Landscape Photography – Page 14 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – Part 1

My oldest son, also a photo enthusiast and excellent photographer, met me in Snow Canyon on the first morning of my stay. The weather forecast called for considerable rainfall for our location over the next few days, so we began to consider our options. After some discussion and exploration of not too far away areas, we decided it best to move into Nevada in the vicinity of Valley of Fire State Park.

Valley of Fire State Park has two camping areas, one with full hookups for RVs and another with no hook ups, but water available. At the time of our visit, those campgrounds were still on a first come first serve basis. This is a popular destination in the spring, so it is difficult to get a camping spot. We stayed a few miles outside the park on BLM land for the first several night, traveling into the park and into adjacent areas. We made a few passes through the campsites, while in the park, looking for open sites. It was not unusual to see would be campers waiting in line for a campsite to be vacated that could be claimed.

As is our normal practice, we scouted areas for photography and I made many photos with my iPhone, during these outings. So part of this series of blogs will contain mostly those scouting photos.

I got down low to photograph this small cactus, making it look much larger than it is.

Late day sunlight lights up the rocks in Valley of Fire, enhancing the color, shadows and textures.

We spotted these two desert sheep as we were driving. I shot these from the vehicle. That slope is much steeper than this image makes it appear and the soil is loose, making their hooves slip with each step. These animals have a remarkable balance and the ability to navigate steep rugged terrain.

There is an old CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) multiple room crude cabin used by CCC members, who worked in the park during the Great Depression, in the park. The following image is from the larger of the three rooms.

More later,

Ken

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023 – Sunrise Day 2

I set out from my campsite before sunrise on the first morning after my arrival in Snow Canyon to hike to my chosen location for sunrise photography. It was a crisply cold morning, which I dressed for, but I was soon unzipping my jacket as my body generated heat from the gentle uphill hike.

I stopped at a location near petrified sand dunes, chose a location to set up my camera and waited for sunrise, making a few pre-sunrise images.

I’ve always liked the lighting just before sunrise and I often like those images better than those after the direct sunlight hits the subject.

I made a number of images as the direct rays of the rising sun began to impinge upon the distant canyon walls and add color to the sky.

After seeing the early morning rays touching the uppermost parts of the highest peaks, I began to hike back towards my campsite, looking for other scenes to photograph.

The park has rules requiring visitors to stay on the official trails, which is limiting for photographers. It does not appear that those rules are rigidly enforced. There were numerous footprints and even bike tire tracks in the sand, adding unsightly features in my photos. Sometimes I will edit these out or at least try to mute those via editing, but many times I think the editing introduces undesirable artifacts, so I might not eliminate all such features. It is likely that casual observers will not note the edits, but knowing where the edits are, I can nearly always see unnatural results and would rather not introduce those into my photos.

Until next time,

Ken

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023

In late March of 2023, I traveled to Snow Canyon State Park in Utah with the intention of staying here a full week. The park features, which are impressive, are essentially located along the roadway that goes through the park. However, due to the orientation of the canyon, sunrise works for golden hour photography in some portions of the park, but sunset golden hour is either very limited or non-existent. This was a disappointment, as that greatly limited my photographic possibilities here.

After checking into my campsite, I drove towards the south exit/entrance (I had entered via the north entrance) to check out the scenery in that direction and to get a cell phone signal. There is only a weak, at best, phone signal at the campground, but a good signal at and near the south entrance.

On my way back to the campsite, I stopped to check out Jenny’s Canyon, a very short slot canyon that is accessible via a short hike from the roadway.

Eastern Canyon Wall, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

I stopped to shoot this image of the canyon wall, that I hiked towards, which is the rock formation where Jenny’s Slot Canyon is located.

Big Mouth Rock, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

I noted this rock atop a portion of the canyon wall, that I dubbed “Big Mouth Rock” for obvious reason.

Sky Slash, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Sunlight filtering down into narrow canyons can create some remarkable color contrast on the canyon walls. The image above is shot looking upwards towards the sky from within the short slot canyon.

Sky Slash 2, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Canyon Wall Details, Jenny’s Canyon, Snow Canyon, Utah, iPhone Photo

Usually, I find something of interest to photograph in route to my destination, but I found nothing of special interest during my first two days of the drive. Maybe I wasn’t looking intently enough and too preoccupied with getting to my stops. Although, I did see this group of deer near the entrance to my first overnight stop.

There is always at least one in a group photo that is not looking at the camera. iPhone Photo.

I’ve picked out a general location for sunrise photos tomorrow. The results are next up.

Ken

Indiana Fall 2022 – Old and/Or Abandoned

With only one day left of our fall 2022 Indiana visit, I traveled the backroads from our cabin one last time. Many trees were already bare, peak color was nearly all gone, it was overcast and threatening rain, so I hoped to find interesting barns, old homes or other interesting rural scenes to photograph.

