A few landscapes and a wildcard for C&C

[OrionsByte]

Found myself awake early this morning so I decided to take a short drive and get some golden hour landscape shots. Here are a few of the results; comments and critique would be appreciated.

Just as a point of interest - these mountains are the Sutter Buttes, and are considered the smallest mountain range in the world.

1.

2.

3.

And here's a wildcard; I'm not even sure what these little structures are, but there were about 10-15 of them lined up along the road, all of them covered with graffiti. Just past these is something that almost looks like an elevated road or railroad, but it's not connected to the road (in fact, the road diverts around it).

4.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Nice work... Great example of the "Rule of Thirds" put to use.

 

[LaFoto]

Photo 3 makes nice use of the tractor path as leading lines. I like that one (best).

 

[Blake.Oney]

1. and 3. are my favorites, but I would crop more like this.

But that is just my personal preference. I like it better without so much at the bottom. I also like wider angle shots.

 

[pbelarge]

The location of your shots looks very similar to the location of the link you provided.


Those "wildcard" concrete items look like they are the old version of "Jersey Dividers".

 

[OrionsByte]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

1. and 3. are my favorites, but I would crop more like this.

But that is just my personal preference. I like it better without so much at the bottom. I also like wider angle shots.

I like your crops a lot actually!

The location of your shots looks very similar to the location of the link you provided.

Actually the shot on Wikipedia is mine too - I took that one years ago (2001) with my Canon Elph S110, my very first digital camera (my technique has improved since then, I hope!). It was actually three photos stitched together. You're right though, the locations are close, though since you can drive around the entire mountain range in less than an hour, it doesn't take a lot of effort to get a different angle. This perspective is close to how it's always seen from the city, so it's the one that resonates most with the folks around here.

Those "wildcard" concrete items look like they are the old version of "Jersey Dividers".

Maybe, I don't know. Here's a shot of the elevated part I was talking about. I wasn't planning on posting any of these because I didn't think they were particularly strong, but it at least gives you some context. The elevated structure ends right where that "Morgan" graffiti is, and goes on for probably 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile.

 

[Raizels]

I love 3! I think 3 should be kept the way it is and not cropped - I like the way it's divided into thirds, but I totally agree with the crop on 1.

 

[Traverse]

I like the last one you posted of the elevated road. I thought it was pretty good.

 

[mwcfarms]

Really love three, number one has too much foreground competing with the mountains for my taste. Number 4 is ok but doesn't give me much thoughts.

 

[ConcretePicture]

Very interesting place. I never heard of it and I grew up a few hours south of there. Your chunks of concrete caught my eye. They could be barriers or dividers, but they almost look like inverted T beams that were the main support of the bridge.

 

[OrionsByte]

Very interesting place. I never heard of it and I grew up a few hours south of there. Your chunks of concrete caught my eye. They could be barriers or dividers, but they almost look like inverted T beams that were the main support of the bridge.

The more I look, the more I think you're right.

Here's another view courtesy of Google Maps. If you look at the overhead view, you can see the small structures leading right up to the large structure, and the road diverts right around it.

There's a bypass a little west of there with a small bridge - it must have been wider at some point or the bypass was rerouted. In fact in that overhead view you can still see the bridge supports in the bypass itself, right next to the existing bridge. Now I wonder why that was all taken down... I'll have to visit the local museum and ask some questions.