Tower Creek at Tower Falls

Tower Creek at Tower Falls

I've not been doing much with my Yellowstone pictures and I can't really explain why. I would guess it has to do with 'Y' being late in the alphabet and my catalog is sorted alphabetically so I always find another image to process as I scan down the listings. Seems kind of stupid given there are so many amazing images from there so I resolve to try and process more Yellowstone images in the coming days and weeks. There's really some fabulous stuff in those files.

This image is one of those great shots. In the northwest corner of the park the Yellowstone river runs through canyons and eventually reaches the "Grand Canyon".  Tower Creek breaks from the river and runs to the west until it reaches Tower Falls. Just above the falls is where I took this image. The creek is really wild there, crashing through the boulders as it rushes to get beyond the towers. The noise is almost deafening. I actually visited this place 2 days in a row because it snowed one day and I wanted to see what it looked like with the boulders covered in snow. That's a picture for another day. To find this place, drive to the Tower Falls parking lot. Just before you enter the lot you cross a small bridge, next to the visitor's center. This cascade can be seen from that bridge. You can work your way to the water by walking to the left end of the bridge and easing down the rocks. For maximum impact, get as close to the water as you can.

Whenever I get around water I always bring out my 10 stop ND filter because I love how the water turns soft and mysterious. This is a rather long exposure, 90 seconds at f/18, so any turbulence has disappeared. The contrast between the soft water and the sharp, hard boulders really jumps out. This is truly a special place.

Yellowstone River - 35mm,f/18,90 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Antelope Canyon

The sparse offerings...

I do have to apologize for the sparse offerings of late on this blog. I know I promised a photo a day but it's just been too hard to get my head into working on the computer of late. I've not been all that well and the wife has also had some very serious health issues that put her in the hospital for several weeks last month. Not exactly life threatening but damn close. Appears she had a minor stroke or a major epileptic seizure early last month and that left her with some paralysis in her right hand and overall weakness. She's now on some really awful drugs to help with the seizures and to hopefully return some function and energy but they leave her sick and weak. It's been a nasty adventure this last month and I just didn't have the inclination to sit at my computer in the hot sun and try to write blog posts. The weather has turned now so maybe I can be a bit more diligent. I'll be better ... I promise.

Antelope Canyon

The slot canyons on Navajo land near Page, AZ are a must for any serious photographer. They are gorgeous and very interesting. Carved by raging storm waters they have such amazing shapes and colors due to the layered sandstone that is everywhere in that part of the country. As they are on indian land there's a high fee to pay and you must take one of the guided tours so it's really hard to get good photos. They do offer photographer's tours but they happen at the same time as the other tours so you're always fighting the crowds to get good shots. And the special tours are very expensive ... $85 bucks for 2 hours. Maybe next year I'll opt for one of those. I took an early morning tour before the bright sun could penetrate the canyons so there was less light and many of my longer exposures (hand held) were blurred so I didn't get much to work with. But this shot came out very nice. It's HDR to get all the colors and tones. Taken with my new 6D and my 16-35 f/4 wide angle lens. Not a show stopper but nice none the less.

Antelope Canyon - 35mm,f/4,HDR,ISO 800,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Zion West Entrance

Trip on Hold...

It's not been a good 2 weeks. 12 days ago I was getting the kid ready for her shower when I noticed a black streak across the center of my left eye. Having seen this before I knew immediately what had happened ... a vein in my eye had ruptured and blood was flowing into the fluid inside my eyeball. I had this happen to my right eye 2 years ago. Within seconds my eye was filled with floating debris and I knew that my trip home was in jeopardy. I informed the wife who immediately went ballistic and then got crazy. After she settled down it was decided I needed to see the eye doctor the very next day. After about 30 seconds the doctor made the decision that we needed to see the laser surgeon and get the veins sealed before the bleeding got worse and I lost the eye. So, after a very nervous weekend we went to get the procedure done. It's very uncomfortable and painful ... feels like someone is driving a needle into your retina. The surgeon directs a powerful green laser beam through your cornea and focuses it on the back of your eye. He literally vaporizes the tissue, sealing the vein and stopping the blood flow. In 15 minutes he was done and I was sent home to recuperate. I'm not allowed to do any heavy lifting or any activity that might raise my blood pressure or put any strain on the repaired vessels. So, travelling is now out of the question for a while. Last time this happened I was told no plane flights for at least 2 months. That means I could be stuck here until at least the end of March. Now, I many not actually stay here that long but I'm probably not leaving here until the end of February. I have to get home to fix some financial issues pretty soon under any circumstances and I'm still having real problems with my breathing. But all my planning is out the window for now. Stay tuned and I'll update you as I know more.

Zion West Entrance

Much of the action in Zion happens on the west side of the park. The visitor's center, the museum, the campgrounds and the valley all sit there. There's some spectacular scenery in the east but it's not as organized or as concentrated. People tend to congregate in the west and venture out by car to see the rest of the park.

