Slickrock and Shadow

Jailhouse Rock stands hundreds of feet high on a stormy day. Lower South Desert Overlook in Capitol Reef is a gorgeous remote treasure.  As part of the Cathedral Valley loop drive, this should be on everybody's to-do list.   Park your car and walk 1/2 mile to the amazing views of Jailhouse Rock and the vast empty South Desert.   White rocks of all shapes and sizes surprised me here.  I thoroughly enjoyed walking around these white goblins and hoodoos looking for a photogenic angle.  I highly recommend this locale as a place to get in touch with the vastness of natural desert landscape.  Enjoy! Goblins of South Desert Overlook Jailhouse Rock and White Badlands Temple Rock:  300mm lens captures this distant pinnacle

Cathedral Valley Spires catch morning light for an instant! Photographers coined the phrase "chasing the light."  "Catching the light," is another variation of this idea.  The flip side of this is "when the light's not right, shoot black and white."  There was no light to "chase" during a recent trip to Capitol Reef.  I was 60 miles of dirt road to the nearest pavement but that would not make a difference as rainclouds blanketed the entire southwest region thanks to a hurricane near Baja California.  I hoped for a few rays of light at sunrise.  Some times sunlight will appear under the clouds at sunrise or sunset and then hide behind the clouds the rest of the day.  Sunrise did not shine through at all.  Heavy clouds blocked the eastern skies even though I could see some blue sky above.  I went to work, shooting compositions that I found with plants and rocks as foreground subjects.  A balanced rock directly east of the Temple o...