Postcard from Southern Utah

Note: Sorry I haven’t done a Postcard blog in a few days. Life’s trials and tribulations got in my way…car and computer problems, to name a couple. Anyway, all is well now so will try and get back on track…JRC

With the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in my rear view mirror, I headed north to rejoin Highway 89A, then into Southern Utah. It is a very pretty drive and after a short while, the cliffs of the Grand Staircase of the Escalante came into view and I new I was approaching the Utah/Arizona border.

Just over the border, in the small town of Kanab, Highway 89A rejoins Highway 89 and heads due north. Just outside of Kanab I came across a small lake with a cave eroded into the red rock. I stopped to take a photograph (photo #1), not realizing at the time this was one of the few pictures I would take on this trip that included water. There are just not many water features to photograph in the area of Southern Utah where I visited.

Continuing on my way, I soon approached the turnoff for the eastern approach to Zion National Park. It was a difficult decision, but I chose to skip Zion this time. The place would be loaded with vacationers (like the Grand Canyon), it was too early for fall colors, and I would have to ride the shuttle bus in Zion Canyon. Not my idea of fun. I was there almost two years ago in November, when the buses were shut down for the season and autumn was going strong. I settled for that as I still have a ton of pictures from that trip that have not been processed.

Continuing north on 89, I saw this pastoral country for the first time, even though I had driven this road two years previous. At that time, it was still dark. I was glad to see it in sunshine this time. It is mostly beautiful farm country, with red and white rock formations as a backdrop.

Sixty miles north of Kanab, I turned east on Highway 12, Utah’s most beautiful and celebrated highway. In about 10 miles, I arrived at Red Canyon, my destination for this day.

I’ve written about Red Canyon here before and have shown a few photos. I decided to spend some time here as there is much more to explore than I saw on my last trip. And, I used it as a base for some other nearby photographic destinations. Red Canyon is overseen by the National Forest Service and there is a great campground there. I found a great secluded campsite up in the hills. It was so nice that I stayed here for five nights.

It was here I discovered if you arrive late morning, you can almost always get a campsite. By early afternoon, this campground, along with all the others I visited on this trip, were filled to capacity.

Not many people stay at Red Canyon as they are very anxious to keep going the additional 10 miles to see Bryce Canyon National Park. As a photographer, I know that Bryce faces east and is best photographed in the morning. So, I decided to spend the rest of this day on the trails in Red Canyon.

Stay tuned!!

Mostly Microsoft…Good and Bad

Vista/IE market share slide, Win 7/Firefox/Chrome surge

According to data supplied by web metrics firm Net Applications, both Vista and Internet Explorer lost market share during September, while Windows 7, Firefox and Chrome all saw a surge in market share.

Microsoft in Cahoots with Twitter, Facebook

Microsoft on Wednesday announced major new initiatives with some of the world's most popular Internet services companies. The software giant will integrate Twitter micro-blogging posts into its Bing Internet search service and, at a slightly later date, provide similar functionality with public posts from the Facebook social networking service.

Windows 7 Media Center: Netflix and Internet TV

Just days before it officially launched Windows 7 around the world, Microsoft quietly updated the Windows Media Center component of that OS, dramatically increasing the availability of online content. The update takes two forms: Compatibility with Netflix "Instant Queue" streaming and the final version of Internet TV, which provides a pretty decent selection of free TV show content as well as, surprise, surprise, access to video podcasts via Zune Marketplace.

Low-cost Windows 7 laptops hit retail

At many stores on Thursday, Best Buy refreshed almost its entire stock of laptops: all running Windows 7 and all sporting new model numbers. Frys--a megastore electronics retailer with locations throughout California, Arizona, and Texas--also refreshed many of its laptops with new Windows 7 models.

Five Best Software Update Tools

Rather than wait around for your software to notify you of updates (let's face it, a lot of applications never will), these five handy tools keep an eye on your apps, alert you when an update's available, and streamline the updating process.

Post Card from the Grand Canyon – Point Imperial

On my second day of my stay at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I arose before sunrise and headed back into the park, then east on a narrow road to photograph Point Imperial.

Whereas most of us are used to seeing the Grand Canyon that runs east to west, this viewpoint is of the canyon as it starts to head north. As it faces east, it is best photographed around sunrise, so I was ready. The problem was, the canyon wasn’t. As I soon discovered, it was heavily saturated with smog that often plagues the canyon these days. It ruined the light, making my photographs less than desirable. I have spent some time cleaning them up for display here, but it was a disappointing morning.

Still, Point Imperial is worth seeing. It is the highest view point in the park. The Grand Canyon style cliffs are very close to you, giving you a more intimate feel with the park. The dominate feature in the first photo is Mt. Hayden.

Then, looking east, off in the distance, you look past the Colorado River and see a different view of canyons and desert terrain, as shown in the distance of image #2.

It was sad to have so much smog ruin the photographic possibilities here, but am still glad to have seen it. I had planned to go to nearby Cape Royal, but the light and smog convinced me to cancel that part of the trip.

