Two years in the US. Top locations?

[Riverman]

Later this year I'm moving to Washington DC from London. I'll be in the States working for two years and I'm planning to spend my weekends and holidays out of DC making photos.

I enjoy LF above all for landscapes and as a relative newcomer to LF I've found the experience most satisfying when away from crowds - the presence of passers by can be a little distracting when shooting LF in London. Not a phenomenon I've ever really experienced in other formats. So in the city I'll probably stick to my 35mm and medium format kit.

But I figure if I have two years in the US there must be some magnificent opportunities to get out into the sticks and shoot some landscapes in LF.

Where to go and when? Also, I guess I need a car right? I'm hoping that there should be some nice coastal vistas not too far from DC and that at some point I'll be able to visit some of the famous national parks. Any tips for timing to avoid the crowds would be much appreciated.

Finally, I've found that there are a couple of labs in DC who process 5x4 but as yet haven't tracked down anywhere offering hand prints. In London I use a printer for BW fibre based prints who also does a fantastic job of colour printing from colour neg. The latter seems to be a really dying art.

Never shot E6 in large format but it's something I may try if I can't find anyone to print my colour negs.

Are there any good darkroom printers in DC?

[jp]

Yeh, you'll want a car. Public transportation is focused on the urban areas of the US, with the exception of a few train routes.

I'd personally recommend in New England the white mountains area of New Hampshire, it's a huge national park area, the coast of Maine, including Acadia NP in the fall. There's a lot of scenic potential in the small area of Acadia. In the summer if you're adventurous and strong, Maine's Baxter state park offers a mix of beautiful closeup and landscape variety with a hike of Mount Kahtadin that includes the table lands area. Read up on Thoreau in the book, "The Maine Woods".

Elsewhere, rocky mountain NP is a short drive from Denver CO, and there are plenty of places there with few people.

As far as crowds go, avoid school vacation schedules, which tend to be fairly uniform around the country and cause big increases in traveling.

I have not traveled the southern US or west coast, but there is obvious potential there perhaps others could summarize.

For close to home, take a train ride as far as you can go in a day, and you'll see lots of things you can't easily see from the road. Note them and drive back and visit them on another day.

[falth j]

You can’t go wrong by taking some time to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park anytime of the year.


And even make several trips at different times of the year most notably the fall, when the leaves turn color, the winter, and the spring when everything begins to bloom.


Another experience is to take a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, to visit the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.


Investigate all of our beautiful national parks online, and stop at a bookstore a look at the various books that give a good review of these parks, as well as other scenic spots in our country.

[eddie]

everywhere! i suggest you do not go to work and spend the 2 years on a photo trip. you can hit most of the hot spots for sure...:)

start close by and work your way out. you can not go wrong at any of the national parks out wets. pick some. utah, idaho, colorado, ca. the list goes on. do not try and do too many too fast.

come up to NY if you like. we shoot LF all the time. i am 90miles N of NYC. wouyld be happy to shoot around with you.

Philly, is great. you might as well hit georgia too. blue mountains sound great!

are you looking for landscapes or city views.

there are plenty of labs in NYC that do C41 and E6 processing. fast turn aound and easy to deal with. they ship to me no problems.

have fun.

eddie

[Frank Petronio]

Mail Order: http://www.4photolab.com/

Try to go carless and just rent. Then scour the internet for last minute deals on airfare and such. There is a good enough train system between DC to Boston.

Create a minimalist kit and just go as often as possible. Sometimes there are cheap flights to Las Vegas for gambling but you can just rent a car and hit the desert. LA, San Fran, Portland, Denver, Salt Lake, etc. are all great stepping off points, Denver is a hub and often fares are reasonable. Fares to the rainy NW are less during the rainy months.

If you are a hardy and brave air traveler, you can leave for the West Coast at 6am, arrive late morning thanks to the time change, shoot and then catch the red-eye home, take a sleeping aid, and get in at 5am -- shower and go to work. However this strategy can sometimes be befuddled, especially in the Winter, by delays through Chicago or other hubs that get bad weather, etc. so you need to have an understanding boss/clients.

If you factor in that you'll spend $300 per night in a major city for a cheap hotel and a sit-down meal, you can rationalize going West for the weekend and staying in a $65 motel with take-out as being a cost savings measure, even with airfare.

