Slickrock and Shadow

Redwall Cavern:  fun big magic sandbox! Redwall Cavern is the biggest sand box in the world.  I know.  I've been there.  The size is huge and comparable to a soccer field, a football field or a giant parking lot.  Except this is nature made and much prettier.  We pulled up on day 3 of our rafting trip for a lunch stop.  Everyone broke out their favorite toys:  frisbee, soccer ball, bocce, etc.  We played and played for an hour.  Then ate lunch.  It's great to explore here by walking from one end to the other but it takes a long time .  Then go from the back to the front.  It also takes a long time .  This is just so big and wonderful that walking in sand feels fun. Redwall Cavern dwarfs these otherwise huge rafts and people.  It's so big and beautiful.   Photographing Redwall Cavern is no simple feat.  It's too big.  With my 16mm lens I took several shots and then had to stitch them ...

Algodones Sand Dunes resemble the Sahara On my 1st and only trip to the North Algodones Sand Dunes located in the Imperial Valley of California, I was hoping to experience some untouched sand dunes.  The Algodones Dunes are segregated into the North and the South.  The North is designated wilderness and off-road vehicles are forbidden.  The South is a designated site for off-road vehicle fun.  When I drove into Glamis that was quite clear that the South receives a lot more attention than the North. I slept in my car beside the North dunes and got up well before sunrise so that I could hike out onto the dunes and be there when the sun came up.  I was surprised at how much walking I had to do simply to reach the dunes.  It was very flat but seems to take about twice as long as I expected.  The dunes began fairly abruptly on the edge of some brush and trees.  Yet a few questions and even a tree or 2 are located in the midst of the dunes as far...

Marching Men:  Arches National Park Marching men are located in the northwest corner of Arches National Park.  This area is also called Klondike Bluffs and is located at the end of the dirt road.  The drive up to that point is relatively easy.  A hike is then necessary to reach the marching men.  This takes about one hour of hiking (one way). There is a climb just north of the marching men that has quite a bit of sand as well as vegetation and rock.  These are all choices for foreground subjects when composing a photo.  With the sun creeping low, the shadows across this sand dune caught my eye. A word on camera settings:  the marching men are are in the distance, so a small aperture of f/16 and hyperfocal distance were used.  I shot two different configurations:  each as the 3 largest "men".  The horizontal was shot at 32mm focal length.  The vertical at 45mm focal length.  You may notice that the higher focal leng...

White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, has the Beach Beach in the World!  (no exaggeration) Jost Van Dyke has several places to visit and to anchor for the night.  By far, the most beautiful on the island (and perhaps all the BVI) is White Bay.  Two amazing beaches stretch for miles separated by a small rocky prominence.  Sailboats come and go.  Sections of the beach are empty, virgin.  Others have lively bars and restaurants.  Here you can sink your toes in the sand and know that there is no better place in the world.  From a photography standpoint, the surrounding green hills and colorful boats are like icing on the cake.  These provide more photo subjects to mix into the beautiful beach scene.  In the photo above, I tried to capture these elements.  I crouched low on the sand and photographed some incoming waves.  In one corner I positioned the lovely red sailboat and in the other I included some palm trees:  Snapshot of para...

Cow Wreck Beach, Anegada, British Virgin Islands Sporting an atrocious name, Cow Wreck Beach doesn't attrack many visitors.  On the north shore of the northern-most British Virgin Island, this beach is hard to reach.  Most visitors take a plane, a sailboat and then some ground transportation to sink their toes into powder-soft white sand.  Of all the beaches in the world, this is one of the most beautiful and lonely.  If you ever get to Anegada, be sure to visit Cow Wreck.  It's much less crowded than Loblolly bay and truly gives you an "at-the-end-of-the-earth" feeling . . . and that's a good thing.

Bahia Honda clear waters and Red Sailboat I have seen some stunning pictures from Bahia Honda State Park.  When I visited the Florida Keys in February, this was on my "must-do" list.  I arrived on a sunny afternoon.  The water is beautiful.  There are lots of birds to photograph here.  For quite some time, it seemed like that was all there was.  That is okay but nothing spectacular. Then my luck changed: small red sailboat arrived as the tide was going out.  A sandbar just underneath the water level was easy to look right through.  Crystal-clear waters were spectacular.  I tried several compositions with this sailboat and some distant clouds.  Then my luck improved again and a small piece of seaweed rolled by with the outgoing tide.  It got stuck on the shallow sand.  This provided a wonderful foreground object. All the elements aligned in my favor.  I took several pictures and found this one to be my favorite of ...

Storm Arrives over Coral Pink Sand Dunes Coral Pink Sand Dunes:  a jewel that should not be missed at sunset, according to Laurent Martres.  He describes the sand turning an exquisite shake of pink just as the sun disappears.  On my way back from a weekend phototrip to White Pocket, I decided to see if this would happen for me. Summer monsoon season is in full swing this year and I'd had intermittent rainstorms during the prior 48 hours.  Between storms, gorgeous sunlight lit up the world for stunning photographs.  I figured the sun would come out at the end of the day and reward me.  I was wrong. After wandering across the dunes to set up for sunset, clouds went from thick to thicker.  The sun never peeked through but I found the evening light turned the clouds a deep blue color.  Blue and pink are wonderful complimentary colors and I took this shot just as the night was coming on at f/11, 3/10 of a second and ISO 200 to prevent ...

Macro shot of the smooth and highly tangible rocks and pebbles of Waianapanapa State Park (Black Sand Beach), Maui. These lovely rocks make an excellent fine art subject.  Black Sand Beach (a.k.a. Waianapanapa State Park) is a location that I was hoping to visit. I had seen some very good as well as some very bad photographs from this location. I was not sure what I would find. Getting to Black Sand Beach was much easier than Red Sand Beach because a road goes right to it and there is no hiking in the dark on the side of a cliff required.  I was surprised to discover there was no one at this highly accessible and very beautiful location. I had the entire place to myself for two hours until I decided to leave. One of the most delightful things about the beach is the rocks themselves. They are smooth, black. When they are wet, they reflect the light from the sky. It's really a beautiful sight. Normally reflections are things you want to remove in a photograph with a polari...