Those three trees out front were probably planted with the anticipation of sitting on the porch in their shade some years down the road. The child’s bike beside the house makes me think that a family lived here or maybe a child visited grandparents here.

I saw numerous other interesting rural scenes similar to these, but either there was no place to pull off of the roadway to photograph those or those were set back too far on private property to approach without permission.

This is the final post for Indiana Fall 2022.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Indiana Fall 2022 – Rainy Day at the Cabin

During the two weeks we were in Indiana this fall, we witnessed how fleeting the beauty of fall color can be.

These images were made from the back balcony of our cabin one rainy, misty day. When we first arrived, those bare trees had leaves and the tree on the left was nearly all green with only slight color beginning to show at the extremities of one branch.

Astute observers will note that these images are all of the same general scene with various compositions. The light rain, wetting the scene, brought out the color in the gray tree trunks, bare limbs and foliage, while at the same time muting the more distant trees.

Later,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 5 – Rustic Barn and Abandoned Home

I first saw this old barn and a nearby abandoned house, while in route to another destination. I came back a few days later to photograph these old, rustic buildings.

Quaint, Old, Abandoned Indiana Farm House

The image above was selected for Flickr’s Explore Page.

More fall in Indian 2022 later,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 4 – Indiana Backroads

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but here it is again: Backroads are often the best way to find uncommon beauty. Or maybe that should be common beauty, since it is all around us, but maybe taken for granted.

Is this a natural scar or a portal into another world? If a portal, would the other world be weirder than our’s today?

Until next time,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 3 – Rustic Farm Barn and Sheds

Traveling an Indiana backroad I saw a group of old, rustic farm structures in various stages of structural failure. The roadway was narrow. Parking alongside the roadway and photographing from the roadway would not be satisfactory nor very safe. There was only one house nearby, so I stopped and knocked on the door. A lady with her hair in curlers opened the door and I briefly explained why I was there, asking if it would be ok for me to photography those old structures. She quickly said she was sure it would be ok, although, I’m rather sure she was not the owner, but maybe others have asked her this same question.

There was a short grassy, dirt road at the old buildings. I parked on that dirt road, just off of the pavement far enough for safety and proceeded to walk around the area photographing the buildings from various angles.

Gathering Grass – Monochrome with Selective Colorization

A rolling stone may gather no moss, but a stationary wheel can gather grass.

I lived in a house with this same number many years ago.

After photographing the rustic farm building, I continued to meander around the backroads looking for other fall photographic opportunities. This final photo is a teaser for the next post.

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 2

In Brown County State Park I walked along a creek capturing fall color alongside the creek bed.

Having an interest in geology, I had to include some of the rock layers exposed along the creek bed.

There were only a few shallow puddles of water in the creek, so walking in and along the creek bed did not require getting my feet wet.

More fall in Indiana later,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 1

My wife and I began a tradition of spending a couple of weeks in Indiana in the fall a few years ago. There are multiple reasons why we established this tradition. 1. My wife has relatives in the area, having lived in Indianapolis during her early childhood. 2. A relative allows us to stay in their weekend cabin that is very near Brown County State Park, which is a very popular place in the fall. 3. We both enjoy seeing fall color in the hardwood forests in this part of the U.S. 4. I get to photograph the fall color and write about it in this blog.

Timing our visit to see the best of the fall color is always hit or miss. Sometimes we are too early, sometimes too late and sometimes we see the peak fall color.

Photographing in the same location at the same time of the year is a challenge and I often worry about my photographic images being too repetitive. After all, how many ways can one photograph trees, forests, barns and fall scenes? Lots, actually, but how many are unique? Trying to get unique and interesting images is a challenge. I can only hope that the scenery varies sufficiently, year by year that my images will not be too boring.

Driving the backroads of Indiana is a good way to appreciate the fall color and other rural fall country scenes.

The barn in this image sits far back from a roadway on private property. I shot it with a telephoto lens from the edge of the roadway, hand holding the camera. I shot from different perspectives trying to get shots with the least amount of that pile of debris in front of it in the image. However, this image may be the best overall, even with that unsightly mess in front of the barn.

I was a little late for the actual sunrise at this location in Brown County Park, so I walked down a slope into the briars, weeds, grasses and brushy growth, thinking a shot from within all that foreground clutter might at least be different than that of the early photographers that were wrapping up their sunrise shoot from the top of the slope and there was no way to avoid getting that messy foreground in a shot from anywhere here.

I had to spend a considerable amount of time picking the stick tights from my clothing after this mornings’ shoot.

Until next time,

Ken

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Tag: Landscape Photography

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – Part 1

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Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023 – Sunrise Day 2

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Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, March 2023

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Indiana Fall 2022 – Old and/Or Abandoned

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Indiana Fall 2022 – Rainy Day at the Cabin

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Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 5 – Rustic Barn and Abandoned Home

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Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 4 – Indiana Backroads

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Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 3 – Rustic Farm Barn and Sheds

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Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 2

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Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 1

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