Bisti Mushrooms

Trump

Damn, how I hate writing that name. The fact that 'the Donald' is our next president sits real heavy on my heart. A Narcissist, a real hard core Narcissist, has just been elected to run my country for the next 4, 8 or how many years he chooses. I've been around these types enough in my life to know they are real trouble. Thin-skinned and really quick to retaliate, they can cause so much trouble if given enough rope. And I'm guessing the clowns in congress will give this guy all the rope he wants as long as he goes along with their agenda. I really fear for the future of my country, not only because of him, but because we've lost all sense of direction and are floating around aimlessly, armed to the teeth and with no idea just how dangerous a dying country can be. Will he pick a fight with someone over a slight or a nasty comment? Will he be easily swayed by flattery? Of course. One has to really hope that there are people, somewhere, who can provide a check on his over-sized ego and keep him from doing something really stupid. Of course, maybe his selection is a good thing. Is it better to get a shot to the head or to die of a thousand tiny cuts? The democrats have been using the latter solution but I'm inclined to think the former is better. Get it over with and start anew. I can tell you, from my perspective living outside of the US of A, most people just want our country to go away. They are tired of these clowns in Washington or NYC telling them what to do and then screwing them over when their back is turned. America has little to offer the world anymore. We had our chance and blew it. Time for someone else to have a try at fixing the train wreck.

Bisti Mushrooms

If you're driving along I-40 near Grants, New Mexico, I recommend a hard left (north) onto route NM 371 and a visit to the Bisti/De-Na-Zin wilderness areas. Not as flashy as some national parks or as spectacular as many of the rock formations in the Great Basin, it's still worth the diversion and driving on some not so great dirt roads just for the chance to see some really strange geological formations. I've been to a lot of national parks and seen a load of geography but nothing prepares you for the odd formations you see in Bisti. Just be prepared for the heat and lack of water ... it is really dry there. I walked into Bisti in late May and nearly lost it as the sun, even at 5 pm, was intense. Got really dizzy even with several bottles of water and had to find some shade to recover. I was lucky to find a couple coming out and they told me about these strange rocks that looked like mushrooms. I was able to follow their directions and finally came on the weirdest thing I've ever seen. There they were ... thousands of flat rocks perched precariously on dried mud pedestals. It was almost surreal. I tried to imagine how this came about. The pedestals were mud, not rocks, which seems strange as one would expect the next rain storm to simply wash them away. But there they stood ... and they've been this way for a very long time. I think ... and I don't really know for sure ... but I think this whole area was, a few 100 thousand years ago, inundated with a massive flood that swept mud and all these flat rocks down from a higher elevation. The whole mess then dried. Over the years rains have slowly swept out the mud, leaving these flat rocks exposed. They act as umbrellas, protecting the underlying mud 'stems' from being flushed away. Of course, over long periods the stems do disappear and the flat rocks settle on the surrounding mud so the cycle starts over again. What an amazing sight.

Just a note of caution: wilderness areas are managed by the BLM. They are very serious about the wilderness classification. There are minimal improvements in the designated areas so be very aware of your surroundings. You'll likely not see anyone else (there were 3 cars in the parking area when I arrived and I think all but one were campers) on your travels and 'rangers' are not there to help you out. Although I'm crazy enough to hike alone I strongly suggest against this for most people. If you get hurt, no one is there to help you. People do die in these wilderness locations for lack of rescue resources. Also, have a GPS system so you know where you are. I have an app on my Android tablet that tracks my location so I have a way of finding my way back to my car. It's called 'Backcountry Navagator' and you can buy it from the Google Play store (a few bucks). It uses free Geological Survey maps. You simply tell it to start tracking your location as you hike and then you have a trail to follow on the way out. I used it in Bisti and it was very helpful. Places like Bisti don't have a lot of geological reference points (like a tall mountain) and it's real easy to get disoriented. Especially after the sun goes down it's damn easy to lose your way. In fact, I wanted to stay at the mushrooms for the sunset but chickened out as I was already dizzy from dehydration and was concerned that I might get lost even with my GPS track. I was concerned the tablet battery might run out (GPS is battery intense). I left early to make sure there was still light when I found my truck. It was still touch and go as I got 'lost' and couldn't find the markers (2 bright red hills that disappeared as the sun set) and was forced to trust the GPS track for a while until I reacquired them. There are no paths to follow ... just a lot of random footprints in the soft earth and many shallow washes that can and do force you to traverse left and right until you can find a way across. I strongly recommend having a fully charged backup battery that can be used to recharge your tablet/phone/GPS tracker in the event your battery runs down. They are cheap insurance against a mistake. And carry lots of water/sports drink to keep yourself hydrated. It's amazing how fast you can get in trouble. It really sneaks up on you.

