Postcard from the Grand Canyon – First Painting

While wandering through the gift store at the Grand Canyon, I came across several book collections of paintings of the Grand Canyon by many artists. They covered a long period of time and thus several different artistic styles.

I knew when I paged through the books, I would make an attempt at a painting from one of my many photographs. So, here is my very first attempt.

I chose to use an impressionistic approach, making sure that the canyon itself stood out from the rest of the objects in the painting. I have let it sit for a few days, as I usually do, just to see if I really like it…and actually I still do. I am throwing it out here on the wall (so to speak) and see if it sticks.

This image is from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and is one of the many side canyons in the Park. It is near Bright Angel Point and is actually the first part of the canyon you see when approaching the North Rim. Sorry it is so small, but that is all the space I am allowed. If you double click on it you will a larger version.

Postcard from a Dream

It is in a dream…the perfect place to find peace and contentment. It is a lake high in the mountains in autumn…still warm enough to sit outside and read…quiet except for the birds. The sights and sounds tempt us to just sit and stare at the absolute beauty of this place.

In the dream, when the sun begins to set, it’s time head into the cabin to light a warm fire and watch the sun set through the window. It has been the perfect day of peace and solitude…time to gather one’s thoughts and ponder moving forward.

It is a dream, but real enough to want it for a short time. No one can stay here long, but we all dream of that perfect place to rest our body and spirit…to revive our hopes, then move forward to the next step of life’s journey.

It is just a dream.

Postcard from Tucson

Yes, this is Tucson…the very east side of town actually. The photo was taken at Saguaro National Park, Eastside (There is also a West version of the park, not far from where I live) about one year ago.

The mountains in the background are the Santa Catalina’s, obviously the day after a snow storm. You can make out portions of the east side of the city in the background. To the right of this photo (where you can’t see) are the Rincon Mountains. This portion of Saguaro NP is up against those mountains. As I may have mentioned before, Tucson is nearly surrounded by mountains, even though most of the city is in the flatlands.

I still find it interesting that one can photograph a Saguaro cactus in the desert and still have snow in the photo. Actually, it’s rare, but Tucson has been known to get some snow. It is a great place to live for so many reason and I am very glad to be here…especially in the Spring. Stay tuned for the first photos of desert wildflowers…it won’t be long now.

Postcard from Long Canyon

Sometimes I wonder at my luck at arriving in the right place at the right time, with camera in hand. More often, it is the wrong time of day, wrong light, wrong sky, wrong everything. But, in my journey through Long Canyon I got lucky. A rain storm had just ended, the clouds were breaking up, and the light was almost perfect.

I’ve written about Long Canyon before…but to refresh your memory, it is along the Burr Trail, which is off of Highway 12 in Utah. I believe I have already shown you some of my better pictures from here, but I thought I would put another one on-line.

This is a gorgeous canyon, off of the beaten track, but still easy to get to. There is a plethora of photo opportunities along its 6 mile trek. I just got lucky that day with everything being right… and thank God for that.

Postcard from Oak Creek Canyon

Every day I pray to God
To turn my mind into a serenity-flower,
My heart into a purity-flower
And my life into a simplicity-flower.

Happiness means
The serenity
Of the mind.

Where is Heaven,
If not in the serenity of the mind,
Purity of the heart
And simplicity of the life?

Sri Chinmoy

Postcard from Olympic National Park

This is another of those peaceful places I found in my travels. It is the lower portion of Bunch Falls…located at the southern most entrance to Olympic National Park, on the rain forest side of the park. You get to it by driving past Quinault Lake and staying on the dirt road heading east. It is right at the entrance sign to the park.

I got lucky this day as it did not rain…which is saying something as this portion of Washington gets about 140-170 inches of rain per year. It is a true rain forest, but all that water keeps the forest green and the falls and creeks flowing. One can really appreciate a beautiful place like this on a day without precipitation as they are few and far between.

There are many peaceful places to be discovered at this beautiful national park, especially on the western side. But check the weather forecast before you go so the rain doesn’t interrupt those special moments of tranquility.

