J G Layne

"The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Seemed appropriate... One foggy morning on the coast...

“Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.” ― Roy T. Bennett Difficult as that can be, these days...

Long before anyone wrote down geology, people living near the Badlands of South Dakota found strange bones and shells in the cliffs. Some stories tell of a great battle between “thunder beings” and “water monsters,” with a boy found sitting on the bones of the beast afterward. #infrared #bnw

A low branch...

Black oak leaves in Yosemite, from Nov '25

An annual check-in... The 2026 edition of scene we visit whenever we're in this slice of the Eastern Sierra...an array of autumn color just above the waterline at a smallish manmade lake. I usually photograph it in the AM shadows before a (usually) bright sun lights the landscape.

I had walked up a slope to gain an elevated view of the landscape, and when I turned around this scene was presented. I love the variety of color...and those trunks

“When you see a tree that you think is perfect, always remind yourself this: All trees are perfect, and their perfection is more due to their excellent ability to make the world liveable than their physical appearance...” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

Experimenting with the B&W Selenium Tone in LR today

“Like tiny seeds with potent power to push through tough ground and become mighty trees, we hold innate reserves of unimaginable strength. We are resilient.” ― Catherine DeVrye, The Gift of Nature

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” ― William Blake

Wandering and wondering among the aspens...

Beautiful morning in the Eastern Sierra as weather systems affect the area. (Slight chances of snow later today. #photo #photography #photoOfTheDay #lensCulture #landscapePhotography #photographyLovers #naturePhotography #fineArtPhotography #nature #mountainmonday #sierranevada #mountains.

An inconvenient truth based on science...even if we don't like science anymore because it's 'woke' or scientific findings run opposite of capitalistic aims. Glaciers recede and fracture as a climate warms

“The elders were wise. They knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things, soon led to lack of respect for humans, too.” - Chief Luther Standing Bear, Sicangu and Oglala Lakota Chief For Indigenous Peoples Day...

“Space and scarcity give us dignity. And liberty. And thereby beauty.” ― Edward Abbey, The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West

Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed ... We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. Wallace Stegner, The Sound of Mountain Water #infrared #classicmono

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence." - Buddha The sun was dropping below the slope behind these trees, with nice backlighting. A breeze was moving through the canyon and the leaves were quaking... I slowed the shutter for leaf motion and still, quiet trunks...

“The question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hope are optimistic.” ― Albert Schweitzer ...the will and hope part is being tested, daily

"The thin and precarious crust of decency is all that separates any civilization, however impressive, from the hell of anarchy or systematic tyranny which lie in wait beneath the surface" - Aldous Huxley

"One means of sanity is to retain a hold on the natural world...Americans still have that chance, more than many peoples." - Wallace Stegner Maybe...

“There was no such thing as emptiness in the world. Even in the sky there were no vacant places. Everywhere there was life, visible and invisible, and every object possessed something that would be good for us to have also—even to the very stones.” Luther Standing Bear #classicmono #infrared

“The thinking (person) must oppose all cruel customs, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another.” ― Albert Schweitzer A recent morning in the Eastern Sierra...

A little late afternoon/early evening zen above 9000' in the Eastern Sierra

“This sweet virginal primitive land will metaphorically breathe a sigh of relief--like a whisper of wind--when we are all and finally gone and the place and its creations can return to their ancient procedures unobserved and undisturbed by the busy, anxious, brooding consciousness of man.” ― E Abbey

“It’s okay to get gaslighted once in a while; that’s how you learn to burn brighter without guile.” — Philusufar I mean, I can really do without the daily barrage from the party holding all the levers. On the other hand, it strengthens my resolve... Oops! Another opinion slipped past the goalie

For the autumnal equinox... This image is from a day where we were lucky to be around when winter and fall had a meetup...we were among the first to be in this place that morning and enjoyed a peaceful walk in the snow.

Gratuitous Yosemite autumn appreciation post...for the autumnal solstice

"If you look around, complacency is the great disease of your autumn years, and I work hard to prevent that." - Nick Cave

"Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now." - Richard Bach Out for a walk today, enjoying the mild temps, overcast skies and a slight breeze. Found this vine with turning leaves on a soundwall along the main drag...

“It is easier to do trivial things that are urgent, than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking.” ― John Cleese Sierra transitions...foothills, deciduous woodlands, pines...and the alpine

"...Don't ask what you are not doing Because your voice cannot command In time we will move mountains And it will come through your hands" - John Hiatt

"If you really don't know where to start or if you're stuck, start generating random connections and allow your intuition to tell you if one might lead somewhere interesting." - John Cleese A high spot in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada...

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away. — Marcus Aurelius

It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone. —John Steinbeck

A Quiet Time (if you can believe it) At the right place and the right time, it is possible...in that often hectic, incomparable valley

I encourage you to vote...use a ballot box or vote in person, but VOTE. eedition.sfchronicle.com/infinity/art...

eedition.sfchronicle.com/infinity/art...

www.cevartgallery.com/solo-exhibit...

A hard "NO" from this corner eedition.sfchronicle.com/infinity/art...

Agreed... www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope." - WENDELL BERRY🤍🤍🤍 #infrared #classicmono #bnw #blueskyphoto

An autumn appreciation post on the first day of meteorological autumn

“...only in relatively recent times have people decided that "because I want to" is sufficient reason for annoying others.” ― Bill McKibben Seemed appropriate

"After everything that's happened, how can the world still be so beautiful? Because it is." - Margaret Atwood For National Parks Week... If you buy acreage next to a National Park boundary...doesn't mean you get to exchange public land (a National Park) to improve access to your profit venture

"Close your eyes and listen So that you may truly see No kings, no kings, no kings That the killing of my foe Indeed, destroys a part of me No kings, no kings, no kings" youtu.be/kWG0K3Y8ZU8?...