Postcard from the Arches

Consistently, when I‘ve shown you any of my photos from the Arches National Park, they include an arch. Of course it makes sense since the Park is called “The Arches” and there are approximately 2,300 arches in the park to photograph. But, there are also some other interesting non-arch rock formations throughout the park.

This wonderful formation is called, “The Three Gossips,” and I am sure I don’t have to explain the reason why. This is part of the park called “Park Avenue,” although I have also heard it referred to as “Wall Street.” Although not seen in this photo, if you ever go to The Arches, you will understand why it got that name.

I am showing you this photo to celebrate the completion of The Arches section of my Web site. I invite you to visit this new section and enjoy the special photos from my Arches collection. There are 38 of them, if memory serves.

Enjoy.

Postcard from Tucson’s 4th Ave.

Welcome to the 4th Ave. Street Festival here in beautiful Tucson. Well, one of them anyway. There are two: on in the late fall and the other in early spring. And they are very, very big. Vendors selling all kinds of different wares from art to belts and bedding run for several blocks up and down 4th Ave.

And, as you can see from the photo, plenty of food vendors of all types on the side streets. Some very good food to be had while you wander up and down 4th Ave. Wherever there is room for a tent on the side streets or any old empty space, you will find a vendor.

4th Ave is a unique place, even without a festival. Quaint and quirky shops line the streets along with some interesting restaurants and bars. I have often called it Hippyville, mainly because there is a store called Hippy Gypsy and because it reminds me of the Haight Ashbury back in the 60’s, without the drug culture.

My favorite places to eat are Brooklyn Pizza and Bison Witches for great sandwiches. Anytime you come to Tucson, don’t miss a trip to 4th Ave. Its one of those unique neighborhoods that every city should have.

Postcard from Blue Basin

No your eyes do not deceive you…and it is not a Photoshop trick.  These are the real colors of Blue Basin, part of the John Day Fossil Bed National Monument in Central Oregon.

Getting here requires an easy hike through a box canyon, but definitely worth the effort. The colors you see change during the day…here they are sort of blue/green in midday light, but change to a more blue color as you approach sunset. According to geologist, the blue colors come from volcanic ash that has turned to claystone which eroded over eons of time. It has become even more brilliant thanks to the help of minerals that have leached into the soil.

But a walk through this canyon is also to walk back through time. These blue rock formations contain a nearly unlimited number of fossils that go back 40 million years. Many years ago, the National Park Service forbade digging for fossils. Fossils are only harvested here when they are uncovered by natural erosion caused by wind and rain. There is a nearby visitor center where you can see a large number of fossils from the area. There is also a small display of fossils along trail.

If you are ever in the area (and it is a bit off the beaten path), take a walk through Blue Basin and nearby Painted Hills…and definitely bring your camera!

Postcard from the Arches

This photo is of Delicate Arch, arguably the most famous arch in the Arches National Park. It is depicted on the Utah state auto license plates and was once on a stamp commemorating Utah’s statehood. And, I was surprised to learn that the Olympic Torch passed underneath it on its way to the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Getting to Delicate Arch is a strenuous 3-mile round trip hike that scores of people make every year. I will admit I was not one of them. These old legs are not quite as great as they used to be and I had just completed a long hike in another part of the part.

If you continue down the road past the trailhead, you will wind up at a viewpoint where you can see the arch quite clearly, which is where I took this photo. But, I got lucky with some nice light at sunset, and with the help of a long lens, I made this image. At that moment in my life, I was happy just to have this view.

Although Yosemite remains at the top of my favorite national parks, the Arches is in 2nd place. I hope to go back soon, as there are over 2,300 arches in the park and I have only seen a few of them.

Postcard from Yosemite

This photo is from my 2006 Spring expedition to Yosemite Valley. As mentioned here before, this was a spring of heavy snow runoff, 25% above normal. So all the falls were full beyond capacity and there were new waterfalls all over the valley, most with no names.

