Great Basin School of Photography

The Mono Lake Committee’s annual calendar is better than ever for 2021. I’m entirely biased though, because they put one of my photos on the cover! It’s large, very high quality and only $14.95 on their Web site . It’s also available in the Mono Lake Committee bookstore in Lee Vining.

Coincidentally, I captured the photo while leading one of their seminars in November 2019. Hopefully I told everyone to leave some room at the top of some of your landscape images for a calendar title!

Here’s a photography tip for those of you reading this blog… Photography at Mono Lake gets fantastic from November through January or February. Why? The arrival of cold weather means less heat, so less convection and less wind, so you get stunning reflections on most days.

Those great conditions can sometimes extend into October and March, but you may need along exposure to smooth out some wind ripples. Here’s the April calendar photo for the Mono Lake 2021 calendar, which I captured in October 2018:

If you stop by the Mono Lake Committee bookstore in Lee Vining, which has reopened, you can check out my guidebook “Photographing California Vol. 2 – South”:

It has chapters on many Eastern Sierra locations near Mono Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Bishop and the Lone Pine area, as well as nearby National Parks like Yosemite National park and Death Valley National Park. Covering over 300 locations in 320 pages, it took me 3-4 years to research, and it can lead you to years of your own explorations of California from Mono Lake to San Diego, from the Eastern Sierra to the California Coast.

Pick up a copy to save yourself a lot of time and gas… I not only provide a lot of places to go, but also often relevant photography tips on the best season for peak conditions and time of day for the best light.

Some locations may require high clearance of even 4WD to reach, so I mention that and rate the difficulty of access.

Who knew you could get so much value from stopping by the Mono Lake Committee bookstore in Lee Vining?

Starting November 1, you’ll be able to get there directly over Yosemite’s Tioga Pass, as the Yosemite Day Pass system ends for 2020.

Make a road trip of it, and enjoy Yosemite on your way over and back. Maybe you’ll see me there… the first half of November is a great time to enjoy fall colors in Yosemite Valley! If you have my book, you already know that.

You will want to come over Tioga Pass though… Fall colors in the Eastern Sierra are developing well, from the June Lake Loop through Mono Basin, Conway Summit, all the way to the West Walker River, Little Antelope Valley and Topaz Lake.