October 2021 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 9

The drainage pattern in the foreground is in an heart like shape, hence the title for this photo.

A row of small hoodoos along a thin wall in a Bisti valley. Getting low isolates two of the hoodoos against the sky.

A little different view of the same row of hoodoos. Shooting from a higher angle shows the early morning shadows of small foreground hoodoos.

Looking skyward up a steep slope of loose clay towards features on the top of the slope.

The feature on top of the hill above, looks like an old ship’s hull to me.

We first spotted the tall, skinny looking hoodoo in the photo above from a far distance and initially thought it too far away and inaccessible, but we later found a way to get to it. This feature is actually visible in the far background of at least two other images in this post. I will leave it to readers to find it in those images.

Once we got to the base of this ‘Skinny” hoodoo, we realized that it was only skinny looking from one angle.

Skinny Hoodoo Side View, Bisti, June 7, 2021, AM

A view from another side looking along the hilltop where this hoodoo resides, shows that it is not really skinny at all.

Another view of the “Skinny” hoodoo (left side).

After getting to the Skinny Hoodoo, we also found a shorter route into the area where we had been shooting by walking through valleys and washes back towards the west.

More later,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 8

The first image in this post is an HDR made from multiple exposures, since it would be impossible to get a single exposure with detail in the foreground and background here.

Nefertiti Crown, Bisti, June 6, 2021, AM

My son called this the Michelin Tire Hoodoo, but one of my Flickr friends and former work colleague said this looked like Nefertiti’s crown and I like that description. We referred to the flat wing like hoodoo in the background as either a shark or a surf board.

The shark hoodoo was difficult to photograph and it was always partially in the shadow of the Nefertiti Crown Hoodoo.

From a distance, seeing this hoodoo for the first time, I named it Lumpy, but a closer view makes it look more like some big mouth creature and it is actually the same as Nefertiti’s Crown from a different side. The features here can take on very different aspects, depending upon the view point.

A group of distinct hoodoos in pre-sunrise light (above). The feature on the far right looks like an alien creature and near the middle are those we called the Triplets. We photographed around this location multiple times from various view points at different time of the day.

Another view of the Alien and the Triplets. I like the foreground in this view.

Even more Bisti to come,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 7, Monochrome Photos

Even though I much prefer golden hour color in my landscape photography, I find that there are light conditions and/or scenes that work better in monochrome.

Sometimes it is just the textures, patterns or shadows that make an image look better in monochrome. In the case of the photo above, the early morning colors were so intensely saturated that I thought those colors looked unreal, so I converted the image to black and white and I much prefer this look in this particular case. (Best viewed on Flickr and on a large screen).

Usually, I like monochrome for those images that I capture a little after the sunrise golden hour or a little before sunset golden hour.

In the image above, the sun had not yet come up, but shooting towards the early morning sky made this a better situation for monochrome.

The same is true for the image above. I have mixed feelings about this composition, not about the monochrome. I liked the look of the heavily textured, clay soil in the foreground and the gullies seemed to make good leading lines into the background, but is this a compelling photo? Opinions are welcomed, but please view on Flickr and on a large screen.

The readers can tell by the dates on the photos that I visited this area on separate dates and different times of the day, hoping to get different photographic conditions and/or to shoot from different view points. In the image above I wanted to show context for the natural bridge in the center, but I also wanted its shadow against the background features.

I wanted a wide angle view here and the light and shadows were best for a monochrome image. This is a result of focus stacking multiple images. A careful inspection of the clouds in the sky makes it apparent that there were multiple images used here. I could have easily replaced the sky with that from a single image, but I liked the indicated movement of the clouds, so I left this feature.

These last two images are not great, but I still like them, particularly the bottom one, with the subtle shadow of the most prominent feature on the background. I suppose I could have enhanced this image to make the shadow less subtle.

I hope readers are not getting bored with Bisti, because there are more post on the way,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 6

Continued from Part 5.

Light and Shadow, Bisti, June 4, 2021, AM

Early Morning in Bisti, June 4, 2021, AM

As the sun gets a little higher in the morning sky, the colors begin to wash out.

Long Hoodoo Shadow, Bisti, June 4, 2021, AM

Even in the brighter light, there can be interesting shadows cast by the hoodoos.