This is the upper half of the famous Bridalveil Falls. I took it with a long lens as I could not get anywhere near the falls without getting soaked.. You can see from the photo how high the mist bounces up from the falls hitting the rocks below. Translate that into a mist that is more like a heavy rain and you could feel it even in the parking lot. The Bridalveil Falls trail meanders its way slowly up toward the base of the falls, and you  feel the mist even more as you approach.

So with a very expensive camera and lens in hand, I decided not to go to the falls to take a picture. Thus, you see before you a photograph of the falls from a distance done with a long lens. Still, it is quite lovely to behold and I only received a mild dose of mist.

Postcard from Tucson

This is another photo from my Spring visit to Tohono Chul Park here in Tucson. This is the place to visit in Spring if want to get a gander at the vast variety Southwest flowers.

As I stated in my blogs last Spring, the park is 37 acres and is divided into several sections, each with a theme. And there are many trails throughout the park, some long, some short…and in Spring it is a treasure trove of gorgeous flowers. Every so often I like to show a flower or two from both the Northwest, where I lived for many years…and here in my new home in the Southwest.

I like this one particularly because of its background of muted colored rocks offsetting the brilliant reds, yellows and greens of the cactus. You probably can’t tell, but I also darkened the edges ever so slightly to bring your eye to focus on the center of the photo…an old Ansel Adams trick.

This weekend I will be attending the big college football game between the University of Arizona and the University of Iowa. I have season tickets on the 36 years line behind the visitor’s bench and 19 rows up from the field. Great seats! I will sneak my camera in and take some photos to share with you here. The game is on ESPN, by the way. Enjoy your weekend, whatever you do.

Postcard from Tucson

How well we all remember the date 9/11. It was a day that changed our lives forever. Last Saturday was the 9th anniversary of that terrible tragedy…at it was memorialized all across the country…including here in Tucson.

That same day was also the opening home football game for the University of Arizona. There were plenty of pre-game ceremonies inside the stadium. But as I was leaving the student union on my way to the stadium for the game, I came across this wonderful and moving memorial on the plaza near the administration building and the student union.

Hundreds of small U.S. flags formed the numbers 9-11, and the whole scene was surrounded by thousands of more little flags. It was quite beautiful and I am glad some folks at the university put this together.

I am sorry the picture quality isn’t better. I used my small little Canon point and shoot as it was the only camera I had with me. It can’t hold a candle to my Nikon DSLR that has taken most of the photos you see in this blog. But, it did catch the spirit of the moment, and for that I am grateful.

Postcard from Canyonlands

Love to share the occasional great sunset photo with you. Took this one in the Canyonlands National Park and it is included in the Canyonlands photos on my Website.

That night, I also took some sunset shots with “The Needles” in the background (also on the Web site). I usually find sunset photos to be a bit more beautiful than sunrise photos. As a rule, sunrise light is “cooler” in color temperature than sunset light. You will almost always find light a bit more red in the evening.  Such was the case here.

To quote from an article by Alain Briot:

“Sunset and sunrise light is the best because at those times the light is horizontal. Horizontal light is light which is parallel to the horizon, grazing the subject and giving it a strong three dimensional quality.

Because the sun is low in the sky at sunrise and sunset, just above the horizon in fact, sunlight has to go through all the layers of dust, atmospheric haze and pollution before it reaches the scene in front of you. During this process the intensity of the sunlight is greatly diminished and softened, because the layers of dust and haze filter the light of the sun. This filtering also removes both the green and blue part of the visible spectrum leaving mostly the red part visible. As a result, sunrise and sunset light is warm, tinted either pink, red or orange, depending on the particular situation on a specific day. The combination of diffused light and of the warm glow of sunrise and sunset, creates a light which is excellent for photography. Furthermore, light which is both soft and warm is extremely pleasing to the eye.”

