Night in Monument Valley

Last spring I had a chance to take the VW bus to Monument Valley with hopes of getting some night photography. Of course some sunset photos would be in store, but they seem pretty cliche. Pretty, but cliche. I have a theory about cliche photos. Although everybody has taken the same (or similar) photograph, or tried to emulate a famous photograph (a la Ansel Adams), the image may be considered cliche. I only consider it cliche if I have taken the same photo, without adding any additional element personality or processing. The drive there was long, and although the weather called for clear skys, we were having a particularly windy spring. 50 -60 mph winds seemed the norm around there, and as far as Flagstaff. It lasted for a month and a half, and we were not spared from the wrath during this trip. The first night we checked in to the primitive campground, and found a spot down and along the edge of the rim. We were so close to the edge there was no way any campers would be parking in front of us. We poped the top and a couple of beers, and settled down with a perfect view of the Mittens.

The rest of the campground had views of us ( how rude huh?). In reality we were in a bonefied site, with a fire ring et al. It's just the 30 ft deisel pushers couldn't dream of driving to where we were, and we had gotten there early enough to claim such a spot. I roamed around a bit, trying out different compositions for the night shots I was planning once the sun set. We were getting hungry once the sun started hanging low in the sky, the wind was blowing maybe more than gently. After dinner I set up for sunset and grabbed a couple of 'cliche' shots, shooting until the sun was at the horizon, lengthening the shadow of the giant monuments, and bathing the scene in a red glow. After sunset I set up a shot I thought would be great for a star trail shot. I grabbed my favorite wide angle, a Vivitar Komine A1 f2.0 close focus 28mm lens. It is one of those legendary lenses from the full frame film age, for the Pentax 35mm camera. Crystal clear and wide opened I took the first of my frames after the sun had set and the first stars were visible. Leaving the shutter open for 5 minutes at that time, referred to as 'civil twilight,' captured the Mittens with a bit of glow on them. This left some detail in the foreground and on the rock face, so I might blend it later in Photoshop. I poped open a couple more beers and waited until 'astronomical twilight' arrived. This is when there is no light refleced off the atmosphere, and when the stars will be the brighest. enter the irony. Although I was situated at the furthest campsite to the edge of the canyon, I wasn't going to be alone. Some Asian campers pulled up at this time, and parked thier overloaded Ford Escort about a foot off my front bumper. They began unpacking thier gear and walking down the hill each with ther own headlamp shining and bouncing up & down. This was, of course happening while I was shooting. I guess karma got me back for parking in front of all the big motorhomes, detracting from thier view. Each frame had headlamp trails streaking through them. I kept shooting, knowing that photoshop might be able to save me. The next day we drove through the park, on our self guided tour, scoping out possible additional star trail photo ops. There was the three sisters, Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei , The Thumb, and of course the Valley floor. I decided to start with Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei, and see what I can fit in from there.The sun went down and the wind kicked up.

 It was blowing at a pretty good clip, stirring up dust into huge clouds. I set up on the leeward side of the van, and threw caution to the wind. I took ten 5 minute shots, not worring about the dust getting in my weather sealed Pentax (just don't try to change lenses). I didn't know that the end result would be a capture of dust clouds, and intermittent star trails. It was an effect that I couldn't have re-created if I wanted. It just goes to show that any kind of weather can help make an interesting image. It probably wouldn't have been as cool without the dust clouds. It reminds me of the Tv series "Land of the Lost". The cable relase got kind of gritty, but a session with the rocket blower seemed to fix it. With that session 'in the tin' I moved on looking for my next subject. Then the wind started to blow. And blow. The wind was blowing so fast that the dust from my tires was passing me. I decided to bunker down for the night. We slept in the van, being shaken all night by the gusts. After a few hours of disturbed sleep I got up and moved to get a better view of the valley for sunrise.

