Bright Trees, Dark Canyon

One of my favorite hikes while in Zion National park was up the "Narrows" of the Virgin River to Wall Street. Much of the hike involves sloshing through the river at the bottom of a deep, narrow canyon. This photo shows a group of trees growing on a sandy bank in the canyon.

I shot a lot of photos in the canyon, but most of them did not turn out so well. I'd love to spend some more time in canyons like this to learn how to shot in this type of environment.

Virgin River and the Sentinel

This is the Virgin river of Zion National park with the Sentinel in the background catching the last rays of setting sun.

This is HDR image that is made up of 6 differently exposed images. It's not terribly photo-realistic, but I love the painterly feel.

Be sure to stop by Scenic Sundays.

Kolob Sunset

This image was taken at sunset, near the Kolob Canyon overlook in western part of Zion National Park. To get here, via car, from Zion canyon, you must leave the park and drive a fair bit of distance. There are also trails that connect the two areas. I'd love to return to Zion and do some backpacking. One see such a limited part of the park near the roads.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Towers of the Virgin

The Towers of the Virgin, Zion National Park. The flat peak on the left side is the West Temple and is the highest point in Zion at 7810 ft. On the far right is the Altar of Sacrifice (named for the red stains on the white Navajo Sandstone).

This photo is the first that I've taken with a Graduated Neutral Density filter.  This filter is dark at the top and gradually clears until it is completely clear at the bottom.  Without the neutral density filter, the foreground in the resulting image may have been too dark (or if the foreground was properly exposed, the sky and cliffs may have been blown out).  Without the filter, I might have been forced to use photoshop to bring out the foreground. 

Breaking the Pattern

On October 19th, I blogged about hiking up to Angel's Landing in Zion park.  To reach the top of the plateau, one needs to climb up "Walter's Wiggles".  The wiggles are a set of 21, sharp and very steep switchbacks (zig-zags).  It was named Walter's Wiggles after Zion's first superintendent who helped engineer the this section.

This photo is one section of the retaining wall.  Even building something as mundane as retaining wall, the builders add a touch of art by breaking the pattern of the regularly shaped sandstone blocks with this strange looking rock.

Be sure to visit the Monochrome Weekly meme for other great monochrome images.

Catching the Glow

I found these little birds at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve near Long Beach, CA. I've no idea what kind there are. If anybody can tell, please let me know.

What I like about this image is how the birds seem to glow in the light of the setting sun. The angle of the sun was perfect to illuminate the birds without lighting the ground; a good example of catching the moment. A little earlier, and the foreground would be lighted, a little latter, and the birds would be in the shadow. I was lucky to stumble upon this scene.

Be sure to check out other Camera Critters!.

Deep

By the time I arrived in Zion National Park in mid October, I had been on the road for about a month. I was getting very tired of hotels and campgrounds.

However, the beauty of Zion smashed that home sickness away. What an amazing place. October is the perfect time to visit. The crowds have thinned, but the shuttle buses are still running. The weather is comfortable, and the leaves are changing color.

This photo was taken up the Upper Emerald pool where the walls of the canyon loom over you.

While in the park I keep running into pair of Portuguese photographers, Joao and Antonio. It was quite funny - lots of "you're following me" jokes. In fact, we had dinner together on their last evening in the park when I stumbled into the same restaurant.

Be sure to visit Joao's and Antonio's websites.

Also, take some time to visit Skywatch Fridays.

Invisible Sky

After David and Nicole's beautiful wedding, I left southern California and spent almost a week in Las Vegas. This photo is not the real Eiffel tower, but of the fake Eiffel tower at Paris, Las Vegas. I had never been to Las Vegas before. I found myself constantly amazed by the sights and sounds. I literally could not wrap my mind around the excesses all around me.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Friday!

The End is Nigh!

The end of my prolonged vacation is close. I go back to work on Thursday. I expect the first few weeks will be crazy!

What a great weekend. Kelly and I had a great evening dancing Friday evening. Saturday we had a tailgate at the Air Force/Army football game. Capping the weekend off we saw the Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood. Those cats are funny!

Here's a photo I took at Nicole and David's wedding. I was taking a few pictures as the REAL photographer was working. Can't wait to see his work.

Busy

I should be processing photos that I took during my sabbatical. But I'm not.

Earlier this week, I decided to brew some beer. I've not done that for a few years, so, I spent a lot of time cleaning, sterilizing, inventorying equipment, and replacing some. After digging around for awhile looking at recipes, I decided to make a clone of the Dogfish Head India Brown Ale. Currently, it fermenting away, filling my closet with that wonder yeasty/alcohol scent. Ahhh!

Also, we are having a tailgate at the Air Force/Army game tomorrow, so I decided to make some chili. From scratch. Old school! Sadly, I'm not really happy with it and need to do some doctoring on it.

I need a day at the beach!

Which brings me to today's photo. It was taken at Laguna Beach, CA.

Have a great weekend everyone...

Gourds

I'm back at home from my travels. I got a 'ginormous' number of photos to process as well as a multitude of other minor choirs to accomplish before returning to work.

I'll write a post (or a number of posts) summarizing the travels.

In the meantime, here's a photo of a gourd that my mother made. She made a number of gourds to be used as center pieces at Nicole and David's wedding. At the wedding, the gourds had beautiful orchids placed in them.

While I was visiting my parents, I help them make a simple DIY lightbox. Then I photographed a lot of my mom's gourds and my dad's carvings. I'm really happy with the photos of the gourds, but didn't like the photos of the carvings. I think the the carvings should be captured with a black background and directional light.

Click on the image to view a slide show of the centerpiece gourds. 

Click here to see a slide show of all the photos I've taken of family art.