Postcard from Bryce Canyon

You’ve seen this photography before. I shared it with you just over one year ago. I am showing it again because my new blog writing software allows me to show photographs in a much larger size than ever before.  You may have noticed in recent blogs that many of the photos took up the entire top of the blog...like this one.

This is my favorite photo from Bryce and is also one of my favorite photos of all time. And now I can show it in a much bigger version. A year ago, the photo was just too small to really enjoy.

It shows the view of the aptly named Amphitheater in the north section of the park. The view is from high up on Inspiration Point, a rugged bit of a vertical climb. The trail is easy, but at 8,000 feet, you really give your lungs a workout. But on this day, it was worth it.

If you ever go to Bryce Canyon National Park, be sure an be ready to take photographs at sunrise. The canyon walls face east, so the morning light on the hoodoos is spectacular. In close-up photos in many areas, the sunlight bounces of the back walls of the canyon, giving shadow areas a wonderful glow. 

I have a second reason to show you this photo again. I’ve completely redone my Web page section on Bryce…removing several photos, redoing others, and adding several new photos never shown before. I invite you to take a look.

Postcard from the Cascades–Autumn Cartoon

As I have written here before, the Cascade Mountains of WA yield some of the finest autumn colors on this planet. Some years, of course, are better than others. Still, the Cascades are a photographer’s paradise in October.

I completed this image only today and wanted to share it with you right away. I’ve been working lately on upgrading my Web site images, adding new ones, and replacing those I’ve fallen out of love with. These last two days, I worked on some of my autumn images, which is always a labor of love. The colors…my God, how could you not love working on photos from autumn?

As is sometimes my habit, I played with a new, recently acquired Photoshop filter, called Cartoon. I was just experimenting, but loved what showed up. So, of course, I named it, “Autumn Cartoon.” I don’t consider it one of my paintings per say as I just applied a filter.  It does look like one and if I were still doing art shows, I might just put it out for sale.

I hope you enjoy it and in these dog days of winter, a little extra color is always to be savored.

Postcard from Bryce–Three Vultures

I will admit, I am not much of a wildlife photographer. But when three birds pose for me in a tree, how can I go wrong.  These birds are, if I am not mistaken Turkey Vultures.

I took this photo on my last photographic expedition to Bryce Canyon National Park. I believe I was high up on Inspiration Point just after dawn. After shooting down into the canyon, I turned around and there they were…three birds also taking in the morning view (or waiting for me to die). So I lifted the camera and started shooting. Thank God I had a zoom lens on the camera.

To quote from an article about these birds on buzzle.com:

“Turkey vultures are widely found in North America and are also known as turkey buzzards. The adult turkey vultures can weigh up to 6 pound, reaching the length of 25 to 32 inches. The wingspan of the vultures can be about 6 feet. The name turkey is given to them due to the bald, red head that closely resembles that of a wild turkey. Their feet closely resembles the feet of a chicken, which they cannot use to lift or carry food. Instead, their feet are especially designed to hold food in place while eating.

Vultures are basically scavengers, that feed on carrion or carcasses of dead animals. So, like other vultures, turkey vultures too survive on carrion and cannot kill their prey. They usually thrust their heads inside the carcass. Here, their bald head serves an important purpose, while they eat carrion. The fact that their head is bald keeps it clean, while they stick their head inside the body cavity of the carcass. Turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell, which enables them to find out a carcass just within 24 hours of its death. They are also empowered with a sharp eye sight, which helps them to search food. If need arises, turkey vultures can also live on vegetation.”

And that’s the fact, Jack!

Postcard from Tucson–Palm Pond

I took this picture some months ago in Agua Caliente Park, a small park located on the far east side of Tucson, up against the Rincon Mountains. The original image lent itself nicely for a black and white treatment.

