Slickrock and Shadow

Windstone Arch in the Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada Despite going between St. George, Utah and Las Vega,s Nevada innumerable times over the last 13 years, I had not stopped at Valley of Fire State Park until recently.  In the last 6 months I have made 3 separate trips to this wonderful discovery.  It is a discovery to me although I know it is not a secret to other photographers.  It is easy to see why photographers love this location: lots of beautiful scenery all in a very compact location. There are many iconic photographs from this small state park.  One of them is Windstone Arch.  There are several different photographs of this small, delicate arch.  Each is slightly different.  I wanted to visit this location and take my own photograph. It is very helpful to have accurate GPS coordinates for this arch.  It is so small and it is located inside an alcove.  It cannot be seen without sticking your head inside a rock.  I hav...

Undressed I find it fascinating that hordes of people from all over the world will come to Zion National Park during the first week of November.  This is a special time. Autumn leaves are changing and beginning to fall and it also marks the first week that the shuttle system becomes optional instead of mandatory. Those are 2 good reasons to visit the park during this week. Joking aside, the autumn leaves are the main attraction and put on a wonderful show every year. In 2011 I had the timing perfectly right. In 2012 commitments prevented me from going the first week of November. Instead I went the 2nd week.The leaves had mostly fallen to the ground but were still highly colorful. I found this tree after wandering around on the west side of the Virgin River. It was quiet, beautiful and peaceful. Seeing the tree standing with all of its usually adornments dropped at its' feet reminded me of the process of undressing, hence the title. 

Purple Stalagmite Fantasy My family and I visited the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana.  This state park has and adventurous tour through the cold caves that is truly fun for everyone. I highly recommend visiting. Stalagmite Tower From a photography standpoint, the darkness adds some complexity to the task of shooting.  In addition, I discovered before arrival that they did not permit tripods inside the cave.  I would have to hold my camera very still.  The more light a lens could allow, the better the image would be.  So, I chose one really sharp and fast and sort-of wide lens to take:  the Canon 35 f/1.4 L.  It's extremely sharp and very fast in low-light situations.  This shot is hand-held with ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/40 second. The minerals seem to melt all over one another here, creating tiers of stalactites and stalagmite joining in the middle of the cave.  Stalactites come from the ceiling and the stalagmites grow from the gro...

Raccoon encounter in Zion National Park Tarantula spider in Valley of Fire Being out in nature is one of the great joys of landscape photography. I simply love spending time in the desert amongst the bushes, rocks, buttes, streams and trees. Sometimes I forget that this is also the home of many other creatures. It is very common to come across birds and lizards. Occasionally I come across animals larger or more interesting. This includes antelope, deer, coyote, snakes. In the last 2 months I've come across these 3 creatures: a raccoon, tarantula spider and a desert big horn sheep. The raccoon was going up and down the Virgin River as I was taking photographs in November. It was snowing and he was carefully going downstream when I spotted him. I quickly detached my camera from the tripod and tried to sneak around to get a better look at him. I could not stay hidden for very long. He discovered what I was doing and cautiously walked into the bushes. I waited. After short tim...

A Senior Portrait It is natural to assume that a photographer of loves to take pictures. It is natural to assume that a food critic loves to eat. But sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. A family portrait With the end of the year 2012, there were a lot of opportunities for family photos as well as landscape photography. Winter came early to my part of the Southwest and I had some wonderful photography days in the desert. Several families wanted Christmas photos or senior portraits at the same time.  If you add up family photos and landscape photography you get a lot of work.  this work is self generated. When I'm taking photographs, it is very fun and easy to shoot 300 or 600 photographs in a day. But when I get home, trying to narrow down so many choices to about 10 to 20 "winners" and then processes those is the difficult step. The other stressful thing about the end of the year is a deadline. People photography is something that people want to ...

Orange Tree Reflection Another photo from my visit to Zion last month.   This is also from Echo slot canyon, adjacent to the East Rim Trail.  The curves along the left canyon wall first caught my attention.  I hiked a little closer and saw I could line up the curves like a series of waves in my composition.  Then I noticed the orange tree in the distance and I knew I could make a winner if I just spent the time. I wanted this orange-leaf tree in the slot canyon to be the major photo subject.  I also wanted to line up the tree and its' reflection in the waters of the slot.  Sometimes an inch or two difference in the position of the camera (especially the vertical position) can make all the difference.  I took some with my standard wide angle lens, but the tree was so distant that it had no impact.  I switched to my standard zoom lens (24-105 f/4.0 L) and also my telephoto zoom (70-200 f/4.0 L) and tried different compositions.  This pho...

