Continued from Part 6:
That’s it for the old autos.
Ken
Indiana Fall 2022 – Part 7 – Old Automobiles
Tag: Monochrome Photos
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
There were pretty wildflowers growing in the campground area.
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.
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.
There were plentiful Prickly Pear Cacti in this area.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Rural Decay and Photography
The first day’s drive towards home was long and I had taken considerable time in the morning, stopping to shoot images in route between Hotchkiss and Gunnison. I could not spare much more time for in route photo stops, but I knew there were a number of abandoned structures along the remaining route that I might want to stop to photograph, if conditions were suitable.
I’ve driven past this abandoned country church many times. I always wanted to photograph it, but usually it was mid-day, with harsh light and clear sky, when I was passing by. It was maybe mid-afternoon when I spotted it today, the light was not great, but at least there were big, fluffy clouds to add interest in the sky. I decided today was maybe the best conditions that I would ever have to photograph here.
There is another small town in New Mexico with numerous abandoned structures, where I have stopped a couple of times to photograph, usually under harsh mid-day light. Today it was late day, just before sunset, when I was in that neighborhood, so I had to stop to see what I could do with more favorable light.
I think these are the best photos of these abandoned schools that I have gotten to date. It was just a matter of fortunate timing to be here as the sun was setting.
A few miles down the road, we noted a full, golden moon on the horizon. If I had only hung around that small town, I might have had opportunities to get photos of those old abandoned structures with the golden moon in the shots. We still had a few miles to our night’s lodging and in our haste to get there, I had again blown a good photographic opportunity, one that I will probably never have again.
Until next time,
Ken
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 22 – Cathedral Valley Exploration
My readers have already seen many photos of some of the fantastic, massive geological features in the Cathedral Valley portion of Capitol Reef National Park. The long loop road through this area passes many such features. We did not have time to explore around all of these and certainly not time to visit each area for golden hour sunrise or sunset photography.
But we did stop and walk around at some of the more easily accessible areas near the roadway. Often, I would use my iPhone camera to capture the scenes, rather than lugging around a heavy DSLR and lens.
Until next time,
Ken
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 5 – Cathedral Valley
This is a continuation of photographs shot in Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park shot in March of 2022.
This sinkhole is deeper than this photo makes it appear. Falling in would be undesirable.
To be continued,
Ken
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 4 – Cathedral Valley
One of the most fascinating areas in Capitol Reef National Park is Cathedral Valley, located in the northeastern portion of the park. There are two access routes into/through this area from Utah Highway 24. The access closest to the visitor center requires a river ford, while the other, nearer Hanksville, does not require a river ford and gets into the most scenic portion much sooner than the river ford access point.
The geology in this area is varied and great for photography. We visited numerous times and only scratched the surface of the photographic opportunities here. I will devote a number of post to this area.
Initially, we hit the most popular areas in this very large valley and scouted for the places we wanted to get to at golden hours, which was a challenge, given the many miles of driving to get here from our lodging and the limited time we had to work this very large area.
I see opportunities to organize my photographs of this area into themes, but rather than take the organizational time required for that at this time, I’m posting images in the order that they were taken.
Enough for now, more later,
Ken
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 3 – Capitol Gorge
South of the Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Center at the end of the paved road is the Capitol Gorge Trailhead. We hiked a short distance down the canyon, then up a short, steep trail to check out natural water tanks formed in low places along a water drainage.
I captured a few images in the canyon in route.
The snow like blobs in these photos are foamy floaters in the water.
Water flow has cut through rock forming a small arch along the occasional stream bed.
Early visitors in this canyon left their names and dates high up on the canyon wall. These marking are much higher than anyone other than a giant can reach. Maybe some stood on horses or wagons to leave their mark here or maybe the canyon was not as deep many years ago?
I cannot recall where in the park this final photo was taken, but I think it was shot along the unimproved dirt road that continues past the end of the paved roadway from the Capitol Gorge Trailhead parking area.
More later,
Ken