Nature – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 5 – Wildflowers

Near the hoodoo (last post) there were wildflowers, most with insects scrambling about on them, that I took time to photograph with my iPhone.

I made numerous images of this and other nearby Prickly Pear flowers. I think this is my best shot.

And to back track a little, I had stopped along the gravel, backroad into the park to check out a possible area for late day photography and noted the numerous and varied wildflowers at the side of the roadway. the sun was high in the sky, so the lighting was not highly favorable for shooting the wildflowers, but I did so anyway using the camera in my iPhone.

I also used the plant identification built into my iPhone to identify these wildflowers, so I hope my labels are accurate.

Though my iPhone identifies this yellow wildflower with many petals as a ‘Common Dandelion’, these don’t look like the dandelions that commonly grow in my Texas lawn. So maybe Texas does not have ‘Common Dandelions’?

The shiny leaves of this ‘Sphaeralia coccinea’ are mostly due to the bright sunlight reflecting from the petals.

I thought this wildflower was a form of the Texas Primrose, commonly referred to as a ‘buttercup’. Not so, according to my iPhone, which says it is ‘Field Bindweed’. The flower petals open more flatly than do those of the Texas Primrose.

And while the current topic is wildflowers, there are many in the Badland National Park. In my scouting stops along the main roadway through the park, I photographed many.

And some spent flowers. ‘Once there were Flowers’ monochrome image was chosen for Flickr’s Explore Page.

More iPhone scouting photos to follow,

Ken

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 4 – Dancing Around the Hoodoo

There is a hoodoo in Badlands National Park that is visible from the paved road through the park. Getting close to the hoodoo requires hiking down the steep slope from the roadway and a short hike.

I made numerous iPhone camera shots as I walked around the hoodoo to show how a hoodoo can look considerably different from different points of view.

I think these make my point about “Dancing Around an Object” to photograph it.

Thanks for following and stay tuned for more Badlands scouting photos,

Ken

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 3

At the very end of a visit to Badlands National Park several years ago, I thought I had found a really good place for sunset photography. So during this visit I found that location again and walked around during the day, scouting possible locations to return to at sunset. I used my iPhone camera to test a few compositions and capture a few micro-environmental images.

In ‘Dry Planet’ I wanted to show the similarity between the dry, white clay in the drainage patterns to the white clouds in the sky.

The dry drainage is waiting for more rain from those heavy clouds in the sky.

‘Dry Stream Bed’ features the same drainage as in ‘Anticipation’, from another view point.

The dry mud cracks into segments resembling a picture puzzle.

More scouting photos to come later,

Ken

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 2

After photographing wildflower scenes around my campsite, I left the campsite to travel into Badlands National Park to scout locations for golden hour photography. But first, I drove around a little in the large public land area, where I was camped to get a better feel for the area and scout other possible campsites, in case my prefered location was again taken or the site I occupied on my first night here was taken, when I returned in the evening.

There are numerous road trails through this area, which is popular with off-road vehicle riders, who create their own trails with their dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and other vehicles. I traveled into the area a bit, but did not take time to fully explore the area, after I was satisfied that it would be no problem to easily find numerous suitable places to overnight here.

I parked along one of the trails on my way out, hiked up to the top of one of the many hills in this area and captured this pano:

There is a gravel road that leads from the small town of Interior, SD into Badlands NP, which I take as a short cut into the park, rather than following the highway to a main entrance. There is a sign indicating when one is entering the park on this backroad, but no entry station. The sign does inform that a permit or fee is required to be in the park, so anyone in the park might be asked by a ranger to show proof of fee payment or other permit. I have a Senior Pass, one of the few benefits of old age, so I never worry about having to show proof that I can be in a National Park.

I stopped on this gravel backroad to shoot a few images of the Badland features in the distance that appear to “erupt” out of the flat land in the foreground.

It was a mostly heavily overcast day with periodic light rain. I stopped at a number of the overlooks to snap a few scouting photos with my iPhone. The dramatic clouds in the sky made for interesting photos and I probably should have taken more time to capture better quality images with my Nikon Z8 and wide angle Z14-24mm lens. The Z8 is sealed well, but keeping rain drops off of the big lens glass can be a problem and I wanted to be able to scurry about quickly, so I left the big camera and lens in my vehicle, while I scouted various locations for shooting later in the day.

