September 2021 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 1

I know I’ve multiple posts from my visits to Bisti and I hope that readers do not get bored with these. The Bisti Wilderness, in a desert area of New Mexico, is a marvelous place and one of my favorite places for photography. Each visit reveals new areas and new features to photograph. Even revisiting the same areas within the wilderness can result in different photographs, since it is never possible to photograph everything within even a confined area during one visit and the scenes will continue to evolve with time, weather and lighting.

In early June, 2021, I met my oldest son here for several days of exploration and photography. We chose to visit the area known as The Nursery the evening of our arrival, since we knew we could get there easily before sunset.

Cracked Eggs in The Nursery, June 2, 2021, PM

This is a popular area with photographers, requiring working around each other and proper etiquette to avoid getting in each others way.

Cracked Eggs in The Nursery, Bisti, June 2, 2021 PM

The photo above is an example with my son in a shot I wanted to set up. Of course, I made this shot just to capture him, but since we landscape purist try to avoid people in our shots, we sometimes have to modify our point of view. So I just turned a little to get this image:

Cracked Eggs, The Nursery, Bisti, June 2, 2021, PM

This is a much better composition, anyway. Although, I regret clipping a little off the front and right edges of the foreground rock.

There are so many objects, arranged haphazardly by nature, that it is virtually impossible with a wide angle lens to avoid clipping some object at the edges of a shot.

As the light began to fade on the Cracked Eggs, I began to explore the nooks in the hillside area to the east, where I found this tall hoodoo with a pointy top and small cap that I could set against the sunset clouds.

Sunset Clouds and Hoodoo, Bisti, June 2, 2021, PM

Bisti Sunset Clouds and Hoodoo, June 2, 2021, PM

Preparing to hike back to the parking lot, I got one last shot at the edge of the hillside with the sunset light fading from the clouds.

Stay tuned for more Bisti exploration,

Ken

Abandoned Houses and Structures on the High Plains of New Mexico, March 2021

Down the road a few miles from the old ranch and windmill, depicted in the previous post, is a small community, that was once more vibrant. Like many rural towns in the US, it has suffered from the evolving economy and technological advances that result in lost livelihoods. As people move away and are not replaced, homes and businesses are abandoned.

I have stopped in this community once previously to photograph an abandoned school under a clear sky. There were scattered clouds today, so I figured I might get more interesting images this time through.

Abandoned school on the high plains of New Mexico.

Just down the gravel street from this school was another one that I had neglected to photograph during my first stop here.

Abandoned school on the high plains of New Mexico.

Those big fluffy clouds added much interest and black and white seemed a good treatment of the images.

Abandoned school on the high plains of New Mexico

I could see a number of other abandoned homes and structures scattered around this little community, so I took time to photograph a few of those.

Abandoned house on the high plains of New Mexico

Abandoned commercial building on the high plains of New Mexico

Abandoned commercial building on the high plains of New Mexico.

Dilapidated Windmill and Water Storage Tanks on the high plains of New Mexico.

Abandoned house on the high plains of New Mexico.

The trees die as they are abandoned along with the houses and other buildings.

Abandoned stone fence and home on the high plains of New Mexico.

Abandoned house on the high plains of New Mexico.

The final image in this post was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page and so far has received 5737 views and 192 favorites.

Until next time,

Ken

Abandoned Ranch Buildings, New Mexico, March 2021

I spotted old, abandoned ranch structures and a windmill set back some distance from a highway, as I was traveling through the high plains of New Mexico a year or two ago. I resolved to stop and photograph the ranch scene on my way back through, since I was on a travel schedule, when I first noted these old structures.

I watched for that old ranch and windmill on my way past the area a couple of times, but I did not spot it again during those trips. The mental picture I had made for the ranch location was not accurate or maybe as time went by my memory became fuzzy. However, on my way home from the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado, I passed this way again and I spotted the windmill.

Abandoned ranch structures and old windmill on the high plains of New Mexico.

The ranch was, indeed, miles from where I had thought it was. I had made a mental note of the next town I went through for location reference, after first discovering that ranch. That town was miles away, but over time I became convinced that the ranch was just on the outskirts of that town. Consequently, I only began to look for it as I approached that town.

Lesson learned: even though my mental recollection is usually good, I should make written or recorded notes and/or GPS locations for places that I want to get back to.

Abandoned ranch structures on the high plains of New Mexico.

This area was volcanically active in ancient times and I’m fairly sure that is an old volcano cone in the background.

I had to shoot from a fence line with the house far on the other side. I considered shooting with an 80-400mm for which I have a 1.4x extender to get close up shots, but I think the shots with a 24-70mm at 70mm give a much better indication of the setting in this wide open landscape.

More abandoned structures down the road from here will be in the next post,

Ken

Abandoned Houses and Structures, Colorado, March 2021

I had seen a number of abandoned houses and/or ranch/farm structures along my route home on previous trips this way. I decided that I would take time to photograph a few of these on my way home.

Roof Collapsing.

Abandoned House and Sheds

A closer look at the sheds

A closer look at the house

Abandoned House

All of the structures in the photos above are in close proximity to each other and on private property. I’m sure all of these were part of one settlement, ranch or other operation at one time. These are just off of a major highway, so they are easily observed by anyone traveling that highway.

The abandoned house in the following photos is not very near a highway, but it can be spotted from a major highway by a careful observer.

That’s all for this portion of my homeward journey,

Ken

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 5

There was a brief sleet storm just after I went to bed the second night of our stay near the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was going to be a very cold night, so I wondered how the sleet and cold would impact our morning photography.

We arose before daybreak to get into the dunes before sunrise. It was 17 degF, the coldest morning we had experienced during this trip.

