Pursuit of the Image

When heading to Capital Reef National Park we took highway 128 out of Moab and drove along the Colorado River for about 5 miles.  I took a few pictures along the way and may publish some of them later.  We then took Highway 24 south where I took this picture, among others.

Tree in yellow flowers along roadside on the way to Capital Reef.

I took one of my favorite shots that was of an old car at a gas station in Hanksville.  It was an old Goliath.  The man at the gas station said it was a German brand.  I have an print of it for sale on my website.  When we left there I took some images of an old house  and some cabins along the highway.  The cabin shots are all that I have processed so far.  I took a few pictures in Fruita in Capital Reef National Park.  We then proceeded along highway 24S to Torrey and then south on highway 12.  That’s supposed to be one of the most picturesque drives in the country.  We entered Dixie National Forest while driving in a hail storm at 9640 feet in elevation.

When we were driving along Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument, in a heavy rain, I was terrified.  We videotaped that part of the trip and my granddaughter enjoyed my discomfort entirely too much.  The road and surrounding off road is only about 50′ wide in most areas and then drops off for hundreds of feet.  One slip and you over a cliff.

After surviving that we arrived at Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah.  We setup in a great campsite.  I’ll cover our stay there in my next entry.

When we initially passed Church Rock, on our way to Moab and Arches National Park, I decided I wanted to return and take several pictures of it.  We took the opportunity to do that when we went to the south entrance to Canyonlands National Park, known as the Needles District.  I included a picture of Church Rock in an earlier post so I won’t do it again

I was a little disappointed with the Needles District but I guess I was starting to get overloaded with the views we had been seeing for several days now.  Some of it was starting to look the same.  This shot was one I like and took as we headed into the Needles District.

Corral

We did do some adventure driving with our Jeep while here but didn’t get too far off the beaten path because of the uncertain weather conditions and doing some of our driving in (currently) dry river beds.  People have been know to get in trouble during storms here.

We then headed back to Moab for supplies and Starbucks, stopping afterwards to confirm our campsite at Dead Horse Point campground.  Then we headed into Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park.  I took a few images of Grand View Point Overlook and the Green River Overlook.  I included a shot from Grand View Point Overlook in my 2012 calendar.

I ended the day at Dead Horse Point campground at an excellent campsite.

Next installment the trip to Capital Reef National Park.

I mentioned Church Rock in my last post.  It is a formation on the east side of US route 191 heading North on the way to Moab, Utah.  It’s not in a state or national park.  It just sits in a field on what I assume is private land but there is a dirt road leading up to it and we weren’t the only ones checking it out.  On our first encounter was as we drove north from Monument Valley to Arches National Park.  We were fascinated by it and decided to come back later and get pictures.  Here’s one of the ones I took that I used on my 2012 calendar for December:

Church Rock

The dark opening at the base, just above the text, is about 9′ high, 12′ wide, and maybe 15′ deep, just to give you a sense of scale.

After we checked in at Devils Garden Campground (got a great site by the way) we shot some sunset pictures of Balance Rock.  Got up early and shot some sunrise pictures at Panorama Overlook.  Later we hiked the trials and shot pictures at Landscape Arch and some smaller arches in the area.

We had some excitement later that morning when we went into Moab around noon.  My granddaughter Tori (Victoria) started getting a sever headache and numbness in her left hand.  We decided to go to the emergency room when it didn’t go away in a reasonable time.  My son Todd is a paramedic so he knew what to watch for.  After a CT scan and MRI they decided to give her meds for a complex migraine and told us to keep a eye on her.  This was just after 5 in the evening. She felt better later but is still currently having tests done (on her return home) to determine what’s going on.

We decided to just have a quiet evening.  Todd and I shot some star trails but that was about it.

Next installment will cover more in Arches and a visit to Dead Horse Point State Park.

I’m sorry I took so long to make this next installment but I’ve had a very busy few weeks with a multitude of shows.

So, this is my third installment of a daily diary recorded during a two week trip to southern Utah, eastern Nevada, and northern Arizona.

As briefly mentioned in my last post I have a phobia of open heights.  I think it is the result of falling out of a tree when I was about 8 years old and getting 13 stitches above my right eye.  I had been standing on one branch of the tree and holding on to another which broke and started my fall.  Since then I can’t get near the edge of high open places and I don’t trust railings.

