Picture of the Day - Sunrise in Bryce Canyon

On Thanksgiving morning, 2007, long before Sunrise, Susan and I got up early in our hotel just outside Zion National Park in Utah. We drove 2.5 hours in the dark and cold to get to Bryce Canyon before sunrise. Two days before, I was wearing shorts in Zion with the temperature around 70 degrees. On this morning, the temperature dropped to -3 degrees. By the time we reached Bryce, it had risen to 5 degrees. Of course, Bryce is at 8,000 feet.

If you want to photograph this amazing place, you need to do it at sunrise as it faces east, which is the time I took this and other photos. Bryce is a geological wonderland, with hundreds, if not thousands orange and white pillars rising from the ground. There are trails down into the park at several locations, but on this morning we only had time to wander along the rim at various locations.

My favorite quote about this park came from the farmer who discovered it. He had homesteaded some property east of the park in the 1800's. Many years later when someone asked him how he felt about the place, he replied, "It's a hell of place to lose a cow."

On this Thanksgiving morning, we pretty much had the park to ourselves, enjoying the awe-inspiring beauty of this vast geological masterpiece. You can see more of my photos of Bryce at:

http://www.corkrum.com//jim/photo_galleries.htm

Picture of the Day - Clouds over Soap Lake

Back in August of 2007, I was heading back to my studio after lunch and noticed these amazing clouds coming in from the southwest. I grabbed my camera and headed a few miles north to the shores of Soap Lake. The clouds kept getting better and better, photographically speaking. So I shot several images of these amazing clouds, using a graduated neutral density filter to keep the overly bright sky from being too bright. This also rendered the dark cloud with even more detail. I also decided after looking at the original images that it would make a better black and white picture. I hope you like it.

A New Blog from JR Corkrum - "Postcards"

With this entry, I begin a new blog called "Postcards." It is the blog I've wanted to do for some time. Simply put, it is a journal of my travels and my photographs. It is the story of where I am, where I have been, and, of course, where I am going....and it is about the pictures and images I create, which, of course, means its about me.

I call it Postcards because it will be like a postcard...a picture (or two) on one side, and a story on the back. Sometimes it will just be "The Picture of the Day", one of my pictures or paintings with a brief description or story about it. Other times, it will be what I call "Traveler's Tales"...more about the story than the pictures. For instance, an upcoming entry is entitled "Border Wars," and is about life right on top of the Arizona/Mexican border and the folks who try and stop the illegal aliens and drugs. It is the inside story as I experienced it, which you will never read in any newspaper of magazine.

I hope it will always be entertaining and informative. I think you will like the pictures...and I will try and give some insight into the mind of the artist who made them. Yes, I said made them, not take them. The true photographer/artist makes a picture...he doesn't take one.

Now, for those of you who read my tech blog, Rants and Raves, you know that I haven't written as much this year as years past...and you are probably asking yourself how I can possibly write a second blog. A good question...and, for that matter, one I continually ask myself. I am not sure I can do it, but it is something I must do. 2008 is a year of big changes for me and some things have been moved to the forefront while others got put on the back burner. Rants and Raves moved a little bit toward the back burner as these new changes unfold and take up more of my time. I will tell you more about them from time-to-time in Postcards.

I do love writing Rants and Raves and will keep it up as often as I can as I do spend a a good amount of time with computer technology and still follow it closely. It is still fun sharing my knowledge with you. Rants and Raves began about 10 years ago as a technology newsletter written to help promote my computer store business. It was and is very popular for many people. But, I have not had a computer business for 8 years.

Now I am a professional photographer and artist, a field that I actually started out in back in the 60's and drifted in and out for many year. For the last 10 years, it is back full time in my life and I think that it is what I was truly meant to do. So Postcards is really about my life now. I hope this makes sense. I want to share a part of my life with you, my interested readers, and with those members of my family and circle of friends, present and future, who may want to know a little more about me. Call it my memoirs.