[Toyon]

The really good photography comes from people who don't seek out the well-trammeled "hotspots" and instead blaze their own trails. Look at the work of Robert Adams, Robert Frank, Stephen Shore, Helen Levitt, Walker Evans, Sally Mann and Minor White for some examples.

[kmack]

The DC area has a lot of different LF photo locations fairly near by, You can easily find something within a few hours drive, or walking distance; depending on your kit, any weekend.

Assateague and Chincoteague islands on the shore, only a few hours away to the east.

Baltimore, Oxford, Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay area, Tillman Island.

North and West you have Frederick County, Harper Ferry, West Virginia, the Catoctin and Blue Ridge Mountains.

To the North: Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, (Amish Country), Gettysburg, The Mon Vally and Ohio Pyle.

To the west the Shenandoah, Skyline Drive is spectacular, particularly in the fall.

In DC: Rock Creek park, Great Falls, and the C&O canal through Georgetown.

[Riverman]

Cheers for the replies. A few years ago I visited Vermont and New Hampshire in the summer and reckoned it must be even more beautiful in the autumn. jp498's suggestions for Maine sound interesting. Overall there seems to be a much bigger "scene" in large format the other side of the pond. I'm looking forward to it.

[Riverman]

The DC area has a lot of different LF photo locations fairly near by, You can easily find something within a few hours drive, or walking distance; depending on your kit, any weekend.

Assateague and Chincoteague islands on the shore, only a few hours away to the east.

Baltimore, Oxford, Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay area, Tillman Island.

North and West you have Frederick County, Harper Ferry, West Virginia, the Catoctin and Blue Ridge Mountains.

To the North: Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, (Amish Country), Gettysburg, The Mon Vally and Ohio Pyle.

To the west the Shenandoah, Skyline Drive is spectacular, particularly in the fall.

In DC: Rock Creek park, Great Falls, and the C&O canal through Georgetown.

Thank you for these suggestions near DC. A quick google image search for Shenandoah has whet my appetite!

[Ron Marshall]

Domestic flights are fairly cheap, (but don't check your equipment) and you can easily rent a car at your destination.

Don't miss the major US national parks: Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon etc.

Laurent Martres has a series of guide books that cover places of photographic interest in the US Southwest.

Careful driving on the RHS.

[Eric Leppanen]

Here are some fine sources of photographic information:

http://shop.photographamerica.com/category-s/46.htm

Also flying into Salt Lake City or Las Vegas and renting a car for several days is a fabulous idea. Here are the best guidebooks around for the southwestern U.S.:

http://www.amazon.com/Photographing-Southwest-1-Southern-Utah-2nd/dp/0916189120/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247421510&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/Photographing-Southwest-2-Arizona-2nd-Ed/dp/0916189139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247421510&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Photographing-Southwest-3-Colorado-Mexico-Soutwest/dp/0916189147/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247421510&sr=1-3

Lastly, visiting Yosemite is a must if at all possible. It's one of the few places where you'll still see lots of LF cameras around:

http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Guide-Yosemite-Michael-Frye/dp/1930238002/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247421653&sr=1-1
http://shop.photographamerica.com/product-p/023-pdf.htm
http://shop.photographamerica.com/product-p/081-pdf.htm
http://shop.photographamerica.com/product-p/019-pdf.htm

Good luck!

[Capocheny]

Riverman,

As you are new in the area, my suggestion would be to find another LF photographer who lives in the area to go shooting with... especially out in the wilderness. Up in my neck of the woods, Search and Rescue teams are frequently out looking for lost hikers, etc.

Surely, there must be someone in the area who wouldn't mind having company to go shooting with... and splitting expenses. :)

Cheers

[Eric Woodbury]

What a wonderful opportunity. Even DC is a fabulous place to photo, but most of my experience is the west.

If I were in your shoes, I'd get a big wall map of the US. Then I'd look at all the photos I could of things that look interesting to me to photo. Look at QT's pix of the national parks:

http://www.terragalleria.com/

Start marking them off and see where it takes you. It is a huge country and hard to see it all. I've been working on it for 50 years and there are still lots of places to go and places I love to see again and again.

Fall is good everywhere. Winter is good in the southwest. July and August are hot most places except maybe the beaches of the west coast, Puget Sound, and some high mountains. Watch out for school holidays and be aware of hunting seasons.

Have a great time.

