Monochrome Photography – Page 3 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot

I’ve decided to move on to our final sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, rather than write another blog on our early morning shoot near our campground. But I will include one more image from that early morning shoot here.

Initially, I did not think highly of this image, but the more I looked at it, the better I liked it. The shadows, colors and features in the foreground rock with its ridge leading into the background were the impetus for this composition. Maybe my thought process leading to this composition was ok, after all.

Moving on…

The earliest photos shot while scouting and anticipating golden hour are seldom the (my) best, many do not even get processed and sometimes I’m grasping to just find something in these shots worthy of posting anywhere. So I apologize in advance, if my images chosen for this post are of little interest to readers.

There must be a better composition here.

And there is a better composition here, but I did not see it until near the end of this sunset shoot. Sometime one must move around more to see the obvious. I will return to this location in another post with much better compositions at this location.

Wandering about, I walked down a narrow passageway between two massive rock features, noted the nooks, holes and vertical feature in one of those rocks and I had to stop to capture this with late day sun on features in the background.

Nooks and Crannies – Monochrome – Close up

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 26 – Sunrise Near Campground

My son and I decided to walk from our campsite into the nearby area for a sunrise shoot on our final day in Valley of Fire State Park. The scenery near the campground is not as impressive as in other areas in the park, so I was not sure how this would turn out.

The early morning light enhanced the color in the rock features and highlighted the desert grasses, but as I edited the photos, I felt that a monochromatic treatment was more appropriate for many of the scenes that I captured.

The early morning light was good, the color in the rocks good and I always like the way the low elevation sunlight highlights the desert vegetation. To be sure the light quality was what drives us to get up early to photograph the landscape, but maybe it was the lack of spectacular features and the clear, bland sky that inspired me to go with monochrome for these few selected photos.

I’m still trying to decide whether to post other photos from this morning’s shoot or move on to our final sunset shoot. My indecision and the need to review more images, plus other distractions, might create an interruption of my goal of posting twice weekly.

Indecisively yours,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park and Nearby, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 6 – Monochrome Desert

This is a continuation of hiking and exploration in Valley of Fire State Park and nearby areas, Nevada. All of the photos in this post were shot with an iPhone 14 and converted to monochrome.

This “Dark Shelter” is not in Valley of fire. This is along a 4 wheel drive road outside the park.

Indiana Fall 2022 – A Short Walk and A Short Drive

One morning before going out for the day, I walked just less than a mile down the country roadway that went past our cabin. I knew there was an old barn in the neighborhood that I had passed by many times and never taken time to photograph.

After conversion to black and white, I use selective colorization to bring out a little of the fall color in the nearby trees and a little color on the barn.

We had friends with us for the first week of this fall visit to Indiana. I wanted to show them at least one covered bridge, since they had never seen one. They did not want to spend hours in a vehicle to get to an area with lots of covered bridges, but there was one small covered bridge just a few minutes away, one that I had seen on a previous visit to this area.

This bridge is located along a narrow country roadway, where there is limited space to pull over and turn around. Our friends were driving today. I routed them to the bridge along the best part of the access roadway, but turning around to get back out was a challenge for their minivan. Continuing without turning around would have presented other problems, if another vehicle came along going in the opposite direction.

More Indiana Fall later,

Ken

Indiana Fall 2022 – Old Stuff – Part 1

Visits to Indiana with my wife always require visits to local, and sometimes not so local, antique stores. To occupy my time I look for interesting photo subjects for my camera phone.

I used such equipment as this waveform generator in a physics lab.

To be continued,

Ken

Indiana Fall 2022 – Nashville

Nashville, Indiana is the nearest town to the cabin we stay in while visiting Indiana in the fall. It is a quaint tourist town with all that such towns offer – lots of tourist, crowds, expensive stores selling all kinds of goods, expensive restaurants, limited parking.

I am not a fan of such places, but it is always mandatory to take in some of this tourist town on each visit. I usually end up pacing the sidewalk, while my wife shops.

Sometimes I shoot a few photographs of the local scene with my iPhone camera.

Decorative grass and flowers are common along the streets of downtown Nashville. The sunlight highlighting the plumes on this one inspired me to shoot it, cropping in close to exclude the street scene.

Nashville is most popular in the fall with the nearby Brown County State Park a draw for leaf peepers. Artwork and crafts related to fall are common place.

This is a small portion of an alleyway wall mural.

That’s it for today,

Ken

Indiana Fall 2022 – Part 7 – Old Automobiles

Continued from Part 6:

That’s it for the old autos.

Ken

Indiana Fall 2022 – Part 6 – Old Automobiles

I do not recall seeing, or even being aware of, a Frazer automobile prior to finding several in a parking lot at an antique/junk place in Edinburg, Indiana. The one in the photo above is in rather good condition for its age.

I included Sunburst Master in the title of the photograph, because of the many (more than 20) sunburst reflections in the chrome.

There were lots of unsightly distractions around the automobiles here, so I did my best to exclude those in my images, which greatly restricted how I could photograph the vehicles.

Those wanting to learn more about these antique autos can learn about them at these (and other websites via online search): Frazer, DeSoto, Rover 75, Ford PU Truck, Packard.To be continued,

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

Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – September 2022, Part 1

When traveling from one destination to another, I always keep an eye out for interesting subjects to photograph. Taking time to stop and photograph in route helps to break up a trip and it is good to take breaks from sitting in a vehicle for hours at a time. So if I can afford the time, I will stop as often as necessary to capture images along my route.

There are many abandoned homes throughout rural areas. Often these can be photographed from a public roadway. These abandoned places are always on private property and nearly always posted with “No Trespassing” signs. Please respect others’ property and obey these postings or get permission for access.

When shooting such scenes during a road trip, one can’t be too choosy about the time of day or the lighting conditions. It is best to get a shot, when the opportunity arrises, as one may never pass this way again. Indeed, on this trip and others, I’ve often used the excuse of being in a hurry or worrying too much about shooting conditions and passed up opportunities. I nearly always regret those decisions.

More road trip shooting next,

Ken

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Tag: Monochrome Photography

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 26 – Sunrise Near Campground

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Valley of Fire State Park and Nearby, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 6 – Monochrome Desert

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Indiana Fall 2022 – A Short Walk and A Short Drive

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Indiana Fall 2022 – Old Stuff – Part 1

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Indiana Fall 2022 – Nashville

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Indiana Fall 2022 – Part 7 – Old Automobiles

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Indiana Fall 2022 – Part 6 – Old Automobiles

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

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Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – September 2022, Part 1

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