A purple desert

I came across this scene driving back from the Vermillion Cliffs last spring. I had stopped at Bryce and Calf Creek Falls along the way and now was heading back home with vague plans to stop at Goblin Valley. on the way between Capital Reef (an extraordinary place I can also highly recommend) and Hanksville I got struck by the scene below of just seas of purple/pink flowers on the desert floor in front of the impressive buttes. I had to stop and take some pictures as you can well imagine. I think it is extraordinary how life seems to find a way in these places.

Seas of Purple. Buy a print. On flickr. On facebook. On Google+.
Nikon D600, Tokina 16-28 mm f/2.8 at 16mm, f/22, 1/40s, ISO 100.

The cracked eggs

In the beginning of April I spent some time in the Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness. This is an extraordinary place which one could explore for days and days. We did a sunset around the area people call "Stone Wings" and I shot a very nice star trail image there (more on that later - it takes quite a bit of explaining). The next morning, we went for sunrise to an area called the "Cracked Eggs". It is exactly as the name implies. Below is a small slideshow of images from this extraordinarily nice location. For those on iOS or Android tablets, you should be able to see the slideshow here by clicking slideshow in the link. I'll post detail on the images later.

To There and Back

Sunset graces Sierra Blanca Peak and grazes the sand dunes in White Sands NM.

Nikon D600, Nikon 24-85 mm f/3.5-4.5 at 62mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 100.
On Smugmug, On flickr, on facebook, Google+.

An Arches Windows Sunset

A few weeks ago, I spent a few days in the Moab area with some photographer friends photographing in Arches, Canyonlands and other associated areas. The day I arrived here driving from Fruita (see here for some pictures from Colorado National Monument) and spending a few hours trying to fix my bike's frame at Moab cyclery (they carried the part (a derailleur dropout for my Santa Cruz bike) that I tore apart in the Fruita mud and were very helpful in fixing the problem), I decided to hit Arches for sunset as I hadn't been able to hook up with anybody yet. The area had just seen some snow a few days ago I think and sunset was great. Below are a few of my favorite pictures from that evening.

This is North Window Arch as seen from the "window well".

Balance. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 16mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 100. Handheld.

North window from a different angle

I see you! Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8.0, 1/60s, ISO 100. Handheld.

The shadow cast by Turret Arch on the South Window really looks like a mountain lion head here.

Mountain Lion. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 16mm, f/8.0, 1/10s, ISO 100. Tripod.

I found this awesome puddle on the far end of Turret Arch that nicely reflected the turret's eye. The water was frozen over in a very thin and very reflective sheet of ice and its shape appears to mirror the Turret. The camera is probably not more than 6 inches from the water (the puddle was tiny) so I had to stop this all the way down.

Seeing Double. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 17mm, f/22, 1s, ISO 100. Tripod.

This is another image from Turret arch seen from the back. The sun had just gone below the horizon but is still glowing warm. You can see the La Sal mountains to the right and a hint of North Window through the arch. I like the leading line leading up to the arch.

Happiness is a warm turret. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 17mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 100. Tripod.

I captured this long view looking towards the La Sal mountains. There was some nice pink in the sky and the snow-capped mountains looked nicely blue. A nice color harmony that begged exploitation.

Jaws. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Nikon 70-200mm f/4 at 135mm, f/5.6, 1/10s, ISO 100. Tripod.

Walking back up to the North window, I thought I was more or less done and would head back to town to meet up with my friends, but I was struck by the sunset behind the Turret. So I took out the gear again and shot this image looking west.

Glow. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 32mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 100. Handheld.

I'll let this speak for itself.

Moon Cradle. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 24mm, f/5.6, 1/13s, ISO 400. Handheld.

Last but not least, Also check out the galleries on the social sites:
Gallery on smugmug. Gallery on flickr. Gallery on Facebook. Gallery on Google+.

Desert sunrise

This is an older image that I have not worked up until now. The image was taken at sunrise near Airport Tower along the White Rim road in Canyonlands National Park. This was early November and so the flowers you see are actually not very much alive but they do provide a nice counterweight to the sunlight Airport Tower. Nights are quite cold out in the desert around this time of year and I remember frost on my tent in the morning (which was pitched right behind where this picture was taken). Hopefully I will be out photographing in the Moab area again next week with some friends. I'll be hunting for more unconventional (and less unconventional ones ;-) ) desert images again. As always, click the image for bigger versions.