And as I have said here before, black and white is not as easy as it looks. In fact, in so many ways, it is harder than working in color. It is why I admire all the pre-digital black and white photographers who worked their magic in the darkroom. Fortunately for me, I don’t have to do that to create good black and white images.  No more messy and smelly chemicals, or manually dodging and burning, or timing printer exposures perfectly. I can do it all now in the digital darkroom.

Still, it takes a lot of work, as well as study and practice to come out with decent black and white images. Often, I must spend more time creating the black and white image than I do with color. In color photography, the colors are predefined, whereas in black and white, I must experiment with many shades of gray to find the right combination for a good image.

Mind you, I am not bitching…I am just making you aware of the work it takes in case you want to try it for yourself. I love trying to create the perfect black and white image. I doubt I will ever do it, but it is fun to try.

Postcard from Tumacacori

In the last blog, I promised you a photo of an even older mission that San Xavier De Bac….and here it is. It is called Tumacacori, although its official name is “ San José de Tumacácori.” It lies about 30 miles south of Tucson and is part of the Tumacacori National Historical Park.

The name "Tumacácori" may have derived from two O’odham words, chu-uma and kakul, having reference to a flat, rocky place. The Jesuit priest, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino established it as a mission in January 1691, making it the oldest mission site in Arizona. For many years, though, it was a visita or visiting station of the mission headquarters at Guevavi. It was until the early 1800’s that the church was actually built. The Franciscans began work in 1800 on an ambitious undertaking - a church that would match the frontier baroque glory of the celebrated Mission San Xavier del Bac. It never quite made it.

Since 1917, over $20 million has been spent on the preservation and ruins of this now-famous mission.  And, it is a great place to roam around with one’s camera, especially io the lovely afternoon in winter and early spring. Try it sometime.

Postcard from Tucson–Mission at Sunset

(Note: computer and monitor issues prevented me from doing any Postcard blogs for the last week. But all is right again in that area and you will being seeing this blog again on a more regular basis.  Thanks for your support and patience – JRC)

Its been a while since I’ve shared any pictures from Mission San Xavier del Bac. To refresh your memory, this lovely old mission church (and school) lies just south of Tucson…in fact, only a few miles from my home.  On this particular day, we had some amazing clouds in the skies and it turned out to be a fantastic night for shooting sunset shots.

While this image is not a picture of the church itself, the San Xavier Mission was founded as a Catholic mission by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692. Construction of the current church began in 1783 and was completed in 1797. It is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona.

On my last visit, the church’s west tower was under renovation and was surrounded by scaffolding. That is gone now and I look forward to going back to photograph again…when the skies are just right, of course.

In my next blog, I will show you an even older mission church that is not quite in as good of shape.

Postcard from the Painted Desert

This lovely scene is from the Painted Desert in eastern Arizona. It is part of the Petrified National National Park. If ever in this part of Arizona (about 115 miles east of Flagstaff), it is easy to get to as it sits right on Interstate 40.

As one writer describes it: “It took millions upon millions of years for nature to create this natural canvas of unimaginable design that some describe it as a multi-colored layered cake. The Painted Desert draws upon the earth’s indecisive nature. From shifts in the earth’s crust brought about by temperamental volcanoes and earthquakes to complete inundation by fresh and sea waters alike, a veritable host of elements have breathed life into this area. Colorful sediments of bentonite clay and sandstone, stacked in elegant layers, feed off the setting Arizona sun in an ever-changing display of colorful splendor.”

Could not have said it better myself.

Postcard from Tucson–Massacre

It was a tragic Saturday morning here in my adopted city. A deranged gunman, shot our Congresswoman, then proceeded to shoot 19 other people. Six of them died…a federal judge, a nine-year-old girl, an aide to the Congresswoman, and three senior citizens.

No one knows the motive yet and maybe if we did, we wouldn’t understand it as it possibly comes from a mentally unbalanced mind. And according to witnesses, the killer was not done yet…he was changing magazines when he was knocked down and captured by a few people at the scene. The new magazine had 31 more bullets in it.