This is a 5 image sequence run through the usual processing (Photomatix and Lightroom). Love the blue sky and clouds. A characteristic of New Mexico that's really nice. Makes for amazing sunsets.

Bisti Mushrooms - 35mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Bryce Canyon Overlook

Trip Finalized...

Finally have the trip finalized. I leave Crimea on March 31st and return on June 4th. Fly from Simferopol to Moscow where I catch an Aeroflot flight to Paris (ahhh ... so close and yet so far away), then Atlanta and finally Albuquerque. Return trip is the reverse. I'll stay in ABQ for a few days to get things ready and to make some arrangements for medical testing to see what's up with my blood chemistry and then head west. Plan now is to hit a few parks (maybe Grand Canyon if there's snow and Death Valley before it gets too hot) and then on to LA and a few weeks of shooting at night. After that I'll hit a few more national parks and monuments before making my way back to ABQ and home. Need to sit down and really plan out the trip which I hope to do in the coming days.

I'll be working on astrophotography for much of this trip along with the time lapse for the LA video. Expect to be working from sundown to sunrise for most of the trip and sleeping during the day. That may help with finding places to crash as cops aren't as worried about a truck parked in the daytime. Was a real hassle finding places to sleep at night with all the prohibitions on 'overnight camping'. Put a lot of extra mileage on the truck looking for places to park. Especially a problem in CA where they really don't want you overnighting anywhere.

Bryce Canyon Overlook

If you take the road south from the main canyon there are a series of overlooks that highlight various parts of the park. There's an arch and lots of hoodoos to see. This photo was taken at one of those overlooks. I wanted to show something different, beyond the actual sight and this overlook was really interesting. I was lucky that no people were standing there (I had to wait for a small group to leave) so the image is all about what you see. As you can tell, I'm not really keen on taking pictures of people in natural settings. Sometimes they can add to the image but not usually. They're rarely solemn enough and who wants someone taking a selfie to appear in their landscape pictures?

Anyway, this image is really nice. I like the composition and the wonderful sky with some residual storm clouds. Everything is wet so the colors are deep and rich. This is a single image, run through Lightroom and that's it. Enjoy.

Bryce Canyon Overlook - 35mm(1.6 crop),f/18, 1/125 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Bryce Canyon - day 4

Sigh ... Colder than ... Oh Hell ... Damn Cold

My last evening in Bryce (finally) it got even worse. The wind wasn't quite as bad but it was impossibly cold and then, to add insult, it started to snow quite heavily. As is my habit, I went to the hoodoos and show another pano (not showing this one as I don't want to overwhelm you with Bryce hoodoo pictures). By the time I got back to my campsite, the road was icy and, for my little pickup, impassable. I tried but the little truck just jumped up and down on the slippery slope but made no progress toward my tent. I was forced to park at the hill's bottom and walk in. Normally this wouldn't be a big issue but I have asthma and the exertion drained me. I found my tent covered in wet snow but still standing (what a great tent ... Marmot I genuflect in your honor). I was too cold and too exhausted to do more than take off my outer coat and put on a warm pair of sweatpants before crawling into my sleeping bag. Unfortunately, it would appear the bag was damp inside meaning I didn't get warm all night and barely slept.

Morning was, superficially, glorious as the ground was covered in snow. I crawled (literally) from my tent and slowly started the uncomfortable process of moving my tent and belongings down the hill. It took 4 trips, each one taking just a little more of my diminished reserve of energy, to get everything into the truck and, call me crazy, one more trip to the hoodoos. I couldn't pass up this opportunity ... the amphitheater covered in snow and the sky ... it was grand. I met a pro photographer, Kevin Burk from LA, on the rim and we had a wonderful conversation about the art of taking landscape pictures. It was a great morning ...

Bryce Canyon Snowfall

This is probably the best of the panos I made in Bryce. It was damn cold and my fingers were frozen but how could I refuse. As Kevin and I talked I set up the camera and waited for the perfect light. It didn't take long and the image below is the result. I can't get enough of this photo. The dynamics just blow my sox off. I may be hard pressed to take any picture better than this during the rest of my cycle. WOW.

Bryce Canyon Snowfall - 16mm (1.6 crop), f/18, varying exposure, ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

You're familiar with the process by now but there was one rub. For some weird reason, Photoshop refused to crop the panorama. I'll place the crop box where I wanted it and hit return and the picture disappeared ... into the ether I guess. Nothing there. If I used undo there was just a black screen where my beautiful image had been. What do do? Imported the Photoshop file into Lightroom and cropped it there then took it back to Photoshop to finish off. Weird but you got to do what you got to do. Then back into Lightroom for some finishing touches and the result ... takes my breath away. Click on the photo for a larger version ... it's worth the effort I assure you.

