Also join me for 4 days at the Hunewill Ranch for the Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop, Taking Your Photography to the Next Level, May 28 – June 01, 2019. While living on the ranch capture the true west in your photography. You will be taking exciting field trips to photograph the old gloust town of Bodie, travel to Dobie Meadows to photograph wild mustangs and to Twin Lakes at night to learn the techniques of astro landscape photography. Classes are kept small to provide greater one-on-one instruction. Get more information at https://www.ranchmemories.com/eastern-sierra-landscape-photography-workshop
Register by calling the Hunewill Ranch.  [email protected], 760-932-7710

2019 Photographer's Work Shops

Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop

Taking Your Photography to the Next Level

May 28 – June 01, 2019 - Improving your photography skills.

September 16 - 20, 2019 - Post development in Light Room

Presented by Dwayne Leonard

Professional photographer and educator

While living on the ranch capture the true west in your photography: cattle, horses, wild mustangs, the High Sierra Mountains, rustic old buildings and fall colors provide a great variety of subject matter.

Location:
The Hunewill Ranch is located just east of Yosemite in the beautiful Bridgeport Valley.  This historic cattle ranch has been family owned and operated since it was established in 1861.

Instructor:
Dwayne Leonard, Professional photographer and educator.  He has a Bachelor of Science Degree and Teacher’s Credentials.  For the past decade Dwayne has been shooting western landscape, ranch culture and activities in the Eastern Sierra and Great Basin.  His work has been published and has received several awards. He is the owner of Ranch Memories Photography and the photographer for Hunewill Ranch.

Workshop Details:

Spring Class: May 28 - June 01, 2019

Classroom learning with a emphasis on improving your photography skills and developing your photographer's eye.

Fall Class: September 16 - 20, 2019

Post development using Adobe Light Room. Developing your style and turning your photos into art.

Both classes will include the following:

•  Small class sizes to encourage one-on-one instruction.
•  Classroom learning with an emphasis on improving photography skills and developing your photographer’s eye.
•  Opportunities to photograph authentic ranch life, working cowboys and horses in a stunning and beautiful setting.
•  Exciting field trips to High Sierra landscapes, iconic Mono Lake and a ghost town frozen in time, all a short drive from the ranch.
•  Meals served in a charming dining room in the original 1880s ranch house.
•  Accommodations are in quiet, comfortable and private cabins.

Workshop Pricing:

 Rates include: meals, accommodations (cabin with king and single bed and bath) and workshop tuition. ( These rates do not include taxes and gratuity.)

Single occupancy $1665

Double occupancy $1493

 Please call for 2019 pricing and deposit which are required to hold your place in the workshop.

Contact:

Dwayne Leonard

 [email protected]

 Cell: 1(775)901-9007 

Hunewill Ranch

        [email protected] 

       760-932-7710

Running FreeThe feeling of freedom

I dedicate this blog to a dear friend and wonderful man who we lost this past week, Ira Friedman. It was my honor to have know such a man, a man whose level of kindness and love for family and everyone he met is seldom achieved. He leaves behind his wonderful wife, Jenny, who was the perfect match for such a man. His two children, Nani and Joey marching in rhythm in their fathers foot steps to achieve the same levels of love and kindness to all. The memories of Ira has the hurt of missing him and at the same time the joy those memories bring.

The freedom these horses enjoy, the beauty of the mountains, the country and the sky does not compare were Ira is today.

May God bless and bring comfort to his family.

Burning SkyIt looked like the world was on fire!

Burning Sky

The day started with rounding up 500 cows out of Sulphur Springs just north of Sweet Water Ranch. This was the fourth day of a 60 mile cattle drive which started out from the Hunewill Ranch in Bridgeport, California. By 10 o’clock or so we had left Sulphur Springs way behind and started crossing the desert. It was an unusually warm winter day and the cows were moving slow. By mid afternoon we could start to see Smith Valley, Nevada approaching as the trees, hay stacks and ranch buildings started to appear. We would be bedding down the cows and horses for the night there and the sun would be setting by the time we reached grazing pastures for the night. It had been a long day and as we neared the pastures the cows got an extra burst of energy and took off running for the smell of fresh grass.This marked the end of day four. As I turned to head towards the horse pasture, where I would bed my horse down for the night, I saw this beautiful sunset beginning to develop. I wanted to capture the sky that appeared to be catching on fire but the sun was still too high and would overexpose any attempt to capture the burning sky and the foreground. I started riding back, keeping my eye on the sun, and noticed that as the sun was setting it was lining up behind some big Dogwood trees. My horse, “Jolena” stood perfectly still as I waited for the sun to drop just below the top of the trees and I took the shot. It is a sunset that you do not forget.…that is, until the Nevada skies develop even a greater one.

"The Barn"Crowed by the Majestic Sky

The old barn is crowned with the majestic colors created by the sun as it sets behind the stormy clouds and below the E. Sierra Mountains. Such colorful skies are often seen during the fall and winter in Bridgeport Valley. 

