Slickrock and Shadow

Cavern Cascade in Watkins Glen State Park I wanted to photograph Cavern Cascade from behind from the moment I walked underneath the falls.  This is such an exciting experience to have, I hoped to capture the feeling of being there.  My camera lens is simply not wide enough to capture the path coming down on the left, passing behind the waterfall and then continuing on to the right and then down into the light of the canyon.  I took the photograph by standing behind the waterfall and, using a tripod, took many photos in nearly every direction. Immediately I thought of stitching multiple photos together.  Adobe Lightroom make this a much easier process.  I shot more than 20 frame in a portrait orientation at different exposures to allow for the darkest shadows and the brightest rays of morning light.  Then I walked away with hope of salvation in the digital darkroom.  Back home, Lightroom (LR) could not stitch it together.  Some images a...

Barren Winter:  yellow stubble for grass and a hidden sun A winter visit to Montana afforded me an opportunity to shoot my little remote cabin in subzero temperatures.  Wind and rain made things cold indeed.  The large cloud did not however spoil the sunset because some golden yellow rays came down between the cloud and the mountains.  Grass was short, dead, awaiting summer temperatures to revive.  

Black Rock Cottage with Buachaille Etive Mor and Sweeping Clouds I believe there is such a thing as luck and on my first sunrise in Scotland I received beginners luck.  It does take some effort to rise early in the summer at such a northern latitude.  My alarm clock went off at 3:30 AM.  Sunrise started developing around 4 AM.  On this day I did not regret losing any sleep because some wonderful clouds were filling the sky, sweeping from the south to the north. I expected the sunlight would color these purple or orange.  They also seemed to fill in the space between the distant mountains.  The one on the left is the famous Buachaille Etive Mor. This monolith plays a major role in this photograph.  The other players include the quaint Black Rock Cottage, the sky itself and an minor role is played by the foreground grasses.  Everything works together in this photograph to create a strong and beautiful image of Scotland.  The Highlands ...

Jumbo Rocks Panorama -- click on picture for larger view I had to visit Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree.  I've seen so many pictures of these amazing and balanced rock conglomerations that my thoughts of JTNP immediately bring up the Ansel Adams photo of the balanced boulder.  So I went. These rocks are right in the middle of the largest campground in the whole park.  People are coming and going.  Just finding a parking space was difficult.  From a distance, I could see that this formation stands taller than many of the surrounding hills and mounds.  One of those mounds served as my location for this panorama.   From 400 feet away, I shot with my 300mm lens on a tripod and slowly moved across this rock formation.  Back home I stitched all these together to create a massive file.  It's a different look at this classic place, and one that I am happy with.