Wet Plate Photography In Yosemite

We took a trip to Yosemite to camp and take wet plate photographs.  We set up our canvas tent and also our "Easy Up" that we use for reenactments.

We then set up the photo darkroom and took some photos of the areas around the campground. 

Ah, love camping breakfasts!!

Once we were able to work reliably from the campsite, we loaded the darkroom into the back of the car to go shoot photos of the valley. 

Also got some photos of the folks in the surrounding camp sites. 

Ended up taking quite a few plates overall. 

On the way home, we stopped and visited Will Dunniway at his home in Coursegold.  Will has been doing wet plate photography for decades and is well known and respected in the field.  He had some great tips and suggestions on improvements for next time. 

Overall a great vacation and a great trip.  Going back to work was a challenge. 

A Loop To Tehachapi

The snow levels have gotten down to as low as 1500 feet with the recent rainstorms that have gone through Southern California. We decided to take a drive up to the mountains to see if any snow could be seen.  Snow melts quickly in our area, but we thought it would make for a nice weekend drive and would hit some of our favorite stops along the way.

We headed north on the 5 freeway and took the Highway 138 exit towards Palmdale.  It wasn't long till we started seeing snow on the mountains north of us.  This was a promising sign.

We turned off of Highway 138 to take 90th St W. to the North towards Tehachapi.  This is always a fun drive due to all the windmills.  More Snow!

We arrived in Tehachapi and there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground.  The mountains surrounding the town were wintery white. 

We walked around downtown. Sidewalk still had snow and there was some snow around the train station and park.  If you ever get the chance to visit Tehachapi, they have an amazing train depot museum that is worth the visit!

They have a few antique stores and a GREAT German Bakery that is definitely worth the trip! If going to Tehachapi, certainly check out Kohnen's Bakery!  While walking by the Antique stores, I saw something I recognized.  It's an old Blacksmith Forge!!

We've been thinking about building a forge for a while.  Although I knew this was going to be some work, we ended up buying it to bring it home.  Expect a future blog post documenting our restoration process.

After enjoying our visit to Tehachapi, we headed back down the mountain on Highway 58.  There were great views of snow covered mountains on the way.

This route takes you past the famous Tehachapi Loop! so we stopped for some photos.

We headed down to Bakersfield Ca, and then North into the grapevine.  There was still quite a bit of snow on the hills.

We stopped along the way at Fort Tejon.  There were a lot of folks stopped there to take a break and play in the snow.  The fort in the winter is quite beautiful.

We also found some snow where Emily could build a snowman.