Hoodoo and Shadow, Bisti, June 4, 2021, AM

More Bisti later,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 5

Waiting for Sunrise, Bisti, June 4, 2021, AM

Most of the rocks and geological features in the Bisti Wilderness are dull under bright sunlight, but in the early morning and late day light these features seem to come alive with color. At these times one can get landscape photographs with soft pastels or bright, golden hues.

Golden Hour Begins, Bisti, June 4, 2021, AM

To be continued,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 4, Cloudy Sunset in The Nursery

A popular area for visitors to Bisti is called “The Nursery”, where there are unique rock shapes that are referred to as “Cracked Eggs”.

It was very overcast this evening in The Nursery, so there was very little golden hour light; but the heavy clouds were great for creating dramatic photographs.

More later,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 3

I’ve hiked past this small bridge hoodoo in Bisti, usually when photographic conditions were less than optimal, many times on my way to a predetermined destination. This feature is not easily photographed in an interesting composition that clearly shows that it is a bridge, not just a chunk of rock in a jumble of other rocks. So even when I’ve stopped by, I’ve decided not to shoot it or did not get anything worth sharing. Still it is an interesting little bridge, so today I decided to make an attempt to get a decent photo. I wanted to clearly indicate the opening in the bridge with some object behind it. I could not get the sky through the bridge opening, so I needed some distinct object to show through the opening and not fill the entire opening. Moving around to vary what was visible through the bridge, I decided that the small rock that is visible behind the bridge, would work to give some depth in an image. To get this image, I made multiple exposure with different focal points, then stacked them using Helicon software to get the best overall sharpness.

Moving on, we found numerous portions of petrified logs and then in an area that neither my son nor I had previously explored, we found a long petrified tree specimen. It was so long that it was difficult to photograph its entirety and still get it into a good composition.

Long Petrified Log, Bisti, June 3, 2021, PM

I worked around this long petrified log, trying to get shots that showed how impressive this petrified log is.

A shot from the base of the log shows the base well, but this point of view does not indicate the significant length of the log.

I did not get any shots of this long petrified log that shows how impressive it is to see in person, but I think the shot above with the adjacent hoodoos and cloudy sky is the best image I got here.

In the same general area of the long petrified tree are several other petrified logs that are partially exposed from the encasing sediment.

Even though it was heavily overcast on this hike into the Bisti Wilderness, there was a little break through of sunlight, but no golden hour light.

The tall hoodoo in the image above seems to be tilting its head towards the sun to catch the late day rays.

More Bisti later,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 2

It was frequently cloudy during the days spent at Bisti in early June of 2021, which is good for dramatic sky backgrounds, but it can be bad for golden hour photography.

I thought the rock (photo above) with the pointy feature looked like some sort of weird creature guarding an egg, others have suggested it looks like a baby elephant. I can see that, too.

Petrified log sections, Bisti, June 3, 2021, PM

There are many pieces of petrified wood, logs and trees scattered around in this area. The mineralization of these objects is not as colorful as that in the Petrified Forest National Park, but it is amazing how much of the original tree detail is retained in these rocks. Most of the petrified log sections are horizontal, but occasionally there are vertical ones, which I suppose tumbled into this position somewhere in the distant past.

Petrified Log Sections and Hoodoos, Bisti, June 3, 2021, PM

The cap on the hoodoo in the photo above, looked like a turtle soaking up some sun, but there was no sun.

Ancient Sediments Exposed, Bisti, June 3, 2021, PM

I made some photos just to capture geological features, even if the photos are not highly interesting in an artistic manner. Having worked with many geologists and as a petrophysicist, might make me more prone to see and marvel at the layering in rocks.

Weathering and erosion continue to create and modify the features found here. Some features might linger for many years and some might be changed quickly by a heavy rainfall.

The petrified log in the photo above, may be the longest exposed one that I’ve seen here. It was difficult to capture in a single photograph, so I shot it from multiple view points and on multiple occasions under different light conditions.

More later,

Ken

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Month: October 2021

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 9

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Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 8

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Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 7, Monochrome Photos

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Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 6

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Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 5

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Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 4, Cloudy Sunset in The Nursery

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Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 3

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Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 2

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