With the heavy cloud cover, not much direct light fell upon the badlands features, but occasionally a little light broke through the clouds to highlight some of the rocks.

The shape of the mound of dry, cracked, gray earth in the foreground bears a similarity with the shape of the rain clouds in the sky, yet the dryness of that mound of clay contrasts with the wetness of the clouds.

Lush green vegetation in the low areas contrasts with the almost barren rock in the background.

A meandering stream runs through the low area at the base of the badlands features.

More Badlands images later,

Ken

P.S. These images are best viewed on a large screen.

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 1

In early June 2025, I traveled to Badlands National Park, South Dakota. I was not completely satisfied with my photos from this awesome national park from a visit a few years ago. I had some ideas of how to get better images during this visit.

I arrived late in the day and went directly to a BLM area south of the park that I had discovered during my last visit. At that time, I was often the only camper, at least as far as I could tell, in the area.

This time there was a camper in my favorite, quick and easy access spot. So I continued along a narrow dirt trail to find another suitable overnight location. This is a large area, so there are no shortages of possible parking/camping sites, but I was no longer alone in the area. There were no other campers nearby, but I could see one or two far away on higher locations. This place has been discovered, but is still sparsely utilized.

The forecast for the next morning was for heavy overcast and I was tired after my long journey, so I decided not to get up early for sunrise photography. Rather I explored a bit in this area and photographed the local scenery with my iPhone, including blooming cacti. As I drove around the area, I began to realize how big it was. I did not even explore to the limits of the area, before leaving and driving into the park to scout potential photography locations.

Time to head out to see what I can find in the park,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 9

This is the final installment of photography in the area of Southern Utah known as ‘White Rocks’.

‘Rocky Slope’ give an indication of the environment one must navigate to photograph in this area.

‘Leaving White Rocks 1’ was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page.

And that’s a wrap,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 8

This is a continuation of multiple shoots in an area of Southern Utah known as ‘White Rocks’.

This first image on the Flickr Explore page.

To be continued,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 7

We returned to the area refered to as White Rocks in Southern Utah for an early morning shoot. I switched from the Nikon D850 and 24-70mm lens to the Nikon Z8 and Nikon Z14-24mm for this shoot.

To be continued,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 6

This is the final part for the first afternoon visit to White Rocks in Southern Utah in March 2025.

Late day sunlight reflects off of the bodies of these hoodoos and illuminates the underside of the flat tops, which would otherwise by in shadow.

I’ve made up names for these hoodoos, which seem fitting to me, but others might think of other names they like better.

After climbing out of the White Rocks canyon, which was already nearly all in shadow, I paused to capture a few shots over the canyon and the landscape around the canyon. The sun was low in the sky, not quite golden hour, but the lighting was good. We still had to hike back to our vehicle and make a slow drive out of this area, which is best done in daylight, so we never quite waited for sunset.

This wraps up this late day shoot in White Rocks.

Until next time and thanks for following,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 5

More photography in an area known as White Rocks in Southern Utah.

This group of hoodoos seem to be looking about for the fallen head of the headless stump in the background.

There are many of these “Flat Top” hoodoos in this area and many headless ones as those flat tops eventually fall off.

The square shape of the head on this hoodoo looks as if it could have been purposely shaped. Getting this image with that georgeous sky behind it was a bonus.

Maybe those rocks in the foreground are from previous hoodoos here?

The creases and lines in these rocks remind me of baked rolls.

As the various layers of rock erode and collapse from a wall here, interesting textural features are created with lines, shapes and fractures.

The sunlight disappears well before sunset over most of this erroded valley, limiting the opportunity for golden hour light.

Shooting from “behind” these hoodoos, looking down and over the valley of their dominion, seeing that valuey as they see it.

Thanks for following and stay tuned for more White Rocks photography,

Ken

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Category: Nature

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 5 – Wildflowers

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