Interestingly, “Golden Hour” light is longer at sunset (20 minutes at sunrise vs. 40 minutes at sunset. And, as this picture shows, there is plenty of beautiful light available long after the sun is below the horizon. But when you photograph at this time of day, your foreground objects will always be silhouetted.

And now you know….

Postcard from the Canyonlands

After several long days, I’ve finally finished organizing and editing the photos I took in Canyonlands National Park in Eastern Utah. This magnificent park is divided into three sections, each without access to the other. My photos are all from The Needles section. They are now up on line for your enjoyment.

My visit to the park was nearly two years ago, so I had almost forgotten about some of the excellent photos I took (if I do say so myself). It was fun going through them and seeing them evolve in post production. I did a lot of different things so please visit and comment if you wish.

Canyonlands, The Needles, is a bit out of the way for most people. Far more people visit the section of the park known as “Island in the Sky.” I think that because it is so close to The Arches National Park that people figure they can visit two national parks in one visit. Perhaps. But they have no idea what they are missing by not going to the Needles.

Actually, each can see the other as Island sits up high on a plateau, while the Needles sits down in the canyons. When I was there in early November, I pretty much had the park to myself. It was quite wonderful. I think I saw more park rangers than I did fellow tourists. No matter.

I can’t remember in what part of the park I took this photo. But it playing with it in Photoshop, it really grabbed me as a perfect candidate for a black and white photo. I hope you agree.

Postcard from the Desert

This is another one of my special effects fun photos that I play with in Photoshop. It is a desert plant of some kind with lots of straight spiny leaves that you find in the deserts of the southwest (sorry, don’t know the name). I photographed it looking straight down. That is a large, flat rock at the bottom of the picture.

I like the composition, but not the colors.  So I tried it in black and white…still no excitement there. So, I found a filter called “Antique Solarization,” and, bingo!! I had the start of something. I played around a little more and got the center of the plant to give off a little glow. A few more tweaks, and it was done. You never know what you can come up with playing in Photoshop. Of course, it is quite helpful that I have a large library of plug-ins from different companies that work inside of Photoshop.

It is just me having fun, trying to make something out of nothing…and I liked it. I hope you do to.

Postcard from the Palisades

Here is another painting of mine of an antique truck…again from that treasure trove of old vehicles near Palisades, WA. You’ve seen a couple of them already in past blogs, but this one is my newest.

As I have written here before, this canyon lies along a semi-improved road that runs from Ephrata to near Wenatchee. Here are several old vehicles in various states of disrepair, but that make excellent subjects for photographs or paintings.

If you visit my Website, you can see more truck paintings from Palisades and other places. And, I have a few more to paint….one of these days.

Postcard from the Canyonlands

One morning, I got up early to take a hike along a trail that would supposedly give me a great sunrise view of “The Needles” in Canyonlands National Park. I have hiked many a trail in national parks, although I admit most of them were in mountain parks like Yosemite, Glacier, Mt. Rainier, Shasta, etc.

Canyonlands is nothing like any of those, so I should not have been surprised that the trails would be different also. But, here I was, happily minding my own business, hiking along a beautifully carved trail in the desert, when it just suddenly came to an abrupt end. You can see it for yourself in this picture…it just ends against these rocks.

After a few seconds of mystification, I realized I had to climb this rather steep set of rocks to continue on to my destination (they are much steeper and taller than they appear in this photo). Thank God I wear an excellent pair of hiking shoes. They gripped the rocks very well as I was on all fours to make the ascent up to the ridgeline where the white rocks met the red ones. After making it up there, I traversed that ridge to the left to the point where I could make another ascent up to the top of the red rocks.

I was able to make it to the viewpoint to photograph the sunrise on The Needles. The morning light, and the beautiful clouds you partially see here made the trip worth it. By the way, I had to slide down these very same rocks on the way back. The sweatpants I was wearing on this cold morning still bear the holes from my descent.

In the next few days, I hope to have the best of my photographs from the Canyonlands up on my Web site.  I will let you know when I’ve finished.