Buck. I'll faithfully look, just in case I get lost this summer.”

“beautiful shot Buck!!! Way better than very good!”

“but thanks for the show.”

“Beautiful!”

“Cool!”

“whhhaaa!!!! I wanna take pictures like Buck!
Awesome. Really! (not that you didn't know that already)”

“You are one-heck-of-a-photographer.”

“

This is looking across Evolution Lake towards our campsite. There were some rising clouds as the sun was setting which made for a cool environment weather situation thing. We had camped the previous night at the confluence of Piute Creek and the S.F. San Joaquin River so it wasn't too tough of a day. We took a long break at McClure Meadow, one of my favorite places in the Sierra. We caught 4.2 katrillion (or was it bazillion?) golden trout in Evolution Lake, the biggest being about 9". We also entertained ourselves by throwing rocks at a North Korean mini-submarine that was covertly cruising the lake. For breakfast I had Quaker® Maple Brown Sugar oatmeal. That's my JMT shot of the day.”

“Dayyum..... great pix Buck. Velvia 50 yes/no? Probably faster.”

“I only took Velvia 50 on this trip. Velvia 100 weighs twice as much.”

“So what are you trying to do? I've been drooling over this trail enough as it is. Now you're making it REALLY difficult to wait until August . . . but keep the pics coming anyway . . . :) thanks!”

“Maestro, I don't care what anyone says, you're the coolest dude on this board....awesome shots man!

Thanks for sharing.....keepin' comin'”

“Beautiful as always. Are there giraffe herds visible in these pictures as well?”

“Oh, my God!”

“once again, backpacking is porn....



“You are one-heck-of-a-pornographer.””

“i hate you

seriously....submarine?”

“

This is the southside of Forester Pass. Please remember backcountry etiquette: do not cut switchbacks.”

“What's a switchback? 8p
last edited: 2/02/05 12:01:46 PM”

“HOLY S_ _ _ _!

Don't pee off the side of the cliff if your buddy is lagging behind either.”

“

We were pysched about Forester Pass being the highest trailed pass on the JMT (actually, the entire PCT as well). We wanted to camp as close to the pass as we could so we could tackle it first thing in the morning. Well, we came across this area of upper Bubbs Creek near Center Peak and it was such a beautiful area that we decided to stay here even though we still had plenty of daylight to continue on towards Forester Pass. I'm glad we did because there wasn't much in terms of camping after this spot and Forester Pass wasn't the monster we had imagined. Besides, this was one of my favorite places on the journey. I would sneak up this creek and toss out a fly and catch some brilliantly colored golden trout, then stand up and take a photo, then sneak up to the next pool and catch a golden and then take a pic, etc., etc. It was why I hiked this trail... fishing for goldens in spectacular scenery and peeing off 2,000' cliffs. The peeing pics are in the fee section of my website.”

“Oh. man, you gotta stop doing this to me.

Spectacular, Buck!”

“Don't worry Buck. You'll figure out how to take good pictures someday.”

“Whoa, how long is the edge walk? Wouldn't you just hate to meet a bear on the way to Forrester Pass?”

“Buck--

WOW... I know you've mentioned it before, but what type of film are you using?!

Is it slide film or regular Negatives...
and do you have a slide/negative scanner that you could recommend (that won't cost an arm or leg?!)

I think I'm going to have to look for that thread with the answers...”

“pinkster, I shoot Fuji Velvia 50, which is a saturated color slide film. I scan with a Nikon Coolscan IV slide scanner. It won't cost you an arm or a leg, but you'll at least hafta pay up the nose.”

“"Fuji Velvia 50 cause it's half the weight of Fuji Velvia 100"”

“Wannabp...are you coming in over Kearsarge?
If so you get to do Forester too! :)”

“a new desktop background!”

“WW, I am coming in over Kearsarge and Forrester, and I'm not overly fond of edges. Oh, well, it is beautiful.”

“Actually Forester Pass isn't as bad as it may look, as long as you're confident walking on a 2x4 across Niagara Falls with a full loaded pack under windy conditions. Kidding, it's no tougher than pogo-sticking on a tight rope over the Grand Canyon. Ahhh, I jest, it's as easy as roller blading down the suspension arms of the Golden Gate Bridge. Seriously, it's not bad, unless, as you say, you come across a mother bear and her cubs going the opposite direction, or more likely, a pack mule train. They actually screen Fear Factor® participants on Forester Pass with an ultralight backpack loaded with 40 lbs. It's that scary. Really it's not as bad as the photos look.

Here's another view of Forester Pass (Jim is down the trail a ways)
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/1778786-lg.jpg

Here's another view (Jim is up against the cliff)
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/1778782-lg.jpg

The trail don't look so bad from this view because, well, it's really not so bad.
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/1748201-lg.jpg

There's actually more "exciting" sections of trail on the ridge trail to Whitney than on Forster Pass.
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/1743721-lg.jpg

Anyway, you're gonna die. It eventully happens to all of us.”

“

I don't backpack to hike, I backpack to take breaks in pretty areas. Here's Surfer Dave, a guy we hooked up with early on in the trail and he continued on with us after his partner bailed. Jim's in the background thinking he felt a skeeter on his back, and he hates skeeters. He doesn't hike with me unless it's late in the season, post-skeeter season. After an investigation, it turns out it was a killer bee that landed on his back. Whew! Good thing it wasn't a skeeter. This is McClure Meadow in Evolution Valley, Kings Canyon National Park, California, United States of America, which is presided over by George W. Bush with some council from aliens in an underground bunker beneath an unmarked warehouse in Roswell, MN. We're in good hands.”

