Spring 2019 Road Trip – Bisti – Day 1 – Sunset

While in Farmington, I took advantage of the city amenities to do laundry, have a simple restaurant meal and acquire a few more provisions, including food, water and filling my spare fuel containers, before heading to Bisti.

Upon arriving at the parking area for the southern access into Bisti/De Na Zin, I noted only a few visitors were there; but with the eminent weekend, I expected more soon and, indeed, more began to arrive as I set up.

I parked in a north-south direction near the back end of the parking lot and began installation of my solar panels on the roof rack, being sure to secure them well, since it was quite windy.  Normally, I would move the solar panels during the day to get the most power possible from them, but with them on the roof and the required tying down, it would not be convenient to move them, so I just left them facing south at about 45 degrees to the roof rack.  It turns out that this arrangement was sufficient to keep the house batteries charged, as I did not have to resort to running the engine at anytime.

The Sportsmobile with solar panels on the roof rack and the Penthouse raised.  iPhone photo.

The photo above was actually taken near the end of our stay in Bisti.

I met and chatted with a few of the visitors Friday afternoon before heading into the wilderness area. It was a windy, cloudy day with a considerable wind chill, even though the air temperature was not so cold.  I knew the possibilities for late day light were slim, but I went out late in the day, just in case.  I wanted to explore new areas, anyway.  If nothing else, I would be able to scout possible places to return to in more favorable photographic conditions.

An interesting feature in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I spotted the small hoodoos/toadstools in the above photo high up on a hill top.  There was no direct way to get to these.  So I hiked around this area for awhile, eventually finding a not prohibitively steep slope to climb up a hillside from which I hoped to be able to work my way to these features.

Interesting features in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The view to the east in the above photo is at the top of the hill that I climbed.  I continued walking along the hill top to the west, looking for access to the interesting features that I had spotted from the valley below.

Scouting Photo, Bisti. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

On the northern side of the hilltop, I spotted this small wash with emerging hoodoos.

Working the area scouting photo in Bisti. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The view to the south of the hill, overlooking the area through which I hiked, to get here was quite good.

Working the scene scouting photo, Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

After a short hike along the ridge, I came upon the features for which I was looking.  I wanted to be on the far side of these at sunset.  Carefully walking around so as not to damage anything or leave footprints, which I did not want in a photo, I looked for a safe way to the other side.  The drop off on the right side, I deemed too steep for a safe descent; but I could walk along on the left edge of the ridge past the hoodoos and the slope below was not excessively steep.

Working the scene scouting photo, Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

It is always a good idea to look at a photographic subject from various view points to find the best possible vantage point, so I took a number of iPhone photos as I worked around this area.  One might note that these natural features can look much different from different view points.

Working the scene scouting photo, Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

A view from just below the feature from the west side.

Working the scene scouting photo, Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Another possible composition from the west side.

Working the scene scouting photo, Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

And a wider view from the west side.

One of my concerns at this location was where my shadow would appear as the sun went low into the sky.  So I thought I probably would need to go a bit more down the slope below this feature.

A view from just below this feature in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The view above is a bit deceptive.  This photo is not taken from as far away a view point as it appears.  From this point of view, I can see several different places along the slope from which to shoot and possibly eliminate my shadow from the composition.

Since I still had plenty of time prior to sunset, I continued to explore the area.

A view from a hillside in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Another possible feature to shoot from the top of the ridge is shown in the above photo.

I continued back down into the valley below, since it appeared that the increasing cloud cover was not promising for late day photos.  I eventually set up to shoot one of the large colorful bluffs and waited for the sunlight to peek out from underneath the clouds.

I was rewarded with really good light for a brief moment, only to see that my shadow was a prominent feature in my composition.  There had been no shadow due to cloud cover, when I set up my shot.  I worked quickly to modify my composition, but the sunlight vanished more quickly.

Soon I gave up hope for more light and headed back towards the parking area hoping to avoid hiking too long in the dark.

About half way back to the parking area, the sun made a brief appearance.  I turned around to see the desert lit up by great light and I hastily set up to attempt a shot.

Late day sunlight briefly illuminates the Bisti Wilderness. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 18mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

With such an interesting sky, I put the horizon roughly in the middle, which is generally not a good idea.  I considered cropping this image, looking at various scenarios, but in the end I liked the original composition better than the crop possibilities.  I think the little drainage wash coming in from the bottom right leads the eye into this image, then the diagonal lines formed by the vegetation and their shadows adds to this effect.

After this shot, I quickly tried another composition with one of the red hills in it, but the light faded quickly.

Late day sunlight briefly illuminates Bisti wilderness. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Note that in this image I included much more of the sky and less of the desert foreground, since the light was much more dramatic on the clouds in the sky.

Maybe had I gone back up the hillside to the little hoodoo/toadstool area, I might have gotten a good shot, if I had been prepared and waited patiently for the light.  Then I would certainly be hiking out in the dark, but that is not a big deal here.

Even though this afternoon’s photographic excursion was disappointing, my expectations had not been high and I had found places to revisit again at another time.  Such is the life of a landscape photographer.

More Bisti experiences to come,

Ken

 

2 thoughts on “Spring 2019 Road Trip – Bisti – Day 1 – Sunset”

  1. This is certainly a fascinating area of our country and I must say, you and your iPhone did a great job! So many choices as to where to shoot from and at what time of day… not to mention the hiking necessary to get these shots! I think it was very well done. I loved those hoodoos with the dense gray clouds behind them! Thank you for another adventure to a land I will never see!

    1. Hi, Fay. Thanks for the comment. Yes, this is a place that spoils me, since it has so much of photographic interest and, even though some hiking and hill climbing is required, it is relatively benign compared to other wilderness areas. I’m still going through my photos from March and I just came back from a visit to this area in May (more experiences to blog about) and during the May trip I discovered even more areas that I want to get back to. So much to see and so little time!

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