Just after the sun’s brief appearance, the cloud cover became heavier and obscured the sun. There were interesting rock features across the valley, so I used those as fore and middle ground to capture those magnificent clouds in the sky.
There were a few ocotillo with vibrant greenery and other trees in the area. I used those as foreground with Cathedral Rock in the background. This required focus stacking images to get good depth of field.
Sedona, Arizona is in a picturesque setting with massive, colorful rock formations all around. It is also a popular tourist city with all the trappings of such a city, many shops, restaurants and art galleries.
In the outlying areas there are many popular hiking trails, scenic destinations and places popular with rock climbers.
My wife and I drove around the local area around the city to check out the scenery. I made mental notes about possible places to return to at sunrise or sunset to engage in my photography hobby.
My first chosen destination, Bell Rock, for a sunset shoot is just off of a major road and is a popular tourist draw. As I left our motel in Sedona, an afternoon thunderstorm erupted with lots of lightening and heavy rain. The local rock features that are visible from the city streets were surrounded by clouds with intermittent breaks in the clouds allowing sunlight to illuminate those features for a short while. There would have been great photographic opportunities during the storm, if only there had been a place to safely pull over out of the heavy late day traffic and not be exposed to the heavy rain and possible lightening. I could only observe and admire the views, wishing I were able to photograph the storm.
I hoped that there would still be some of the storm around when I arrived at the Bell Rock parking area, but the storm had moved on into the far distance by the time that I arrived. The nearby sky was mostly clear, but the distant storm clouds were still visible.
There are a number of hiking trails around and near Bell Rock. Most tourists opt to hike up the slope towards Bell Rock. I decided to hike the less popular trail that went around behind Bell Rock towards other rock features nearby. I only recall encountering two or three others on this trail. The parking lot was not nearly as full, this late in the day, as it had been during my scouting pass through it earlier in the day.
As these first two images reveal, the distant clouds caused the light to constantly vary from entire shade to partial shade and the sky to vary from dark to light.
I made numerous, not so interesting, photographs of the distant rock outcrops as the late day light changed. While the distant storm clouds added interest, it was not until I noted a faint rainbow appear that I began to hope for something more interesting. Indeed, as I watched the scene that rainbow became brighter and a double rainbow appeared, seemingly terminating on the rocks with a golden glow from the late day sunlight.
As I prepared to photograph this old, majestic tree skeleton (old trees like this are one of my favorite subjects), the clouds in the sky began to glow with the golden color of sunset light. The golden cloud was perfectly positioned above the tree, as if forming a crown of honor and remembrance for the old tree.
As I walked the trail back towards the parking lot, after my late day shoot, I had to stop to capture these colorful, post sunset clouds with the silhouette of rock formations in the foreground.
When I turned to look back at this rock feature, I noted that the color was a deeper red just after sunset. In researching this area, I had seen information that said these rocks looked best for photography just after sunset sunset. My observation confirms that statement.
This is a continuation of my attempt to capture some of the charm of Santa Fe, New Mexico, while avoiding the horde of tourists.
Window ReflectionIron Man
I do not know the actual title of this work of art that is in the open plaza area behind the Santa Fe Museum of Fine Art. I made this photograph from the street, shooting through an iron picket gate. I simply called it “Iron Man” for convenience, but I expect it has an official name given by the artist.
Angst
I’m again using artistic license to label this photo “Angst”, as I’m imagining hands on head below a threatening sky, but I’m sure this was not the artist’s intention.
Light Center
This is the center of a red Hibiscus flower and the white center is actually yellow in the color version.
Light Center 2 – Red Hibiscus flower in Black and White.Light Center 3 – Red, White, Pink Hibiscus flower in monochromeRose PetalsShadow on Adobe WallClouds over Santa FeThe Church of Antioch, Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico has a picturesque downtown area with its Southwestern Adobe architecture, but it is a busy, tourist filled city, which negates some of its charm. Walking down almost any downtown street one is sure to be accosted numerous times by business hawkers trying to give “free” samples with a spiel designed to lure a passerby into their shops.
The crowds make it difficult to photograph the city. I thought about getting out in the very early morning hours, even before daylight, to try to capture the city streets with no people in them, but I never did that. I still think that would be a good way to capture the essence of the city’s architecture and charm without the distraction of the crowds.
In any case, I wanted to try to photograph Santa Fe in a way that showcased its charm without the people. So one afternoon I went for a walk around the city and managed to capture a few images with my iPhone camera, while avoiding the crowds and mostly keeping people out of my images. While I’m not opposed to street photography with people in the images, some folks don’t like to be photographed and I don’t want to be involved in any altercations with those objecting to being photographed. So while I might photograph some street people and crowd scenes, I usually keep that to a minimum and exercise caution in posting such images.
Foliage Man
In the Plaza, where there were often crowds, especially when there was entertainment, I spotted this “camouflaged” man standing against a tree. He would suddenly emerge to frighten those unobservant enough not to have noticed him, scaring little kids and adults. I’m not sure this is a good idea as some older folks with heart conditions might suffer from such a shock. Or some might even react negatively to being so startled.
