I think this pre-sunrise shot is the best that I got this morning. It is very similar to a composition I made the previous evening, except the evening sky was heavy with clouds, while it was almost totally clear this morning.
A sliver of Owens Lake is visible on the horizon. Owens Lake is listed as a “dry” lake, but recent heavy rains over the past two years have resulted in shallow water in the lake.
Sunrise light on the Sierra Nevada Mountains as seen through a gap in rocks in Alabama Hills, California. I had to resort to an HDR for this image, as a the exposure was difficult.
Alabama Hills and Sierra Nevada, March 19, 2024Alabama Hills and Sierra Nevada, March 19, 2024Early Morning Light and Shadows, Alabama Hills, California, March 19, 2024
Other than the first image in this post, I was not happy with other images from this morning’s shoot. As I was giving up and retreating down this area, I suddenly noted that the rocks around me were glowing as the early morning sunlight finally began to impinge upon some of the rocks around me. I made this last image to capture a little of that golden hour light.
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.
Shark Hoodoo, Bisti, June 6, 2021, AM
The shark hoodoo was difficult to photograph and it was always partially in the shadow of the Nefertiti Crown Hoodoo.
Lumpy Hoodoo, Bisti, June 6, 2021, AM
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.
Bisti, June 7, 2021, AM
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.
Bisti, June 7, 2021, AMBisti, June 7, 2021, AM
Another view of the Alien and the Triplets. I like the foreground in this view.
The second bridge I visited in my second day of photographing Indiana covered bridges in October, 2019 was Houck Bridge. Although Houck Bridge seems to be in very good condition, it has been by passed and is now closed to traffic.
Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 400, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
One can still walk through the bridge, but not drive through it. Access to the creek level is most easily gained from the west side. There is also a sizable parking lot on the west side of the bridge, so I am guessing that this bridge is now set up as a prime tourist attraction. A couple of people did come and go, while I was here.
The interior photograph is an HDR image made from multiple exposures.
Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, multiple exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/125s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Prior to visiting Indiana in October, 2019, I had never realized that Indiana had so many covered bridges. I have seen numerous covered bridges in the New England states, which seem to get lots of attention, but I had never heard much about covered bridges anywhere else.
Part of the reason for our trip to Indiana was to attend a number of the Covered Bridge Festivals in an area west of Indianapolis. These are very popular events, drawing many locals and others from far away. Local organizers of these festivals provide maps with suggested routes to bridges nearby the festival sites.
I’ve always been intrigued by old covered, wood bridges, most of which were built in the 1800s to early 1900s, so I knew I wanted to try photographing as many as my time would allow. I was not at all sure about how or when to best photograph the local bridges, having never visited any of them and having no idea of the setting, nor the lighting at various times of the day.
So one afternoon, with one of the maps to a few bridges, I headed to the northern most bridge on the map, planning to work my way south from there, visiting as many bridges as possible before dark.
Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, Multiple Exposures, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Th first image is an HDR made from multiple exposures, while the second is a single exposure. The exterior is brightly lit by the sunlight, but the interior is in shadow, so no single exposure will capture details in both the interior and exterior. If the vegetation looks a bit blurred in the HDR, it is because it was a very windy day and anything moving between images complicates merging multiple exposures. I’ve tried to minimize this “ghosting” effect, but I’m sure some remains. These image look similar, but note that the interior is brighter in the HDR with more detail visible and the sky is not over exposed as it is in the single image. The colors are also a little different between the images and maybe I should have paid more attention to the HDR color editing. I think the single exposure colors are more accurate.
Shooting the dark interior with bright light coming through the top, side vents and from the opposite end of the bridge, also required resorting to HDR. Even so, the exterior is over exposed.
Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
In the second interior image, I minimized the effect of the exterior overexposure problem by shooting at a different angle, which allowed for a more effective use of a graduated neutral density filter; but the shutter speed is slow, so the vegetation seen through the vents and at the end of the bridge is blurry due to motion. An HDR might have been a better choice for this type image, but I wasn’t keen on shooting the interior and I had more ground to cover this afternoon, so I did not take a lot of time inside the bridge.
Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
There was so much motion of the vegetation caused by the wind, that I had to use high ISO to get sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. The high ISO resulted in more noise, which I’ve tried to minimize in post processing.
Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/500s, ISO 2000, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
The exterior of Cornstalk was not easy to shoot. I found a way down into the dry portion of the creek channel, but I could not get to a good view point, without wading through water and mud and I was not prepared to do that. So my side shots here are limited to views from the creek shore.
Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
The image above is from the opposite end of the bridge from the first image. The lighting on this end was different than on the other end, making the colors darker. Even though it was cloudy, the sky was still bright, so I used a graduated neutral density filter to help balance the exposure across the entire image. There is no distinct line between the sky and the rest of the image, so I put the dark portion of the filter over the entire image, with the darkest portion over the upper part. This increases the color saturation of the entire image.
The third bridge that I photographed in the afternoon of my first day of seeking covered bridges in Indiana was the Bakers Camp Bridge.
Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 1250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
I made use of a fairly new looking fence in a grassy area on one side of the bridge as a leading line to the bridge.
At the end of the fence line, near the bridge, I found a way down to the edge of the creek from which I made several photographs with reflections of the bridge in the creek, after removing some distracting litter along the near shore line. It is not always possible to physically remove distracting objects, but whenever it is, I like to do so, since that is far easier than having to remove the objects later in post processing.
Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 22mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Walking back up to the front of the bridge, I made the usual frontal close up to get the bridge name and date into a photograph.
Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
I then walked onto the bridge to attempt shooting inside. I stood on one side in case of traffic, which is not usually heavy across these country bridges, but not unusual either. In fact, one friendly lady, driving an SUV, stopped momentarily to ask if I was getting good photographs.
Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, multiple exposures, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Since it is dark inside these bridges, I used a high ISO and, due to the bright light at the end and from the top side vents, I made multiple exposures, combining them into an HDR image in post processing.
I walked on through and made other images from the opposite end.
Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
On day two in Escalante, my two sons and I went back to Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, this time with several cargo tie down straps to use as aids, if necessary in getting into and out of the upper portion of the canyon.
The two sons with me had some experience with rock climbing. The oldest dropped into the canyon via the steep slick rock at the upstream entrance point, leaving his backpack and camera behind on this test entrance into the canyon. He was able to immediately climb out. Now we knew that at least one of us could climb out unassisted and if necessary, he could assist the other two of us out. So we all entered the canyon to begin our exploration and photography inside it.
This entrance point was in a wide, open portion of the canyon with the very narrow, short section at the beginning of the canyon on one end of the open area and the entrance to the main portion of the canyon on the opposite end.
We looked into the short beginning section first, one at a time, since it was too small for more than one person at a time to get into and out of.
Shadow Photographer. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm DX at 12mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
While waiting my turn to enter the first section of the slot, I killed some time shooting my shadow on the sunlit side of the canyon.
Shadow Photographer. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm DX at 12mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.The upstream end of Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm DX at 12mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
The upstream beginning of the slot is shown in the photo above. It is clear from the photo how narrow the entrance is and one can only go a short distance into this section of the slot.
Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm, f/11, (three shots HDR, 2.0s, 1.3s, 0.8s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR, Skylum Aurora 2019 and Color Efex Pro 4.
We worked our way through the slot, photographing as we went along.
Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I do not recall meeting anyone coming from the other end of the canyon on our way down towards the main entrance; but we did begin to meet a few others as we went back up to our drop in point.
Upstream side of a small arch in Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm, f/11, 2.5s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Not far from the downstream entry, there is a small arch cut into the rock, which one can see near the bottom center of the photo above.
Downstream end of a small arch in Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm, f/11, 6.0s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
One has to crawl through the small arch to proceed. The downstream view of the arch is the light area in the center of the photo above. The opening is quite small, so only small people can fit through it. There is some room around the side of the arch, which I recall being rather tight; but it might be possible to navigate around the arch, rather than through it. Going through the arch was definitely more fun than trying to go around it, anyway.
Triple Arch in Peek-A-Boo slot canyon, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm at 24mm, f/11, (4 exposure HDR, 0,8s, 1.0s, 1.3s, 1.6s), ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR, Skylum Aurora 2019 and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Just prior to the downstream entrance there are three large arches, which can be seen in the photo above. The large rocks in the foreground form one arch and the other two can be seen behind it.
Triple Arch in Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm at 15mm, f/13, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Looking over the rock at the bottom of the first arch, we saw a hole with muddy water in it. We could not tell how deep the hole and water were, so we did not attempt to go further, electing to back track up the canyon to our entrance point. One can see the light at the end of the slot near the top center of the photo above.