I headed back to camp after a quick stop at the lodge at Bright Angel Point. I was planning to break camp and head north, but changed my plans at the last minute and stayed in camp for the rest of the day, reading, listening to music, and just plain relaxing.

My revised plan now called for me to leave early next morning and head north into Utah. Stay tuned.

Postcard from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

While the distance between the North and South Rims of this spectacular National Park is only a little over a mile, the driving distance between the two is 211 miles! Having been to the south rim earlier this year, I headed directly for the North Rim as I had never been there.

To get there, one takes Arizona Highway 89 north from Flagstaff, past the cutoff to the south rim, to Highway 89A. Then, after many miles of twists and turns (while continuing to gain in elevation), you turn south at Jacob Lake on a road that goes 43 miles to the Park Entrance.

A big difference between the North and South Rim is the approach. On the south side, you drive through mainly desert-type terrain, while the northern approach is through thick forests and broad meadows. The north side is 1,000 feet higher than the south.

Twelve miles past the park entrance, you arrive at a magnificent lodge that sits at Bright Angel Point on the rim of the canyon. It is a beautiful, luxurious lodge with a large patio where you can sit and enjoy the incredible view. The lodge caught me totally by surprise as I had no idea it was even there.

What also caught me by surprise was the number of people there…many more than I expected. Many were retired persons like myself who travel when the weather is beautiful and the crowds are less…and many of them arrive in RV’s. The park campgrounds were full so I wound up camping 5 miles outside the park, and was lucky to get one there. Full campgrounds was something I experienced on my entire trip, but I learned quickly how to solve that problem.

There is another large difference between the North and South Rims. On the south side, one can travel many miles along the rim with plenty of places to stop and admire the view. On the north side, the main highway ends at Bright Angel Point and that is your only view. There are two other roads inside the park, one paved and the other not. The paved road twists for several miles and brings you to Point Imperial and Point Royal. The unpaved roads lead to a couple of other viewpoints many miles away with plenty of bumps along the way.

But, my first day here was spent exclusively at Bright Angel Point. The point itself is accessible by an interesting 1/4 mile hike from the lodge. I say interesting as the trail is narrow with plenty of places to fall off. Not for those folks with a fear of heights.

The sky was full of clouds and photography a little tricky as they continuously blocked the sun, especially at sunset. There was also a very strong wind that day that was very evident out at the point. The first photo shows the view from Bright Angel Point and the second is a view along the trail.

The next morning I got up before the sun, and after a strong cup of coffee, headed off the see the sunrise at Point Imperial. Stay tuned.

Picture of the Day – Side Canyon

This is a very busy day for me, so I don’t have time for a full-blown blog about the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. But I could not let the day slip by without giving you a little sample of this less visited side of the National Park.

This photo is of a side canyon that leads into the main canyon near Bright Angel Point. As you can see, it was a great day for photography with lots of clouds and sunlight to bring out the colors of the canyon.

This actually was my first view of the north side of this great chasm as you don’t really see it from the road until you arrive. More photos and stories in my next blog. Click on the image to see it in a large size.

Postcard from Lee’s Ferry – Beginnings and Endings

Hello, everyone. I am back in Tucson, where I belong. It was a great 3+ weeks on the road, seeing old friends, going to places where I have never been, taking photos until my trigger finger was worn out, gathering new memories and stories, and just plain enjoying myself.

My trip covered 6 states and over 3,000 miles. I camped in beautiful places and was favored with outstanding weather. It was a successful journey that ended with a 3-day wedding photo shoot that turned out very well on all levels.

I started and ended my trip with my son…first enjoying football and great food in Mesa, AZ where he was on his weekend warrior duty…then spending the last day of my trip with him and his lovely wife Jill at their home in Blythe before heading home to Tucson. While I had a fantastic time, I was ready to come home.

After my trip to Mesa, and an overnight stay in Flagstaff to watch football, I headed north on Arizona 89 (and later 89A) towards the north rim of the Grand Canyon. My first stop was in Lee’s Ferry, AZ, many miles NE of the Grand Canyon. Lee’s Ferry is where most raft trips down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon originate. It is about the only place where you can get to the river as the start of the deep canyons begin shortly afterword.

There is something special about traveling roads where you have never been and don’t know what’s around the next bend. It is what I live for…to see new places and things. When I travel a new road, the music goes off and the audio books are put away. This is time to savor the sights and smells of new places.

In the first photo, you can see the Colorado River beneath the Navajo Bridge that spans the canyon at Lee’s Ferry. This picture was taken from the old Navajo Bridge that also spans the canyon next to the new bridge. It is a spectacular view from here…the beginnings of the Grand Canyon.

The next picture shows a balance rock which is on the road down to the river. I chose to do it in black and white as the rocks and canyon walls are all red. Only the sky is blue.

The last photo shows the Vermillion Cliffs which run for many, many miles along Highway 89A. Needless to say I had some great cloud formations that day.

