Big Bear Lake, California, we got slammed with 24 inches, or more, of that white stuff.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com 


 Hi Photographer friends,

Just a few days ago, I was writing about why I preferred California over my hometown of Montreal, in the winter. I guess the Snow Authorities read my post and decided to dump more than 24 inches of snow here, in the Big Bear area. The good thing is that it won't last for six Months or more. It might all be gone next week. California really needs the rain and snow runoff to replenish the ground water.

There is a lot of tranquility here on the mountain, and it is spectacular when covered with a thick white blanket. There is something about mountains with pine trees and  snow.

I took all the images with my trusty Pentax K-3. I love that camera.

Me and my human Dad went on Big Bear Lake mountain today, and he brought his Pentax K-3.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com 

 Hi Photographer friends,

I have a new human Dad, and today we went to Big Bear Mountain to cut wood for the winter. My human Dad and I left early this morning and drove into the wood up to an incredible elevation of 7,542 ft.  That's very high. My human Dad brought his camera, a Pentax K-3 and some Pentax Lenses. He wanted to take pictures of my first trek...whatever!

I'm just pretending, I can't drive a car yet!

Once we got there, my job was to hold the car, so he tied the car to me and I kept it in place for the whole time. I only stumbled once because there was this big boulder in my way.  It only took me five minutes to spill all of my water. We only had one bottle for the both of us so we were careful after that. 

I'm holding the car while he is cutting wood.

Did you see this big boulder, no wonder I tripped.

The car isn't going anywhere, not on my watch anyway.

After cutting and gathering enough wood for today, he drove to a big rock formation, almost all the way to the top of the mountain, a place called Pacific Crest Trail.  I met other humans there and they all wanted to pet me. That's okay, they were all nice.

Then I climbed the big rocks (with a little help from my human Dad) and he took a bunch of pictures. I have to admit that I'm pretty cute.

This is nearly 8,000 feet elevation.  The Pacific Crest Trail.

See how good I am at climbing! I can do it with three legs...see!

Wow, this is high and I don't want to get too close to the edge.

I'm just posing for Canine Magazine.

It's time to go.

Coming back, the road was rough and I bounced back and forth in the  car. When we arrived home, he gave me some Puppy Chow and he added some warm chicken gravy to it.  It was yummy.

Now I am in my crate for the night and I'll be a good dog, but he will have to bring me out about every four hours. I'm only eight weeks old and my kidneys are small. I will only get better at holding it as I grow up. I think I'm going to like this new human Dad and my new human Mom.

Thank you for reading. I'll let you know when I go to some more adventures.

Maggie.
By the way, I am an Australian Shepherd / Border Collie mix.

We are now officially residents of Big Bear Lake, California. Here's a few images taken with the Pentax K-3 and the DA* 16-50mm.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com 

 Hi Photographer friends,

We finally settled in and today was our first outing. We just drove across the lake, stopped by the Big Bear Lake Discovery Center and walked along the beach.  We ended our mini-trek at Starbuck.

I spoke with a ranger at the Discovery Center and learned that Bald Eagles were making Big Bear Lake their home in the winters. The reason is that moist of them live up North in the summer, all the way to Northern Canada, and when the lakes freeze over, they travel south. Big Bear Lake is at around 7,000 ft elevation and the lake doesn't freeze. They are approximately 30 Bald Eagles around the lake. Next week, we will participate in counting Bald Eagles that are around the lake. They will drive us at a location where the eagles have been seen before.  There will be dozens of us all around the lake, spotting them.

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Big Bear Lake As many as 30 eagles winter around this and other nearby mountain lakes in the San Bernardino Mountains. They typically arrive in November from Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Canada and Alaska, heading to Big Bear, Silverwood and Arrowhead lakes and staying until early April. Starting in December, the Big Bear Discovery Center offers guided van tours around Big Bear Lake to at least 10 spots where the birds nest and hunt. 

Info: (909) 382-2790, www.bigbeardiscoverycenter.com.

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I think I'm going to love this place. Nature is all around us and I can only imagine what photo opportunities awaits.

The Ski resort on the South side of the lake.

There is no pollution at that elevation.

Billboard for lovers

Tall grass, fresh water and blue sky

We named her Ruby!

A neighbor taking a walk.

She has a permanent smile since we moved here.

Our house is about where she points at.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

2014 was a busy year for me. Writing e-books for the Pentax DSLRs, travelling and blogging.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com

 Hi Photographer friends,

The year 2014 was a busy year for us. It was our second year travelling across the U.S. with our RV. We started the year in Donna, Texas, travelled east all the way to Florida, and then North all the way to Maryland and all the interesting places in between.

We started our way back to California at the end of July and ended up in the Temecula Valley, in an RV Resort. Mid-December, we decided that we had enough of RVing. It’s one thing to travel, but being stationary with the “Snow Birds” is not our cup-of-tea. We found a house in Big Bear Lake, where believe it is going to be the perfect combination of outdoor activities, beautiful scenery and cultural interaction.

I will concentrate more on my photography here and will certainly continue using Pentax as my preferred photographic equipment.

Thank you for allowing me in your cyber world and I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

The following images are some of the places visited in 2014, in no particular order.

Donna Texas

Victoria Palms RV Resort, Texas

Mexico

Padre Islands, Texas

New Orleans

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Breaux Bridge Swamp, Louisiana

St Augustine and Jacksonville, Florida

Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Dutch Country

Bandera, Texas

San Diego, California

RV Resort in the Temecula Valley, California

Big Bear Lake, our new home.

Big Bear Lake is like an Island at 8,000 ft elevation, in the middle of Los Angeles. Where else and you go to the beach in the morning, Ski in the afternoon and eat at a five star restaurant at night...all within about an hour drive, and almost all year round? I think we found our niche.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

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My Pentax K-3 is the best DSLR I have ever owned, but without memory cards, it can't do much. That's when my iPhone came to the rescue.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com 

Hi Photographer friends,

After about eight inches of snow overnight last week, I headed up to Big Bear Lake. We are moving there in the next few weeks, but I wanted to go see how it looked with a blanket of snow. On my way up, I realized that I had left my SDHC memory cards at home. The K-3 is a wonderful camera but it does need memory cards.

The scenery was spectacular and I decided  to use the cheap camera within the iPhone 5s, instead of driving back fifty miles. I am surprised at the results I  obtained. I can only imagine what it would have looked like with the K-3.

Oh well! I'm pretty sure we will get more snow and I will do an essay on Big Bear Lake soon. For now, I am still amazed of the iPhone results. These images are direct from the iPhone, without any post process. I just emailed them to myself and posted them.

Thank you for reading.

Yvon Bourque

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