Steve’s Rock - Olmstead Point, Tioga Pass, CA - 1983, originally uploaded by Sharper24.

The photographer: “This boulder is sitting just above Tioga Pass at 8,500′ Elevation overlooking Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley”…

click on the picture to read more about it at Flickr

Andromeda Galaxy, originally uploaded by DJMcCrady.

The photographer: “The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is one of the nearest galaxies in our local neighbourhood, and is visible to the naked eye from a dark site. Being so near, it also has a very large apparent size: the width of 6 full moons. The bright blue patch near the top left is designated NGC 206, and is a very large open cluster within M31. It has two satellite galaxies, M32 near the top left, and M110 near the bottom left.

The HII regions have been emphasized by layering an H-alpha exposure into the red and luminance channels.”

Quarter Moon, originally uploaded by § Mary §.

…over the water.

Tuolumne Meadows, originally uploaded by Misha Logvinov.

The photographer: “The Sierra Wave is forming over Tuolumne Meadows.

Yosemite NP, California”

Sunrise in the Himalayas, originally uploaded by acastellano.

The photographer: “Annapurna Circuit - Trek Day 17

Each morning dozens of trekkers wake up at 5am to begin the thousand-foot climb from Ghorepani (9,500′) to the summit of Poon Hill (10,531′). They make this pilgrimmage in the dark in order to witness one of the most spectacular scenes in the Himalayas (or the planet for that matter)…sunrise on Poon Hill. From this perch, you can watch as the sun’s first rays light up the entire Annapurna range and then light up the imposing face of Dhaulagiri across the Kali Gandaki valley. It is well worth the climb…and worth the effort to carry your best camera, a tripod and lots of film!

This is a photograph scanned from a film negative. It was not “photoshopped”, other than to adjust the brightness/contrast levels. I used a print from the original negative as my target for the adjustments. I also performed a small amount of noise reduction to eliminate some of the scanner noise, but I had to leave some of the graininess in there, otherwise it looked completely fake!”

the lake awakens, originally uploaded by Steve took it.

* Odee *, originally uploaded by lecheel.