Next stop, the Grand Canyon North Rim.

Postcard from Tucson – Big Time Football

Editor’s Note: This will be my last blog for approximately a month as I head out tomorrow for more photographic adventures in the Arizona/Utah wilderness, eventually winding up in CA to do a close friend’s wedding. If I can find a free Wi-Fi connection someplace, I will do a blog, if possible. You can follow my further adventures on Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook (all jcorkrum); or on a special page on my Website. I can send updates with my Blackberry (and even some photos) when I have signal. This should be a fun trip as I am seeing mostly new territory. Take care. - JRC

Last Saturday night, I had the pleasure of attending my first NCAA College Football game in a long, long time. In fact, I don’t even remember the last time I went to one, probably about 25 years ago. Been to many, many NFL games in that time, but not college.

Anyway, I had great seats on the 32 yard line around, 21 rows up from the field. Across from me was “The Red Zone,” where vocal students and other supporters, all wearing red shirts, gather to support the Wildcats. They cheered vociferously for UofA and soundly booed the opponents for the evening, the Central Michigan Chippewa's. The atmosphere was electric, in more ways than one.

You see, Mother Nature was not ready for the game to begin. To the north and south of the stadium, there was a tremendous display of lightning, along with claps of thunder…and as you can see from one of the photos, we were asked to leave our seats and head to shelter. Many did, but not me…nor did the Red Zone fans. In fact, they started chanting, “F*%!K the Lightning,” in perfect harmony.

The game was delayed 45 minutes, until the lightning just stopped. It actually never got over the stadium, and no rain fell that night. But finally, the University of Arizona football team took the field to a thunderous ovation (no pun intended), the band playing the fight song, and the traditional fireworks were let loose, all signifying the start of the football season. It was a sight to behold.

After the kickoff, the Arizona defense performed marvelously, shutting down one of the nations most highly regarded quarterbacks. Central Michigan could only muster one first down in the first half and had less than 100 yards offense. Our offense, did OK, but could not seal the deal, so to speak, when they got inside the 20 yard line. Arizona kicked 4 field goals and only scored one touchdown in a 19-6 victory.

But, Arizona won and it was great to be part of a major college football game and all the atmosphere that goes with it. I already have tickets for the UCLA and Washington State games in the same seat, and will probably attend others, although there are only six home games this year.

These pictures are not all that great as I took them with my little point-and-shoot, but it gives you a little idea of what is was like last Saturday night.

Picture of the Day – Iris and Things

One of the things I miss by living in the Southwest are the blooming Iris plants of the Northwest in spring. They don’t grow here that I am aware of. Since my digital painting is back in full swing now, I decided to paint an Iris in an Impressionistic style. I like how it turned out.

This painting is called “Iris and Things,” mainly because I don’t know the names of the flowers that were in the original photograph. I will probably paint another Iris or two in the near future. Click on the image to see a little bigger version.

I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

Picture of the Day – Bryce Trail

I took this picture back in November 2007, the last time I visited Bryce Canyon National Park. I show it now because a week from this very day I will be back at Bryce. It will be about the only place on my forthcoming trip where I have tread before. Most of my destinations are all new for me.

I will start out in Mesa, AZ with a weekend visit with my son who is doing his Army Reserve weekend. After an evening of football, beer, hot wings and Chinese food, I will head north with stops at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce, Red Canyon, Kodachrome Basin, the famous Utah Highway 12 drive, and Capitol Reef National Park. I am really looking forward to breaking out of the confines of Tucson and seeing new things.

Anyway, I like this photo as it shows a trail that starts at the rim and works its way down via switchbacks to the canyon depths. I did this trail back in the 1960’s, but not sure these old legs can handle it now. Still, I may try it for old times sake and for the photos.

I look forward to taking many pictures of new places and sharing them with you here. I will check back in here before I leave.

Postcard from British Columbia – Kootenay Boats

I took the original photograph for this painting several years ago while on vacation on Lake Kootenay in Eastern BC. I love the image and always wanted to paint it, but everything I tried was less than satisfactory. Not anymore.

I think this is a good painting, and although it needs a few more finishing touches, I wanted to share it with you today. You see, I am 99% positive I took this photo on this very day, but can’t remember the year for sure. I know I had a new film camera and was trying it out for the first time on this trip. This is perhaps my favorite image from the trip.

And now, it is a new favorite painting….at least for now. You know how artists are!! Enjoy.

Postcard from Rome – Sketch of a Roman Statue

Here is another of those “lost” works I recently found while digging around my computer. It is a sketch I made of a statue in Rome…and am sad to say I don’t know who the artist is or, for that matter, where it is in Rome. My notes are in storage and my memory is not as good as it once was.

It closely resembles another statue in Rome done 2,000 years ago of the god Castor. Sorry I can’t be more specific.