It was hard to watch the NFL playoffs that day as I kept switching channels looking for more information. I was shocked like most people and was looking for updates and answers as to why it happened. As more and more about the accused comes out, the answers may wind up being well beyond our logic.

The shooting took place just a few miles from where I live. I often shop in that area, so the killing ground is very familiar to me. I didn’t know about the “meet and greet” event scheduled there and would not have gone even if I did. Congresswoman Giffords represents the 8th District, and through a quirk of gerrymandering, I am just outside that district. But no matter. This was something that happened in my town and it makes me sad for my town, my state, and my country.

I find myself especially saddened at the death of the 9 year old girl, Christina Green. She went to learn more how government works as she was just elected to her grade school student council.  So ironic and sad. Such a promising life, snuffed out by a deranged gunman.

On Sunday, I took my daily walk over by the University Medical Center, on the campus of the University of Arizona, where Congresswoman Giffords is recovering. I took these pictures at the scene with my small pocket camera. The photos are not my usual pictures of beautiful places, but have an emotional impact never-the-less.

Our local sheriff started the inevitable rhetoric about political hate and violence and how Arizona has become “the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.” I found his comment despicable and not helpful at all. Of course, the news media has carried that ball and made it worse. This was not a hate crime nor a politically motivated one. It was the product of a sick mind and should be isolated from any such conversation about politics.

It is true that our political debates have become quite polarized and filled with unbelievable rage on the left and right. The fact that Gabrielle Giffords was on Sarah Palin’s “Hit List” with a bull’s eye target next to her name has outraged Democrats. Trust me…the Dems have done things just as bad. You see, this is an era when using rage is how one gets elected.  Both sides use this tactic, thereby promoting reactionary anger in electorate. And rage is what drives up TV ratings, so it is widely used in the dissemination of news and reaction.

Did all this anger and rage affect the accused killer? Perhaps some of it wound up in his sick mind being twisted all out of logical proportion…it would not be the first time. Nothing good ever comes out of hate and anger. Will this kind of tragedy happen again. No doubt it will. To paraphrase a quote from the Bible…”As you sow, so shall you reap.”

Postcard from Chiricahua

It’s been a while since I showed you any images from Chiricahua National Monument in Southeastern Arizona. This wonderful, but way-out-of-the-way park features rocks of all kinds in strange formations or just by themselves.

I found this one on a trail and just liked how it stood out by itself, surround by bushes and pine trees. The clouds against a lovely blue sky helped make it a marvelous image. Notice the smaller pine tree growing out of the base of the rock. To quote a line from the movie Jurassic Park…”Life always finds a way.”

Postcard from the Olympic Rainforest

Yes, this is a simple photograph, no great sweeping vistas or raging rivers, or even spectacular sunsets. Just a photo of a small piece of nature along a trail in the Olympic National Park rainforest on the west side of the park. It was a trail, deep in the park, that led to a lake, whose name I forget.

I never did get to the lake as I was stopped by large pools of water along the trail. I was able to traverse a few of them, but not the big one about 1/2 mile from the lake.

I took a few pictures along the way, scenes similar to this. These photos attempt to convey a peacefulness and solitude that can be found in places like this…a quiet rainforest where you can only hear the wind rustling through the trees and a few birds chirping their songs.

While photographers like Ansel Adams influence my works when doing grand vistas, its another photographer, the legendary late Elliot Porter who inspired me to look down and see the quiet little corners of nature to appreciate what they are. You might remember his name the next time you are in a bookstore or library and want to see some beautiful photos.

Postcard from YPG–The Rocket Launcher

Here is another photo/sketch from the outdoor military museum at the Yuma Proving Grounds.  This is a portable rocket launcher that looks as if it was ready to go. Of course, it isn’t.

