Jeff Kohn's Photo Blog

Family Snapshots from Labor Day

2009-11-25T17:39:55-06:00

Just now getting around to posting some images from a family get-together (and birthday party for my nephew Joshua) over the Labor Day weekend back in September. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Garner State Park and the Frio River

2009-11-05T00:45:17-06:00

We made our annual camping trip to Garner State Park last weekend. Apparently all the kids stayed home to trick-or-treat, because the park was almost empty which was quite nice. Not much color though; I think we were a week or two early, but I also think it's not going to be a great year for autumn colors in that area. I have a feeling the cool weather came too late. But it was still an enjoyable visit - great weather, and the area along the Frio River is beautiful no matter what color the leaves are. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

The Darker Side of Caddo Lake

2009-09-23T02:08:07-05:00

These images are almost a year old, but I just now finally got around to working on them. Last November I went up to Longview and made arrangements to go out on the lake for both sunset and sunrise. I had hoped to catch some remnants of fall color, but when I got there it was obvious I was a couple of weeks late. I was also plagued with boring blue skies, and knew pretty much as I was shooting that the images out on the open part of the lake were going to be a bust. But trawling through the back-channels during the latest (and earliest) parts of the day, we did have some interesting light; and I hoped there would be something salvageable from the trip.

When I got home I shelved the Caddo images of favor of other more promising stuff, meaning to come back to them at some later date. But I never seemed to get around to it, and kept putting them off. Finally this week I decided to take a look. Without the fresh disappointment of not getting the images I originally hoped for, I found there were some possibly interesting images, even if they were different in style from what I first wanted. I still want to catch the peak colors there someday though... To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Brooks Brothers Park Portraits

2009-09-21T00:49:40-05:00

Time flies, it's been a full year since I've taken pictures of Cole and Noah. Scheduling and the weather finally cooperated and we were able to go over to the park for some pictures recently. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

More High Sierra Scenery

2009-09-11T14:32:52-05:00

This is the last of alpine scenery from our Eastern Sierra trip. These are from a handful of hikes we did in Viginia Lakes Basin, 20 Lakes Basin, and near Mammoth Lakes. 20 Lakes Basin in particular was fabulous, I could see spending a whole week exploring and photographing just in that area. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Mono Lake, South Tufa Area

2009-08-28T18:23:02-05:00

It's nice when getting up at 4am actually pays off. After a week of getting up early only to be disappointed by cloudless skies at sunrise, I debated whether it was really worth the pre-sunrise trip to Mono Lake, since the photographic potential depends so much on having interesting skies and calm winds (for reflections). But I decided one more early morning wouldn't kill me, so I went and was treated to pretty much ideal conditions. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Bodie Ghost Town

2009-08-23T13:48:22-05:00

We spent an afternoon at Bodie State Historic Park towards the end of our Eastern Sierra Nevada Trip. I didn't really know much about the place beforehand, except for the few pictures I'd seen on the web that all seemed to feature the same rusted out car. I didn't think the location would warrant spending any prime photographic hours (eg early/late); but we had some time to kill midday and decided to make the drive up. Even though the remaining ghost town represents a small portion of the town at its peak (a couple of fires wiped out many of the buildings), there was much more there to explore than I had expected. The few hours we spent there flew by, and I could definitely see spending more time there on a future visit.

In hindsight I wish I'd taken time to shoot some details and interiors (furnishings and other items are intact inside many of the buildings), but I got wrapped up in shooting the exteriors and the time slipped away from me. We got lucky with the weather. There were dark storm clouds just north/west of us; and while the rain stayed away, the clouds made for more interesting photography than I had any right to expect at that time of day. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Yosemite High Country

2009-08-14T01:02:28-05:00

Still working on the images from our Eastern Sierra trip in July. While staying in Mammoth Lakes, we drove up to the high country in Yosemite National Park twice. The first time was to hike to Gaylor Lakes, and the second time we visited Olmstead Point and a few other stops along the Tioga Pass Road. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Ancient Bristlecones, White Mountains

2009-08-06T23:14:46-05:00

While staying in Bishop, we visited the bristlecone pine groves in the White Mountains, which are the oldest living organisms on the planet (some over 4,000 years old). The upper Patriarch Grove is particularly impressive; I wish we'd had more time there, but we underestimated the drive time (count on at least 2hrs from Bishop). On the bright side, the storm that looked like it was headed straight for us during the drive up, broke up in time to make for some nice colors around sunset. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Sierra Trip Snapshots

2009-08-01T00:03:52-05:00

Seems we didn't come back with very many pictures of 'us' this time, but here are a few. Heather actually took most of these, guess I need to take my share next time so you don't get stuck with a gallery of mostly pictures of me. :) To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Eastern Sierra, Pt. 1

