Bisti/De-Na-Zin – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Bisti Wilderness, June, 2021, Part 13

Hoodoo Sentinel, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

This large hoodoo seems to be standing guard for those in the valley below it, ready to alert of approaching photographers.

Bisti Valley, Bisti Wilderness, June 9, 2021, PM

Delicate Balance 1, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

I spotted the hoodoo above from a far distance as it stands out very distinctly in this broad valley in the Bisti Wilderness of New Mexico. I had scouted around it looking for ways to photograph it and found what I thought were promising compositions, only to discover that many of those compositions did not work out well.

A Valley of Hoodoos, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

Delicate Balance 2, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

Sunset Clouds and Hoodoos, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

Desert Sunset Sky, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

Long, Thin and Flat Hoodoos, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

Petrified Log and Sunset Light, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

It was a cloudy afternoon, but some rays of golden hour sunset light broke through.

Golden Hour Hoodoos, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

Sunset Features, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

I was in a dead end spur off of a big valley and went into this small nook, where I noted interesting rock features and hoodoos with the golden hour light on the top of the background hills and blue sky with fluffy clouds above. My son was calling for me to come out into the main valley, where the day’s final rays of light was peaking, so I hastened to get this shot, not at all sure it would be worthwhile; but I think it turned out well.

Soft Sunset Light, Bisti, June 9, 2021, PM

So there you have it, the final part of this visit to Bisti. I do not usually include so many photos in one post, but since this is part 13 and I had exactly 13 photos to wrap up this Bisti visit, it seems fitting to end it so.

If you can, please look at these images on my Flickr page and on a big screen, where the details are much better viewed.

Revisiting these images has put me in the mood for another visit to Bisti, but it might be some time before I can get back, so readers will not have to suffer through more Bisti any time soon.

Stay safe and thanks for following,

Ken

P.S. Actually, I just remembered that there is one remaining item for this visit: Night photography with stars and maybe the Milky Way, if I ever get around to finishing the editing, which is always a pain for such images, so I tend to procrastinate with that task. There will probably only be one or two or three photos, so that post will be short.

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 12

Bisti Hoodoos and Shadows, June 8, 2021, PM

I shot these same small hoodoos early one morning. This late day composition captures their long shadows across the desert valley floor.

Creature Face Hoodoo, Bisti, June 8, 2021, PM

Small Hoodoo – Long Shadow, Bisti, June 8, 2021, PM

This tall hoodoo with a very small cap seems to cast an unusually thin shadow, given the apparent thickness of the structure as seen from this angle.

Small Alien Hoodoo, Bisti, June 8, 2021, PM

Small Alien Hoodoo and Triplets, Bisti, June 8, 2021, PM

I photographed this alien looking hoodoo from various viewpoints (it was in an awkward place for getting a good shot) and under various light conditions. The photo just above may be the best image that I got.

Natural Bridge Hoodoo and Shadow, Bisti, June 8, 2021, PM

Late day shadows are encroaching on this feature just as the light gets best. At least I got its shadow on the hillside behind it.

Readers may recall seeing a monochrome version of this last photo in an earlier post. While not a compelling image, I liked the shadow of the central feature on the hillside behind it. The shadow is more distinct in this color version than in the monochrome version.

Stay tuned to the next morning’s shoot,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 11

After the best early morning light, I continued to move around the valley in the vicinity of Nefertiti’s Crown looking for more composition with the great variety of rock shapes and hoodoos nearby.

Greeting The Sun, Bisti, June 8, 2021, AM

The same features can be photographed from various angles and distances, yielding completely different looking shapes, shadows, highlights and textures.

I tried various points of view and compositions for the scene above, but keeping my shadow out of the shots eliminated the best composition, so I settled for this view and it is not very satisfying.

Actually, I’m not really happy with most of these shots after the golden hour, but I do like the next to last image, with its wide angle view of the area from an elevated perspective and Greeting The Sun.

Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 10

My son and I were out early again in Bisti waiting for sunrise. We had to hike about 2 miles to get to our destinations each day of our visit, so for sunrise we were initially hiking in the dark on the way out. After sunset photos, we could sometime hike all the way back to the parking lot without light, but sometimes we needed our headlamps for at least a portion of the hike back.

We were back in the area of the “Michelin Tire/Nefertiti Crown” and “Shark or “Surfboard” (our nicknames) hoodoos and I managed to get a few decent compositions here, while waiting for sunrise.

Bisti Jumble, Pre-Sunrise in Bisti, June 8, 2021, AM

I usually try to compose photos with multiple objects, such as those in the above photo, so that there is separation between all the objects, but sometime I could find no way to completely separate them.

Behind the Shark, Pre-Sunrise, Bisti, June 8, 2021, AM

Nefertiti’s Crown Hoodoo, Bisti, June 8, 2021, AM

I shot the Nefertiti Crown hoodoo again in sunrise light, but with a wider angle view this time. Nefertiti’s shadow is still falling on the “Shark”.

From the point of view in the above photo, I got the shadow from the low, tilted hoodoo in the foreground that it cast upon the base of the Shark Hoodoo. Note that Nefertiti’s Crown Hoodoo looks completely different from this point of view, hence my initial nickname of “Lumpy Hoodoo”.

“Morning Breaks” is my favorite from this batch and I had to use multiple exposures blended via HDR software to get this one. Although, “Behind the Shark” is a close second and “Bisti Jumble” comes in close behind that.

More later,

Ken

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

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Tag: Bisti/De-Na-Zin

Bisti Wilderness, June, 2021, Part 13

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