Red, Not a Rose
There are plenty of flowers decorating the public areas and private businesses in Santa Fe, which adds much to the beauty of the downtown area.
Storm Clouds over Santa Fe 1
It was not uncommon for an afternoon thunderstorm to pop up in the general area, but only light rain fell in the downtown area during this visit.
Clouds over Tree TopsGrass against an Adobe WallClouds over Santa Fe 2Adobe WallClouds over Santa Fe 3Grass and ShadowClouds over Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts
On my way home from my March road trip, a fierce storm was blowing in from the west. In the wide open space of the high plains, the distant storm front was visible for much of my journey. The storm front itself was interesting, but when I came upon an area with windmills, I had to stop to capture a few images.
This wide angle view captures the old ranch windmill and structure along with the modern, electric generating windmills in the distance and the massive storm clouds with rain in the distance.
I zoomed in to get more detail of the old windmill and its contrast with the modern windmills.
As I continued my journey to my overnight stop in Amarillo, Texas, the wind became more fierce, buffeting my vehicle all the way. The wind whipped up much dust north of Amarillo. The storm continued through out the night and I awoke to a dusting of snow and a light blowing snow, which continued for a short distance on the final day of my homeward bound journey.
I arrive home safely in the afternoon and now I have to look forward to another, as yet unplanned journey.
Near Mono Lake there is a volcanic cone called Panum. Panum is not a dormant volcano. This area is monitored by geologists for any signs of activity that might signal another eruption.
There is a 2.1 mile loop trail around the Panum crater. My son and I hike a portion of this trail. Mono Lake and the Sierra Nevada are visible from portions of the trail.
Obsidian Sitter
Large chunks of obsidian are common along the hiking trail.
ObsidianMore ObsidianLayered Obsidian and PumiceLayers
In addition to the large chunks of obsidian there are common layered rocks of obsidian and pumice scattered around the area.
Relic – Monochrome of an old tree remnant.A view of the Sierra Nevada from the crater trail
A portion of the trail is visible in the lower portion of this image.
My son and I made a trip into Death Valley from Lone Pine, thinking we might return for more serious photography, but the distance and the timing difficulty steered us away from that idea.
Yet it was good to see Badwater Basin with the shallow lake created by the recent heavy rains. It appears that this unusual event attracted others, too. there were lots of people, more than I had seen there in previous visits, in the park.
The salt is showing indications of forming geometrical patterns typical of this salt as it dries. The heavy rains have destroyed or muted such patterns.
We stopped a little short of the turn in the road, which goes by the traditional Devil’s Golf Course, but this rugged salt is what we would expect to see there. The rains have muted some of the sharp features that I recall from previous visits.
As is my habit, I use my iPhone camera to make images while scouting photo locations and/or sometimes to record in route travel scenes. This Post and others to follow will feature some of the many such photos made during my March trip to California. Some of the photos in these post may be similar to those shot later with my DSLR.
I know there are many people that only use their cell phone cameras for photography, simply because it is convenient and nearly everyone always has a cell phone with a built in camera with them at all times. The cameras in the newer model cell phones are quite good, although there are still limitations. Nonetheless, it is possible to get good photographs with these convenient devices. There are also camera apps that may improve a phone camera’s ability to shoot better images and there are plenty of in phone edit apps to enhance the photos.
Sharing photos taken via a mobile phone is also very easy. It is no mystery why these small, pocketable devices have become so popular with those that just want to shoot a quick photo and share it to social media or via text message or via email.
A snow storm came across the western U.S. at the start of my trip, threatening to delay travel for a day at least; but as it turned out, we only had slow travel over the Rockies through the area that received significant snowfall, after I-70 was opened just before our scheduled road travel.
I awoke at about 3AM my first night in Colorado and peeked out my bedroom window to check the weather and this winter scene filled my view. So naturally, I grabbed my phone and captured a few images through the window.
It is easy to see in these two images how light sensitive the camera sensors in these phones can be. Of course, there was some light from street and house lights and the heavy cloud cover reflected the city light onto the snow, which bounced the light, too. The detail in these 3AM low light photos is still remarkable.
The passenger in a moving vehicle might be able to shoot while moving along at highway speeds with one of these devices. (The driver should pay attention to driving and not use the camera while moving).
This image was made somewhere in Utah, the morning of our second travel day, as the storm seemed to be clearing; although, we continued to see storm warnings along the highway and we had driven through some snow flurries the day before in some higher elevations.
My son and I ventured back north of Lone Pine, California to explore more natural sites along US Highway 395. Our first stop was Mono Lake.
I have seen photographs of the tufa in Mono Lake and looked forward to seeing these. While the history of this lake and the science behind the natural creation of the tufa deposits are interesting, we were a bit disappointed in the photogenic appeal of the area; but we were not there at the best time for photography, which might have been the primary reason for our disappointment.
We hiked the loop from the parking lot to the lake twice. I used my 24-70mm lens during the first round, then switched to my 80-400mm with a 1.4 extension for the second round. The photos included in my posts are a mix of images made with those two lenses.
