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.
To be continued,
Ken
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
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.
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
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.
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.
The cap on the hoodoo in the photo above, looked like a turtle soaking up some sun, but there was no sun.
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
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
From the visitor center area there is a trail to a waterfall. The trail is supposed to go to two waterfalls an upper and a lower on the Frijoles River; but the trail to the lower falls was not open, presumably due to damage to the trail and safety concerns.
The trail is not a long one, but it has some steep portions. Still it was not overly difficult. Initially the trail follows beside and crosses the river at one or two places, then climbs out of the river valley, going up the valley wall.
As one nears the waterfall, a deep canyon comes into view. Geologists will find the canyon wall interesting as many layers of rock and geologic features are exposed.
The Frijoles River dumps into the Rio Grande at the end of this canyon.
There is a view point for the falls, after one hikes past the falls and looks back upstream. The trail here is far above the river and there is not a way to get close to the upper falls.
A big lens is required for getting a close up of the falls. We planned to come back here again, but we never got back. So these images are all I have.
This wraps up this visit to Bandelier National Monument.
Next up: Zapata Falls and The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.
Until then,
Ken
This is a continuation of a previous post with photographs from the ancient Native American site, Tsankawi, a part of the Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.
Up above the main continuous trail through Tsankawi, I spotted a portion of a trail that was obviously out of place. This part apparently broke away from its original location and lodged here many years ago.
The depth of this portion of the trail is impressive. The pathways are narrow, which suggests that the people that made these were not large people.
It took a little effort to navigate some portions of these ancient paths, especially when carrying a daypack and DSLR.
Interestingly, this portion of the trail had dual pathways, but one was a dead end. Was this two lane path created by having one foot on one side and the other foot on the other side of the trail? Each side is too narrow for having both feet within the narrow channel.
There were numerous indications of dwellings, shelters or storage areas along the pathways of Tsankawi. Some areas were off limits for visitors, so we did not get to see everything here.
The entrance to this cave (above) seems to have a torso with head shape.
There were numerous caves in some areas. Notice the foot and/or hand holds in the rocks around these caves.
A desert view from the main trail around the Tsankawi area.
This wraps up the best photos that I managed to get in this amazing place. Perhaps someday I will get back again, when conditions are more favorable for photography.
Until next time,
Ken
We visited Tsankawi again one afternoon, but we never really got to be here at the very best time of the day for photography. Although, we did have some cloudy sky, which helped add a little interest at times.
Tsankawi is really an amazing place. I was most impressed by the paths created by Native Americans many years ago. Those ancient people walked the same paths so often as to wear deep trenches in the rock. Sometimes the trenches were only a few inches deep and sometimes several feet deep. Even though the rock may not be super hard here, it is not soft either, so it must have taken many walkers over many years to create such deep pathways in the stone.
One has to look closely to see the old, worn petroglyphs, of which there were many, in some of the rock faces.
Viewing a larger image on Flickr will allow for better resolution of the many petroglyphs on this rock face.
To be continued,
Ken
We woke up to a heavy snow cover in our campground the second morning of our visit here. We had been watching the weather forecast and expected snow over a large area, we just could not judge how much would fall at our location, which was a higher elevation than that used in the weather forecasts .
Judging by the depth of snow on the flat surfaces, it looks like 6-8 inches of cover.
After making a few early morning iPhone photos and taking care of a few housekeeping chores, I began to walk around the campground area with my DSLR.
I managed to isolate a few individual, snow covered trees against the overcast sky.
As I walked around, I tried to capture a few small features in the snow covered landscape.
And anything else that looked unique or interesting.
A distant mountainside was visible through the forest and I tried to frame that in a few photographs, but the 24-70mm lens did not allow for close ups of the distant mountains tops.
I think the individual trees are the best images that I captured here; but here are a few miscellaneous other images to give a feel for the general look of the snow covered forest area around the campground.
It is good that I got out early to capture the snow, since it began to melt away even as I made my way back to my van. It was essentially all gone by late morning.
More on Bandelier later,
Ken
This post was prematurely published due to a mistake by the author, during the editing and preview process, getting my blogs out of chronological order and maybe causing confusion of followers. Consequently, I’ve made a few edits, trying to correct poor writing and/or errors and now I will republish this item and hope there are no more glaring errors. My apologies for the confusion.
After setting up in the campground at Bandelier National Monument, we drove down into the canyon to the visitor center and made a scouting hike upstream along the stream that runs through the Frijoles Canyon. Actually, the stream is referred to as the Frijoles River, even though it is usually just a narrow stream of water. I suppose at times of heavy precipitation, that little stream can become a raging river. We hiked an undetermined distance, but I’m guessing maybe about a mile along the river before turning back.
We decided that the photographic opportunities would be slim along that trail, unless there was early morning frost or maybe snow cover to provide more interest.
We returned to the canyon the next (first) morning of our stay here with our cameras, hoping for better photographic opportunities than we had seen on our scouting hike.
The park gate opening and closing times limit the access time to the canyon, so golden hour photography was not a possibility during our visit. This might not matter, since the canyon walls limit the time of the sunlight arriving and exiting the canyon. Some times of the year may be better than others.
Unfortunately, we did not get snow, nor even a heavy frost. Nevertheless, we continued hiking and trying to get a few interesting photographs. I was mostly unsuccessful in my efforts and I have chosen not to present any of the results of my attempts at creative photography here.
Early on the hike, we came upon several deer that seemed curious about us, but not concerned. I suppose they were accustomed to humans.
A second deer, going in the opposite direction of this first one, came along and they each eyed each other in an appraising manner, before continuing on their way.
There are many Native American ruins and cave dwelling in the canyon with many near the visitors’ center. Having toured those on previous trips, we continued along the trail towards a more distant ruin called the Alcove House. My son had visited the Alcove House during a previous visit, but it was not open when I was first here, so this was my first time to see this area of the park.
To get up to the Alcove House ruins requires climbing a number of ladders and steps up the canyon side.
Much of the area at the final destination is roped off, which limits photographic compositions.
In the afternoon, we made a scouting hike of a loop trail through Tsankawi, a Native American area near White Rock, New Mexico that is a part of the Bandelier National Monument. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my iPhone along, so I did not get any scouting photographs, which is too bad, since I think I missed opportunities to get photographs under a more interesting sky than we had during later visits.
That’s the highlight for today’s activity.
Ken