[jackies]

Here is a link to the scenic American byways. These roads take you through or near the most scenic areas of each state.

http://www.byways.org/

Have a fabulous time.

J

[Toyon]

Here is a link to the scenic American byways. These roads take you through or near the most scenic areas of each state.

http://www.byways.org/

Have a fabulous time.

J

Sheep trails.

[Jim Michael]

The domestic airlines post special deals via email each week to fill empty seats. You could subscribe to those and then see what looks interesting for a photo trip.

[Riverman]

Thanks everyone for all your replies and sharing the helpful links. I like the idea of a wall map! In between LF shoots I'll have my Nikon FM3a alongside me much of the time to try and keep a photo diary of my time in the US. Can't wait. Nothing like a change of scene to stoke creativity.

[John Jarosz]

If you've never been to west in the US, be aware that the distances between locales can be immense compared to Britain and the rest of Europe.

For those kinds of trips, I would get last minute plane tickets as cheap as possible, then rent a car. If you leave Friday (or even Thursday night) and return on Sunday, you's be amazed at the spots you can accumulate over the course of a year. On those weekend jaunts, just plan to hit one destination. Frank is right, the big cities will have outrageous hotel and rental car costs.

Never put the camera or film in checked baggage, but your tripod should survive.

John

[venchka]

Coastal North Carolina, Outer Banks. Houses to rent. Get a group together to split a house.

Fly/drive is very good advice for trips of more than 8-12 hours driving.

Four corners, southern half of Utah.

Canadian Rockies. Do not miss them!

GOOGLE knows!

[al olson]

As far as local interests are concerned KMACK named of a number of good ones to occupy your weekends. There are the wildlife refuges around the bay, the old towns on the Eastern Shore, the Atlantic beaches, Civil War battlefields (Antietam is my favorite), etc. There is an incredible wealth of subject matter.

If I wanted to do some photography at the Mall or at Baltimore's Inner Harbor I would get to my destination an hour before sunrise to avoid the tourist crowds. During the summer months you can have almost uninterrupted shooting from predawn until about 8 or 8:30 when the tourists begin arriving. Huntington Meadows in a nice nature preserve in Alexandria, but you will want to quit the area around 9:30 or 10 when all the noisy little anklebiters arrive to spook the wild life.

The DC area has some excellent camera clubs which schedule field trips to areas of interest. This is a good way to get out and shoot with people who know the area. It is also a way to get tripod permits for places like Dumbarton Oaks and the Botanic Gardens. It is an opportunity to get acquainted with places that you would like to return to.

If you are to be dwelling on the Maryland side I would recommend the Bethesda Camera Club and the Northern Virginia Photographic Society for the Virginia side. These would be starting points you can pick out other good ones that are convenient. I belonged to four different clubs when I resided in Virginia and I was field trip chairman for a couple of them.

As far as traveling the rest of the country on long vacations much of your time can be eaten up if you are traveling any distances by car, even if you initially traveled by air. You will have difficulty avoiding crowds at our national parks and monuments, even in the off season. Autumn leaves also attract crowds and cause motels to be booked up way in advance. A lot of areas are so popular that you must obtain permits in advance, i.e. Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Green River.

In the west there is a lot of photogenic scenery (plus ghost towns, old mines, etc.) not in the parks and popular areas that you can find by following the backroads, some of which require four wheeling. If you plan to do this, pick out some areas and get some good USGS topo maps or DeLorme Gazeteers to seek out these trails. I just found an exciting new forest road yesterday when I was up in the mountains photographing Summitville.

It can be pretty isolated so it is not a good idea to be traveling alone (and you won't have cell phone coverage). At least let people know where you are going.

If you happen to get out this way, send me a PM. I would be happy to show you around the area.

[Scott Davis]

Welcome to the DC area, from a fellow Washingtonian. There are so many neat, interesting things and places to see and photograph around here. Drop me a line when you get settled in and I'll be glad to play photo tourguide to the area. Many highlights have already been mentioned, but there are tons of cool off-the-beaten-track places that can yield hours and hours of shooting time.

Much of DC is accessible by public transit, but there are lots of places worth the visit that are not, so having a car locally would be a good idea. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is a prime example of someplace you don't want to go without your own transportation. It's one of the hidden gems of DC, a little wilderness oasis and wildlife sanctuary tucked between the Anacostia River and a major freeway.