Some of my favorite works are the digital pencil sketches I’ve done over the years…and for that matter sketches and engravings done by other artists. Recently, there was an exhibit at the University of Arizona of engravings and sketches done by some very famous artists from antiquity. It was an inspiring show and I kept going back to see them again and again.

Sadly, my own sketch works were not very good sellers when I was doing shows. But, since that is no longer a concern, you can expect more sketches and even some digital engravings in the near future.

Postcard from Bisbee – A New Painting

The digital paintbrush is back in my hand and I’ve produced a new painting I want to share with you. It is just a simple image from downtown Bisbee, AZ, but I like it very much. I hope you do to.

It has been a while since I sat down and did an entire image from scratch. For this painting, I used Painter X almost exclusively, with a little Photoshop thrown in at the beginning and end to polish it off properly.

When I stopped painting a couple of years ago, I was beginning to get into an “Impressionist” mode for some of my new works. As you can see, I continued that mode here. Not all my paintings will be in that style. But this one fit just perfectly, or so I think.

For instance, the old truck painting I showed you a few days ago would not fit into this style (I know, I tried and in a very short while knew I didn’t like it). But where it fits, I will use it.

Thanks for letting me share this first humble effort with you. I hope my work will get better and better. Sorry the image is so small, but that is the biggest that Blogger will let me do. Click on the image and you will see a larger version.

Picture of the Day – South Falls

This is South Falls, the largest of the ten waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park, OR. If you have not been there, it lies about 25 miles east of Salem in a temperate rain forest. South Falls is 177 feet high and runs all year round.

If you look closely, you can see people along the trail that runs behind the falls. This is the end (or beginning) of the Trail of the Ten Falls where you can, with a little effort, see all the falls. For four of them, the trail actually goes behind the falls, like you see here.

For this image, I did some special treatment to not only slightly exaggerate the green, but give it a bit of a glow. Green is the dominate color in this park as it is in a rain forest (truth be known, I have been here several times and never seen the sun).

If you are ever near Salem, be sure and put this park on your “must see” list.

Postcard from the Road – Gifts

Sometimes when I see such beautiful and amazing sites such as the Double Arch in The Arches National Park, I sit and pause…then reflect on so many breathtaking sites like this that are available to me on this planet and how lucky I am to see them. I sort of pinch myself mentally to make sure I am really there, no matter where it happens to be. Sites like this are the result of millions of years of evolution and I get to see it at this one moment in time.

But just as important, I thank the maker of us all for his gift to me for the ability to see this place with an artist’s eye and the skills to photograph it. More than that, he gave me the gift of easily learning ways to make the most of the image, first in the darkroom, and now with a computer. I am a fortunate fellow, to say the least.

But, while the gift to produce a beautiful image was given, it still took years and years of practice and work to bring me where I am now. The gift was the easy part, the rest is blood sweat, and tears…all happily given.

I once met a well known painter in England at an exhibition of his works in Harrods. I told him that he was such a gifted painter and he reminded me while that was true, it took years and years of education, practice, and hard work to make it all come together. We must all remember that no gift comes without strings.

Postcard from the Painted Desert – Colors Abound

There are actually two painted deserts, perhaps even three in Arizona. I just finished post-processing photos from the two I visited last Autumn and have posted them up on my Web site. I believe I have showed you a previous image from here some time ago.

Anyway, the first painted desert is called the Little Painted Desert and is in a small state park, about 13 miles north of Winslow, AZ. I visited there at sunset, which accounts for the colors of those photos.

The second painted desert lies about 60 miles east of Winslow on Interstate 40 and is part of the Petrified Forest National Park. I visited this park the next day after spending one very cold night camped out near Winslow. This photo is from that Painted Desert.

Both of these parks remind me so much of the Painted Hills of Oregon. Different environs, of course…the Painted Hills being in forested country. I am just happy that I got to see them all.

As for the third painted desert, it lies somewhere on Highway 89, just north of the Grand Canyon turnoff. I will be passing through there in September, so will tell you more about it later.

Postcard from Tucson – A Rediscovered Painting

I put down my digital paint brush about 20 months ago. That was when my now ex-wife (and still good friend) announced out of the blue, she no longer wished to be married. My life changed dramatically that day, and after a short time of mourning, I started making plans for a new life. Somewhere in all time of sadness and change, my painting got left behind.

Fast forward to present day:

I have a good life now and have taken steps to begin painting again. Being happy and free has helped and I certainly have enough subjects gathered from all my adventures. But this last weekend, I set aside some time to go through my computer and remove unused files and programs.

While going through a section of the hard drive where I kept my “works in progress”, I found two paintings…one 98% done and the other about 90% done. It was a surprise, and after looking at them, I realized I liked them both very much.

I couldn’t resist so I finished the first one, let it sit overnight to see if I still liked it in the morning. I do. So I present it to you for your inspection. I am working on the second one now and will show it to you when it’s done.

I was pleased to find them both, and even more pleased that I still liked them. But most pleasing of all was to pick up the brush again to create something beautiful.