Airport Sunrise. Buy a Print. On flickr, On facebook, on Google+.
Composite of 9 images from Nikon D300, Nikon 18-55mm at 35mm, f/16, 1/6s, ISO 200.

Portal

Portal. Buy a print. See on flickr. See large.
Assembled high resolution composite from 10 images. Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-55mm at 34mm, ISO 200, f/8.0, 1/30s.

This is the same puddle as seen in an image I posted before about but looking towards the East instead of the West. The mountains lit by the last sunrays are the La Sal mountains.

Canyonlands images

I have been going through my Canyonlands images recently as I have Gigabytes of images I created over the years that I have never put online yet mostly due to lack of time. There are some really nice images in there and I am only scratching the surface yet.


Sunrise at White Crack. Buy a print. See it large. See it on flickr.
Assembled from 5 images. Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 14mm, f/8.0, 1/125s, ISO 200

White Crack is the southernmost tip of the white rim. There is a small campsite here that you have to reserve almost a year in advance with the park service to get on. There is also a trail that goes from here all the way down to the confluence of the Green and the Colorado river. I hiked most of it with one of my companions on this trip (the rest of the group spent the day drinking cocktails at the campsite or with their legs dangling over the rim ;-) ) as we were at White Crack for two nights.


White Crack sunset. Buy a print. See it large. See it on flickr.
Assembled from 8 images. Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-55mm at 18mm, f/8.0, 1/60s, ISO 200

This panorama looks towards the Green river and shows the area where the White Crack trail (you won't find it on any map) goes down from White Rim.


The tree. Buy a print. See it large. See it on flickr.
High resolution image assembled from 12 images. Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-55mm at 34mm, f/16, 1/30s, ISO 200.

This tree is one I photographed years before and that is hidden in the area just south of the campground. I photographed it at sunset.


Dusk falls over the La Sals. Buy a print. See it large. See it on flickr.
High resolution image assembled from 9 shots. Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-55mm at 48mm, f/8, 1/13s, ISO 200.
This is at dusk looking towards the La Sal mountains that still have a small amount of snow on them. I love the deep colors in the canyon.


Moses and Zeus at dawn. Buy a print. See it large. See it on flickr.
Single shot Nikon D50, Nikkor 18-55mm at 18mm, f/8.0, 1/160s.

This is am image I took in 2007 that I never shared. I interpreted this in Lightroom 4 which allowed me to pull the drama out of it that I experienced at the moment that I was there but that I never was able to shine through in the image before. Moses and Zeus are two popular climbing destinations in Taylor Canyon at the west side of Canyonlands.


Tortured. Buy a print. See it large. See it on flickr.


Tortured in B&W. Buy a print. See it large.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, f/11, 1/125s.

This is a tree I found along the Gooseberry trail that leads from the Gooeseberry campground up to the Island in the Sky. I like both the color and black and white interpretations, so I left them both up. I remember I spent considerable time around this tree to get a nice composition.


Last Rays. Buy a print. See large. See on flickr.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 mm at 11.5 mm, f/11, 1/30s, graduated ND filter

This was taken at White crack again looking towards the sunset.


Ticklish. Buy a print. See it large. See it on flickr.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-55mm at 24 mm, f/11, 1/160s

This is along Gooseberry trail. One of many dead Junipers.

Much more to follow.

Sunrise at the tip

Sunrise at the southernmost tip of the white rim called white crack. From here it is still a day's walk to the confluence of the Green and the Colorado.


The tip. Buy a print.
Technical: high resolution composite assembled from 9 images each from D300, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 35mm, f/16, 1/8s, ISO 200
Enlarge on my main site. Flickr image. Google+ post.

The red is far out of sRGB color space and so you will not see what I experienced but this is a general limitation of the web.

Purple predawn colors on the Great Sand Dunes

Last August I spent some time on the great sand dunes. This place is very interesting, especially in its setting rimmed by a high mountain range and at the end of a high valley. It's a vast field of dunes that is a lot of fun to explore and offers many gorgeous photographic opportunities. I recently posted images from the sunset on this blog. I also showed some coyote tracks I found the next morning. Below I'll post a large set of images from that same morning I found the coyote tracks. I'll focus now on the predawn images. Later I'll show some postdawn images. You can look ahead if you want to those by going to my Sand Dunes gallery on smugmug.