Postcard from Glacier – The Adams Grove

In the spirit of my last blog tribute to Ansel Adams, I thought I would share this black and white photo I took a couple of years ago in Glacier National Park. I knew when I took it I had seen some similar photos done by the master many years previous. I saw two of those similar photos last week at the Ansel Adams exhibit.

This is my attempt to at something similar, not only in subject and composition, but also in the final approach to making the print…contrasts, sharpness and use of his Zone System. As I said, his influence is always with me.

Postcard from Tucson – Ansel Adams

I spent Thursday afternoon at the Tucson Museum of Art enjoying a large print exhibition Ansel Adams photography. The prints, from a private collection and are all original prints done by the master in his darkroom. The exhibition covered the gamut of his work from Yosemite and other national parks to oceanscapes, photos of San Francisco, portraits and close-ups in nature. Some works I had never seen before.

He was a master of the black and white negative and print. Much of his life’s work is housed at the Center for Creative Photography here on the campus of the University of Arizona. But these prints were not from there.

I’ve known about Ansel Adams most of my life…mainly because we tread many of the same paths. He lived and loved San Francisco as did I. He became a master photographer in Yosemite National Park, where I spent much of my youth. We both visited and photographed many of the same places in the West, not because I was trying to copy him, but because we shared a love of the same country.

He was my inspiration during my early days of photography, both with a camera and in the darkroom. I make no claim to being a master photographer as he was, but if I have any decent qualities about my work, it is due in large part to him.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I love black and white photography. Adams wrote many books on the subject and created the Zone System. Believe it or not, black and white photography is much harder than color, even in the digital darkroom. So, seeing his work again the other day was a reminder of how great he was and how is work will endure as long as there are photographers. Personally, he is the baseline in which I measure my own skills in black and white prints.

You know this blog is mostly about me, my photography and paintings, and my travels. But today, I make way for a real master of the art form and show you one of his beautiful prints of Half Dome.

Postcard from Canyonlands – Peace by a Lake

Sometimes, with luck, peaceful places can be found in grand settings. Last blog, I showed you a very small place inside Zion where it just seemed so peaceful. But I found that same feeling of peace on the shores of this lake set deep inside red rock country.

It was getting towards late afternoon when I found this lake. It was right near the one and only road into the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park. It was late November, long after the tourist season ended, but before the first winter snow storms. There was no one on the road but me.

I stopped to photograph the scene, but quickly realized the quiet beauty of this place. I stopped to take it all in and think about where I was, what I was doing and why I was here. I was traveling then, with no home address, sleeping in my van, and seeing all new sites every day. I was discovering new places and learning new things about myself. My new life was before me, the future was unknown, and I was at peace.

Postcard from Zion – Peaceful Places

When traveling in nature’s realm, I look for places that reflects peace…by that I mean a quiet little corner where I can sit alone and feel absolutely at peace with the world…a momentary slice of paradise.

Here is a quiet nook I found in Zion National Park. Many places that I find peaceful often have a stream flowing through them. This one has the additional benefit of beautiful contrasting colors not often found in one tiny locale.

It is nice to be able to sit in a place like this and let your mind wander…to get away from all the craziness of normal life to find some measure of inner peace, even if only briefly. Life is for learning and peaceful places like this let you reflect on what you have learned without knowing you are doing so.

Postcard from Zion – A Slightly Off-Color Slot Canyon

One of the popular features of the American Southwest are slot canyons. These often very narrow canyons are a source for hikers, explorers, and photographers.

By definition, courtesy of Wikipedia, “a slot canyon is a narrow canyon, formed by the wear of water rushing through rock. A slot canyon is significantly deeper than it is wide. Some slot canyons can measure less than 3 ft across at the top but drop more than 100 ft to the floor of the canyon. Most slot canyons are formed in sandstone and limestone rock.”

The slot canyon shown here was photographed from up on high. Sadly, I could not find a safe way down to explore it, so I had to settle for this single photograph. But, of course, I could not leave well enough alone. As I am want to do, I played around in Photoshop to see where I could take it. I ended up working with some bizarre colorings. These colors, while false, are only weird enhancements of the original colors.

The result is a strangely likable image that borders on an abstract painting. I think that is what I like about it the most…one is not quite sure what one is looking at. But that is the fun of it…stretching the mind in both creation and observation. Enjoy…I hope!

