Bob Kent 7/9/22 Bob Kent 7/9/22

Channeling Huell Howser in the Eastern Sierra

The last couple of months, with the drought going on, we have been channeling his shows on the Owens River and the Eastern Sierra. He visited an amazing number of locations. (Admit it, you heard his voice when you read amazing didn’t you.)

Huell Howser once told critic Robert Lloyd that the intent of his show was to encourage viewers to “begin personal adventures into the circumstances of their place as if to turn each neighborhood joint or roadside attraction into the equivalent of the Mississippi River and to set out rafting with Huckleberry and Jim.”

My Photographer’s Assistant and I have been playing Huell’s Huckleberry and Jim for the last few years. It has been a lot of fun. If we are driving up the coast, we look for places he went to on his show. Like the Moreton Bay Fig Tree in Santa Barbara, at 80 feet tall and 576 feet wide, he wasn’t kidding when he said it was a “big” tree. Another time we searched for and found the Mission Purisima Mission in Lompoc. It is the only place left in California where you can walk on an original dirt section of the El Camino Real that the Spanish and the Missionaries used hundreds of years ago.

The last couple of months, with the drought going on, we have been channeling in on his shows on the Owens River and the Eastern Sierra. He visited an amazing number of locations. (Admit it, you heard his voice when you read amazing didn’t you.) They include:

· Bodie
· Bristle Cones
· Conness Glacier
· Devils Post Pile
· Hot Creek
· Manzanar
· Mono Lake (multiple times)
· Owens River (multiple times)
· Owens Dry Lake
· Rock Creek
· Yosemite (multiple times)

The above list doesn’t even include the multiple locations in Death Valley he visited or the Western Sierra!

I have “kind of” been to all the above locations. I say kind of because I have been in 20 Lakes Basin but not on the Conness Glacier trail itself.

This last month I have been focused on getting to specific spots along the Owens River. I wanted to find the headwaters of the lower Owens River, the start of the LA Aqueduct, and Billy Lake. It has been a lot of fun looking and along the way, I have discovered a few new spots I love.

The images in this post are from the locations Huell visited. Some of the images are from years back and my photography has improved since then. I hope you enjoy them.

Probably the most photographed tree in the Bristle Cone groves!

Twenty Lakes basin near the start of the Connes Glacier trail head.

Hot Creek on an exceptionally lovely day!

Headwaters of the Lower Owens River and Los Angeles Aqueduct. Those three inlets on the left and the water under the bridge are the start of the Lower Owens River.

Did I miss any of the shows Huell did in the Eastern Sierra/Owens Valley? The trout stocking show was in the western Sierra. Evidently, there are two Duck lakes in the Sierra.

I hope you enjoyed channeling Huell in our part of California. It just proves this part of California provides its share of California’s Gold.

If you want to watch some of the actual shows you can find a lot of them on the internet. Just google Huell Howser and the location. Or you can search the on-line archives at Chapman University

Bob Kent 5/3/21 Bob Kent 5/3/21

The Case for Lingering

Getting to a location early and lingering afterward lets you see this incredible transition from darkness, to blue, to gold, and then finally to daylight. The same scene can look totally different and tell a completely different story, all within an hour. Same place, same stream, or trees, or mountains yet in a matter of a few minutes it “feels” totally different.

I was watching a landscape photography video from Roman Kurywczak called “For the Love of Landscapes.” In the video, he reminded me that to be a good landscape photographer you must have discipline.

Specifically, the discipline to get to a location early and stay late. To linger.

For a sunrise, you should get there an hour before the sunrise and stay for an hour after the sunrise. This is not a message I like to hear, as it means getting up at 4:00 AM or earlier to get to a location in time. However, it is a message that I need to hear regularly because he is right, and it is worth it.

He is right because a lot of the beautiful magic happens well before and after the actual sunrise. Roman correctly points out, if see something happening before you are there, you have already missed it. Unfortunately, I know this from experience. Countless times seeing the clouds turn while driving to a location and knowing no matter how fast I drive I am too late.

Getting to a location early and lingering afterward lets you see this incredible transition from darkness to blue, to gold, and finally to daylight. The same scene can look totally different and tell a completely different story, all within an hour. Same place, same stream, or trees, or mountains yet in a matter of a few minutes it “feels” totally different.

You don’t have to be a photographer to enjoy this. If you go to a location, especially in the afternoon, take your time. Linger.

There is a transition that is worth the price of admission to watch. At a lake, many times, the transition follows a pattern. In the afternoon it mostly calm with flat colors, then just before sunset the wind kicks up, the water is choppy, and the colors have this golden cast. It is the day taking its last breath. Finally, after the sunset there is this stillness that descends upon everything. The water goes still, it gets quiet, and if you’re lucky the high clouds catch on fire with yellow and oranges.

To experience this, you don’t have to move locations you just have to linger in one place for a while. While sometimes you get duds, many other times you get one heck of a show.

The series of images in this post of the Owens River in the morning transition is a perfect example. If you want to see another incredible transition at Lake Tenaya, message me.