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

This is the second part of our final sunset shoot in March 2023 in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Rock Art

I’m always amazed at the rock sculpture nature provides for us to enjoy.

Wary Rock

There is definitely a wary looking face in this rock that appears to be watching me as I make this image.  Maybe this rock has had bad experiences with humans in the past.

Sandfall

While the image may not be a greatly attractive scene, I found it interesting enough to take time to capture it.  There is much texture, interesting rock shapes and lines running through the rock.  The image name is for the narrow wash in the center that has an accumulation of sand at the bottom center.

Catcher’s Mitt

I moved to the right from the last composition to make this image, which shows off some of the more interesting features in the rock.  The rock at the top, with its concave erosional form reminds me of a baseball catcher’s mitt.  With the Texas Rangers clinching a berth in the 2023 World Series, maybe this is an appropriate time to post this image.

Catcher’s Mitt

A close up, color version, of the “Catcher’s Mitt”.

Natural Shelters

Erosion has created holes in these rocks that I can imagine animals or ancient people using as shelters.  Modern day man might even take temporary shelter in one of these in an emergency.

To be continued,

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.

Mud Abstract, iPhone Photo
Cholla Shadow, iPhone Photo
Desert Texture, iPhone Photo
Rock Shelter, iPhone Photo
Dark Shelter, iPhone Photo

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

Monochrome Desert 2, iPhone Photo
Curvaceous, iPhone Photo
Desert Shadows, iPhone Photo
Energy Portal, iPhone Photo

More from the Nevada desert later,

Ken

 

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.

Overgrown, iPhone Photo
Fall Lean, iPhone Photo
Around the Bend, iPhone Photo
Fading in the Fall 2, iPhone Photo

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.

Fading in the Fall, iPhone Photo

 

Cypress Fall, iPhone Photo

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.

Bean Blossom Bridge, iPhone Photo
Bean Blossom Bridge, iPhone Photo

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.

Ringers, iPhone Photo
Axed, iPhone Photo
Old Trio, iPhone Photo
Keyed, iPhone Photo
Same Old Grind, iPhone Photo
Trans-Oceanic, iPhone Photo
Sweep Generator, iPhone Photo

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

Simple Focus Adjustment, iPhone Photo
Faded Rule, iPhone Photo
Hammered, iPhone Photo
Sheared, iPhone Photo

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.

Monochrome Grass, iPhone Photo

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.

Fall Artwork, iPhone Photo

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.

Metallic Leaves, iPhone Photo
Almost Lunch Time, iPhone Photo
Alley Mural, iPhone Photo

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:

Scrolling Along
Chevy Grunge
Lamp Shadow
Austin Front End
Austin
Austin Fall
Austin Fall 2
Sagging
Blue Light Special
Shamrock Dodge
Rusty, Orange Chevy Truck
Galaxie

That’s it for the old autos.

Ken

Indiana Fall 2022 – Part 6 – Old Automobiles

Frazer – Sunburst Master

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.

DeSoto – Fluid Drive
DeSoto – Reflections
Rover 75
Rusty Frazer
Pennsylvania 76
Rusty Frazer 2
Tied Down
Packard Fade
No Registration
Fading Automobile
Nash Grill

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

Monochrome Barn

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.

Stacked
Gathering Grass – Monochrome with Selective Colorization

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

Relaxed
Indiana Farm Sheds
Fall Lounge
Support
3160

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

Wet, Rusty, Tin Roof
Full Tilt Fall
Log Barn
Colorful Fall Hillside

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

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Part 3

Continued from Part 2, Day one AM

I continued driving SD Route 240 through Badlands National Park looking for other photography opportunities.

Yes, my collar is the latest fashion here.

Near one pullout there was a small herd of Bighorn sheep posing for the park visitors that had begun to filter into the park.  It might not be appropriate to refer to these Bighorn as “wildlife”, since they do not pay much attention at all to the visitors, do not appear aggressive (at least, these ewe and lambs) and can be approached fairly closely.  Yet, I put on my big zoom, just to be able to shoot from a distance without getting so close as to possible startle or cause them to move away.