As time has passed, so have my tastes for my own work, past, present and future. During the computer cleaning process, I threw out many works in progress as I no longer found them acceptable. Perhaps I never did like them, but they were still on my hard drive. We all change with time and events.

Picture of the Day – Dwarfed!

This image was taken in Zion National Park. I called it “Dwarfed” as the beautiful autumn trees are just overwhelmed by the wall of red rock behind them.

I almost cropped this picture to remove some of the upper portions of the rock, but then decided not too as I wanted the large trees to look as small as possible. I think I achieved that. And, believe me, those are not small trees!

I am hoping to get back to Zion next month as part of my upcoming photographic expedition. If time permits, I would like to also see some of the less visited sections of Zion where I have never been.

Picture of the Day – Fin with an Arch

Yesterday, I told you how sandstone fins are the first step in the long process of creating an arch. Today, I am showing you the photo of a fin that did eventually form into an arch.

There is no one answer as to how long an arch can take to form…usually it takes thousands of years. It is estimated that the famous Delicate Arch, also found in The Arches National Park, took around 100,000 years to form. There is another arch in the park that was not an arch in 1940…but some unexpected events helped it form into a full blown arch in the last 70 years.

The arch you see in this image will eventually disappear. The forces of nature are forever at work. Eventually, parts of the arch will start falling away and the weight of the remaining rock will eventually cause the arch to collapse. About a year ago, the well-known Wall Arch in the Devil’s garden collapsed completely. But, don’t worry…new ones are always forming.

Picture of the Day – Fins and Sky

There is nothing more beautiful than late afternoon light in southern Utah where the red light of the sun hits the red rock of the canyons. I took this picture in The Arches National Park late one afternoon when I also got lucky with an amazing sky.

This kind of rock formation is called a fin, and is made of Entrada Sandstone. A fin is the first stage of the formation of an arch. Overtime, water will erode the small recesses in the rock. In time those recesses will grow to become an alcove…and if we are lucky, some alcoves will open a window in the rear and an arch is born. Sadly, I won’t be around to photograph this fin when it becomes an arch. With only around 10” of rain per year, it does take a while.

Like many of my pictures in this blog, the small size of the photo does not do it justice.

Picture of the Day – Red Canyon

Red Canyon lies just a few miles west of the more famous Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. In fact, if you are approaching Bryce from the west, you pass right through it. The majority of people who come here are anxious to get on to Bryce…and I can’t blame them. They might stop for a few minutes, snap a couple of photos, then head on out to the big show.

Sadly, they are overlooking a wonderful park with its own personality. In general, the colors in Red Canyon are more vivid than Bryce. There are also some interesting, easy trails to explore. One, called the Arches Trail, takes you by a large red wall with its own windows. You even pass a old structure where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid supposedly stopped for a meal.

Visitors to my Web site know that I have had a few photos from Red Canyon up for sometime. Well those are all gone now, replaced by some new reworked photos showing the park off in a better light, so to speak. I used some of my new tools to better enhance my original photos. I think they are far more spectacular than the original photos and I invite you to take a peek.

Postcard from Utah – The Amazing Utah Juniper

When you travel the beautiful and stunning realm of southern Utah, one of the common sites you see is the Utah Juniper. You see them in many shapes and sizes…and in the national parks and monuments that inhabit the area, they make wonderful foreground subjects for the breathtaking rock formations. You have probably already seen some in some of the photos I have shown you in my blogs from The Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

But what makes them so amazing, at least for me, is how they survive in such a harsh, barren environment. It is the classic desert tree that has adapted to where it lives. Its twisting, often-dead branches epitomize the struggle of life with little water. When moisture is scarce, a juniper will actually stop the flow of fluids to some outer branches so that the tree has a better chance for survival. Scale-covered leaves and bluish, waxy-coated seeds also help the tree conserve moisture.

In other words, it kills parts of itself off so that other parts may survive. You can see a perfect example of this in picture #1, taken at the Needles in the Canyonlands National Park. Picture #2 shows several Utah Junipers in front of two alcoves in the Arches National Park.

So, if you are ever in this part of the country, look for them and use them in you photographs…and appreciate how they live and survive in the harsh desert conditions.

Postcard from Mt. Rainier – Paradise

I was browsing through some of my never-before-seen images in the Mt. Rainier National Park and came across the very colorful photo. It was taken on one of the trails in the aptly-named Paradise Valley section of the park. Mt. Rainier would be off to the left.

For a guy who lived in the state of Washington for 16 years, I only visited this natural wonderland only once on a two day photo safari just a few years ago. Hard to believe, but true. I hope someday I can come back here. And you know something else…I never once visited Mt. St. Helens.

Now, as you well know, I live in a different kind of place, the unique Sonoran Desert, a very beautiful place in its own right. But, I miss the beauty of the high mountains of the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada’s of California.

There are some wonderful hikes and natural scenic wonders in Mt. Rainier National Park. Early summer is a good time to go as the wildflowers can be just extraordinary. Spring comes very late at these high elevations.

