Our group met in the little town of Bridgeport, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, for a weekend of photography. We would look for colorful groves of aspen trees, explore the ghost town of Bodie, and walk along the shore of weird Mono Lake.

At first I was a bit disappointed with the autumn color in the trees - a cold snap and a warm spell seemed to have confused the aspens; some of them had lost their leaves, some leaves were simply turning brown, some had yet to turn, some aspens were in glorious full color. In reality, we had a wonderfully varied palette of colors to work with.

Mono Lake and Bodie, views of the Sierra, mountain lakes and vast views of the desert didn't disappoint, either, weaving a visual spell of magic around and through us that I tried to comprehend through the lens of my camera.