Jet Lag and The Fall Colors Photo Shoot, October 2012

I have been back from Australia for just over a week now and I am finally and just about completely over the inevitable jet lag from an overseas trip. From Wikipedia “Jet lag is a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms resulting from rapid long-distance transmeridian (east–west or west–east) travel on a jet aircraft. The common term 'jet lag' is used because before the arrival of the passenger jet aircraft, it was generally uncommon to travel far and fast enough to cause jet lag. Propeller flights were slower and of more limited distance than jet flights, and thus did not contribute as widely to the problem.”

It seems to me that the jet lag that hits me is less apparant when I go to Australia than it is when I arrive back home. In Australia I seem to wake bright eyed and bushy tailed early in the morning, which works well as I am usually on the beach at 5:00AM waiting to photograph the sunrise over the ocean in Currumbin. Staying awake past 9:00PM at night usually is a challenge and the afternoons require a hit of 5-Hour Energy, my choice of ‘stay-awake’ elixir. My experience being back home is the opposite, in that waking up in the morning is similar to being in a heavy mental fog until about 10:00AM, where as I can stay awake at night until the wee hours of the morning!

I am getting ready to leave on my annual trek to photograph the beautiful fall colors along Highway 395 in California. We are initially headed to Mono Lake and the surrounding Lundy Canyon and June Lake, then head further south to the Bishop area, where the Aspen trees turn beautiful and wondrous colors of yellow, orange and gold. We also stop off in Shulman Grove to photograph the amazing Bristlecone Pines, with some of the trees being over four thousand years old!

I have posted a few images from last year's trip to give you an idea of the beauty encountered along this marvelous journey. Enjoy!