“Since I'm always out adventuring on the weekends, I'll post Saturday and Sunday's JMT shots today. Seriously, that's what I'm gonna do.



This is the largest Rae Lake in the Rae Lakes Basin. It was early evening when we arrived here and we were out of stove fuel and out of snack/lunch food. Our metabolisms were screaming by the time we made it here. Yes, we have metabolisms. Jim found a group of lesbian women libber hikers from the Bay Area who were camping there and they had ungodly loads and were happy to dump off volumes of food for us. I love lesbian women libbers. Who says women can't have armpit hair? Far bet from me to say so. I only judge women by the quality and and quantity of food they provide on the trail.




Ahhhh... FREEEEDOM! This is a self-portrait of myself (duh?) overlooking the upper Bubbs Creek drainage as we approached Foester Pass. My hiking buds just cranked up this sucker wanting to get up to the top because a storm was brewin'. I stopped frequently for photo opps. When they aren't around I have to be my own model. The problem with that is I'm expensive and I can't even afford myself. I gave myself a substantial discount. But it was an awesome morning climbing Forester Pass.”

“This is my FAVOURITEST favourite thread.”

“So, Gremlin, you did see the JMT thru-hike thread, right? If you sign up for another trip I'm on, I will personally review the where-we're-meeting plan with you.”

“Thanks, Buck. This is really fun. Rae Lake is my favorite so far.”

“I've got too many JMT shots so I'm gonna post a couple/few a day instead of one, otherwise it will be summer 2020 by the time I get through them.


Dave and Jim at the inlet of Evolution Lake. This was the beginning of another incredible day as we made our way through Evolution Basin and over Muir Pass and down Le Conte Canyon, some of my favorite High Sierra scenery. Right after I took this shot we were savagely attacked by a herd of enraged marmots. We feared for our lives. I've never impaled so many marmots with my trekking pole at one time in my whole life.


[img]http://gallery.photo.net/photo/1778824-lg.jpg [/img]
This was taken just a few minutes later from the previous shot as Dave and Jim cranked along Sapphire Lake, which is the next lake above Evolution Lake. It honestly is.




This area place situation zone is called Tully Hole. It is the upper reaches of Fish Creek which is filled with fish. The mountains are the Silver Divide and on the other side of those suckers is where our first and only resupply awaited us at Lake Thomas Edison. It's an ugly place filled with incredible beauty and wonderful meadows. Going downhill was nice but knowing we had to immediately make it up by cranking over those mountains made us wish there was a huge suspension bridge across Tully Hole. Maybe someday.”

“
This one didn't post for some freaking muthuh-lovin' reason. It was supposed to go above the text in the middle of the above pics. It's of Dave and Jim crankin' along Sapphire Lake above Evolution Lake. I took this photo with a modified waterfilter. My camera bit the dust.”

“buck, how are your colors are so intense?

what kind of camera do you use?

do you use a polarizing filter or something?

seriously, i must know. i'm photo-illiterate but am v e r y slowly learning.”

“Every time I see a Buck post I holler to the other teachers in the office, 'Hey,' or, 'Ladies, I got porn.'

Hey, turns MY crank.”

“ze sacco®, I shoot with Fuji Velvia 50 slide film which is fine-grained color saturated film. It's used primarily for wilderness landscape shots. My camera is a Canon Elan 7 and I often use a polarizer when the conditions are right for it, which tends to enhance color even more.

Gremlin®, gracias. I posted these neked.”

“What, no pics of the marmots?”

“buck, how much of a difference does the polar filter make?

do you have any shots that you took with and without the filter to compare?

how much better is the filter, than say, adjusting w/ photoshop after?”

“I'm nowhere in the league of Buck, but on slide film, Polarizers make a good difference to color, particularly bringing out blues in the sky. Slide film is much more sensitive than negative, and you get much better results from it. Negative film tends to be made for ya everytday user who just wants his pictures of his kids to come out so grandma can see them. This is why it softens colours to give you viewable pictures across a wider range of conditions. Unfortunately that comes at the expense of piccies with impact of those Buck takes.”

“I know the therory, I just gotta work on the practice ;o)”

“sacco, the effect of a polarizer depends on the lighting, the subject, and the angle of subject to the sun. I use a circular polarizer and you can rotate it while looking through the viewfinder to see the various effects it may have on a scene. The effect is greatest at about a 90 degree angle from the sun. When shooting with a wide angle lens the polarization effect on the sky can be uneven, as you can see in my shot above of Tully Hole. It's much darker on the right. Sometimes you can't avoid that with a polarizer and a wide angle lens. A polarizer does intensify colors in certain/most situations and helps cut glare. They also make great mini-frisbees.

As for Photoshop, I always prefer to try and get the shot right beforehand. In Photoshop I only try and match the original slide the best I can. I do have shots with and without a polarizer, I'll try and post some when I get a chance.

Hey y2®, true dat (minus the "league of Buck" stuff). As you said, negative film has much more lattitude than slide film so you don't hafta nail an exposure to still get decent results, whereas with slide film it's much less forgiving but when you nail it, it's suh-weet and the color and contrast kick el butto.”

“Buck,
How are you scanning your slides in to your computer. I've done some with my recent slides I stared and I'm not to thrilled with the results dispite the slides looking great on the light table

I currently am using a HP scanner that has the slide attachment. I believe the max dpi is 2400.”

“Hola jrohner78®, I scan with a Nikon Coolscan IV, which is a film scanner. It only scans at 2900 dpi but dedicated film scanners typically do much better at scanning slides than using a flatbed with an adapter. The new Nikon Coolscan's scan at 4000 dpi. Of course for the web high dpi doesn't matter, that only comes into play if you're printing substantial enlargements.”