Wow, it's been awhile since I last posted. I've been dedicating much of my free time for the last year to learning to play the guitar. I'm hoping to some how accommodate these two very time consuming passions. The photo bug is starting to itch again! This photo was taken on the causeway to Antelope Island State park in Utah, near Salt Lake City

Mesa Arch Sunrise II

Here's another view of a sunrise at Canyonlands National Park's Mesa Arch.

Mesa Arch Sunrise I

Kelly and I spent a long weekend in Moab. Kelly is a coach for Team in Training, and we were in Moab for the Canyonlands Half Marathon.

As soon as we arrived in Moab on Thursday, we headed to Arches National Park to run the Devil's Garden Trailhead. What a great place for a trail run.

Friday morning, I awoke early to attempt a sunrise shot of Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. Unfortunately, the sunrise was a bust due to the heavy cloud cover. A rain/snow storm blew in later that day. This wasn't a waste though, as I got to experiment with various compositions and angles.

Instead of watching the marathon on Saturday, I again headed to Mesa Arch for the sunrise. This time the dawn skies were clear. When I arrived, I found 6-7 other photographers already setup. Luckily once the action started, we all moved around a lot to try various angles.

Afterwards, I went for another run along the Murphy's Point trail.

What a glorious day!

Return to Delicate Arch

Here's one last image of Delicate Arch. In the sky above is the Moon and Jupiter (probably).

When setting up for this shot, I didn't have a lot of light. A long exposure would have exposed more of the foreground, but too long would cause the Moon and Jupiter to become elongated (due to the Earth's rotation). A shorter exposure might have lost Jupiter, but exposed the moon better. It’s a tricky exposure problem capture both the foreground and the bright objects.

In order to get a short shot, I pumped up the ISO on my camera, knowing that noise would be an issue. I really didn't want the noise, but, I couldn't think of another option. I was hoping that I could somehow mitigate the noise at home. In this case I decided to add more noise; I applied a crinkled paper texture to the photo. Sometimes, a little noise is annoying, while more is pleasing (hopefully).

You may note that moon has flares and is overexposed. I believe the flairs are due to the very small aperture is used to capture the scene. Overall, the moon looks more like the Sun than the Moon and lends a surrealistic feel to the image.

Be sure to visit Sky Watch Friday for other views of the sky from around the world.

Viewer's Choice

Sunset on the La Sal mountains behind the Delicate Arch in Arches National park.

This is very common image. While I was there, on a cold, breezy evening, there was at least 30 other photographers. I like to try to capture the cliche images at famous place and then try to find unusual subjects, or, familiar subjects seen in unusual ways.

This image is an HDR image taken a few minutes later, from a slightly different image.

Which one do you like better?

Something Blue

This was the view from my campsite in Arches National Park on my first morning there. I used my 200mm lens to isolate the silhouette of rock formations against the various shades of blue from the background. Occasionally, a blue morning is a great way to start the day.

Chimney at Sunset

Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah - a chimney of rock, aka sand pipe. The park many such chimneys. They are believed to be solidified sediment that filled ancient springs or geyser left standing after the softer surrounding Entrada sandstone rock eroded away.

Be sure to visit Sky Watch Fridays!

Glowing Hoodoos

The edges of this Hoodoo in Bryce Canyon National park seem to be translucent and glows from the sun's back lighting.


For more beautiful scenes, head over to Scenic Sundays.

Inspiration

The weather for most of my sabbatical was quite pleasant. By the time I reached Bryce Canyon, however, the temperatures had begun to fall. Every morning in Bryce was cold and very windy. That did not stop the numerous intrepid photographers from practicing their craft. This photo was taken at Inspiration Point in Bryce canyon. There were about a dozen other people around snapping shots at the same time. It must be very busy in the summer when the temperatures are much warmer.

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!

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.