I am in the beginning stages of planning another expedition into uncharted territories (translation – going to see some places I have not been to before) in another month. I will keep you informed as plans unfold.

Picture of the Day – Window Rock

This is not the first time I’ve presented a picture of Windows Rock here, but it is the first time I’ve shown a black and white image. The previous image was from a different location and was in color. But, I really like this black and version. At this reduced size, I hope you can see the large bird flying through the window.

Window Rock is located in a city of the same name in northeastern Arizona…very close to the New Mexico border. It is the capital city of the Navajo Nation. In fact, the park where this image was taken is right by their government headquarters. As you might image, Window Rock is very sacred to the Navajo people. That is partly why I was pleased to capture a large bird in the image as nature is such an important part of their culture. I wish I could tell you what kind of bird it is, but ornithology is not one of my strong suits.

I am starting to gather some of my black and white images on my newly revised Web site…with many more to come. Stop by when you have a chance.

Picture of the Day – From the Painted Hills

I’ve spent the last couple of days post-processing some of my photos from the Painted Hills in Oregon. Here is a sample of one of the photos I took on that trip last October.

It is such a fascinating place for both the photographer and the amateur geologist. It is off the beaten path, but well worth the journey. The best time to visit for photography is in the afternoon. Towards sunset is even better, but there are several places that you can photograph all day long.

The colors of these hills will just blow you away…lots of reds and greens, some gold, and even some pure white…all arranged by nature as if they indeed had been painted.

I’ve posted the best of my Painted Hills photos up on my Website, if you care to drop by.

Picture of the Day – Ghost Tree

This image is from someplace inside Zion National Park, up in the higher elevations of the park. I liked the image when it was in color and was doing some enhancements when I decided to try out a new plug-in filter I just acquired for creating black and white images.

Using a digital orange filter, I darkened the sky and brought out the light clouds. The tree then took on a ghostly image that was not there in color. Instant love!

Being more or less retired these days has given me the time and inclination to stretch my creative juices further than ever before. Also, it helps that I am sort of trapped inside most of the day because of the incredible heat here day after day.

Picture of the Day – Window Dressing

When visiting small towns, I’ve developed the habit of walking around town, with camera in-hand, of course, looking at shop windows for interesting photo possibilities. Many stores still put interesting displays in their windows and you can get some very nice results.

Not only do you capture whatever is on display, but also some light reflections off of the window which can add to the mystique of the image. Of course, there are far more uninteresting displays than good ones, but if you are walking around town anyway, just keep your eyes open.

This particular image was from a music store in downtown Bisbee, AZ. I really got lucky in that town with great photographic possibilities. But I have found interesting windows in many other towns. Just look and you will too.

Postcard from Zion – Where Roads Meet

I’ve spent a number of hours in the last few days seriously working on my photos from Zion National Park. I took the photos over a few days back in November of 2007. Zion is an incredible wonderland of mountains in Southwestern Utah. I shot hundreds of images in those few days so it is taking a while to go through them all.

Knowing me, its a wonder I got started at all. The number of photos is almost overwhelming…and I have thousands more from other locations to go through. But, I just take them one at a time…which is all I can do. And now I have the time.

Some are now displayed on my Web site and more will be going up in the next couple of days. I hope you get a chance to look at them.

This photo was taken in the southern part of the park, not far from the entrance and Visitor’s Center. At this place, the road forks into two directions…one is the Zion Scenic Highway…the gateway into Zion Canyon to see the many wonders that line both sides of the highway. It ends several miles further up the canyon at the Narrows, where you can walk deep into a slot canyon along the Virgin River.

The other road is Utah Highway 9. It takes you east, high above Zion Canyon, up their famous switchbacks, through the long tunnel, and out into a whole new set of wonders. Eventually, the road takes you out of the park and onto to the Colorado Plateau.

Having a wooden fence adds a great deal to the view of the mountains and cloud-filled sky. The beautiful array of Autumn colors doesn’t hurt either. I think this is a good image.

Postcard from Yosemite – Playing Around Again

As mentioned here before, I love playing around in Lightroom and Photoshop...seeing how far I can take a photograph to make it even more interesting and appealing. Well, take a look at this one.

I shot it last October in Yosemite. It has the classic S-Curve road and Autumn colors, which is why I shot it in the first place. But as I began to play with some of the plug-ins installed in Photoshop, I started getting further and further out with the colors, then kept going. One big problem I ran into was that the road starting coming out way too blue.

So, using my saturation controls, I scaled the blue back…but went too far and took out all the blue. But, darned if I didn't like it. So I left the road desaturated and continued to play with the other colors until I got the image you see here. I like this one very much and it is now part of the “Yosemite Autumn” collection on my Web site.

As I work more and more on my images, I find myself enjoying taking more chances and taking many of my photos to more creative levels than ever before. Maybe not all go as far as this one, but dang, its fun!