My first night in the park campground, I took a short drive to the west gate. I wanted to get a really nice sunset and, as I've pointed out in previous posts, much of the park is in shadow long before the sun goes down. So I drove to the parking area just outside the entrance and walked across the street to a bluff that looked to the east. I wanted to get the line of peaks just as the sun was hitting their bases so they were somewhat isolated from their surroundings. This is an HDR panorama. You can just see the Zion entrance sign in the lower left. Out of view at the bottom is the parking lot and entrance road. To the extreme right is the Watchman, a famous feature in the park. I'm sure the other peaks have names but I don't remember them.

Beautiful, isn't it? I hope to see them again if, and when, this next trip happens. Care to join me?

Zion West Entrance - 31mm(1.6 crop), f/25, HDR, ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Pacific Grove Lighthouse

The Spayed Female

My wife is a collector of strays. We have 4 cats and 2 dogs ... all but one a stray taken from outside. While I was in America last spring she found another one ... a calico female kitten that was alone and starving outside. She was introduced to the family and fit right in. Well, she's now old enough to be fixed as the 2 males have been very interested in her of late so yesterday we took her to the vet and the did the dirty deed. Let me say, in passing, that Russian veterinary science isn't as advanced as in the west and their methods are somewhat more crude. The anesthesia they use isn't as good and the effects are not nearly as predictable. The cat seems to have survived the surgery but we've seen some serious personality changes since she woke up. She was very friendly but now is trying to hide in the darkest and most inaccessible places. She spent most of this day hiding under the bathtub and I was only able to get her out by using a short broom handle to herd her to a place where I could grab her. She's exceedingly afraid of everyone including her cat friends and that's not like her. All I can figure is the anesthesia screwed up her head and now she's more than a bit paranoid. We're all hopeful she gets over this issue and returns to the friendly cat she was only a few days ago.

A Small Correction

A few entries ago I talked about Griffith Park in LA and how it was the place where Edwin Hubble did his groundbreaking work. That's not quite true. He worked at Mt. Wilson, another observatory in the hills above LA. My mistake.

Pacific Grove Lighthouse

I spent a wonderful afternoon in Pacific Grove, a small community near Monterey in California. The coastline is very rugged there so there's a small lighthouse to warn ships about the hazards. It's not as spectacular as, say, Point Arena but it's interesting in its own right. The day I visited it was closed to the public so I was forced to shoot this picture through the chain link fence. It's a museum now but I guess the light still works. This is a single exposure with minimal adjustments, all in Lightroom. I like the composition with the framing around the trees. Although not as spectacular as many of my images, it has a nice quality that I find appealing.

Pacific Grove Lighthouse - 70mm(1.6 crop),f/11,1/320 sec,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Crater Lake Sunset

The San Fran Bust

I have to report that San Francisco was a huge bust. I was so concerned about my truck and breakins that I was distracted from doing what I wanted to do. There has been an epidemic of car robberies lately and I couldn't find anywhere to park my truck and feel safe. Even at the Cliff House, a very famous restaurant on the beach, it was made very clear to me that I shouldn't leave anything of value in my truck or it would most certainly be stolen. Well, I have computers, generators and camera gear in there and I wasn't really comfortable leaving any of that stuff for very long. So, after 2 very frustrating days, I just drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and kept heading north. Maybe next cycle I'll be able to figure out a way of leaving the truck in a safe place and simply using the very good public transportation. But, this time, I have nothing worth showing. Sorry.

Crater Lake Sunset

I drifted along the California coastline, trying to get some good stuff. It was very frustrating to spend hours sitting in a spot with beautiful rock formations and crashing waves only to be frustrated as, around 3 in the afternoon, the fog would start drifting in and, by sunset, I couldn't see the rocks, the surf or the sunset. It's not too interesting photographing fog. So, after several days of this I turned the truck away from the coast and headed north toward Crater Lake. I didn't really escape the bad weather all together as it rained for 2 days while I was there but I was able to get some really nice images. I'll not bore you with the details ... just let you drink in the absolute beauty of this special place.

Crater Lake Sunset - 16mm(1.6 crop),f.18,HDR,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

The Zion Watchman... Redux

The Zion Watchman

Sorry, no pithy comment this morning. A friend of my wife is seriously ill and my thoughts are with her and her family. Since I'm in Albuquerque there aren't any new images to throw your way so I thought I'd return to an image I captured a while back but just processed this morning. The watchman is an impressive rock formation at the entrance of Zion National Park. Because of the canyon's north to south orientation, not many of the beautiful formations get light during the golden hours. It's frustrating to say the least. But the watchman makes up for this by putting on a marvelous display every evening. It's such a beautiful structure and is the most photographed location in the park. Every night people congregate at the Canyon Junction bridge to snap photos as the sun baths it in warm light. This image isn't from that location but was taken further south near the history museum. The sky was so blue and the fluffy, white clouds framed the rock so well I had to take this picture. It's a 3 frame bracketed image, worked through Photomatix with minimal adjustments and then finished in Lightroom. I'll refrain from the technical details (which I think you can surmise pretty well) and just let you enjoy the result.

