THIS MORNING

Posted on November 11, 2023 by Thomas Bethune

Strait out of the camera

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LEGACY TRAINS

Posted on November 8, 2023 by Thomas Bethune

SP TRAIN NUMBER 52 AT SANDCUT c.1979

TRAIN NUMBER 52 AT BEALVILLE C.1970

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THE BUDDHA’S FEET

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Thomas Bethune

Thiksey Monastery 2008

Thiksey Monastery, 2008

There was so much to see in the various gompas, and most of it did not stick to my poor brain. Thupten was a patient teacher, but most of the explanations were lost on me. I imagine that if I spoke the language and had a lifetime to study, it could eventually make sense .

Life is finite. Thiksey Monastery, 2008

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REVISITING LADAKH

Posted on October 22, 2023 by Thomas Bethune

View from Thupten’s house near Leh

MY ADVENTURES IN LADAKH

I recently started following the adventures of ITCHY BOOTS aka Noraly Schoenmaker on YouTube after a friend told me that Noraly was riding a motorcycle on the high mountain roads of Ladakh. My adventures in the Himalayan mountains took place in 2008, and I too traveled on those roads.

I am reworking many of the photographs that I made fifteen years ago. It is interesting to see the changes to Ladakh over these past fifteen years. I think that I was very fortunate to have visited there when I did. Here are some views from my first couple of days there at Thupten’s home near Leh.

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Car Show

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Thomas Bethune

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LOOKING BACK

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Thomas Bethune
Domeland Wilderness, 1977

The darkroom, c.1985

Glacier National Park, 2017

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A SMALL PORTFOLIO OF PAST WORK

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Thomas Bethune
Completely ovet the top, but that was how I did things in 2014.

Still practicing light painting, July 2022

In camera movement, 2015

Prairie Creek State Park 2013

Paris, 2016

Prairie Creek, 2013

Stupa Nubra Valley, 2008

Big Lagoon, 2010

Elk Head farcaster, 2018

Church, Eureka, 2013

Bayside, 2018

Nomad pony, Karzok,
2008

DeLux Express, Lamy, NM 2007

Howdy, Las Vegas, NM 2010

Arcata Marsh, 2010

Goblin Valley, 2016

Dancers, Stone Lagoon, 2018

Everyone is doing it, so why not, 2019

Westerdam, 2019

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Closer to Bringing it Together

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Thomas Bethune
I took this last night, and processed it this morning. I think that I am getting closer to what I want to see.
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Playing with Light

Posted on April 18, 2022 by Thomas Bethune
Green house illuminated with flashlight from sides March 2022. I am learning how to improve my light painting skills. It is requiring a lot of practice for me to incorporate what I am learning. It certainly is a lot of fun, and the project is revving up my desire to create.
Sword Fern illuminated with flashlight from sides and top April 2022.
Fiddle Heads light painting with focus stacking April 2022.
Small tufa towers at Mono Lake frontal light 2015.

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Southern Pacific Bakersfield Yard mid 1970s

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Thomas Bethune
Bakersfield Yard looking east from the sand tower at the engine service facility. Note the turntable and roundhouse with several yard engines (center foreground), crew dispatcher/RFE office at right edge. The locomotives just below the yardmaster’s tower are likely awaiting a power swap for an inbound Starpacer which the herder will assist by using the mainline pocket. Breckenridge Mountain and Bear Mountain make up the distant horizon.
This image of the Bakersfield roundhouse predates the above image as the backshops are visible behind the roundhouse. Note that yard engines at Bakersfield predominately faced the west as depicted by engine 1230.
This view is was taken to the right of the preceding photo on the same day. This was before the water tank was demolished (I guess early 1970s).
This is my favorite morning view of the west end of the main yard. It is now the quite time after all the nighttime traffic came and went. The crew dispatcher’s building is in the center, and the yard office, switchmen’s locker/lunch room, and trainmaster’s office are in the wooden building on the right edge (note that the water tank is gone in this mid 1970s view). There are two of the ubiquitous “carry-alls) parked in front of it. The two west-facing goats are for switch crews, and the east-facing goat on the turnout track is likely for a local. The yardmaster’s tower is just to the left of the center greenish bright light.

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