Postcard from Chiricahua – Cochise Head

One last photo from Chiricahua National Monument before moving on to a new location (there are, of course, more photos from here on my Website). This mountain, visible from the highest point in the park, is called Cochise Head, named after the famous Apache Indian chief from the 19th century.

It supposedly shows his head outlined in rocks, although I will admit I fail to see it…but other people swear it to be true. In fact, I had to double check on the Net to make sure that was the name of this mountain that I had photographed. No imagination, I guess.

At an altitude of just over 8,000 feet, Cochise Head lies outside the park boundaries and is only visible inside the park at the higher elevations.

Whatever the case, I like this image a great deal as I caught the mountain towards sunset with a dark cloud formation behind it. As stated here before, good images are sometimes just being in the right place at the right time.

If you wish to see a larger version, just click on the image.

Postcard from Chiricahua – The Echo Canyon Trail

High up in the Chiricahua Mountains, near where the road ends, is a parking lot where you can begin hiking along some of the trails of the Chiricahua National Monument. On my second day in the park, I got up early at my campsite down in Bonita Canyon, had my obligatory cup of coffee, and headed up the road to this very same parking lot.

The previous day, I had gone the the park’s Visitor Center to learn more about the place and see where I might want to hike with my camera in-hand. I chose the Echo Canyon Trail as it looked the most interesting. As it turns out, it was.

I must admit, I did not take the entire trail as it is quite long and down hill into the canyon. It would have meant quite a climb to get back to my car. By I did go of couple of miles along the trail and found, what I believe, to be its best kept secrets.

The trail winds through some incredible rock formations, a couple of which you see here. You also get some great views of some of the other fabulous rock formations down in the canyons.

But, for me, the highlight was the Echo Canyon Grotto, a small cave-like structure that was formed when some very large boulders crashed into each other and left a large space underneath them. I got there, quite accidentally I assure you, at exactly the best time of day when the early morning sun hit the two red entry rocks just right, giving them an ethereal glow that was just made for a photographer with a good camera.

If you ever get to this very out-of-the-way National Monument and only have time for one trail, this would be the one I heartily recommend…and do it in the early morning light.

I have posted more pictures from my trip to Chiricahua National Monument on my Web site…and will add more as I post-process them. Enjoy.

Postcard from Chiricahua – A Wonderland of Rocks

Chiricahua National Monument may be one of the most out-of-the-way places in the National Park System. It is about 120 miles southeast of Tucson, well off any main highways, and not too far from the New Mexico border.

Even though it is far off the beaten track, an expedition there is worth the effort. It is indeed a “Wonderland of Rocks.” It lies high in the Chiricahua Mountains, one of several southwest “sky island” mountain ranges surrounded by expansive desert grasslands.

When you enter the park, you come into Bonita Canyon at an elevation of 5,400 feet. Straight ahead of you lies the Organ Pipe formation (photo #1)….pinnacles of rock in weird formations that shoot straight into the sky. It is easy to see how they got their name.

Traveling the main highway, you pass more amazing rock formations on both sides of the road (photo #2). After a few of miles, you start to climb into mountains, headed for even more amazing rock formations at 6,800 feet at places called Echo Canyon, Sugarloaf and Massai Point (photo #3), where the road comes to an end.

The fascinating rock formations are all around you up here and there are many trails to take you inside the strange formations of pinnacles, columns, spires, and balancing rocks. The Apaches called this place “The Land of Standing-Up Rocks.”

Because of its volcanic origins, the rocks have some red tint to them, although not as intense of the red rock formations you find in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. But many are also are covered in a yellow-green lichen that gives the rock formations their unique colors.

On my first day there, I explored the park with my car mostly, stopping to take pictures here and there...just getting a feel for the place. Early the next morning, I headed up into the mountains to hike the Echo Canyon Trail to see these rocks close-up. And I was not disappointed. I also hiked a few other short trails with camera in-hand…then headed back down the mountain to shoot more photos inside Bonita Canyon.

My time there was limited to two days as I had to be back in Tucson for another event. But, I enjoyed my time there and the images I recorded.

These three pictures represent a larger view of some of the formations. In my next blog, I will show you some of the amazing photos I took of rock formations close up along some of the trails.

Picture of the Day – Yakima River Sunrise

I took this photo in the Autumn of 2006, on the Yakima River just south of Ellensburg. There was a low ground fog that morning as the sun came up, giving the sun some amazing reflective qualities and colors.

I had to use the tree to block the sun, but the autumn colors combined with the fog gave all the pictures I took that morning a very eerie quality. Most sunrise photos with “special effects” supplied by Mother Nature can often give you some very special images, as is the case here.

By the way, very little enhancement was done with this image as I let nature do most of the post processing work. Enjoy.

Picture of the Day – Pine Cone

I spent much of today post processing many of the photos I took in Yosemite this last October. I’ve put most of them up on the Web, including this one.