The Watchman - 35mm(1.6 crop),f/18,1/160 sec,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

The Watchman

RIP

It is with a sad heart that I announce the apparent death of my Wacom Bamboo tablet. It refused to power up yesterday and all attempts at resuscitation have proven unsuccessful. I think it's the microUSB connection that has failed as 2 different cords made no impact on it's lack of response. I'll miss this little wonder as it's very essential to some of my work but I've no simple way to fix it out here. I'll wait until I get back to Albuquerque and see if I can find someone to look at it. Maybe I'll hardwire the connection as I've always disliked these quick connect fittings which are susceptible to failing, especially when you're in a harsh environment.

A Welcome Visitor

After a long day walking the Virgin River and making a vain but ultimately worthless attempt to climb the Watchman Trail (I have pretty severe asthma and climbing is more than a bit draining), I went back to my campsite to gather strength for the evening's photo shoot. Over the years I've gotten in the habit of taking a short afternoon nap as a way of rejuvenating my tired, battered body. I was sitting in my camp chair, in the shade, enjoying the breeze and dreaming about ... I don't know ... something pleasant I'm sure. In my dream I felt touching on my leg and, being a normal human, jolted awake to find ... a small squirrel , in pursuit of a few stray crumbs from my energy bar, had crawled on my lap to partake of the mini-feast . He looked at me ... I looked at him ... I mentally screamed WTF ... he mentally screamed WTF  ... and, like a rocket, he was gone. Closest I've ever been to a squirrel and, despite the startling way it ended, an interesting and enjoyable experience for both of us (I hope).

What's All The Fuss About?

So, after my rest, I took the Zion shuttle back to the Canyon Junction bridge for another attempt at getting it right. Last night's effort had been, on the whole, a bust because nary a single cloud graced the entire hour long attempt at getting an iconic shot of the most photographed point in the park. The images were interesting but really lacking something. Today offered the opportunity of something more as a small storm had blown through earlier and many nice clouds lingered. Around 6:30, about an hour before sunset, I found my way to the bridge and set up my gear. Soon a small crowd of people had gathered to witness the setting sun's last rays on the Watchman, the iconic tower that graces the southern entrance to the park. It promised to be an interesting evening.

Suddenly, from both ends of the highway, we heard sirens. Almost simultaneously, park ranger's cars appeared and approached the bridge. One ranger screeches to a halt on the bridge and vaults from the car. I'm wondering ... has my past finally caught up with me (just kidding ... I think)? She starts yelling ... 'Clear the bridge, we have an emergency, you must vacate the bridge immediately'. So we grab our gear and run to the nearby parking area. I'm thinking ... medical emergency ... end of the world ... WTF? Then we here more sirens ... and see a helicopter in the upper canyon ... and more sirens ... and pretty soon a black Hyundai comes screaming down the road and make the turn toward the south entrance followed shortly by, basically, every cop from Kane County, each in their huge 4x4 truck, sirens blaring. It's a hot pursuit, a mini parade of noise and dust. Then, it's all over. We all look at each other but no one moves. Finally, I decided I wasn't going to miss this sunset because of a car chase and walked back to the bridge while everyone else hesitated. Eventually the diehards came back and we finished the evening while excitedly discussing what had just happened. As I write this the next morning, I still have no idea what happened. When I find out I'll let you know.

The Watchman

It's iconic to Zion. A huge tower of rock, beautifully colored, standing at the southern entrance to to the canyon. It's one of the few towers that get's evening sun as the canyon runs north to south and is narrow enough that the walls are in shade long before the sun actually sets. Every night people congregate on the Canyon Junction bridge to photograph the tower and the Virgin River that meanders at it's base. I spent over 2 hours there, taking a lot of bracketed photos. The photo below is my last sequence, taken around 8:30. I had to catch the last shuttle south as I wanted no part of the 3 mile walk back to my campsite. Not sure if it's the best of the sequences but it's definitely the last for today. As I only have 2 hours to use my generator, I have to make choices. When I have more time I'll process all the brackets and see if there are any better images. So, for now, this is the Watchman...

The Watchman - 24mm (1.6 crop), f/18, various exposures, ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

I ran the 3 images through Photomatix to get the HDR but did very little adjustment. Move the black and white sliders just a bit and pushed the strength up to about 85%. That's it. Then back into Lightroom for some minor tweaking, mostly the clarity and vibrance sliders. In this case, I think the image speaks for itself. It may need some minor cropping but that comes later as it's almost time to shut down the generator. Enjoy and let me know what you think.  Personally I think it's a bit too blue and needs to warm up a bit but that's just me. I'm anxious to hear your comments.