If you remember back a few weeks ago, I published a similar image from YPG…a tank, from those bygone days of war.  I had fun out there this one day around Thanksgiving photographing this ancient military hardware…then playing around with it in some of my filters inside Photoshop.  One never knows what one will get when one starts to experiment.

Happy New Year to you all. 

Postcard from Tucson–Merry Christmas

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas

Postcard from Arizona–More Rocks

It’s been a while since I have shared any of my rock photos with you, although I guess you could say almost all the photos I show from the Southwest are rock pictures.

But these rocks were in a large barrel in a rock shop in Quartzite, AZ. I stopped there about three years ago on my way to Yuma and started shooting rocks in a barrel (even easier than shooting fish in a barrel…sorry, could not resist).  Anyway, I just loves the colors in these rocks.

If you remember, Quartzite is that small town in the middle of the desert that gets over a million visitors a year…thanks to rock shows, RV shows, and on-going shows of all kinds. I am sure it is in full swing now as it is snow bird season. There, our friends from the north camp out in RV’s in the desert with no water, sewer, cable, or even electricity.  Generators supply the juice, and trucks come in every so often fill up their water tanks and empty the waste tanks. Satellite dishes supply the entertainment. It’s quite a life style and fun to see.

If you are ever down this way, be sure to stop in Quartzite and enjoy the “wild life.” It is located at the junction Arizona Highway 95 and I-10, very near the CA border. It is worth a visit in the winter months. 

Postcard from Yosemite - Tenaya Lake

When I get nostalgic, I somehow always return to Yosemite. I when I get real nostalgic, I think about Ansel Adams and his many years of photographing the park in black and white. So, I guess I am feeling nostalgic.

Tenaya Lake sits right on the Tioga Pass Road, at 8,150 feet in Yosemite’s High Country, on the North side of Yosemite Valley . (FYI, Yosemite Valley’s elevation is right at 4,000 feet). So its easy to get to, at least when the Tioga Pass Road is open. It is not maintained in the winter and shuts down as soon as the first snowflake falls. Just a few days after I took this photo, the first snowflake did fall and the road was closed. I would love to shoot the lake in winter, but I don’t ski.

The lake is supplied by a network of creeks and springs. Water exits the lake on the southwest side and becomes Tenaya Creek. From there it flows directly down Tenaya Canyon into Yosemite Valley. Its first stop there is famed Mirror Lake, directly below Half Dome. Eventually, it merges with Merced River, the main waterway through the valley.

Tenaya Lake is named after Chief Tenaya, who met the Mariposa Brigade near the shores of the lake. Tenaya protested that the lake already had a name: Pie-we-ack, or "Lake of the Shining Rocks." This original name is now attached to a granite dome to the east of the lake.

On two separate days, I hiked around the lake (where I could) and took several different shots. I have shown you a couple of the colored ones here before as there was a variety of quality colors in the shots. This one had limited colors, so I chose to do it in black and white…a good decision I think. I used a digital red filter to darken the sky and the lake.

If you ever travel the Tioga Pass Road and see the lake, be sure to park, get out and do some hiking. The best views are off the road.

Postcard from Island in the Sky–Green River Overlook

As you know by now, my friend and fellow photographer Dave Forster and I were up in Moab, UT a couple of weeks ago, shooting the beautiful landscapes that are all around this southeastern Utah city. Late one afternoon, we were high up in the Arches National Park scanning the sky trying decide where we wanted to be at sunset.  It did not look promising.

The places we had on our list all needed direct sunset light, but the clouds in the west were becoming thicker and thicker. Our prospects looked bleak. Then Dave came up with the brilliant idea of going to the Green River Overlook in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. This is the same park where we shot Mesa Arch two mornings prior. With all the clouds in the sky, we might get lucky and have a fiery red sky at sunset…and this overlook is one of the most scenic in the park.

We drove about 40 miles to get there and arrived well before sunset. We scouted for the best view, then set up our cameras on tripods and just waited…and waited and waited.