So my images from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon are taken from a little distance from the edge even when there was a pretty solid railing. I’ve included an example here:

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

On our way to the North Rim we drove through some snow and hail getting there as a result of being at higher elevations.  I was able to get several shots that make it appear I was closer to the edge than I actually was.  This was my first visit to the Grand Canyon and I was very impressed.  It’s hard to capture the emotional experience that you get when standing there near the edge of such a monumental sight.  Pictures can’t do it justice but I try to at least provide a sense of the place.

When we left to get a campsite before going to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  We stayed at Kaibab Camper Village at Jacob Lake.  We had electricity so we could charge up our cell phones and the laptop and spend some time transferring pictures from memory cards into the laptop.  There was a pretty heavy thunder and lightning storm that night but we were in a heavily wooded area and that seemed to protect us from some of the worst of it.  This was a commercial campground so we paid the most of any of the places we stayed.

Next installment will be our trip to Monument Valley and our stay there.

This is my second installment of a daily diary recorded during a two week trip to southern Utah, eastern Nevada, and northern Arizona.

After getting up early to get sunrise shots at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, we headed off for Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah.  I took this shot along that route. I was drawn to the texture of the wood and the threatening storm on the horizon.

When we got to the park we found that all but about 2 campsites were occupied by campers with either four-wheelers or dirt bikes.  It turns out the dunes allow these vehicles during the hours of 10am to 9pm daily.  I’m sure it’s great fun for these people but it isn’t the best situation for taking photographs and/or general site-seeing. Admittedly they weren’t cruising the dunes all the time.

That night there was a thunderstorm off in the distance and my son and I were able, with long time exposures, to get some great lightning shots.

I got several good sand pattern and dune shots but I had to deal with high winds and blowing sand.  If you look on my facebook page you’ll see some shots my son took of me in these conditions.

The geography was very different from our previous park visits and from the remaining visits as our trip continued.  At some point I plan to re-visit several of the parks we toured on this trip but I probably won’t come back here.  It was the least impressive of the places we visited.  Having said that, they did have a great campground with nice showers.  It seems that state parks have nice shower facilities but national parks don’t have them at all.

After getting up to take some sunrise shots we departed for the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  We past by Vermillion Cliffs National park and I took a few shots of the cliffs and some structures along side the road where native indian women were selling their handmade items. (I bought my wife a nice little bowl).

In the next post I cover our visit to the north rim and briefly discuss my phobia about open heights.

I just completed a two week trip to the southern Utah area to explore the national parks, state parks, tribal parks, and various national forests and lands.  I was accompanied by my son Todd and granddaughter Tori.  Todd has recently started an outdoor adventure and lifestyle photography business.

Over the next few weeks I plan to post entries about the trip covering approximately a day per entry.  I will be mainly dealing with the travel, location and shooting experiences.  At some later time I will cover the business side of the trip like cost and logistics.

I arrived in Las Vegas late morning of September 8th and was picked up at the airport by my son and granddaughter.  They had arrived a couple of days earlier and had been camping at Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas.

We drove there and I got my first taste of the mountains and deserts of the west.  I shot a few images but wasn’t quite into my groove yet.  I got a call that a Canon 5D Mk II that I had rented was ready to be picked up.  We went to get it and then headed for Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

This park was very impressive and after setting up our campsite in strong winds we went out shooting.  That evening we came across a herd of big horned sheep and got some shots of them in almost total darkness.  Both the 5D Mk II that I was using and my son’s Canon 7D can shoot with a very high ISO allowing us to shoot in almost total darkness. During our brief visit I was very impressed by the rock formations, the color, and the variety of vegetation. The deep red colors made the biggest impression on me.  I was fascinated by the way the wind and water had eroded the rock to create such interesting nooks, crannies, and shapes in general.

That night was very hot and I didn’t get much sleep.  The next

Effects of wind and water on rock formations

morning we got up early and did some sunrise shooting.  All of my shooting here was handheld using an ISO fast enough to allow this.  I could spend a great deal more time in this park at a future date but we were trying to cover a large number of locations on this exploratory trip so after breaking camp we headed for Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah.  I’ll cover that in my next posting.