I found a nice vantage point, and shot a number of different comps. My favorite was a large red rock that sort of mimmicked the contour of the valley monuments. The day broke and the wind never let up. We pulled up stakes and made our way to Page, as we had a tour booked for Antelope Canyon. That drive was interesting. It was more like floating a boat, than driving. That is a story for a different day .

Red Rock Crossing Color

Oak Creek is getting a lot of representation lately, no wonder, it's one of the state's treasures, and photographers from all around are flocking to see the fall color. For those who don't know, Oak Creek flows here just below Cathedral Rock at one of the most photographed landmarks in Arizona. I live about 45 minutes away, and though I have been there many times, never for photographing sunset, or during the fall. I can remember when all of Sedona and Oak Creek was free to hike, and camp and play in the water. Twenty some-odd years ago Slide Rock, Grasshopper Point, and Red Rock Crossing were our favorite stomping grounds. My sophomore year I joined the seniors on 'Senior Ditch Day' and drove to Red Rock Crossing to partake in the revelry. Someone got a hold of a keg of beer, and when I got there one student was already so drunk he was passed out faced down in the shallow water. I showed up just in time for the party. I had just finished a glass of beer when the school's administration arrived. I can still remember Ms Fisher pulling up in the district's brown station wagon. She got out and proceeded to take names. Man you've never seen a full size keg run so fast up stream in your life. The students scattered, and within minutes the dirt parking lot was empty excpet for a brown station wagon, some paper cups and the poor sot face down in the shallow red rock water. Red Rock Crossing is a state park now, that charges $9 to enter. Its much better kept, and equipt with bathrooms, water machines, sidewalks and interprative signs. I have mixed feelings about our public lands becoming bumper to bumper amusement attractions, but realize that if our natural treasures weren't protected by the almighty dollar, it could very well be laid to waste. This shot was taken a couple of weeks ago just after a rain storm. I decided to head down to Red Rock Crossing in hopes that the sun would dip below the large rain cloud and bless the scene with some magic light and clouds. I showed up just in time for the party. The bank of the creek was filled with photographers and tripods, I knew the light would be fleeting, so I bracketed the shots on a couple of different ISOs, and kept the shutter speed up so I could hand hold the camera with shake reduction on. I brazenly squeezed between a couple and stepped out into the squishy mud to take the shot. Crescent Moon Ranch, a settlement preserved from the 1800s.
Back in the day there wouldn't have been anyone standing on that bank waiting with tourists for the light to turn gold. But times have changed, and we must change with it. So get out and enjoy the last of the best, before they're loved to death. Oh, and never be late to a party.

Night in Sedona

Since I got my DSLR I've been dying to get to Sedona and photograph the red rock country at night. I loaded up the gear and dogs into the VW bus and started to hit the major land marks. The plan was to grab the tripod, makes some star trails, then find a camping spot out of city limits in the national forest. The first stop was Castle Rock. I set up the tripod right in the empty parking lot. A light storm had recently passed and the clouds just began to clear. Normally a clear night is preferrable to a cloudy one, but one takes the time one has. I have found that any weather makes for more interesting photos. Here there was still some color in the sky, and the lights of Sedona were reflecting off the clouds. The light illuminating the front of Castle Rock is ambient light from car headlamps and the Village of Oak Creek. The shutter was left open for 30s, ISO 200, at f2.0 using some old legacy glass, the Vivitar 28mm f2.0. The next shot here, I just turned around toward Courthouse Butte and took three 10 minute exposures. I stacked them in Photoshop afterward to align the startrails. The high clouds made them a bit dotted by diminishing the light as they passed. The next two were taken from the parking lots of each land mark, Bell Rock and Capitol Butte.

They were just some quick 30s exposures. The last photo here was taken of Cathedral Rock, but not from the Red Rock Crossing area, which is where most photos are taken of the landmark.
I found an out of the way dirt road and perched there for about an hour, dogs waiting patiently in the van.