Postcard from Tucson – The Macro

Now, we move into the very extreme close-up, where the subjects are bigger than life. Its called a macro. In this photo, I got as close as is possible with a normal lens, although one can get even closer with a special macro lens.

While I don’t have one of these for my digital camera yet, I did own one for my film cameras. In this shot, I moved in as close as I could with my zoom lens, first taking the focus to its closest point, then moving the camera until the flower was in focus. Although I did this without a tripod, one is strongly recommended. Like the close-up in the last blog, the depth of field here is almost next to nothing, so precise focusing is critical.

The real joy of a macro photograph is an enlarged print. When you do this, the flower and the bee become bigger than life, thereby grabbing the attention of the viewer. The is no foreground or background to worry about…the subject is all that counts.

There is an exciting new feature in Photoshop that allows you to first take a series of pictures with your camera, changing the focus ever so slightly each time. The Photoshop will take all the images and combine them into one image so that everything is in focus. I haven’t tried it yet, but will do so one of these days. To take all these images requires a tripod, and absolute control over exposure and color temperature. But the results I have seen are amazing.

I hope you have enjoyed this mini-series on capturing your images from the widest angle to the tiniest flower and bee. We started with a wide field view of Bryce canyon and worked our way down to a honeybee in a flower. The purpose of this exercise was to get your eyes and mind working toward looking at a scene as a whole, then narrowing you vision down and down and down until you find the part of the scene that makes the most artistic sense.

Actually, I could get even tighter with my images, showing you the molecular structure of the bee’s knees, but someone would have to lend me their scanning electron microscope.

Postcard from Leavenworth – Iris in Bloom

Now, we are back in Leavenworth again, but this time in the Spring rather than the Autumn. This area is a treasure trove of photographic possibilities. In fact, this photo was shot about 75 feet from the autumn leaves photo in the last blog.

But, as you see, we moved the camera in close to capture the priceless beauty of this purple Iris. But, like all our photos shown so far in this series, we still have a foreground and a background…and in flower shots, the background is critical and must be selected with care, for it provides the frame for the flower. In this case, the green background worked perfectly. Many photographers who want to shoot a flower like this but don’t have a good background, will often place a black cloth behind the flower so all you see is the flower. Use any method you want but be aware that a good background behind a flower is absolutely essential.

Now, you will notice that much of this photo is out of focus. That is the price you pay for extreme close-ups. As you get closer, the depth of field diminishes to only a very small area, even using a small f-stop. And when you stop down the camera, your shutter speed slows down. That is why photos like this are best done with a tripod.

But short depth of field can also work in your behalf as you want the users eye to focus on the main subject. The eye will ignore the out-of-focus elements in the picture, but they still need to enhance the in-focus elements. Again, to get proper focus, work like this is best done with a tripod.

I did two other things to make this picture work better…I darkened the green grass behind the Iris, and I used a very soft white vignette filter to really bring the eye directly into this one iris flower, ignoring the the rest of the iris flower around it.

I hope you like this photo and that it gives you a taste of Spring that gets closer every day.

Postcard from the Cascades – A Little Closer

As we continue to drill down our photographic sujects to the realm of the close-up, we start leaving the need for a foreground, middle ground and background behind. In fact, in this picture of autumn leaves, there is only a foreground and a bit of background. Other autumn photos I’ve taken (some shown here), show only a single dimension.

But, when we do that, something other than depth must takes its place in order for the photo to be interesting. In this case, of course, it is a myriad of autumn colors and leaf shapes. In some respects, this is similar to an abstract painting…different colors defined by different shapes.

We are drawn into the picture by our own memories of autumn or wishful thinking that we would love to be in a colorful place like this sometime in our life. Believe me, this little island of beauty outside of Leavenworth, WA is a treasure trove of autumn colors. I have taken many a close-up photo in this small area.

As previously discussed, almost every photo I take in nature, my eyes are flooded by a plethora of beautiful things. It is up to me, the photographer, to drill down to the smallest area that will make the best photo. Practice this the next time you are outside anywhere…look at everything then keep your eyes moving in tighter and tighter to find a subject that might make an interesting photo. This exercise is given to students in beginning photo courses.

