In late March of 2022, I drove to my oldest son’s home north of Denver, Colorado and we drove together to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. We lodged in the small town of Torrey, just west of the park.
Since we arrived late in the day, we only got out for a brief visit to the park visitor center and a stop at a nearby overlook trail, where we shot a few handheld images.
Past PrimeMonochrome Tree
The sky was overcast, the light well suited for muted monochrome images.
Rock TreesAbstract (Rock Texture)Old and GnarlyTruncated
This old tree stump looked different, depending upon the angle of view.
Dancing among the Rocks
The color image of this old tree stump with this angle of view reminded me of a dancer’s torso, but when I showed this one to my grandson, he saw two dogs back to back. I have to admit that I had a similar initial interpretation, but only seeing one blunt snout dog with long ears trailing behind it. I still prefer the dancer interpretation.
80% ExpendedLife on the Edge
I have not had time to go through all of my photos from this trip and just barely got time to write this initial post, more will follow; but I may not be able to keep up with my preferred schedule of two posts per week. (Every trip leads to much to do to catch up at home).
As sunset approached, I hiked back into the area around my campsite with my DSLR for a sunset shoot. As usual, I went out earlier than I thought necessary. Even so, my timing was off. Some of the features that I had anticipated shooting, were already in shadow, well before sunset. So I had to give up on some of the preplanned shot locations.
Golden Hour, Palo Duro Canyon
My first stop was at this vey tilted rock or hoodoo nearest to the campground. It was in full late day sunlight and I could see that there were already shadows on the big hillside in the distance.
Cacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon
I found this batch of prickly pear cacti that were still getting some late day rays, with the red hill behind them mostly in shadow.
Tiny Desert Tree and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon
Even though the light was much less than I had planned to see, I like this composition with the small, weakly lit tree and the big red hill in the background.
Late Day Deep in Palo Duro Canyon
I like the sinuous leading line formed by this drainage with green grass contrasting with the red earth and the change in lighting from the right side to the left of this image
Boulders and Red Hills, Palo Duro CanyonMoon over Tilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro CanyonDesert Evening
I converted this final image, made from the top of the hill from which I had photographed during my scouting hike, to black and white, to get a more dramatic late day image.
I tried capturing more images of the moon over this hilltop, shooting from a location on the side of the hill with tilted rocks pointing at the moon, but I could not get a good image with the lens I had chosen to use today.
On my return trip from the Grand Canyon North Rim, my first overnight stay was near Gallup, New Mexico at Red Rocks Park. There were large red rock formations around the park and I thought this would be a good place to check out. It was not a bad place to stay for one night, but much less interesting than I had anticipated. At least the weather was mild, due to overcast and rain during the day, just before I arrived at the park, then a booming thunderstorm at night.
My second overnight was at Texas’s Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo. I had been through the park many years ago, but never spent much time here. My campsite was deep into the canyon. Even though it was late July, the weather was only mildly hot in the day and cooled down nicely at night.
After settling in, I walked around the area to scout potential locations for sunset and possibly sunrise photography. All of the scouting images in this post were made with my iPhone.
The Sportsmobile in Palo Duro Canyon Campsite.Small Cacti in Palo Duro Canyon
As in most western US deserts or arid places, cacti abound and one needs to watch where one steps.
Dinosaur Grafiti, Palo Duro Canyon
Visitors to this area have a penchant for carving into the rocks, which I assume must not be very hard rocks. I found this image of a dinosaur in a narrow space between large boulders.
Rock Grafitti, Palo Duro Canyon
Many of the boulders near the campsite had graffiti, initials, names and/or other scratched in symbols.
Rock Signings, Palo Duro CanyonBoulders and Hillside, Palo Duro CanyonBoulders, Palo Duro Canyon
I captured images, testing compositions and to use as reminders, at locations that I thought might be good to return to with my DSLR at sunset.
Palo Duro Canyon ScenePalo Duro Canyon TopagraphyLife on a Rock, Palo Duro CanyonCacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro CanyonCacti and Red Hills, Palo Duro CanyonScrubby Vegetation and Red Hills, Palo Duro CanyonTilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro CanyonTilted Hoodoo Palo Duro CanyonHilltop view near campsite, Palo Duro CanyonPalo Duro Canyon Pano
I posted this panoramic image to Flickr, not because I thought it was a great image, but to share with others that may want to know what the area looks like and because I intended to use it in my blog and wanted to have a link to a larger image. Much to my surprise, this image was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page and is now my most viewed and faved image on Flickr. Maybe I’m just physically abusing myself carrying around that heavy DSLR camera and other gear, when a simple iPhone image garners this much attention.
