Tag: Clouds

Abandoned Ranch Buildings, New Mexico, March 2021

I spotted old, abandoned ranch structures and a windmill set back some distance from a highway, as I was traveling through the high plains of New Mexico a year or two ago.  I resolved to stop and photograph the ranch scene on my way back through, since I was on a travel schedule, when I first noted these old structures.

I watched for that old ranch and windmill on my way past the area a couple of times, but I did not spot it again during those trips.  The mental picture I had made for the ranch location was not accurate or maybe as time went by my memory became fuzzy.  However, on my way home from the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado, I passed this way again and I spotted the windmill.

Abandoned ranch structures and old windmill on the high plains of New Mexico.

The ranch was, indeed, miles from where I had thought it was.  I had made a mental note of the next town I went through for location reference, after first discovering that ranch.  That town was miles away, but over time I became convinced that the ranch was just on the outskirts of that town.  Consequently, I only began to look for it as I approached that town.

Lesson learned: even though my mental recollection is usually good, I should make written or recorded notes and/or GPS locations for places that I want to get back to.

Abandoned ranch structures on the high plains of New Mexico.

This area was volcanically active in ancient times and I’m fairly sure that is an old volcano cone in the background.

I had to shoot from a fence line with the house far on the other side.  I considered shooting with an 80-400mm for which I have a 1.4x extender to get close up shots, but I think the shots with a 24-70mm at 70mm give a much better indication of the setting in this wide open landscape.

More abandoned structures down the road from here will be in the next post,

Ken

 

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 4

We returned to the dunes in the early evening for sunset photography and I struggled to find satisfying compositions.  Maybe we were not in the optimal location for this shoot.  There were low clouds on the western horizon, which also blocked the sunset light.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

As we were giving up and beginning to hike back towards the parking lot, there was a sudden and brief break through of light.  My son, being much younger and more fit than I, ran to the west to catch the fleeting light, while I walked as fast as I could, hoping to get to a good vantage point before the light was gone.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

I think the image above is the best one the I got during this outing.  I was still far from the best vantage point for the best light, but I knew the light was fading fast and I had to stop and shoot now.  I got low to catch the dim light in this grassy patch of sand with the fading light on the dune in the background and the interesting clouds over the dune.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

After the light faded from that dune and illuminated the mountainside to the east, I pointed my camera in that direction to get this final shot.

Stay tuned for our final morning in the dunes,

Ken

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 3

As promised in the last post, I want to elaborate upon the making of this image:

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

More precisely, I want to talk about a few of the many possible compositional variations around this scene.

Firstly, I spotted this feature from a distance and I wanted to be careful in approaching it.  If I got too close and then decided to back off, I would already have ruined the scene with my footprints in the sand.

So I began to photograph from a distance and slowly worked my way closer to the “driftwood”.  I also had some zoom capability with my 14-24mm wide angle lens.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 1.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 2.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 3.

The light changed as I approached and I tried including more sky in my compositions.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 4.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 5
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 6.

I think I’m much too far away in Driftwood 1.  So I worked my way closer.

I think I’m still too far away in Driftwood 3 and it’s a little dark.  I like the sky in this image and the lack of features at the interface between the sand and sky, giving this image a clean, simple look.  Maybe this makes it more dramatic?

I like the closeness and the angle of view in Driftwood 4, but I cut off a small portion of the driftwood’s shadow in this image.  Cutting off shadows is something that I try to avoid, whenever possible.  So I zoomed out a little and made Driftwood 5.  Zooming out here got more sky in the image, which I like.

I got much closer for Driftwood 6, but I do not think this is an optimal angle of view.

I lean towards Driftwood 2 and 5 as my favorites. I’m not sure which is best, but I lean towards 5.  I think that I could have made a better image than either of these two.  Maybe it is good to never be quite satisfied with our photographs, so that we continue to strive to get better images.

As always, readers’ opinions and critiques are welcome,

Ken

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 2

I continued to wander around in the Great Sand Dunes early the first morning of our March 2021 visit, looking for good compositions.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

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.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

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.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

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.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

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

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 1

We were in the sand dunes before sunrise of the first morning of our March 2021 visit.  Hiking in sand requires some effort, but at least during the winter, some of the sand is frozen on the surface, making it a little easier to walk on.

Photographing the dunes in the early morning has the advantage of overnight winds wiping away or muting the footprints of the previous days’ visitors.  Still one might have to hunt for places to avoid remaining footprints.  Caution is also required in approaching an area to photograph, so one’s own footprints are not ruining the scene.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

Those lumpy looking features in the left center of the image above are frozen parts of the sand dunes and make good foreground objects in the vastness of the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

These dunes cover a vast area and we are barely in the edge of the dunes and well below the highest peak.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

It was good to have early morning clouds over the mountains to the east of the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

I varied my compositions by moving around slightly or carefully approaching foreground objects, so as not to trample the natural patterns in the sand as the sunrise light progressed over the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

The photo above is nearly the same composition as the first image of this post, but the light has changed with the rising sun and the shadows are longer and more pronounced.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

Moving just a few feet can make a dramatic difference in an image in the dunes, as does the changing light conditions.