Baltimore is rife with opportunities, but MOST of them you don't want to explore without personal transportation, and ideally, not alone. Not that Baltimore is per-se dangerous, but if you're not from there, you can easily miss the transition point between an ok and not-so-ok area, especially when your head is buried under a focusing cloth. Rawlins Conservatory and Cylburn Arboretum are two great spots for nature/landscape photography there, and the Mount Vernon neighborhood has lots of great architecture.

There are some rental darkrooms available such as at Glen Echo park in Maryland (just outside DC), VisArts in Rockville (a little further out in Maryland) or at the Smithsonian Institute (they have a darkroom for both color and black-and-white printing in their education center, and it is quite nice). Chrome lab in DC will do custom printing, but not on fiber paper that I'm aware of. I'm sure there are some small independents still around (you might try up in Baltimore as well, they have a very active photo scene there). To find some of these kinds of services, sign up for things like ArtDC.org, which has a bulletin board for artists' services.

Join the Smithsonian Resident Associates program, because they offer a tremendous variety of cultural programs from lectures to seminars to full-blown week-long excursions, and the programs are significantly discounted for members.

[Steve Hamley]

Since Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway will be in your back yard...

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Blue-Ridge-Parkway-Attractions/dp/0977793397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247499388&sr=1-1

I'd suggest the Skyline, the BRP, and nearby areas as your primary "hunting grounds" as they will be accessible on weekends, especially long ones.

If you want to travel by air, you can get just about anywhere from DC including the famous locations in the Western US.

Cheers, Steve

[Brian Ellis]

Before you do anything in D.C. itself, talk with some people who know the area and make sure you understand the places you can't safely go. I grew up in D.C. and love the city but there are places where you can be perfectly safe on one block and then risk getting mugged or worse if you venture into the next block. A few years ago I was staying in a hotel on Connecticut Avenue. Connecticut Avenue itself is an upscale street but when I walked about two blocks from the hotel early one evening I had a knife pulled on me as I waited for a stop light.

[Wallace_Billingham]

One very cool placenear DC that is off the beaten path (at least in photographic circles) is Calvert Cliffs State Park in Maryland. The cliffs are located on the Chesapeake Bay and it is wide enough there that unless it is a very clear day you can't see the other side. To get there requires a nice long walk/short hike from where you part until you get to the beach. Along the way you will walk through nice woods and then along a very large swamp with lilly pads both of which provide very nice photo ops.

The cliffs are right next to the water and depending on the tides will be a beach area from 1-5 meters wide that you can walk along and setup great photos. The cliffs are also full of fossils inlcuding large shark teeth. This area gets quite crowded on summer weekends due to the fossil hunters, but you will be the only one there during the spring, fall, and winter. Even during the summer on a weekend if you get there at first light not only will you have good light but there will be no crowds.

Just outside of DC on the Potomac river is Great Falls. There is a National Park on both sides of the falls/river (one in Maryland the other in Virginia)

You will also be only a few hours away from Blackwater Falls near Davis West Virginia which has many, many waterfalls and vistas.

If you want to explore the Shenandoah Valley/Blue Ridge Mountain but stay away from the crowds skip Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah National Park and explore RT 33 west out of Harrisonburg or RT 250 west out of Staunton. Both routes provide nice vistas with pulloffs from the road and travel along very nice boulder filled streams. You will have much nicer (higher) water levels in the spring no matter where you go in the Shenandoah mountains.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Our three day weekends may prove a challenge to deep explorations; travel may be a lot slower and the distances much longer than you're used to. If possible arrange to get time off somewhere during the month of May and again October. Much of the country, these are the best times for not only photography but for travel. From the Mid-Atlantic States, peak spring and autumn color will vary a couple of weeks either way around the beginning of those months, depending on how far north or south you go (happily, there are any number of websites to alert you to peak foliage).

If you can only get time for holiday in August as too many in the US are accustomed, try the higher elevations of the Rockies and the Sierra. These can still be good then, particularly in years of high snowpack (El Nino is coming!). The tundra of far northern Alaska can also peak by late August/ early Sept.

[Allen in Montreal]

That about sums it up!
The US is so unbelievably geographically diverse, you have to slowly try and visit every corner!