By the way, I am showing you here two photos of the same subject, treated differently in LightRoom and Photoshop. The first is the more natural photo and the second has been treated to yield a different emotion. I would be curious to know which you liked best and why.

Postcard from the Needles – In a Cave

Continuing on our journey to narrow in tighter on subjects with your camera, this photo was taken inside a rock cave in the Needles portion of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Two blogs ago, we started with a wide angle shot of the landscape surrounding Bryce Canyon, then moved in tighter to photograph Skyline Arch. Now we are even tighter with the lens, focusing on the inside of a cave.

Now, this is far from my best photo ever, but I still like it as it captures the feeling of being closed in by a cave. The subject is the cave itself, but it still has a foreground, a middle ground and a background. I like the background as you see a trail and the light leading you out of the dark cave. Walk into the light and you are free.

This photo may be as close as you get where a photograph helps you remember what it is was like to be in a place. From where I stood that day, there is nothing but the cave and the trail out. There is nothing to see or feel beyond that. And that is what you experience in the photo. When you leave the cave, you are overwhelmed by a cornucopia of sights and sounds that are impossible to capture with a camera.

So enjoy those small spaces wherever you find them.

Postcard from the Arches – A Little Closer

Last time, I wrote about taking the photographic wide view any given place…but qualified that with insisting that the photo must have some intrinsic value as art, rather than just a photograph.

Now, we are going to move in a little closer, to get a shot of something important in a given landscape. This photo was taken in the Arches National Park in Utah. I’ve shown you pictures from this place before. It is filled with subjects to shoot, mostly arches, of course. But anyone with a camera can photograph an arch. The trick is to make it more interesting.

I had to walk about 1/2 mile on a trail to get this shot. Realize that at this point I am surrounded by all kinds of natural things…small and medium size rocks, sand, trees, a large fin, and of course, and arch. I see all these things with my eyes and it is wonderful. My brain is flooded with images. But, as a photographer, I must choose a subject, focus down a little closer, then try to make it a more than a snapshot, but a work of art…hopefully.

The obvious choice of subject is the arch. But, to make it more interesting and give it depth, I search for the right spot to make a picture. I found it pretty quickly. I am fascinated by dead trees that have a haunting, ghostly quality. That is my foreground. The green Juniper tree and the other desert plants give me a middle ground. And of course, Skyline Arch is my background. As an added bonus, I have a cloudy blue sky for deep background and a trail leading from the lower right up into the center of the picture to give it additional depth.

All the elements combined provide my image with depth and character. The arch is still the subject of the photo, but your eye follows from the foreground to the arch. While no photograph can capture the sense of being in a special place like this, a well-composed image can provide some measure of satisfaction of having been there and satisfy one’s desire for beauty.

So, the lesson here to remember is when photographing a subject in nature, try to give it a foreground, a middle ground, and a background. The real subject of the photo can be placed in any one of these three places (in this case the arch is in the background). It isn’t always possible to do this, but it should be the first thing you ask yourself when you see a subject you wish to photograph…how can I give it depth and quality?

Postcard from Bryce – The Long View

Much of my landscape photography and painting focus on a small section of what my eyes see in a given location. In other words, my eyes see a great deal, but the goal is to drill down to only that portion of a scene that is interesting artistically, balanced compositionally, and beautiful to the eye. Once I find that sweet spot, I use the camera to set up the exact composition before clicking the shutter.

But sometimes, it is important to capture a larger view, not only for beauty, but for putting the entire area in perspective. In the case of this picture, the goal was to how Bryce relates to the rest of its surroundings. Most of the previous photos I’ve shown of Bryce Canyon focus on many of the park’s fascinating geological structures.

But this photograph, taken from high up on Inspiration Point, shows the heart of the canyon and enough of the surrounding land to give you a feel for all the land…thereby adding to the appreciation of the entire park.

It also helps to have beautiful light, some clouds, and some interesting surrounding landscape. This photo is better than most panoramic shots as it still captures not only the endless array of hoodoos, but also it captures some interesting light and clouds. If it were only a cloudless blue sky, I probably would not have shown you the photo as it would not be very interesting.