Here you can see Cathedral Rock, and the lights of Cottonwood reflecting off the clouds. Again it was 3 ten minute exposures with the same settings as Courthouse Butte. This concluded my foray, after which I drove out of town to the national forest to camp out in the VW bus for the rest of the evening (about 11pm).

Old North Church in Winter

My biggest fan, my Mom, was so impressed by my photo of the Old North Church from my trip to Boston for Christmas 2002 that she was compelled to enter it into the Coconino County Fair. She didn't tell me she had entered it, and to my surprise it had won 3rd place. Woo Hoo. I proudly accepted the award, a huge $1.00. That's one dollar. Basically I kept the check and mounted it to the back of the framed print, so I may remember it my whole life. So with out any further ado...





There are a few more photos I took from the trip.

Oak Creek Color

October 2008 marked a turning point in my photography. It was when I decided to buy a new DSLR. As a Pentax SLR user I had quite a few lenses already in my kit, just sitting there. I did a bunch of research and for $500 I got a K200D that met all of my needs. The camera body was weather sealed, had in body shake reduction, mirror lock-up and a sensor that paralleled the current Canon 40D (at half the price). I could go on and on about the camera, not to mention the amazing durablitiy, but I will digress on a mile long rant. On the way back from my Nephews birthday party I decided to stop through Sedona, and try to capture the last remaining fall color. I didn't have a tripod, but set the camera on a rock to give the small falls some longer shutter speeds. These are one of my first photos with the K200D.

Sierras- Duck Lake

The last leg of the trip from Oregon after Rich's wedding brought us back again to the Sierras. The Sierras hold a special place in my heart not only due to the beautiful vistas, numerous lakes and peaks, but it's accessibility and hikability.

Mammoth Lakes is the perfect jumping off point to make a big loop full of all that I love of the area. We started at one of the campgrounds at the back of Lake Mary and made a long loop around Duck lake, behind Lake George, and Horseshoe Lake.

The trail makes a sharp ascent from the back of the parking lot, and passes a smaller lake and along a creek. Duck lake was less than 5 miles away, and we found an unlevel camp spot surrounded by grass.

The view was beautiful, and I took photos non-stop.

Humbolt Redwoods & Lost Coast

On the way back from my friend Rich's wedding, we took a trip along the Oregon and California coasts. Starting at the Humbolt Redwoods, Kristi and I drove the bus south and down to the Lost Coast. We loved the towering Redwood trees. Walking throught the forest we felt like tourists in New York, constantly looking up. The little campground we stayed at was nestled in between some young growth trees, and raspberry bushes. Black bears frequented the area to breakfast on raspberries and trash cans.

On the advice of Rich we planned a back packing trip down the Lost Coast of California. It is said that this 26 mile section of beach is the longest section of beach bereft of development and multi million dollar mansions. This is good news for sea lions, and back packers alike. We started the trip on the north shore. We followed the map down a windy narrow road to a campground. We pulled into the last remaining campsite for the night, and were greeted by a large man claiming that the site we were in was occupied. It was obvious that the site was not inhabited, and that he simply did not want anybody camping next to him. So I put it to him one way: "I don't see anybody's name on it!" He backed off once he saw I wasn't going to be pushed around. We spent the night there and had quite a few Downtown Brown beers (& Kristi had too many ha ha), and the next morning headed down the coast with our backpacks.

The wind was blowing at a pretty constant rate, and you could see the moisture from the rainforest being pulled out to sea. Once we made it out to the point the clouds lifted and the sun came out, but the wind persisted. About five miles in we came to a cabin, that the lighthouse keeper lived in once upon a time. We continued on to a natural spring, and decided to make camp there behind a large wind break someone had erected out of huge logs of drift wood. Out of the wind it was downright hot, but as soon as you stepped away from the wind break, the wind dried off the sweat and cooled you down to a chill again. It was a pretty area, with the light house and some sealions laying around. Around sunset the sky & clouds got beautiful.