The problem with shooting this scene was the canyon itself was already in deep, deep shadows before the sun even set. And if the sky lit up liked we hoped, the values between light and dark would be huge, far more than the camera could capture.  We both set up split neutral density filter…a glass plate that is very dark on top and clear on the bottom.  This allows less bright light into the camera helping with the exposure with no loss of colors. I also decided to shoot multiple exposures of each shot with a range of +1 to –1.  As it turned out, even these settings and filters were not enough.

After a long wait, the sun finally set, but the light still wasn’t right.  We had to wait even more to see if the sky would light up at what we call “second sunset.” Our patience was rewarded with a fierce red and yellow sky that looked like the entire sky was on fire. Both Dave and I shot, and shot, and shot until the fire died away after about 10 minutes. It was well worth the trip and a beautiful site to see.

After getting back to Tucson, I started working on the multiple exposures to try and create one HDR image. It turns out my exposure corrections were not quite enough.  Through the magic of Photoshop, I had to create a 4th and 5th exposure and combine them into one. It still was not enough to create the perfect picture, at least in my view. The canyons below were still too dark…which of course, gives them a bluish cast. 

So I played and played with some of my other filters to create the image you see above. It isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I do like it a lot.  It stands on its own. The ground picked up some of the red from the sky, which came out through the filters. And, of course the sky itself is amazing. But, at the time I shot this image, the ground was in total darkness to the naked eye. I am just glad the camera was able to pick up some light. PS: It took over three hours of playing to create this image.

And by the way, this is one of the best overlooks in the park. Don’t miss it if you happen to be in the area…sunrise, sunset, or any time in between.

Postcard from the Arches–Double Arch

I know that I’ve shown you Double Arch before in this blog…that being from my trip two years ago. This image was taken only a couple of weeks ago on my most recent trip. Not much has changed here in two years, except the sky. Still this arch remains my favorite of them all.

Double Arch was formed a bit differently than most of the arches in Arches National Park. It is what is known as a pothole arch as it formed by water erosion from above rather than more typical erosion from the side. The largest opening has a span of 148 feet and a height of 104 feet. It was also seen briefly in the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” although the cave seen in the film behind it does not exist.

It’s only a short 1/2 mile walk from the parking lot to it and there are no barriers to going under the arch or all around it. And as you can see, I am also almost directly underneath it.

Since the last time I showed you Double Arch was in color, I decided to give you a black and white treatment this time.

Postcard from the Arches–Balanced Rock

Sometime ago, I shared a photo of Balanced Rock at sunset. In that image, you could only see the profile of the rock set against a fiery sky. So, I decided to show you the rock in daylight, although it is getting towards sunset in this image. It is quite a remarkable sandstone formation and is one of the most famous landmarks in Arches National Park.

Balanced Rock is about 128 feet high, with the balancing rock rising 55 feet above the base.  Until recently, Balanced Rock had a companion…a similar, but much smaller balanced rock named "Chip Off The Old Block", which fell during the winter of 1975. You can see the pedestal where it stood to the right of Balanced Rock. One day, its big brother will fall also. Such is nature.

Getting to the rock is easy as it sits right by the main park road. There is a parking lot there so you can hike all around it if you wish. The snow covered mountains in the distant background are the LaSalle Mountains.

This is another in my experiments with HDR photography.

Postcard from Chicago - Legs

If you ride the #6 bus into downtown Chicago, as I’ve done many times, you turn onto Michigan Ave. from Roosevelt Road. There on the corner, in the lower section of Grant Park, are 106 headless and armless cast iron sculptures. It is a sight that first amazes, then intrigues the first time tourist to Chicago.

It is called “Agora,” by its creator, Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz.  The name Agora refers to the meeting places of the Ancient Greek city-states. Each sculpture is about nine feet high and weighs about 1,800 pounds. They were cast in Poland over a two-year period, then transported to Chicago. Installation took place in November of 2006.