Rock Registry, Palo Duro Canyon
Apparently, lots of people have scrambled up the steep slope to the top of this hill, since the boulders there all had some initials, names and dates carved into them.
The light in the canyon was dim, but the clouds kept changing and I continued to snap photos, capturing the changing clouds and light.
Sunset Clouds and Canyon 2Sunset Clouds and Canyon 3Near Sunset
As it got nearer sunset time, reflected light from the clouds, brightened the canyon and gave it a warm glow. The photo above has the best of the sunset light during this shoot.
Clouds and Moon over Grand Canyon
The moon rose, while we were here, but it was completely obscured by the clouds, until it was high in the sky. It is barely visible in this image near the upper right of center. Click on the image to get a better view on Flickr (best viewed on a large screen).
Cloudy Sunset, iPhone Photo
While waiting and watching the sky, I walked around, capturing a few images with my iPhone.
iPhone Panorama, GC NR Overlook
This wraps up my July, 2021 visit to the Grand Canyon North Rim.
[I accidentally published this prematurely about a month ago before the draft was fully complete, so I’m republishing this with the final updates]
We shot at this location one morning and decided to try here at sunset on our final day in the park. It was heavily overcast, but we could see some breaks in the clouds, so we hoped to get some good light as the sun set behind us.
Clouds and Canyon 1Clouds and Canyon 2
As we waited for sunset, I captured numerous photos of the clouds over the canyon as the light varied from dim to less dim.
Cloudy Canyon 1Clouds and Canyon 2Clouds over Grand CanyonSunset Clouds 1
The clouds above the distant horizon finally began to glow dimly in the late day light.
Sunset Clouds 2Sunset Clouds and Canyon
In the final image for this post, the clouds were brighter and reflecting light into the canyon, bringing out more detail in the canyon.
Prior to going to our selected view point for sunset photos, we stopped by Roosevelt Point again. We had scouted this area on a previous day. Today we hiked the trail as far as it was safe to go, this time with our DSLR and gear.
Roosevelt Point
Those with acrophobia or anyone not sure footed should not go here.
As is apparent in these photos, it was mostly cloudy with some breaks in the clouds in the distance.
Roosevelt Point and Photographer
When I was shooting here, I was thinking the first image, with its wider view across the canyon, was going to be my best shot, but now I think the second one is the better of these two.
We arrived at a national forest primitive camping area in the mid-day to early afternoon, where there were views across the canyon to Marble Canyon in the distance.
Marble Canyon ViewCloud Shadows
There is a trailhead here and we hike a short distance along the trail, down a steep slope then up a steep slope, to check out other views across the canyon.
Clouds and CanyonCloudy AfternoonGet the ShotMarble Canyon Distant View
After our morning shoot, we drove around to explore the local area, getting to a couple of places with overviews of Marble Canyon in the distance. At one of these areas I photographed a couple of interesting trees with the cloudy sky and/or the canyon in the background.
Tree and Clouds, Original Color Version
This lopsided tree was easily isolated against the cloudy sky.
Tree and Clouds, Black and White Version
I think the black and white version of this image is more dramatic.
Enduring
I captured several compositions of this deformed or broken tree with the clouds and canyon in the background.
Deformed Tree, Canyon and Clouds 1Deformed Tree, Canyon and Clouds 2, Vertical Shot.
I like the third image (vertical) of the deformed tree best, with the first (horizontal) a close second.
At the outward end of our hike, we scrambled onto boulders for good views of the canyon and the distant storm.
Boulders, Canyon and Storm Clouds
The best view into the canyon was in one direction, so I shot in that direction, towards the distant storm, varying the foreground and the horizontal and vertical angles, experimenting with compositional variations with the same general view of the canyon.
Canyon and Storm
I used the portion of the canyon immediately below the view point as a leading line towards the main canyon and the storm in the distance.
Canyon, Canyon Rim and StormCanyon and StormApproaching StormBoulders, Canyon and StormStormy OutlookDark CanyonDistant StormStorm’s A Coming
Unlike those that are naturally artistic, I often do not immediately see “the composition” that I want. I enjoy trying different compositions and I’m often surprised at how I perceive the results, after having time to review and edit the photos. Often, the images I like the best are not the ones that others favor, which may be an indication of my natural bent towards seeing things in a more scientifically curious way, rather than in an artistic manner.
As always, readers comments and opinions are welcome,