The dunes were dusted by the overnight sleet. This added interest to the landscape, but the sleet and cold temperatures preserved footprints from the previous day.

At least the footprints were somewhat muted, but there seemed no way to avoid getting footprints into photographs. I might have removed these in Lightroom, but I’m sure the results would not have been satisfactory.

In a valley between dunes, I found interesting patterns, where there either were no footprints or I could easily exclude those from my photos.

The sleet dusted, frosty sand dunes with snow covered mountains and clouds over them were good for making black and white images.

Snow and Sleet on the Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

This wraps up the highlights of my March 2021 photography in the Great Sand Dunes.

Thanks for following,

Ken

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 4

We returned to the dunes in the early evening for sunset photography and I struggled to find satisfying compositions. Maybe we were not in the optimal location for this shoot. There were low clouds on the western horizon, which also blocked the sunset light.

As we were giving up and beginning to hike back towards the parking lot, there was a sudden and brief break through of light. My son, being much younger and more fit than I, ran to the west to catch the fleeting light, while I walked as fast as I could, hoping to get to a good vantage point before the light was gone.

I think the image above is the best one the I got during this outing. I was still far from the best vantage point for the best light, but I knew the light was fading fast and I had to stop and shoot now. I got low to catch the dim light in this grassy patch of sand with the fading light on the dune in the background and the interesting clouds over the dune.

After the light faded from that dune and illuminated the mountainside to the east, I pointed my camera in that direction to get this final shot.

Stay tuned for our final morning in the dunes,

Ken

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 3

As promised in the last post, I want to elaborate upon the making of this image:

More precisely, I want to talk about a few of the many possible compositional variations around this scene.

Firstly, I spotted this feature from a distance and I wanted to be careful in approaching it. If I got too close and then decided to back off, I would already have ruined the scene with my footprints in the sand.

So I began to photograph from a distance and slowly worked my way closer to the “driftwood”. I also had some zoom capability with my 14-24mm wide angle lens.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 1.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 2.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 3.

The light changed as I approached and I tried including more sky in my compositions.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 4.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 5

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 6.

I think I’m much too far away in Driftwood 1. So I worked my way closer.

I think I’m still too far away in Driftwood 3 and it’s a little dark. I like the sky in this image and the lack of features at the interface between the sand and sky, giving this image a clean, simple look. Maybe this makes it more dramatic?

I like the closeness and the angle of view in Driftwood 4, but I cut off a small portion of the driftwood’s shadow in this image. Cutting off shadows is something that I try to avoid, whenever possible. So I zoomed out a little and made Driftwood 5. Zooming out here got more sky in the image, which I like.

I got much closer for Driftwood 6, but I do not think this is an optimal angle of view.

I lean towards Driftwood 2 and 5 as my favorites. I’m not sure which is best, but I lean towards 5. I think that I could have made a better image than either of these two. Maybe it is good to never be quite satisfied with our photographs, so that we continue to strive to get better images.

As always, readers’ opinions and critiques are welcome,

Ken

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 2

I continued to wander around in the Great Sand Dunes early the first morning of our March 2021 visit, looking for good compositions.

The icy rim along the ridge in this dune caught my eye. I like the way that icy ridge leads the eye from the left corner of the frame to the long ridge, which in turn leads the eye into the upper part of the image.

I’m always looking for objects with distinct shadows and these chunks of frozen sand, that lie along the edge of a dune, add interest to this image. The edge of the dune acts as a leading line from the lower right towards the upper left. This line is more brightly lighted than other portions of the image and acts as a diagonal dividing line in the image. Notice how the sand details, visible texture and light change as the eye crosses this diagonal. The darkness in the clouds and the shadowy, distant mountains create a strong contrast with the sunlit sand.

A series of circular features breaking the ripple patterns in the sand made me stop to take this photo. I’ve converted the original color image to monochrome, since I think this image with these features is more dramatic in black and white.

This small piece of “driftwood” breaks up and modifies the wind created ripples in a dune. I put quotes on “driftwood”, since I’m not sure that this is the proper term for how this chunk of a tree got here. Maybe it blew in via wind or maybe it was washed here by water?

I’ll have more to say about making this image in a subsequent post.

Until then stay well and safe,

Ken

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 1

We were in the sand dunes before sunrise of the first morning of our March 2021 visit. Hiking in sand requires some effort, but at least during the winter, some of the sand is frozen on the surface, making it a little easier to walk on.

Photographing the dunes in the early morning has the advantage of overnight winds wiping away or muting the footprints of the previous days’ visitors. Still one might have to hunt for places to avoid remaining footprints. Caution is also required in approaching an area to photograph, so one’s own footprints are not ruining the scene.

Those lumpy looking features in the left center of the image above are frozen parts of the sand dunes and make good foreground objects in the vastness of the dunes.

These dunes cover a vast area and we are barely in the edge of the dunes and well below the highest peak.

It was good to have early morning clouds over the mountains to the east of the dunes.

I varied my compositions by moving around slightly or carefully approaching foreground objects, so as not to trample the natural patterns in the sand as the sunrise light progressed over the dunes.

The photo above is nearly the same composition as the first image of this post, but the light has changed with the rising sun and the shadows are longer and more pronounced.

Moving just a few feet can make a dramatic difference in an image in the dunes, as does the changing light conditions.

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Month: September 2021

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 1

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Abandoned Houses and Structures on the High Plains of New Mexico, March 2021

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Abandoned Ranch Buildings, New Mexico, March 2021

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Abandoned Houses and Structures, Colorado, March 2021

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The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 5

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The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 4

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The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 3

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The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 2

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Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 1

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