Echo Canyon Slot Echo canyon is a small part of the East Rim Trail in Zion National Park.  It is not a destination per se, but rather something that people will hike through as they got up to Observation Point or come down the East Rim Trail to reach the main canyon.  Some canyoneering groups will go into the depths of this wet, narrow and dangerous slot. the main trail actually goes adjacent to this and does not require any difficult work other than simply climbing up the trail. There are several points where the trail itself will come to Echo Canyon and access into this slot becomes available.  The above photo was taken as such an access point.  I setup my tripod with its' legs squeezed between two narrow and slippery walls.  Carefully I composed the shot and then made my exposure.  Trouble is, the wide angle distortion is pretty obvious.  I had used the 16-35mm f/2.8 L lens to record the image. It didn't look right.  So I climbed out o...

Portrait As I landscape photographer, I get plenty of practice shooting trees, rocks, streams and clouds.  Things that move in circles and against gravity are foreign to me.  That's what kids do. I had the pleasure of taking some family portraits last week for some family members.  When I get the call to take someone's photo, I always reach for one lens:  Canon 135mm f/2.0 L.  This lens is so fast, so sharp and so accurate in getting the picture that I want.  Some people say the "keeper" rate is very high with this lens and I heartily agree. In one of the moments where she stopped briefly, I was able to focus, compose and shoot. In keeping my lenses straight from one another, they get nicknames.  This one is the "movie star lens" because it makes everyone look fantastic!

Circular Whirlpool  Impressive Cliffs on the Three Ponds and Padre Canyon Trail Padre Canyon is a secret.  Not on the map given out at Snow Canyon State Park, this little gem is something I read about in the local newspaper.  I am not the 1st person to discover this but I believe I am the 1st person to create a trail report documenting my visit during the summer monsoon season.  What would normally be a very beautiful dry canyon, became an absolutely gorgeous, wet slot canyon after we had heavy summer rain.  I anticipated this would be a very good place to visit on a wet day. Padre Canyon branches off from the 3 Ponds trail.  I have always been underwhelmed with this particular trail.  I was hoping to find something better.  Immediately after passing through the high canyon cliffs, the 3 Ponds trail turns to the north (right).  Padre Canyon is to the left (south).  My two daughters and I hiked up the canyon and saw a little tr...

Snow Canyon Tree, Reflection and Cliffs One of the most helpful pieces of advice to give the photographer is to limit how many subjects are in a photograph to a maximum of 3.  A photograph tells a story.  In order for the story to be clearly understood, there must be a straightforward message.  Anything that is a distraction from that message, weakens the impact. In this photograph the story is simple.  small oasis in the desert.  The subjects in this photograph are the tree, its' reflection in the water, the background cliffs.  This composition was achieved by using a telephoto lens, zooming in on this subject and eliminating some distracting bushes on the left.  A photographer should not simply record an image.  He or she should draw attention to the subject in order to communicate emotion or tell a story.  My story about this tree is one of small beauty in the desert, living among the rocks, without neighbors.  It is a delightf...

#1  Composition:  Standard view of the Lollipop from White Pocket The Lollipop of White Pocket is the most recognizable feature of this incredible area. It located right in the center of the sandstone goldmine and gets the late afternoon sunshine. I was shooting here after a summer monsoon as the clouds were just clearing. Blue sky was coming out but the light wasn't going to last forever with the clouds coming and going. They seemed to get thicker as time progressed, taking away the beautiful blues in the sky.    #2 Composition Sandstone swirls act as leading lines to the Lollipop Formation These three compositions were shot one after another, each with the 17mm tilt-shift lens to prevent vertical distortion. One features a classic shot with the whole lollipop with landscape orientation. That's the shot on top.  The second is the sandstone portrait orientation shot on the right.  This has great lead-in lines and a wonderful point...

Sunset Ignites Sandstone The golden hour it is often limited to a golden 10 minutes.  Such was the case as I took this photograph at White Pocket.  The sun was setting very fast, clouds were intermittently blocking the light but for 10 minutes, the light was entirely golden and incredibly beautiful.  During this time, I composed this photograph. Enjoy!

The Curve at White Pocket, Arizona Having spent a good amount of time and White Pocket, I still have a few interesting things to share and post.  This photo is from the Gateway section of White Pocket.  I call it "the curve".  The white-topped tower is approximately 70 feet tall.  Because of surrounding structures, this does not give direct light at sunrise or sunset.  However the midmorning is an excellent time to photograph this location.  The sunlight illuminates the red, orange, tan colors beautifully. I also discovered that laying on the sand dune behind the white-topped tower is an excellent place for shelter during a storm.