Bryce Canyon - day 2

Colder than a Witch's ... redux

Did I say it was cold in Bryce? Oh man, it's been a while since I've suffered so much cold. I live in Crimea and it can be brutal but this was much worse. Awoke to some snow on my truck and a wind that just wouldn't quit. Spent the day trying to stay warm and dreading the trip to the hoodoos again. But, being a crazy photographer, I knew I had to make the trip so around 5 pm took the drive. I wanted a unique perspective so I went to Bryce Point which lies further to the south in the park. You get a completely different view of the valley from there. Along the west wall you see these interesting caverns carved from the vertical face. And then there are the hoodoos... gorgeous as always and a sweeping panorama for sure. But there was a problem ... the wind. I'd have to guess it was blowing close to 75 mph and gusting higher. And cold ... you've no idea. My first inclination was to come back another day and I headed up the path to my car. But the sky way unbelievable and I knew, just knew, that it would never be like this again. So I warmed myself in the truck for a while and headed back ... but first grabbed a piece of rope because I knew I'd need it. The wind hadn't abated at all when I arrived at the very open observation point so I set about tying the tripod to the handrail. It was almost impossible as my fingers froze the instance I took off my gloves. Finally, after far longer than it normally should have taken, the tripod was stable and I was able to quickly snapped off the HDR sequences. I couldn't feel my hands and my face was frozen by the time I finally got the rope free and ran to my truck. What we do for the image ...

Bryce Canyon from Bryce Point

I'm not going to reiterate how this image evolved (check yesterday's post for the gruesome details). HDR pano and the same tools as before. Each image is unique, of course, but I wanted some consistency across all of them so I used the same Photomatix settings as yesterday's the image. There was less tweaking this time but the result is, if possible, even more striking. The colors are spectacular and, unfortunately, probably would not have emerged had it not been for that damned wind and cold. So, I hope you enjoy this image because if you don't ...

Bryce Canyon from Bryce Point - 16mm (1.6 crop), f/18, varying exposure, ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Click on the image to get a bigger view.

Bryce Canyon - day 1

Colder than a Witch's ...

Arrived in Bryce Canyon to find a beautiful day. It was cool, as was expected being at 8000 feet, but the sun filled the valley with gorgeous light. After setting up camp, I drove to the inspiration overlook to get my first glimpse of the amphitheater and the famous 'hoodoos'. In the afternoon the sun is behind you and shadow moves across the hoodoos, creating amazing contrasts. I set my camera up for a sweeping pano (the only way to really get this canyon in my opinion) and waited for the proper moment. As I waited, I noticed a dark cloud slowly sweeping in from the west ... a harbinger of things to come? I figured there'd be some interesting light around this cloud so I patiently waited and watched. As I stood there, the air grew progressively colder and the wind started to blow rather hard. I'd read that the forecast for all the mountains was for high winds but no where did they say anything about bad weather. I figured it was just a passing cloud and went about my business. Little did I know...

Bryce Canyon from Inspiration Point

Bryce Canyon is an amazing place. Over millions of years wind, ice and water have carved the most unusual structures. Like a massive pipe organ, hundreds of hoodoos (interesting name) in every direction thrust skyward. No single snap of the shutter can capture the majesty of this place. So, camera gear in hand I slowly worked my way to the highest observation point and prepared to execute an HDR pano ... roughly 180 degrees. Now, it's important to be patient, especially when there are clouds in the area. Light plays across the amphitheater and the image changes from one second to the next. If you're lucky, you'll get just that moment when some key element of the frame is illuminated by the most gorgeous light. Then you scramble to get all your images (in this case, 54 separate shots).

Bryce Canyon from Inspiration - 16mm (1.6 crop), f/18, various shutter, ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Click on image to get a bigger view. As with my Horseshoe Bend image, I worked with Photomatix and Photoshop (with a little help from Lightroom) to get this image. The proces is pretty straight forward ... take the raw images (I use .dng which all these tools understand) into Photomatix to create just the image you want, then batch process to get all the groupings on the same page. Bring the resulting images (I use Adobe Bridge since they are not officially in Lightroom yet) into Photoshop to create the panorama. I always use the cylindrical option and check all the extra choices as this helps Photoshop find the correct solution when the images are difficult. It doesn't take all that long (10 minutes usually) to get the final reslt and then it's a matter of finding the best crop from the strange outline you get. Sometimes there are compromises and you often lose parts of the image you'd rather keep. That life, unfortunately. The starting image was compelling but the central formation and the sun-tipped hoodoos all were a bit too orange. I used luminescence masks to select both the darkest and lightest parts of the image and then selectively painted to soften the garish oranges and to bring out some of the darker features (especially the distant landscape). The result is, in my humble opinion, striking. It captures the majesty of this special place and shows just how awesome my Canon 16-35, f/4 lens is at resolving detail. Enjoy...