Bodie, California: The Grand Tour With Jim Begley
Bodie’s unique scenery helped this image win the grand prize at the Monroe County Fair.
My wife and I were so very privileged to tour California’s High Sierras region in June with Bill Fortney and Jim Begley as part of His Light Ministries (assisted by good friends Richard Small and Snake Barrett with guest instructor RC Concepcion). It was a special time, time spent with good friends in a location so very different from Indiana. I have posted about the tour and His Light Ministries and the ghost town of Bodie previously, but today has a special connection to that tour. Jim Begley, HDR master extraordinaire, has posted a selection of his HDR images over at his website, wowphotoshdr. Folks, this is a gallery you just have to see.
I urge you to click here to visit Jim’s site for the High Sierras Tour. He has managed to capture the entire tour in this series of images, from high mountain ranges to western scenery to overall Bodie ghost town images to details that grab your eye. I have written many times in the past of Jim’s talents with HDR processing and his eye for composition. If anything, he is getting better and better. Now, I haven’t seen every set of images from everyone who was on the tour … but it is hard for me to imagine a more complete set of photos that sums up what it was like to visit and see that part of the Sierras and of Bodie’s history. Trust me; visit Jim’s site today and take the Grand Tour.
And one other little Bodie note for today. Kendall Reeves and I are hosting a gallery exhibit featuring Bodie images here in Bloomington beginning this Friday. So I have held off posting images until then. But I did throw one 8×10 print from there into the mix of entries for our local Monroe County Fair. To my surprise it was selected as the overall Grand Champion in the Photo Division. It was a pleasant surprise certainly, but I must give the scenery in Bodie most of the credit. There were some scenes there that just lent themselves to the camera’s eye. The image is the one at the top of this post. I will add more after our opening reception on Friday, but this good fortune was worth sharing today.
1 Comment
Grand Champion overall! WOW
That is so exciting Jim. Doing the “happy dance” for you. Hope everything goes well for your exhibit opening Friday. Please send photos for those of us that aren’t lucky enough to be there.