And, here is a tip for adding the sky to you photos…first some clouds are always nice, but more importantly never photograph 1/2 scenery and 1/2 sky. Very boring compositionally. Use either 3/4 landscape and 1/4 sky…OR 3/4 sky and 1/4 landscape. Remember that the next time you raise your camera to shoot a landscape.

Postcard from Yosemite - Ghosts

When I walk in familiar places, I feel the memories of old friends who were here with me…Some friends long since gone, some friends still here but gone from my life, and a few friends who remain.

When I walk without friends, the memories come alive. All taught me things. Many were life’s early lessons…others the meaning of true friendship that even death cannot end. How I miss these people.

Sometimes I wander into places shared with other friends and lovers. Many bring smiles to my face, other bring sadness, of what could have been, but isn’t. I miss those friends too. It’s as if they were dead.

When I walk this land alone, the past is still with me, but the place is without a memory. It is here providing happiness and new memories of beauty and art and a sense of being alive. The place does not change. It is beyond just being a place…it is a state of mind and soul. It is my foundation. No one or no event can take this place from me.

Postcard from Valley of the Goblins – More Rocks

I thought I was finished with Valley of the Goblins for now, but I had a couple of requests from readers to show a few more of the weird rocks that inhabit the basin. So, here are two more pictures.

Many of the rocks look like mushrooms, but there are so many others that defy description or categorization. As I walked through the basin, I recall I started assigning names to some of the rocks. I quickly ran out of mushroom names as I am not familiar with very many types of this edible fungus.

Then, I just started giving them names from the first thing that popped into my head. I mean you just have to give a rock a name as you take its portrait. Too bad I didn’t write them down.

One of these days I will post more rocks from this unique place on to my Web site.

Postcard from the Valley of the Goblins

Happy New Year to all my readers. Thanks for putting up with my extended vacation.

When we were last together, I was finishing up my stay at Capital Reef National Park. I only had one day left to explore before heading off to be with family and friends and to photograph a wedding. Having seen what I wanted to see at this location, I got out my friendly photographic guide book for Utah to look for one more new place to visit.

I found and interesting sounding state park called “Valley of the Goblins,” located about 60 miles north and east of my campsite…and that is where I decided to go.

I headed out fairly early in the morning, hoping to see some new, exciting things. Actually, until I got into the vicinity of the park, there was very little exciting to see, photographically speaking. It was an easy drive to Goblin Valley, although somewhat circuitous.

The Valley of the Goblins is definitely well named, although it is more of a basin than a valley. As you approach the parking lot, you see this strange rock formation off to the left (photo #1). I liken it to be a natural signpost, giving you some idea of the strange sights that lie ahead.

The parking lot sits above the basin and although there are a few trails to take, the signs in the parking lot encourage you to wander into the basin on your own, which is exactly what I did. You can’t get lost because it is a basin and you can always look up and see the parking lot.

The Valley of the Goblins can best be described as a refuge for some of the strangest rock formations ever seen. A good description comes from Wikipedia - “Its eminent feature is its thousands of hoodoos and hoodoo rocks, which are formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles, some as high as several meters. The distinct shape of these rocks comes from an erosion-resistant layer of rock atop softer sandstone.”

What is not in Wikipedia is that the park is an extremely difficult to photograph. It must be done in the early to mid morning or late afternoon. The light in midday is overpowering making landscape shots almost impossible. As I was there in mid-morning, I hiked down and across the basin so the sun would be at my back for photography.

The rocks themselves are a very brownish red (more brown than red) and there really is no other colors, save for the blue of the sky. That is why I chose only one color photograph…the rest are in black and white as they are more attractive.

But all that aside, it is a fascinating place to explore and see all the different shaped rocks that nature has created here. You almost have the feeling you are on another planet (in fact, a sci-fi movie called Galaxy Quest was partially filmed here). No two rocks are the same, although some have similar shapes.

The other two photos show part of the basin as seen from the parking lot and one of the many strange-shaped rocks in the basin. Although this park is definitely out of the way, you might make a side trip to it if you are ever in the general vicinity.

I hoped you have enjoyed my traveler’s tales from my September trip into Northern Arizona and Southwest Utah. You will see more photos from this and other trip as I continue to share some of my on-going adventures with you.