Slickrock and Shadow

French Canyon:  The Jungle in Zion that nobody knew existed As I kid I'd watch Indiana Jones movies and wonder at the world's most exotic and adventurous locations.  I'd imagine hacking my way through the jungle to discover an amazing secret spot.  I felt like a kid again this month as I hiked up French Canyon, a branch off of the East Virgin River, also known as Parunuweap or the Barracks. French Canyon begins mysteriously as a slot canyon immediately off of the Virgin River.  A gorgeous tree obscures the view into this narrow slot canyon, yet the clear water flowing over the sandy stream bed invite further exploration.  The canyon remains narrow for 1/3 mile.  In that short distance, you will trek over trees and through vines all the while in a pleasant 2-6 inches of clear water.  Nothing is really difficult.  The obstacles really create a special feeling of mystery and excitement.  Hiking here is fun, beautiful and Indiana-Jonesish....

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

Grapevine Springs, Zion is a wall of seeping water coming out of sandstone. Grapevine Springs is the namesake for the "Grapevine" trail in Zion National Park.  Thinking this must be a big deal because it has it's own trailhead, I wondered why nobody ever writes about it, hikes to it nor are there any pictures of it on record that I can discover via Google Search. So I went on a hike to discover this spring and assess its' merits and beauties myself.  Hiking upstream from the Grapevine trail, one must keep a lookout for water coming from the left.  Follow this water up a nonexistent trail through and over many branches and you will arrive at a wall.  This is a magic wall with water dripping and ferns clinging.  I can't say it's a big deal but the subtle attraction and the sense of discovery and privacy is rewarding. Grapevine Spring:  Shot in the Water -- Camera got plenty wet for this photo. Closeup of Ferns and dripping water.  This has ...

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...

Fallen Leaves in the Sacred Grove with Green Trees lit up I visited the Finger Lakes of New York in Autumn and explored some of the nearby attractions.  There are so many, it was hard to choose.  One worthwhile stop if the Sacred Grove in Palmyra.  This special grove of trees is where Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ.  Held sacred by the LDS faith, this lovely spot is ideal for wandering and reflection.  I arrived just as leaves were falling yet the trees still had plenty of green foliage.  To capture my best pictures, I got quite low to the ground and focused on one or two colorful leaves while aiming the camera up to catch the tall trees. Typical path through Palmyra's Sacred Grove Rough wooden benches allow time to sit and reflect Gordon's hike rating: Hike Difficulty:                   ★ Easy Trail Condition:                  ...

Mangrove Jungle at Low Tide:  a transient photo opportunity This post we're leaving the beautiful beaches and diving headlong into the jungles of Vava'u.  Plenty of photo opportunities with natural and cultural charm await the jungle trekker. Hunga is a dirt-poor island with very nice residents who wave, smile, come out and talk and make a wonderful friendly impression.  We stayed in the inner bay of Hunga one rainy night  At low tide, the mangrove jungle becomes walkable.  I sauntered in and around many jungle plants looking for the right composition.  Here are two of my favorites. Mangrove branches reach out like a parasite! Inland on Hunga we had a wonderful time with the people but I also enjoyed photographing all the pigs here.  They wander openly around.  Most pigs on other islands are wary of people but the Hunga pigs seem to not fear or flee. Pigs of Hunga, Tonga Kenutu is a fantastic anchorage with a legitimate jungle t...

Abyss Pool at West Thumb Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Abyss Pool violently erupted in the 1990s before settling into a placid phase.  This green goddess is one of the most beautiful pools in the entire park.  Like many pools in Yellowstone, the colors defy description and even photography is challenged to show the brilliance and full spectrum of greens on display! I chose this as my  Photo of the Month  pick for June because of the wonderful colors, the clouds sweeping across the sky, the absence of humans and the balanced composition.  This was my best landscape shot from Yellowstone this year. Some Technical Information: To photograph such colors I used a polarizing filter to reduce the surface reflection.  This allows the greens underneath to shine better.   I shot 4 vertical pictures from left to right with identical aperture and shutter speed and then stitched these photos together in Photoshop back home.  My widest lens, the 17mm...

