Slickrock and Shadow

Fat Man's Misery exits into a warm green bath-like pool!  Go down the waterslide for good time! Green waters thrill me.  I've always thought emeralds were the most beautiful color of green.  This hue exists in Parunuweap Canyon within the green glassy clear waters.  You need a filter to drink the water but no camera filter to get this amazing color!  It's entirely natural and stunning to see. Some pools are blue but for me the most beautiful are these in Parunuweap Green. If you go, bring a dry bag for camera equipment and good shoes.  Also known as "the Barracks", this East Fork of the Virgin River is the most beautiful of the three (Main Fork and North Fork). Green turquoise waters in a deep slot canyon, Parunuweap, Zion Boulder and Pool in Parunuweap

Black Pool at Coyote Gulch, Utah:  a quiet campsite for single tent Here's my take on tent photography.  On a quiet morning after sleeping our first night at the Black Pool in Coyote Gulch, I got up while my two daughters continued sleeping.  The wind from the previous night was gone.  Nothing stirred.  The tree leaves, the tall grasses and the flat water surface each stood entirely still.  I was able to set up tripod and camera, shutter release and carefully focus.  A long shutter speed later, I had this photo. I carefully rotated my polarizing filter to remove reflections off the wet seeping rock walls, thus keeping the all wonderful colors.  But I also wanted to keep all those reflections on the water.  This ended up being an easy task, but one I did consciously. I have seen plenty of tent photography:  tents in lonely, beautiful places.  I think this shot is a worthy addition to this genre.  

Green Glow, Smooth Flow I discovered this photo in a group of RAW files I never got to during the 2017 year.  In sorting through them, getting rid of the rubbish, I found this one and said to myself, "there's a jewel."  I began processing the photo primarily by adjusting the luminance of various color channels to help the falling water retain it's bright whiteness.  This was easily done using the blue color channel in Lightroom.   Then I turned to the greens.  The greens are under and above the water in this photo and (as always) I try to process them to look like they did in reality.  I was there.  I saw all this and even swam in the water.  This is what it looks like.  The only missing element is the sound of falling water.   With this longer exposure, I blurred the waterfall and smoothed out the water's surface.  I also captured some blurred motion in the foliage as it swayed in a slight breeze.  Some of th...

La Verkin Pool, Waterfall and Trees underneath towering cliffs. The quest for my favorite thing in the world continues in this entry:  finding desert waterfalls.  From the high elevation of Zion National Park Kolob Section, I started hiking down the trail.  This trail goes down for 4 miles without stopping.  It makes it fairly easy to get down to the valley but the grueling hike back up is another story. I was able to enjoy hiking and swimming in the beautiful La Verkin Creek.  As I enjoyed this, I kept looking for good photo opportunities within the light would allow.  I took several pictures which you can see on my website of this great location.  My favorite pictures were taken just at sunset.  As the light was fading in the sky, some beautiful clouds and soft light on the rocks made for a beautiful scene.  I took several photographs and felt like magic was captured.   Gregory Peak and La Verkin Pool Unfortunately I ...

Desert Spring and Small waterfall Desert Springs is a natural spring in the Arizona desert.  It is a small area surrounded by very little growth.  Despite its closeness to a major interstate, it remains mostly hidden.  As a local I heard about it from an acquaintance.  I spent my morning visiting this beautiful location.  Nobody was there when I came but it clearly gets some use in the summertime.  Several sandbanks built around the outside created a lovely pool.  That part is artificial.  However the ferns, the travertine and the beautiful greenery are natural beauties. There is limited room for maneuvering.  Water also is a problem when combined with electrical equipment such as a digital camera.  Using a wide-angle lens, I was able to try several compositions.  The one featured above is my favorite.  I tried to capture the waterfall, the hanging stalactite-like structure and the beautiful ferns and pool all in one ...

 White Pocket, Arizona:  a natural pool in the desert  White Pocket: a jumble of sandstone like no other. White Pocket: a remote and small location in the middle of the Paria Plateau. White Pocket: the end of a journey across the desert on 30 miles of unpaved road, the last 5 miles being deep sand. White Pocket: a worldwide landscape photography location so much so that while I was there no less than 8 other groups came and went, one was a family of 6 from France.  None stayed as long as I did.  Most were there for 2 hours and then left.  That seems shameful as it takes numerous hours simply to reach this spot. Well, I planned a summer trip to the desert for photography.  Summer and desert usually don't equal a good time, but I had planned to hike the famous Buckskin Gulch.  This slot canyon would be cool and shaded.  Perfect for summer. Unless it rained. . . . A prolonged and more powerful summer monsoon season came through the so...