Half and Half Rock: Gem of Coyote Buttes South

Half and Half Rock:  Yellow and Purple Strips run through everything here!

Half and Half Rock is an extension of the surrounding stripes running throughout Coyote Buttes South.  Not only is it amazing that the stripe runs exactly though the middle of the rock but it's mind-blowing that the same stripe continues across the ground and up onto the northern wall of sandstone.  It's like someone with purple chalk drew a wandering line through the whole landscape without regard to obstacles. 

This small wonder is one of the first places the casual visitor to Coyote Buttes South discovers.  He sits right on the eastern border and the sandy trail leads to this general area from the parking lot.  If you seek, you will find.  If GPS coordinates help, then here it is:  N 36°57'39.3"  W 111°59'16.9".

A literal rock star, this little guy has been photographed by some of the most famous landscape photographers.  Fatali flipped his photograph to make it a mirror image of reality.  I photographed Half and Half rock with a variety of lenses trying to get some pleasing compositions.  The above shot was taken at 104mm at f/16.  The longer focal length compresses the lines on the rock and the lines behind on the sandstone wall. 

(I should note that these were taken in the middle of the day in December, with the sun low in the sky but just about directly south of my location.)

A totally different view can be had with a wide angle lens.  Here I shot 17mm and got very close to the stone.  This allows a whole landscape view with the peaks and hills in the distance.  Although Half and Half Rock occupies roughly the same area in the picture, the surroundings are much further away and smaller with the 17mm lens.  In this shot, you can also see a depression just to the upper left of the Rock.  This is often filled with water or even snow, but I had no recent moister before my trip.  I personally like the dry look. 

Wide angle view of Half and Half Rock with the surrounding hills of sandstone.

How you place the lines your photograph also give creative variations.  My top shot has the background lines on the left of the Rock.  My 17mm shot has the lines perfectly aligned.  Below the background lines are on the right of the Rock, kind-of like a scarf blowing in the wind.

Half and Half Rock under the Lines

Then, of course, there is the selfie shot.

Gordon Smith and Half and Half Rock:  Photographer and Subject share the moment.