2009-07-30T23:25:30-05:00

I've started working on images from our trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California earlier in July. The first set is from our time staying in the Bishop area. We got to do a couple of really nice hikes, I think Little Lakes Valley was quite possibly one of the most scenic hikes we've ever done. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Aztec Ruins National Monument

2009-07-29T21:32:25-05:00

Here are a few images from my visit to New Mexico back in the spring. For some reason I never got around to posting them and kinda forgot about them until now. This is Aztec Ruins National Monument, which is a bit of misnomer since the ruins were actually built by the Anasazi just like most of the other ruins in the 4-corners area. We stopped by here to kill some time one rainy afternoon, when trudging back into the Bisti Wilderness wasn't really an option due to the weather. It turnedout to be a pretty interesting location. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Oregon Snapshots

2009-06-29T21:29:15-05:00

As previously mentioned here are some snapshots of Heather and I from our Oregon vacation. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Columbia River Gorge

2009-06-22T22:27:00-05:00

This is the last set of scenic images from our Oregon trip. The Columbia River Gorge was actually our first stop. This area has some of the most beautiful waterfalls we've ever seen. We spent 3 1/2 rainy days there and hiked several trails, including the Eagle Creek Trail which was spectacular (I'll post a few images from the trail along with some other snapshots later in the week). To view the images, click here or on the image above.

More from Oregon Coast - Black & White

2009-06-05T21:50:45-05:00

Here are the rest of the images from our stay on the coast, this time in black & white. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Oregon's Northern and Central Coast

2009-06-02T22:44:42-05:00

The second half of our Oregon vacation was spent on the coast. We stayed in Lincoln City on the central coast for two days, then traveled a bit further north to Cannon Beach for the last two days. After mostly rainy weather for the previous several days, things started to clear up by the afternoon of our first full day on the coast, so the weather worked out to our adventage and was quite nice the rest of the week. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Correction

2009-05-17T13:16:04-05:00

Yesterday's post went out with an incorrect hyperlink in the message (although the hyperlink on the image was correct). I've since fixed it, but if you had trouble getting to the Silver Falls gallery the correct link is here.

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

2009-05-16T19:31:04-05:00

We just spent a week in Oregon, primarily to hike/photograph in the Columbia River Gorge as well as on the northern/central coast. In-between we made a stopover in Salem, and visited Silver Falls State Park. We were supposed to have an afternoon and morning there, but the morning got rained out so we just got to spend 1/2 day there. It was a great hike though; between the iffy weather and it being a weekday in the off-season, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. While the weather conditions were unpleasant at times, they were actually great for photography in this type of environment. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Stone Topiary - Bisti Badlands

2009-04-27T00:56:26-05:00

As mentioned in the last post, I went to New Mexico to photograph at the Bisti Badlands wilderness area, about 30 miles south of Farmington. Bisti has become something of a project for me; this was my third visit, and it's become a place that I really enjoy photographing. There's so much to discover, and it's unlike any other place I've been. Photography can be difficult there, and the conditions can sometimes be harsh, but the desolate nature of the landscape is also part of its appeal. It's like being on another planet.

A friend from work who's also a photographer came along. We flew into Albuquerque on Thursday morning, got some supplies, and then made the 3-hour drive to Bisti and set up camp in the wilderness area. The original plan had been to camp two nights and then stay in a motel in Farmington Saturday night; but rain was coming Friday night, and the clay-based soil at Bisti is no fun to be in during rain. So we packed up camp a day early and checked into the motel on Friday night. Saturday was mostly lost to the rain, but we had a good time shooting Thursday and Friday, and camping out there was a really neat experience, especially under a full moon.

These images are a bit different from what I typically shoot, which is part of what I like about Bisti. The most interesting elements of the landscape tend to be smaller in scale, and require a different approach, getting in closer and focusing on indvidual features rather than trying to take everything in with a wideangle view. The fact that these shapes are carved by wind and rain makes them all the more incredible. To view the images, click here or on the image above.

Shiprock / Tsé Bit'a'í

2009-04-21T23:21:54-05:00

I recently took a trip to New Mexico, primarily to re-visit the Bisti Wilderness Area. I'm still working on those images, but I do have a few images ready from a visit to Shiprock on our last morning there. The weather was pretty miserable when we got there - cold, windy, overcast and drizzling. We didn't actually get to see sun rise; at one point the clouds were so thick we could barely see Shiprock itself. But we decided to wait and see what happened, and eventually there were some brief breaks in the clouds that allowed for a few shots. Not the most pleasant morning I've ever spent shooting, but still worth it in the end. To view the images, click here or on the image above.