Basking in Sun and Nature’s Garden
Undercover Operator
Can you hear me now?
Bighorn Lamb
Shutting out the tourist hoard
No, I’m not getting up to pose.

Today’s journey through Badlands National Park will continue,

Ken

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma – Quanah Parker Lake and Little Baldy Scouting Photography

With a final destination of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, I needed stops in route to break up the long road trip.  I searched the maps of the states I would travel through to get to the Badlands for possibilities.  The first place that I noted in Oklahoma was the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, which is only a few hours drive from my home base.  I searched online for information about the refuge and looked for photos taken in the refuge.  The results of that research convinced me that I should spend a couple of nights in the refuge RV campground.

Prior to this visit, I had no idea that such a place was so close by and that there were actually old granite mountains in the southwestern part of Oklahoma.  Since I was traveling just after the busy summer season, there were plenty of RV sites from which to choose.  After consulting the online campground map, I chose a site that looked like it was conveniently located near the restroom facility and near hiking trails from the campground.

It turned out that my campsite was just across a campground road from the campground hosts.  I stopped by to chat with the hosts, let them know that I had arrived, get updates on the campground rules and conditions and get their advice on locations for sunset and sunrise photography.

I find that most non-photographers have completely different concepts about sunset/sunrise photography than do photographers.  Still it is good to get local knowledge, especially for first visits to a location.  After checking out the locations on the refuge map of the hosts’ suggestions, I decided that I should check out the area around the campground first and scout the suggested areas the following day.

I walked around the campground to get my bearings, find the trails originating in the campground and check out those trails.  The refuge map is sketchy.  Others that I encountered during my exploration of the large refuge area, expressed the same frustration with the refuge map.

Hole In One, Wildflowers, iPhone Photo

There were pretty wildflowers growing in the campground area.

Spider Like Wildflowers, iPhone Photo

After some effort and hiking much farther around the campground, than should have been necessary, I found the trail that I wanted to explore.  The trailhead was visible from my campsite, but the trailhead was not marked!  There were also branches along the trail, some branches clearly traveled trails, some branches not so clearly used and it was not even clear that those branches were actually trails and there were no markings along the trails.

It was not an area that one could get lost in, during daylight at least, so I did not mind exploring and I eventually found my way to my chosen destination.

Washout Out, iPhone Scouting Photo
Wildflowers, iPhone Photo
Wildflowers, iPhone Photo

One branch of the trail went around nearby Quanah Parker Lake.  After hiking portions of that trail, I could see no good views for sunset photography, so I chose a branch that went away from the lake.  That branch took me through woods to the other side of the lake, which looked more promising for photography.

Quanah Parker Lake, iPhone Scouting Photo

There were plentiful Prickly Pear Cacti in this area.

Prickly Pear Spikes, iPhone Photo
Looking towards Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo

In addition to checking out the lake, I was interested in the map feature referred to as Little Baldy.  I was not really sure what to expect of Little Baldy nor where exactly it was, given the sketchy map, but I figured I would know it when I saw it.

On the way to Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo

There were many granite rocks and boulders scattered around, so I experimented with using those as foreground objects and tried to visualize how the scenes would look at sunset and sunrise.

Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo

When I spotted Little Baldy, I explored around and up its slope, trying to pick vantage points from which to shoot at sunset today and for sunrise the following morning.

Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
View from Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo

Shooting with the sun low in the sky, one’s shadow often becomes a problem to deal with.  Sometimes a desired composition just can’t be obtained without one’s shadow and compositional adjustments have to be made.

View from Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo

Now that I know where I want to be at sunset, I just have to figure out the timing for departing my campsite and getting into place prior to sunset.  I’ve now got a good idea of the most direct path from my campsite to my intended location, so all I have to do is time the hike.  Doing so as I returned to my campsite, it turned out that the hike is only about 10-15 minutes.  That is really convenient and means that I can return to camp after sunset shooting without hiking in the dark and I can even hike back for sunrise photos and not have to hike in morning darkness, either.

Standby for the sunset shoot,

Ken