The figures are similar in general shape, but differ in their details. Models for each figure were made by hand. The surfaces of figures are like a tree bark or wrinkled face expressing a different individuality of each sculpture. They all appear to be walking in different directions. As Mayor Daily once pointed out, one really needs to walk through it to understand and feel its meaning…and I agree with him.

Chicago is filled with such interesting works of art, many of which you have seen here, from crazy shaped bridges, to giant lattice works, legs, and even eyeballs. I have said it before, it is a wonderful place to just wander and see the diversity of people, neighborhoods, and, of course, art. Definitely put in on your to-do list if you have never been there.

Postcard from the Arches–The Fiery Furnace at Sunset

This picture was taken on my trip last month into the Arches National Park. It shows a very small part of the Fiery Furnace section of the park, set against the LaSalle Mountains.   For two days, we were very fortunate to have a haze-free unobstructed view of the mountains…not always possible.

The Fiery Furnace is a large series of small canyons, many of them dead-ends, set inside many, many fins.  Inside you will find both small and large arches. It is highly recommended for newbies that you take a ranger-led tour inside the furnace.  Having done that, I will tell you it is the only way to go. It would be so easy to get lost in there.  If I went back in, I would still only go with a ranger. Its an arduous hike through there, and some time I will tell you about my experiences, but what is inside the furnace is well worth the hike.  By the way, on a hot summer day, it’s the coolest place in the park, in spite of its name.

For this photograph, I again experimented with HDR photography, using 5 separate photos to come up with a composite photo that shows the best exposure values for each part of the photo. Only this time, I didn’t shoot 5 exposures on site…I only shot one.  In Photoshop, I created 5 separate images using a full one stop value for each. In other words the exposures went from –2 to +2, with the original photo as the 0 point.  Then using a program called Photomatix, I combined all five into one shot.

Of course, the final image had to be tweaked again in Photoshop as they never come out of Photomatix perfectly. I like some of the things I can do with HDR and will be experimenting with it more in the future.  Stay tuned for more in the future.

Postcard from Yuma–Swastika Bridge

Travel about 20 miles northeast of Yuma on Laguna Dam Road to where the pavement ends. Travel just a few hundred feet past that point, and you will find this bridge, covered in swastikas.  Not painted mind you, but cast in concrete on both sides of the bridge.

Swastika on an American bridge? How can that be? The mind boggles with possibilities. Was it built by German prisoners of war during the Second World War as there were POW camps nearby? By Nazi sympathizers prior to war’s outbreak?

Actually, the truth is stranger than fiction.  You see this bridge was completed in 1907. Hitler was only 18 years old so the Nazi Party wasn’t even conceived yet. That was at least 21 years in the future.

No, this bridge was built by the United States Government…specifically the Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Reclamation (then called the U.S. Reclamation Service). This bridge spans a now-unused agricultural spillway that was part of the first dam ever built on the Colorado River.

To make a long story short, because of existing geological considerations, the design for the dam was taken from an existing dam in India. While there, U.S. government representatives heard the story of the ancient Hindu God, Indra, who at one time, represented thunder, lighting and rain. Indra (who had four arms and was represented by the swastika with its four arms) had the power to control water. 

There were those in the U.S. government who thought the swastika would be a fitting symbol for the Bureau.  During its early years the United States Bureau of Reclamation used the swastika for its symbol. The swastikas on Laguna Dam are a legacy of that period. The Bureau also designed a Reclamation flag with a large swastika at its center with the U S R S letters in the four corners.

During WWII, guards had to be posted round the clock to protect the bridge as local citizens threatened to destroy the bridge, or at least remove the swastikas. Today, the bridge is the only government project left standing in the United States where swastikas are an integrated part of the structure. 

As I said, it is a strange, but all to true tale of our past. I thank my son Eric who first told me about this bridge and did the initial research.