Purple dune. Buy a print. Black and white version here.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 14 mm, ISO 200, f/11, 25s

That is not a misprint. I needed a 25 second exposure for this. In the large image, you can actually see the coyote tracks I referenced before going over the dune. After sunrise I spent some time following them around the dune field.


The thin purple line. Buy a print. Black and white version here.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 14 mm, ISO 200, f/11, 10s
This is a different perspective on the same dune as before.


One grain of sand. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 14 mm, ISO 200, f/11, 6.0s
There are many different types of sand on the dunes. This was very course stuff forming very interesting patterns.


Reflections. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11 mm, ISO 200, f/11, 0.5s

Color starting to show in the sky.


Waves. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11 mm, ISO 200, f/11, 0.4s
I loved these wavy patterns formed by the wind. The black and white version of this is very nice too.


Steps. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm at 11 mm, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/25s, handheld.


diagonal. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Nikon 18-55mm at 18 mm, ISO 200, f/11, 1/15s, handheld.

The colors are turning yellow now. Here I was mostly interested in the geometric shapes of the dune and how the little grass breaks that.


Soft Dune. Buy a print.
High resolution image stitched from 9 images shot with Nikon D300, Nikon 18-55mm at 50 mm, ISO 200, f/11, 1/15s.
This image will print super large with amazing detail in the sand.


Sideswipe. Buy a print.
High resolution image stitched from 9 images shot with Nikon D300, Nikon 55-200mm at 70 mm, ISO 200, f/16, 1/30s.
Again, this image will print very very large without issue. You can see the edge of dawn in the haze on the mountains. I love the color of the sand here.


A line in the sand. Buy a print. Black and white version.
Nikon D300, Nikon 55-200mm at 145 mm, ISO 200, f/16, 1/30s.

This is a detail that I really liked. The black and white version really brings out the ripples very well.

Later I'll get to the images during and after sunrise.

Sunset on the Great Sand Dunes

A few weeks ago, I spent a night near the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Due to the fact somebody drove through a stop sign and hit me in the rear of my car in Durango, I arrived too late to get a spot on the NPS campground. Luckily the very helpful ranger told me about a BLM just south of the park near Zapata Falls. This was a great tip as that is just an awesome campground with very few people on it and it is free and maybe 20 minutes from the dunes including the dirt road leading to it. So I set up my tent and set off to the park again to be on the Dunes by sunset. This was just fantastic. I posted three panoramas from the sunset before here. I hiked along many of the ridges near the high dune in order to find some good shots and found many. The wind was blowing like crazy and it was a major challenge keeping sand out of my gear. Below I'll show a few. Most of these shots, excluding the composites were done handheld as it was just too windy. Later I'll post images from next morning's sunrise expedition which yielded a lot of very nice pattern shots that I am dying to show.

Backbone. Buy a print.
High resolution composite from nine images at 48mm, f/13, 1/80s, ISO 200, Nikon D300.


A gigantic nuclear furnace. Buy a print.
Single shot at 26mm, f/16, 1/80s, ISO 200, Nikon D300.


Windblown steps. Buy a print.
Single shot at 24mm, f/8, 1/60s, ISO 200, Nikon D300.

Sun worship. Buy a print.
Single shot at 18mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 200, Nikon D300.


Smoke Signals. Buy a print.
Single shot at 55mm, f8.0, 1/100s, Nikon D300.


The long S. Buy a print.
High resolution composite from 9 images at 46mm, f8.0, 1/50s, ISO 200, Nikon D300.


Contrast. Buy a print. High resolution composite from nine shots at 48mm, f/16, 1/40s, ISO 800, Nikon D300.


retrace. In the print you'll see the people that are trying to get to the top of high dune which is the dune on the right side. Buy a print.
Assembled from 2 shots at 18 mm, f6.3, 1/60s, ISO 800, Nikon D300.


Visitors on Mars. Buy a print.
Single shot at 16mm, f/5.6, 1/25s, ISO 400, Nikon D300.