Road through Winnats Pass I saw some spectacular photos of Winnats pass when researching the Peaks District.  They impressed me so much I decided to go here for my sunrise.  I started off hiking along the southern edge which became higher and higher.  Deep grass was easily negotiated because there are some footpaths running here and there.  I hiked out to those prominent rocks in the upper picture and shot a mostly-cloudy sunrise.  My result is the photo below. Winnats Pass at Sunrise The small town in the distant haze is Castleton, UK.  I went there for sunrise and found some clouds, a little bit of light peeking through and some colors in the sky.  Looking down, I found much more to be excited about: green like I never see covering all the hills, crags and slopes.  From high up on the canyon precipice I watched the light slowly come into the world.  The vibrant green color and steep canyons here reminded me of Hawaii. After hiki...

Hamoa Beach, a beautiful sunrise location Headed back to Maui for a second visit, I hoped to see some new things.  Previously during my visit to Hana I enjoy the sunrise and Black Sand beach, Koki beach and Red Sand beach.  Because there are not very many beaches in this area, I had seen everything except for Hamoa beach.  All of these other locations are outstanding at sunrise.  I hope that Hamoa beach would be equally good and rewarding. Previous day it had rained a lot.  Clouds were just starting to clear through the night.  When I arrived at the beach, everything was very overcast and the sunrise really didn't happen all at once.  Instead, the sun would peek through the clouds here and there in the clouds themselves dynamically changed from moment to moment. A wonderful thing about this beach is the different viewpoints.  Getting down in the sand near the water yields fantastic photos.  Likewise, it is an easy walk to the south s...

Akaka Falls in the Afternoon Sunshine I can say from experience that hiking in the jungle is difficult, messy, bloody and muddy.  It doesn't have to be this way if you visit Akaka Falls state park.  This compact state park is not very far off the main road.  For a nominal fee you can see the dropdead gorgeous Akaka waterfall.  That view is worth the entire detour.  For some, they see the waterfall and go home.  The waterfall can be reached with minimal effort by climbing down the stairs and taking the left paved trail.  Within 5 minutes, you are rewarded with this lovely view. The trail makes a circuit which I highly recommend.  It is not long nor difficult but he has beautiful views into the jungle.  Here are a few other photos I took on my brief visit.  I found quite a bit variety within the park with views into the deep jungle interior, beautiful jungle trees as well as flowers and other growth. Please visit my  Big Isla...

Green Pastures of the Big Island Beautiful green meadows are about the last thing expected on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Beaches, waterfalls, jungle and even volcanos are more characteristic of this rugged land.  Nevertheless, on my drive back from Pololu Overlook I witnessed some beautiful scenery of a different sort with green rolling hills and occasional solitary trees.  In the distance you can see the ocean far below.  This particular tree maybe stop and pull over:  the verdant and fertile scene along with the solitary tree make a great photo! A wider view of the meadow

Colonnade Arch shows 3 of its 5 holes Colonnade arch fascinated me from the moment I first saw it in a photograph.  I had never seen anything like it:  3 windows opening out over an infinite view of canyons and mazes.  It took a little while to figure out exactly where this arch is located.  It appeared promising enough to me that I decided to special detour into the San Rafael Desert on my way to Canyonlands' Needles District just to visit this spot. I began hiking early in the morning and was deceived by the landscape as well as other trails in the area.  I hiked down towards the edge of the cliff and did not find my destination.  Looking around in all directions, I found it high on a cliff above and to the east.  I hiked back up and up and up.  You must be above this arch and then descend to it.  This can only be reached by downclimbing from above.  The problem is that you can't see if you're in the right place.  As a resu...

Entering Buckskin Gulch Buckskin Gulch is so spectacular.  Much better than I anticipated and a very rich area for photography.  Here share photos which all have trees as a common theme.I was quite surprised to find so many beautiful green trees and buckskin.  The narrows do not allow any of these to grow but there are small portions throughout buckskin gulch where the canyon becomes wider and allows enough sand and sunlight for this small oasis to thrive. Rolled Up Mud Buckskin Gulch Around the Next Bend

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...

San Giovanni Church (also known at St. John's Church) After looking at several photographs of the dolomites, it became apparent that several picturesque churches would you be found in the valleys and on the peaks. This particular church got my attention and I wanted to find out where it was.  After a little bit of research I discovered it is in the Val di Funes.  This is a short trip from Bolzano.  That is not to say it is a straight path.  Following GPS instructions I was led on several winding roads, sharp turns, small streets that seem to be designed more for cows than automobiles.  The farther I traveled the more beautiful scenery became. Me and my family had this lovely valley to ourselves.  A few cows joined us.  As you can see in the photograph, there had been a storm.  In fact it was raining when we arrived.  The rain was very light and I took several photographs, not knowing what the scenery might be later.  After we hi...