Thinking back to the previous day here, even had we or the young Swiss man gotten up the sheer entrance wall at the main, downstream entrance, it is unlikely that any of us would have been able to continue past this point.
We encountered several people on our trip back up the canyon, having to wait at the wider places in the slot to pass each other. As we got near the upstream entrance point, we found a 50-ish year old female hiker sitting on a ledge in the canyon wall. She had injured her knee along the way. Those that we passed in the canyon were her family members, whom she had told to go ahead and get her on the way out. She had only a small, almost empty, water bottle, so we first filled her bottle with water from one of our water reservoirs. Then, thinking it was not a good idea to leave her there by herself, we offered to help her get back to the entrance point, at least. She could put weight on her knee, but had to be careful not to let it bend sideways, as it would give way. I let her lean on me as we slowly worked our way back to the entrance. I was a bit concerned about supporting her, as she was not a small (not obese, but hefty) woman.
Upon arriving at the entrance, we were considering how we could get her out of the canyon and were in the process of tying the cargo straps together, when another hiker came up from the main entrance direction. He told us he had a friend, a medic with technical climbing gear, back down the canyon, if we wanted to ask him for help. Of course, we did. So the hiker went back into the slot and returned with his friend. At some point the injured woman’s family members returned, as well.
The medic examined the knee and recognized the problem. The injured woman was a large animal veterinarian from upstate New York and she knew quite a bit about anatomy and what was wrong with her knee, with which the medic agreed. The medic also knew exactly how to rig up the ropes to make a sling for getting her out of the canyon. He and others then worked the rope to pull her up the steep slope of the canyon, while others went along by her to help and make sure she did not slip back.
Once on the canyon bank, my oldest son used paracord from his emergency bracelet to tie a portion of a tripod leg to the side of the injured vet’s leg to help keep the knee from bending sideways. She was able to use the remainder of the tripod as a walking stick. She and her family began the hike out, while we stayed behind, having a snack before we started back. We quickly caught up with the injured woman and her party, where they had stopped to rest for a few minutes.
We hiked ahead, thinking it was going to be a slow, arduous hike for the injured woman, especially when they got to the steep, sandy slope followed by the slick rock climb back to the parking area.
On our way back along Hole In The Rock Road, we passed an SUV that was upside down just off of the roadway. There were young boys, maybe college age, standing around and a sheriff’s deputy in his vehicle. Fortunately, no one seemed injured. We speculate that they were driving too fast on the very washboarded road and lost control of their vehicle, sliding off to the side and flipping. We had noted that one had to drive slowly or the bouncing caused by the washboarding would cause a vehicle to drift.
In the late afternoon, we returned along this roadway to an area called Devil’s Garden, where we would shoot at sunset and then star trail photos after dark.
Devil’s Garden Rocks, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 24-70mm at 62mm, f/13, 1/25s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
As we were scouting around the area, I heard someone call, “Hey, guys”. I initially thought I had walked into someone’s photo composition and looking around, I spotted the large animal veterinarian. She was wearing a knee brace and walking with crutches. We were happy to see that she had gotten back from her hike and surprised to see her out again. She told us she had been telling everyone about how we came along and helped her out of the slot canyon.
Metate Arch, Devil’s Garden, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/20s, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Escalante Devil’s Garden Rock Formations. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm DX at 18mm (prior to crop), f/22, 1/8s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4
I know this has been a long post, but I hope that readers will glean some safety tips here, in addition to photographic tips for photographing in this area.
Metate Arch, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 24-70mm at 60mm, f/13, 1/50s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Metate Arch, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm DX at 12mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4Devil’s Garden Star Trails 2014. The foreground rock is light painted and captured with a Nikon D90, Nikon 24-70mm @ 31mm, f/8, 105s, ISO 200. The star trails are produced by stacking the foreground shot with 65 90s exposures shot with Nikon D90, Nikon 24-70mm at 31mm, f/2.8, ISO 200. Preliminary edits in Adobe LR, photos stacked in Adobe Photoshop.
There is much more to see in this area (we never got to Zebra Slot or to the end of Hole In The Rock Road), so I expect I will return one day.
On our last day near Escalante, as we were leaving, we hiked several miles along a sandy creek to a waterfall. I’m including one photo of that fall here.
Lower Calf Creek Falls, Escalante, Utah. Nikon D90, Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm, f/22, 1/10s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This will be the last post for this year. I wish and hope that you all have a happy holiday season.