The road travelled. Buy a print.
Single shot at 11mm, f/4, 1/13s, ISO 400, Nikon D300.


On High Dune. Buy a print.
Single shot at 16mm, f/4.0, 1/80s, ISO 200, Nikon D300.


Purple dunes at dusk. Buy a print.
Single shot 16mm, f2.8, 1/4s, ISO 800, Nikon D300.

And last and not least here is me on top of the dune. Shot by a kind stranger.

From 2011-08-31

False Kiva

False Kiva is an extraordinary and more or less secret place in Canyonlands National Park. It is nestled in the side of a mesa rim in a just absoluteley amazing setting overlooking the White Rim and Green River. I visited this place last October on Hallow's eve. The next day, I was going to do white rim by bike with a group of friends, so I decided to camp in the one campground in the park the night before and do an evening shoot at False Kiva. The interesting thing about this archeological site is that its location is kept more or less secret by the park service. There are no signs and no designated trail. You can find GPS coordinates on the web, but those are basically useless as they are accurate but are simply lead you to the rim of the island in the sky right above the mesa, but no way of knowing or seeing what's below it, if you don't want to plummet to your death. So ignore the GPS coordinates. There are a few photography books that have instructions but the best way to figure out how to get there is to talk to a photographer that has been there. The hike is short and not very technical but there are some exposed spots. You start at a ditch that is not at all where the GPS coordinates would have you go, after a while, you hit the rim and swing around and go down a rocky path to somewhere below the Kiva and cross over on a bench that looks precarious and then climb up again, all the way not seeing where you are going. You just don't see the kiva from anywhere on the trail. Then you go over a hump and suddenly the Kiva lies before you overseeing a breath taking view. It's smaller than you would expect from some of the famous images taken of it.


Buy a print of this image.
Assembled from 2 sets of 15 images at 35 mm, ISO 200, f/16, 1/50s and 1/10 assembled in hugin and stitched in hugin. Exposure blended using enfuse. This image will print wallsize with exquisite detail.

I shot some other viewpoints too of which I liked this vertical view:

Buy a print.
Assembled from 2 exposure sets of 9 images at 35mm, ISO 200, f/16, 1/10s and 1/80s.

A tighter horizontal framing is here:

Buy a print.
Assembled from 2 exposure sets of 12 shots each at 35 mm, ISO 200, f/16, 1/6s and 1/40s.

At the site is a little log book and a some explanation of what the archeologists think the site was used for. It certainly has some of the features of a kiva (the depression in the middle for the smoke blocker and such) but is quite different from other real kivas in the southwest. Regardless of what it meant to the people that lived here, this is a very worthwhile site to visit and it was quite an experience to be there all alone on Halloween. The contrast with the throng of photographers at Mesa Arch the next morning couldn't be greater. I will certainly go back to False Kiva and try different light conditions. This would be interesting in winter with a sun setting more in the frame and perhaps some snow on the rock formations. The sunset was great but I left a little before to make sure I could see my trail back. In my images below you can see that it is golden hour light though and the glow is lovely. A few more clouds would have been great but hey I am not going to complain. This was an absolutely fantastic experience in itself. I headed back to the campground where I met a few of the friends with whom I would hit the rim the next day that had been able to find the site I put my tent up in which was easy as the campground was virtually deserted. They had already prepared some excellent tortellinis and it was a good but very cold night with frost on the tent in the morning. I headed out to take pictures of Mesa Arch the next morning before hopping on the bike. I'll post about both those trips soon as I got some excellent images out of it that have been chomping at the bit on my hard drive.

See more pictures of False Kiva here.

Picacho Peak

I recently spent some time in Southern Arizona with my family. We hiked in Picacho Peak State park, which is on the highway between Tucson and Phoenix. Early spring (late March and early April) this park explodes with wildflowers. You can also go up to the top of the peak but you have to do some scrambling with cables stuck in the rocks and such. Lots of fun. I took a few pictures there that I'd like to share. The time of day wasn't entirely right for good light, but I still like them. Much larger versions are available in the links underneath the images.

Lupine, Poppies and Saguaro:


Poppies and Saguaro skeleton:


Sea of lupine, Saguaro and Picacho Peak


Sea of flowers:


Enjoy!