More photos taken in rural America, during an early June 2025 roadtrip.
My first inclination was to call this “Puddle House” for an obvious reason. I had to shoot this old, abandoned house from a fence line near the roadway with a big zoom to get the close up image.
More relics are just down the road,
Ken
More photography in an area known as White Rocks in Southern Utah.
This group of hoodoos seem to be looking about for the fallen head of the headless stump in the background.
There are many of these “Flat Top” hoodoos in this area and many headless ones as those flat tops eventually fall off.
The square shape of the head on this hoodoo looks as if it could have been purposely shaped. Getting this image with that georgeous sky behind it was a bonus.
Maybe those rocks in the foreground are from previous hoodoos here?
The creases and lines in these rocks remind me of baked rolls.
As the various layers of rock erode and collapse from a wall here, interesting textural features are created with lines, shapes and fractures.
The sunlight disappears well before sunset over most of this erroded valley, limiting the opportunity for golden hour light.
Shooting from “behind” these hoodoos, looking down and over the valley of their dominion, seeing that valuey as they see it.
Thanks for following and stay tuned for more White Rocks photography,
Ken
More photos from Southern Utah, March 2025.
If one looks very closely, for a sense of scale, there is a photographer in the upper left of this image.
Thanks for following and stay tuned for more Utah landscape photographs,
Ken
This post is a continuation of photography in an area of Southern Utah that is commonly referred to as “White Rocks”. There are many interesting rock features in this area.
I have to admit to cheating a little in the editing of this first image. In the original image there was a big rock where the two in the foreground are now. I found that single, large rock distracting, so I used Lightroom’s AI tool to break that rock into smaller rocks. This tool is often used to remove objects, but it can also modify objects. the tool creates three choices from which to choose at each activation and one can repeat the activation, if none of the choices are desirable. I could have completely removed that big rock, but that did not seem appropriate, so I chose this broken rock alternative, which I think fits better with the other rocks in the “Broken Circle”. Some will object to this blatant modification of a landscape, but I’ve finally gotten to the point of seeing such photography as much as art as in faithfully copying what nature provides. So I’m ok with modifications, within reasonable limits and we have to use our own judgment as to what is “reasonable”.
Geologist refer to these rock features as “hoodoos” or “toadstools”. To me the rock atop the pedestal in the foreground here looks like a toad. So Maybe this is a “Toad’s Stool”.
I titled this “Parent and Child”, but I can also see it as a dog with its tail sticking up. Some people’s pareiodlia may see it otherwise, but in the end it is another of natures marvelous creations, no matter how we perceive it.
This hoodoo, supported by many rock layers, seems to be looking down into the valley at those which lie below its lofty perch.
I made this second image of “Parent and Child” a few minutes after the first, composing from a different angle. Within those few minutes, the sky in the background had changed significantly due to the windy conditions, illustrating how a minor change in view point and changing environmently conditions can affect a photograph.
Just a pair of stylish, cartoon like hoodoos in Southern Utah.
A close up of the hoodoo with the pink bonnet in the previous image and a conversion to monochrome, give a completly different interpretation to this scene.
Getting into a position to make this image was not easy. Steep slopes with gravel size rock chips and thin layers of sand over the hard rock surface and other obstacles, made moving around treacherous and positioning awkward.
These hoodoos are the same one presented in individual photos. Grouping these into one shot, I’m imagining a father, child and mother in these rock shapes, all peering down into the valley below.
Another group of hoodoos that look like a family unit. Dad in the background, mom on the right, casting a sideways look at the child in a curious manner.
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more Southern Utah landscapes,
Ken
This is a continuation of my fall photography, using in camera multiple exposures.
“Hole in Log” surprised me. There was a leaf in a hole in an old log, which I photographed, then placed a leaf over that hole and photographed it. I expected to see at least part of the leaf in the hole showing through in the multiple exposure, but the blackness of the hole resulted in the pixels in the leaf over the hole taking precedence, resulting in a shape in the covering leaf in the shape of the hole.
To be continued,
Ken
My wife and I made a road trip from our Indiana cabin lodging to Madison, Indiana, during our traditional fall stay in Indiana.
Madison is a picturesque, small city in Southern Indiana. There are a number of enticing antique and craft venues, favorite shopping for my wife, in Madison. A river runs through the area and one of the larger antique markets is located within sight of the river, maybe a block or two away, with open areas between that venue and the river and the park along the river. This provides me with an opportunity to walk around by the riverside, while my wife shops.
There were many of these trees with their red/yellow fall foliage along the streets and in the yards of homes in Madison and many fallen leaves beneath the trees and in the streets. This is probably a mundane fall event for those in this part of the country, but rare for one from Texas.