More from the dunes in the next post,

Ken

Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 4 – Tsankawi 2

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.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Trail Fragment.

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.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Contemplation 2.

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.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Deep, Narrow and Steep.

It took a little effort to navigate some portions of these ancient paths, especially when carrying a daypack and DSLR.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Curves and Dead End.

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.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Evidence of a dwelling, Shelter or storage area.

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.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Photographing the interior of a cave.

The entrance to this cave (above) seems to have a torso with head shape.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Cave.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Caves.

There were numerous caves in some areas.  Notice the foot and/or hand holds in the rocks around these caves.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi View.

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

Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 3 – Tsankawi 1

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.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Walking Through the Past 1, monochrome with selective colorization.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.Walking Through the Past 2, monochrome with selective colorization.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Trail.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Contemplation.  Monochrome with selective colorization.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Old Tree and Fractured Rock with Petroglyphs

One has to look closely to see the old, worn petroglyphs, of which there were many, in some of the rock faces.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Lone Tree.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Petroglyphs.

Viewing a larger image on Flickr will allow for better resolution of the many petroglyphs on this rock face.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Small Evergreen Tree growing in a crack in the Tsankawi desert area.  Monochrome with selective colorization.

To be continued,

Ken

 

 

Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 2

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 .

Snow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone Photo
Snow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone Photo

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.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Tree and Clouds 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Tree and Clouds 2.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Monochrome Tree and Snow.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Skeleton Tree in Snow.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Towering Tree in Snow.

As I walked around, I tried to capture a few small features in the snow covered landscape.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Grass in Snow 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Grass in Snow, Monochrome.

And anything else that looked unique or interesting.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Crawling Snow Covered Tree Creature.

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.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Distant Mountains 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Distant Mountains 2.

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.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 2.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 3.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 4.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 5.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 6.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Old and Fallen, Old and Standing.

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

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 23, 2020, Part 5

Continued from part 4:

In an opening in the forest on a steep slope, I photographed the distant mountainsides below clouds that provided shadows and moving spotlights on the massive forest.

Aspen Mountain. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, 1/200s, f/11, ISO 400.

Much of the mountainsides were covered with beetle killed evergreens.  A scattering of color within the mass of dead, grey trees caught my eye as they were highlighted by light breaking through the cloud cover.

Hope. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 56mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 400.

There are a few green evergreens and a scattering of Aspens within the mass of dead trees.  I wonder how this will evolve with time.  Will Aspens replace the evergreens or will the evergreens somehow evolve to resist the beetles?

It was getting late in the day, there would be no golden hour light here due to mountains blocking the late day light and in any case I did not want to try to find my way through the forest in the dark, hiking back to my campsite.  So I began to work my way back up the slope.  Taking my time and stopping whenever I thought I might get an interest photo.

Skeleton Tree. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 1250.

The late day sunlight filtered through the forest creating narrow, subtle, streaks of highlights in the grassy floor of the forest.

Grassy Forest. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 1250.

Many fallen trees, partially supported by living trees, created mazes that might have proven dangerous to navigate through after dark.

Head Knockers. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, 1/13s, f/11, ISO 200.
Chaotic Forest. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/13s, f/11, ISO 200. (Flickr Explore, December 28, 2020).

Near the top of the grassy, forested slope, I stopped to get this shot through the mass of Aspen trunks.

Aspen Hill. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 31mm, 1/10s, f/11, ISO 200.

That’s all for now,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 23, 2020, Part 4

I continued my stroll through the Rio Grande National Forest just off of US 380, hoping to get interesting photographs within the forest.

Near and Far. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 40mm, 1/500s, f/11, ISO 640.

I shot the image above with the near trees on one side of FSR 380 and the far trees on the far side of the roadway.  There was increasing cloudiness, which I hoped did not indicate a late day rain storm.

Aspen Trunks and Evergreens. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, 1/3s, f/11, ISO 64.

One can find an infinite number of ways to shoot the Aspen trunks, which is both good and bad.  When is enough, enough?  And when do these images become so repetitive as to be boring?  Is there really anything unique in these images?

Falling. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 1000.

A few recently fallen trees broke up the vertical pattern of the tree trunks.

Bent and Broken. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 28mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 500.
Diverse Forest. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 31mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 500.
Trunk Line. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 1600.

Even within a dense forest, I noted that sometimes by standing in the right place, I could see an almost linear line of tree trunks.  Of course, I had to crop the wide angle view to show what caught my eye.

Early Fall Aspen Forest. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 1600.

As I worked my way around the edge of a high ridge in the forest, I began to find more fallen trees, which made various geometric patterns on or near the forest floor.

Standing and Fallen. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-24mm @ 70mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 1600.
Forest Floor. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 2000.

After few more minutes of walking from the end of the ridge I came to an opening in the forest along a steep slope with good views of forested mountainsides.  I could tell that the sun would drop below a mountain side before the golden hour, but the moving clouds resulted in highlights of the distant fall color as the shadows moved across the mountainsides.

Aspen Mountain Spotlight.  Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 29mm, 1/200s, f/11, ISO 400.

More later,

Ken