Slickrock and Shadow

Octopus Rock at Little Egypt The naming of rocks and locations is something in which I take part with my photos, social media, landscape forums and the public sphere.  As I see unique rocks, my imagination runs off with possible names or titles.  Such was my state as I walked around Little Egypt.  I came across the following large formation which sits near the Queen formation. Octopus Rock spreading its' tentacles Given its' size and central "head" with a spread of boulders in every direction, the shape of an octopus came to mind.   Near Octopus Rock is the Queen in the distance

The Queen in Little Egypt Geologic area Little Egypt landscape photography: Rain drizzled for 24 hours straight before my arrival at Little Egypt.  Clouds hung low.  I went here instead of searching for trickling waterfalls in Capitol Reef.  Laurent rates this place as less interesting than nearby Goblin Valley but the more colorful formations here appealed to me.  Many of the goblins here have a unique white stripe of rock running horizontal through them.  The most interesting formations were photographed from a distance using a telephoto lens.  With a focal length of 50-105mm, the plane of focus becomes small even with apertures of f/16.  Focus stacking is a technique to deal with this.  On site, I took 3 photographs of the foreground flowers, the midground bush, and the Queen rock formation.  These must have the same aperture and shutter speed.  They must align perfectly so a tripod is required.  They must be identical ex...

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...

The big pool in the middle of a hike in Death Hollow is just one of the many highlights.   Death Hollow is an equally challenging and rewarding backcountry experience.  I could say photographing Death Hollow is also challenging and rewarding.  Challenges include: 1.  The long miles of hiking 2.  The multi-day nature of this undertaking 3.  Coping with the ever-present water (dry bag for camera) 4.  Backcountry survival skills 5.  Trail finding on the first crucial day But the beauty is there, mostly undiscovered and waiting for a man or woman with camera to come and record the wonders of this land and creek.  Because of the incredible things about hiking through Death Hollow, I dedicated a detailed post for each day in my previous posts.  Please see them for details.   Death Hollow Day 1 Death Hollow Day 2 Death Hollow Day 3 I would do it again.  My wife says she's glad to have done it but...

Three twisted cottonwood trees in Escalante Canyon.  This is just one of the cool discoveries that remain on a trip through Death Hollow. Day 3 in Death Hollow was all about getting moving.  We had 8 miles from the confluence to our car and a little extra just to reach the confluence.  After a nice breakfast of oatmeal I put on a clean pair of socks.  For a whole 5 minutes I walked without sand, water and grit between my toes.  It was a brief but divine luxury.  We broke camp and started walking. The stream here is much more flat and shallow . . . so the temptation is to walk faster in the stream . . . which leads to falling down.  I had walked no more than 10 minutes before I slipped and fell hard on my left elbow.  Dang it hurt.  No sense stopping because that would do no good whatsoever. We kept walking and quickly reached the confluence.  Here the clearer waters of Death Hollow mix with the Escalante River.  The Escala...

Death Hollow beautiful landscapes in the middle section of this hike.  The stream, high canyon cliffs and lots of green trees are common in is awesome section.   This section of Death Hollow is easily the most beautiful.  The hard work we put in the first day and we would put in the last day was worth it because of this middle day in paradise.  After some small storms through the night, the morning was glorious with blue sky and some light clouds.  Our campsite was one of the more open parts of the canyon.  This yielded fabulous views of the cliffs and canyon.  One of my favorite shots of the trip was my wife and her sister drinking their morning hot chocolate with a fabulous view. Two campers enjoy the morning in Death Hollow. We began hiking and enjoyed some awesome scenery.  The trail itself was an inconsistent thing.  We'd have a traditional dirt path in some locations.  Then we'd have branches and have to push through...