If you get the chance, Newfoundland, a distinct society and geographically, a wonder.



everywhere! i suggest you do not go to work and spend the 2 years on a photo trip. you can hit most of the hot spots for sure...:)...........

have fun.

eddie

[Riverman]

As far as local interests are concerned KMACK named of a number of good ones to occupy your weekends. There are the wildlife refuges around the bay, the old towns on the Eastern Shore, the Atlantic beaches, Civil War battlefields (Antietam is my favorite), etc. There is an incredible wealth of subject matter.

If I wanted to do some photography at the Mall or at Baltimore's Inner Harbor I would get to my destination an hour before sunrise to avoid the tourist crowds. During the summer months you can have almost uninterrupted shooting from predawn until about 8 or 8:30 when the tourists begin arriving. Huntington Meadows in a nice nature preserve in Alexandria, but you will want to quit the area around 9:30 or 10 when all the noisy little anklebiters arrive to spook the wild life.

The DC area has some excellent camera clubs which schedule field trips to areas of interest. This is a good way to get out and shoot with people who know the area. It is also a way to get tripod permits for places like Dumbarton Oaks and the Botanic Gardens. It is an opportunity to get acquainted with places that you would like to return to.

If you are to be dwelling on the Maryland side I would recommend the Bethesda Camera Club and the Northern Virginia Photographic Society for the Virginia side. These would be starting points you can pick out other good ones that are convenient. I belonged to four different clubs when I resided in Virginia and I was field trip chairman for a couple of them.

As far as traveling the rest of the country on long vacations much of your time can be eaten up if you are traveling any distances by car, even if you initially traveled by air. You will have difficulty avoiding crowds at our national parks and monuments, even in the off season. Autumn leaves also attract crowds and cause motels to be booked up way in advance. A lot of areas are so popular that you must obtain permits in advance, i.e. Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Green River.

In the west there is a lot of photogenic scenery (plus ghost towns, old mines, etc.) not in the parks and popular areas that you can find by following the backroads, some of which require four wheeling. If you plan to do this, pick out some areas and get some good USGS topo maps or DeLorme Gazeteers to seek out these trails. I just found an exciting new forest road yesterday when I was up in the mountains photographing Summitville.

It can be pretty isolated so it is not a good idea to be traveling alone (and you won't have cell phone coverage). At least let people know where you are going.

If you happen to get out this way, send me a PM. I would be happy to show you around the area.

Cheers for the tips Al. Great photos on your website. The infrared stuff is magic.

[venchka]

Barely mentioned. Overlooked. Uncrowded. Wild. Close.

West Virginia.

[paulr]

In general I'd say just live your life here, and photograph what you discover and find interesting.

But as far as travel destinations, without knowing the imortant things (like what you like to photograph) I'd say be sure to spend some time in the Southwest. Not because it's so photogenic (it is ... but that's a strike against it in my mind). Because it's one of the few places with landscape that's unique to the U.S.

Europe has mountains, ocean, big cities, small towns, etc. etc... But no one has anything like Southern Utah.

Similarly (and less often photographed) are the great plains.

[al olson]

Thank you for the kind compliment, Riverman.

As long as you are on the North American Continent I would also consider photography in our Canadian neighbor. I believe the Maritime Provinces have already been mentioned. There is also some great photogenic scenery around Banff, Lake Louise, Waterton Lakes, ... and on west into British Columbia. There are also a lot fewer people to get in your way.

Paul makes a good point about photography on the Great Plains. I plan to go into the eastern Dakotas this September to photograph old barns that have fallen into a state of disrepair. Sometimes I go on photo excursions and simply enjoy the scenery because I know that it will never look any better in a photograph. Enjoy your travels above all else!

[D. Bryant]

Barely mentioned. Overlooked. Uncrowded. Wild. Close.

West Virginia.

I agree with Wayne. West Virginia is a very interesting area to visit and photograph. It is often over looked and is definitely uncrowded!

I would like to spend more time there myself.

Don Bryant

[Riverman]

West Virginia seems like a plan. Browsing the landscape threads here recently I saw a great shot of Elk river. Massively excited about my move across the pond. A colleague has loaned me a bunch of maps and travel books. The North American continent just seems so massive.

This weekend I'm going to load some transparency in my darkslides. My first year of LF has all been b&w and colour neg. Will continue to shoot colour neg for printing but I'm itching to see some big slides on the light box - it's been a year and I haven't done it yet!