This is just a simple pine cone on the ground in autumn. As I’ve mentioned here before, I love looking down to find those small scenes that many photographers overlook. Obviously this was one of them. Hope you like it.

If you would like to see more, click here.

Postcard from Tucson – La Placita Village

You want color? You got it. This is La Placita Village, located in downtown Tucson. Simply put, it is a collection of 10 adobe, brick, and wood frame buildings that are used as an office and restaurant complex. It was built to resemble a Mexican marketplace. It is also the home of the Tucson Visitor’s Center, so if you come here, you will probably want to stop by anyway.

Regardless, you will never see a greater collection of colors in any one place. All the buildings use very bold colors, making it a photographers dream.

I believe I showed you another picture of this place some time ago. But, in going through my collection, I came across this one and had to put it up here.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am continuing to put new pictures on line at my revised Website. The latest are new photos from Tucson and Yosemite, with many more coming.

Please stop by if you have a chance.

Postcard from Yosemite – El Capitan in Autumn

This is a slightly different view of the Yosemite’s granite monolith. The most famous photographs of El Capitan are taken from the west side. This one is more to the the east.

I like it because it is a different view than most and, of course, it has a beautiful row of trees bearing their autumn leaves directly in front. Leave it to me to be different.

The sky is darkened quite a bit, thanks mostly to the polarizing filter I used in front of the lens when I shot this picture. I also darkened it a little bit more in post processing.

El Capitan, all three thousand feet of it, is one of America’s foremost challenges for rock climbers. Almost any time of the year, you can see climbers daring to make the ascent. There are dozens of different routes, none of them easy. It can take a few days to get to the top, although the current speed climbing record is 2.5 hours, if you can believe that. I am not sure how that works.

All I know is that I love Yosemite, El Capitan, and this image.

Picture of the Day – Bent Cactus at Sunset

My last blog featured a photo from Mission San Xavier del Bac, just south of Tucson. This cactus photo was also taken there, a little later in that same day, at sunset, to be precise.

In fact, if you look at the picture from the last blog, you can see this very cactus way off in the distance. But, of course, I shot this image with the sun already set below the horizon. The clouds that day just begged to be photographed, so I did.

I’ve written here before about the fantastic sunsets we have here in southern Arizona, and even shared some images with you. Add this one to the list.

Postcard from Tucson –Mission San Xavier

This photo was taken at a lovely old mission church, whose full name is San Xavier del Bac. It lies just south of the outskirts of Tucson. Construction was completed in 1797, making it one of Arizona’s older structures.

San Xavier Mission is acclaimed by many to be the finest example of mission architecture in the United States. It is a graceful blend of Moorish, Byzantine and late Mexican Renaissance architecture, yet the blending is so complete it is hard to tell where one type begins and another ends.

It is a favorite site for many photographers over the years, including my hero Ansel Adams. A while back, I showed you a wonderful sunset picture taken on this same day back in January 2008. This portal photo was taken on the same day. I should go back soon as the day I was there, part of the church was covered in scaffolding as part of a restoration project.

Postcard from Bisbee – Stairs

When I wrote my first blog about Bisbee, I mentioned the city was built on hills and that there were a great many stairs all over town. So, I decided to show you a couple of them.

And, believe me, there are many, many more…some interesting, some very plain. I noticed there was one that was very long and not real interesting that was the subject of a “Save Our Stairs” campaign. I hope they do…maybe even spice it up a little bit.

In some ways, Bisbee with its stairs reminds me of two other similarly-built cities…San Francisco and Ketchikan, Alaska. San Francisco, of course is much, much bigger, but you would be surprised at the number of stairs you will find spread around the city…especially on Russian Hill.

As for Ketchikan, it was difficult for me to go hunting for stairs there as it rains every day and I was only there for 24 hours before I had to catch another ferry. But that is a story for another day.

I do hope some of you get to visit Bisbee. Bring your cameras and your walking shoes as you may have to do some climbing. Adios for now.

Postcard from Quartzite – Just a Rock

I took this image in Quartzite, AZ, a small town in the desert just over the AZ border. It lies on Interstate 10, the road from L.A. to Phoenix. It is always worth a stop there, but only in fall, winter spring when there are rock and gem shows, RV shows, and every other kind of show you can think of. It is a very different place, to put it mildly.

This little town of 7,000 people attracts some 1.5 million visitors a year, many of them snowbirds who dry camp out in the desert; or those who are passing through, but always make it a point to stop here.

Right across from Carl’s Jr. restaurant is a large rock shop with all kinds of rocks and gems for sale. I have stopped there a couple of times, camera in hand, and took several pictures. You have seen some of them here already. Once, an old desert rat took me on a tour of the place so I could see some of the real gems of the collections (no pun intended).

This was one of the large rocks he showed me. Of course, in the digital darkroom, I really made it explode with color. That is the fun of images like this, making them different…and even abstract…taking it even further out than God intended. I mean, what else can you do with rock anyway?

Be sure to click on the photo to see a larger image of it.