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.