[Riverman]

West Virginia seems like a plan. Browsing the landscape threads here recently I saw a great shot of Elk river. Massively excited about my move across the pond. A colleague has loaned me a bunch of maps and travel books. The North American continent just seems so massive.

This weekend I'm going to load some transparency in my darkslides. My first year of LF has all been b&w and colour neg. Will continue to shoot colour neg for printing but I'm itching to see some big slides on the light box - it's been a year and I haven't done it yet!

[Bryan Lemasters]

West Virginia seems like a plan. Browsing the landscape threads here recently I saw a great shot of Elk river. Massively excited about my move across the pond. A colleague has loaned me a bunch of maps and travel books. The North American continent just seems so massive.

This weekend I'm going to load some transparency in my darkslides. My first year of LF has all been b&w and colour neg. Will continue to shoot colour neg for printing but I'm itching to see some big slides on the light box - it's been a year and I haven't done it yet!

I live - and spend most of my photography time - in West Virginia and think that it would be an excellent fit for your situation. The best part of the state (the eastern mountains) is within a few hours drive from DC. Do not hesitate to PM or email me - I would be happy to help with locations and best times of the year to visit them.

Having said that, I have to reiterate what some others have said here: If you can find the time, you just have to spend some of it in the western US. The desert southwest, The sequoia and redwood forests of California, Yosemite, Yellowstone/Grand Teton...........the list just goes on and on. Impossible to do it all in a lifetime, let alone two years, but do whatever you can. As far as other places in the east: Shenendoah NP and Great Smoky Mountains NP are close by and linked together by the Blue Ridge Parkway; Assateague and Chincoteague National Seashores are 2-3 hours away; The Outer Banks in North Carolina...........

Bryan

[Ed Richards]

I will speak up for the South. The North Carolina coast is terrific, the antibellum homes in Charleston are also something you are not going to see in Europe, and New Orleans is worth seeing before it washes away. For all of the cities, shoot early in the morning - you have a couple of good hours of shooting between dawn and tourists in New Orleans on Sunday mornings. San Francisco is great for the architecture set in the hills. In the North, Quebec is wonderful.

[venchka]

Two years of full time photography in North America wouldn't be enough time.

Two years in the southern half of Utah woldn't be enough time.

Enjoy! Welcome! Make the most with the time you have.

[Bill_1856]

It's always important to keep in mind that some of the most interesting places to visit in the US may not be satisfactorily photographed. For example, the Grand Canyon is Awesome, but I've never seen a photograph, either color or B&W, which satisfactorily conveys the visual impression.

[D. Bryant]

If possible I would reccomend spending at least two or three weeks traveling through Death Valley and then drive up US 395 to Yosemite. There is so much to photograph on that route!

Be sure to visit Mono Lake and Bodie. And if you do make it to Lee Vinings - Mono Lake have diner at the Mono Inn which is owned and operated by Ansel Adams grand daughter. The food there is very good and lots of AA prints to look at along with some rare ones by Walter Chappel.

Don Bryant

[John Kasaian]

FWIW, get a road map, take a saucer and place it over the map with DC in it's center, then trace an outline of the saucer with a pencil. Whatever is inside the circle when you remove the saucer is your "back yard" to explore when you are short on time: day trips, days off, long summer evenings etc... Whatever is outside the circle save for week ends, long week ends etc...
If you can make one or two trips "out West" that would be great fun but plan carefully (which takes the fun out it for me, but tourist crowds, fires, floods, bad weather and other calamities can waste your time so plan accordingly) IMHO, there is enough to photograph in the East and South to devote a lifetime of work : Shenandoah, the Natchez Trace, Chesapeake, New England...heck that's not even the half of it!

Have fun & enjoy the food!

[Jim Banks]

And if you do make it to Lee Vinings - Mono Lake have diner at the Mono Inn which is owned and operated by Ansel Adams grand daughter. The food there is very good and lots of AA prints to look at along with some rare ones by Walter Chappel.

Don Bryant

Unfortunately, the Mono Inn is currently closed - except maybe for special events (has been since last summer). I think its future is uncertain . . .

[D. Bryant]

Unfortunately, the Mono Inn is currently closed - except maybe for special events (has been since last summer). I think its future is uncertain . . .

That doesn't surprise me, I wondered if the Inn is still open after making my post. Ah well, nothing lasts forever.

Don

[jnantz]

hi riverman

if it is scenics you are looking for ...
back roads are were it's at :)

john