Everything under this sky is dramatically forced to change as these majestic colors fall upon all things that are under it and those who witness it are captured in its awe.

I have a few photos that I have taken during these exciting times and will be featuring them in some of my future blogs. 

Cowgirls Road to Heaven

I asked my horse to halt as I pulled my camera from its holster and quickly made the shutter and  aperture adjustments and started shooting away, hoping to capture the moment, the emotions and feelings we were both experiencing

This photo has won several awards and I have sold many of them, but the greatest reward was capturing that moment for that cowgirl. She was given a copy of this photo which she says she looks at everyday.  

Ranch Memories PhotographyTaken at the close of the day. A thunderstorm was clearing out as the sun reflected its colors.

I had been working for the Hunewill Ranch for about five years before I started the photography program. My job then was that of a ranch hand as well as a wrangler for the guests that came to the ranch. I had always loved this beautiful country but looked at it as “a beautiful place to work”.  After starting the photography program one of my greatest concerns was with the fact that 70% of the guests return each year and how was I going to bring them something different in my photography each year.  As I tacked another aspect to my job, photography, I found that the country and the people in it unlocked a beauty I had never seen until I started looking through the eyes of a photographer.  Now the challenge is not how to be different but discovering new ways of letting those who view my work to see it how I saw it.  Each day Mother Nature makes it different with the sunrises, sunsets, cloud formations, and all their colors while the people make the difference with their different expressions, change in age as the little buckaroos grow to be young cowboys and cowgirls. Capturing the joy of moms and dads watching or joining their little buckaroos ride across this beautiful land.

What a Great Job this is!

I wanted to get another blog up before Dee and I leave for vacation. We are heading for the San Juan Islands off the coast of Seattle, Washington for a week and then going on the inland cruise to Alaska.  We did this inland cruise for our 25th. anniversary and enjoyed it so decided to do it again (24 years later. There is a lot of history on display at the ranch from old wagons to building dating back to the late 1800s.  One of the great things about the Hunewill Ranch is that the history of the ranch is not just something you can see but also experience as a guest or employee. The cattle work is still done on horseback by cowboys and cowgirls. The calves are roped and taken to the branding fire, cattle leave the ranch in November via a 60 mile/5 day cattle drives, giving people something less than 1% of the population will ever experience. The old west from morning to sunset.

For those of you who would like to photograph this history and life style I will be giving a 5 day photographers workshop in September. For more details please contact the Hunewill Ranch (760)932-7710 or visit my web, ranchmemories.com.

by

Dwayne Leonard

Last Day of WorkOne of the older horses walking into the barnyard.

This photo, "Last Day of Work", was taken on the same morning as "Blue Morning". The horse in the foreground is an older horse who was retired from the working herd shortly after this photo was taken. Now do not become saddened by this. At the Hunewill Ranch we do not put the horse down once he is too old to work.  The feeling is that the horse worked hard for the ranch and deserves a nice retirement. Retired horses are put in a separate field from the rest of the working horses, thus they do not have to compete for their food or territory. The retired horses are free to graze, sleep, run...act like horses.  As the wranglers ride near or in the field we keep an eye on them for any health problems or injuries. They live a good life both in the working herd and in retirement. This photo has the brilliant colors of the golden sunrise coming up in the foreground, lighting up the dust created by the faster horses running in.

Dwayne Leonard Western PhotographerTaken just prior to riding out into the Eastern Sierras.

Dwayne Leonard

Western Photographer 

As a wrangler for the Hunewill Ranch I have spent many hours in the saddle riding the Eastern Sierra Mountains and the high deserts of N. Nevada. I try to capture my experiences in my photography and preserve the memories I have developed riding in this beautiful country.

"Blue Morning" by Dwayne LeonardRunning the horses into the barnyard on a very cold Western Sierra Morning

It was a very cold morning as I rode out into the pasture areas of the Hunewill Ranch, at the foot of the Eastern Sierra Mountains, to wrangle into the barnyard about 160 horses. They were all in the far fields about one mile from the ranch.  Their heads lifted up from the grassy ground with ears perked and pointed right at me as they heard me coming. The younger horses were feeling good, having rested and grazed all night and took off at a dead run. As they neared the barn on a dusty path their dust, lit by the early morning sun, silhouetted the slower horses.  Always having my Nikon D800 strapped to my side in hopes of such a photographic moment, I jumped off, drew my camera from its Spider Camera Holster and started shooting.  I was excited about the morning shots and could hardly wait to load them on my computer so I could get a better look but I knew it would be a long day and it would be evening before I would be able to upload those photos, along with 400 plus photos I took of the guests that day.

I ended up with three favorites from that moment in time. They will be featured in some of my next blogs. While working on Blue Morning, in post development I could see that this photo needed to go to black & white with a blue tent to really tell the true story of that cold! “ Blue Morning”.