We were here a couple of days before Halloween. I noted natural features in the trees along the riverside that would make good Halloween photos. I captured images of a number of these features, but did not get the images processed in time for a Halloween post.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Don’t be here, when the sun goes down tonight.
Our neighbors here in the backwoods of Indiana are friendly, but I don’t know about their dog.
Happy Halloween and stay safe,
Ken
After my early morning photography, my wife and I returned to the park to drive to Glacier Point. It is a long drive, but well worth the time, as the views from the stops along this route are spectacular.
I shot with both my iPhone and my DSLR with 24-70mm lens and 80-400mm lens with an extension tube. It was not optimal time for the best light for landscape photography, but this was the only opportunity I would have to be here for the foreseeable future, so I captured many images while I could do so.
Sub Dome blends into the background in some of these shots, but it is just above and to the left of the two waterfalls, which might appear small in these images, but those are quite large.
Sub Dome towers above Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls.
The bridge over the stream feeding Nevada falls and the many people around the top of the falls only became apparent upon using the 80-400mm lens.
There were some people standing near the top of Vernal Falls in this image, but I removed them in Lightroom. I think there may be other people in the far background, but I did not attempt removing those small, fuzzy objects.
These images are representative of the views from Glacier Point and Washburn Point overlooks.
Thanks for following,
Ken
My online research suggested that Tunnel View at sunrise was a favorite Yosemite NP location for many photographers. I had not been happy with my evening photography at Tunnel View, so I decided to try again at sunrise.
I knew that this would require photographing directly into the rising sun and would be a challenge for getting a good exposure and timing would be critical for catching the first glimpse of the sun as it rose over the horizon.
The evening prior, I had shot with a 24-70mm lens, which did not let me acquire much detail of the distant rock features. So I opted to use my 80-400mm lens with a 1.4x extension at sunrise.
The sky was totally clear this morning, which was a disappointment, since the sky would be bland and uninteresting. Largely due to that bland sky, I converted the only reasonably good images I got this morning to monochrome.
I say pre-sunrise, only because the sun had not shown itself above the horizon that I see, but it is obviously already above the horizon behind this view.
The shadows in the sky cast by some of these rock features was a pleasant surprise and add interest to that bland sky. I especially like that dark streak radiating from the peak of Half Dome.
The sun rose at the right edge of Half Dome and this is the best image that I captured. I could have used software to enhance the sun’s starburst and brought up the shadows a bit more, but I like this more natural look, except for the bright halo behind the sun, which is a highlight that I could not avoid.
Until next time,
Ken
After spending a few days in San Jose, California where we enjoyed their annual Jazz Festival and visiting with our son and daughter in law, we traveled to Yosemite NP, staying in lodging just outside the park.
Getting into the park during peak hours of the peak season requires a permit. Fortunately, I was able to secure a permit good for three days, so we were able to drive into the park during the daily peak visiting hours and when going into the park for sunrise or sunset photos, I entered before or after peak hours, so I did not have to wait in line or stop at the entrance station.
Our lodging was not far from Tunnel View, which I had been informed was one of the best locations for photography, so I chose that site as my first sunset shoot. Even though we had driven around main portions of the park, after checking into our lodging, I had not scouted Tunnel View. So I really had no idea what to expect at that location.
As I was driving the route to Tunnel View, I noted that the big rock features along my route were getting some really good late day light, which made me think this would be a good photography outing and I was noting other possible locations for shooting at sunset.
There are two parking areas at Tunnel View, where there were many people, but I had no problem finding a place to park at this late hour of the day. After looking around, it appeared the best place from which to shoot was atop the stone wall bordering the parking lot in which I had chosen to pull into.
I made a number of iPhone images well before sunset and converted these to monochrome, since the color images were not all that interesting. The big feature on the left is El Capitan and in the distance, left of center, is Half Dome.
When golden hour arrived, it was obvious that due to the tall rocks behind me, most of the big rock features of Tunnel View would be in shade.
I cropped in more closely for Tunnel View 2, trying to emphasize more of the golden hour light that only appeared on the very tops a few features here.
The image above is a focus stack of several images shot with a 24-70mm lens.
There were clouds in the sky, which got some sunset color, but even that was not spectacular and faded quickly.
I waited and watched the clouds as the sunset progressed, hopping for at least some last minute spectacular colors, but that never happened.
This is a wonderful natural scene, but I came away disappointed in my photography experience today. Maybe I was not creative enough, or picked a poor place from which to shoot or maybe I was here at the wrong time, not in the best season, or I should have captured more images prior to golden hour. Whatever…, I do not think I captured this scene very well today.
Thanks for following,
Ken
