Rock Forms – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Lake Tahoe, August 2024, Part 1

From Yosemite we traveled to South Lake Tahoe, where we stayed for a couple of nights before hitting the road for the long drive back home. The drive to Lake Tahoe was a scenic one with the first part a long drive through the western portion of Yosemite that we had not yet seen; although, that portion of Yosemite is not nearly as scenic as the eastern portion.

My GPS changed our route after we exited the park, supposedly due to a road closure on the original route. Maybe this was a good change, since I had seen portions of the original route during a visit to that area earlier in the year. So I got to see some backroad areas that I would not have seen, otherwise and a long portion of the drive, coming down from a higher elevation, was on a steep, curvy road where the road was visible for a good distance ahead and the steep hills with the roadway winding through was a scenic, if slow drive.

I had done a little online research of the Lake Tahoe area and had a few places in mind for photography. My first plan was to photograph sunrise at a site referred to as “Bonsai Rocks”, because of the little trees growing on big boulders in the edge of Lake Tahoe. I only had indications on a map of where these rocks were located and some descriptions of where to park and follow a trail to the “beach”. So I got up early in the morning intent on going out to find these big rocks with the little trees. But I suddenly realized that I would be wandering around in the dark trying to find a place that I was not sure how to find and I decided that might not be the safest thing to do, so I went back to bed.

After breakfast, my wife and I headed out to drive around Lake Tahoe and I planned to find those rocks along the way. I used my GPS directions on my phone to navigate to the place marked as “Bonsai Rocks”, finding that the destination was a pullout along the highway that skirted around the lake. I had visualized the roadway being adjacent to a beach area, where one could see those rocks from the roadway. That is not what I found. There was no sign at the pull out designating it as an access point for Bonsai Rocks, although I saw numerous trails going down the steep bank of the lake. So I grabbed my camera and began working my way down one of the trails. There were crisscrossing trails going down towards the lake, but no markings. Maybe these trails have been created over the years by people like me wandering around in this area trying to find those Bonsai Rocks. Not only were the Bonsai Rocks not visible from the roadway, they were mostly not visible from the trails, until one lucked upon the correct one and got close to the lake. I initially went the wrong way, finding some big boulders in the edge of the lake, but not the ones I was looking for. So I kept exploring the trails until I spotted the Bonsai Rocks.

August 15, 2024 — Kayakers on Blue Water

All this wandering around these trails in the daylight made me realize I made the right decision not to try this in the dark. Had I had time to scout the area first, I could have marked a trail digitally and followed that digital route or I could have probably had enough early morning pre-sunrise light to navigate by, if I had known where to go.

Not sure that I would actually find the Bonsai Rocks, I made photos of the lake, whenever I could do so along the maze of trails. I even came upon a young couple preparing to swim or sun on some of the near shore boulders and they could not tell me where the Bonsai Rocks were located.

Finally, after much wandering around and working my way northward, I spotted the Bonsai Rocks, which were covered by people, as I had expected from seeing so many kayakers and boaters on the lake.

To be continued,

Ken

Yosemite National Park – Part 6

While waiting for sunset golden hour at the edge of the Merced River at Yosemite Valley, I continued to make a few iPhone images of the scene in front of me, experimenting with compositional variations.

When the scenery is so marvelous, it is difficult to be satisfied with just a few image variations.

Bridal Veil Falls is visible in the distance across the river from this location and is seen in many of my compositions here, but usually as a small part of the image. I zoomed in to get this shot.

Looking ahead to the next post with these last two images, after shooting the golden hour with my DSLR, I made a few images with my iPhone as the golden hour ended.

Golden Hour Reflection in Merced River, iPhone Photo

Stay tuned for my final shoot in Yosemite,

Ken

Yosemite National Park – Part 5

For my final evening shoot in Yosemite, I decided to check out locations in the valley, finally choosing the Yosemite Valley View Point.

I arrived early to be sure I could find a place to park in the small pull out and walked around the area with my iPhone scouting shooting locations before I retrieved my tripod and DSLR from my vehicle.

I also experimented with test compositions, using my iPhone camera to do so.

I finally picked a place at the very edge of the Merced River at the parking lot. I would have like to have shot from farther done the river, but there were people sitting where they would be in most of my shots and lots of visitors wandering around that area, too. So I figured shooting across the river and back up the river from the parking lot area would avoid most such disturbances.

I set my tripod legs on rocks in the edge of the river and I had a rock to sit on while I waited for golden hour. While I waited, I made more images with my iPhone and a few test compositions with my DSLR.

More later,

Ken

Yosemite National Park – Part 4

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.

Half Dome, Sub Dome, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls – iPhone Photo

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.

Half Dome and surroundings, iPhone Photo

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

Yosemite National Park – Part 2

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.

Pre-Sunrise Monochrome at Tunnel View, Yosemite NP

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

Yosemite National Park – Part 1

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.

Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, iPhone Monochrome

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

Sedona, Arizona – Part 4

On my final afternoon in Sedona in August, 2024, I decided to go back to Bell Rock and to take the trail up Bell Rock to shoot at sunset.

There were still tourist about, but not so many as during the middle of the day. I’m guessing most tourist had been out during the middle of the day and were back in town for dinner at this late time of the day.

The Bell Rock trail is a wide, gently sloped, gravely path at the beginning and becomes more rocky and steep fairly quickly. Yet, it is mostly easy, with a few big steps, with one notable exception.

I got to one point, where I was not sure where the official trail went. There was a big rock in front of me with an obvious trail marker on top of the rock. There were a couple of young, female hikers, sitting on a rock there, enjoying a late day meal. I asked them about the trail and they indicated that it had to continue on top of the big rock, but they could see no safe way they could continue. One either had to somehow climb the rock, which had a step like rock at its base or navigate a narrow crevice on the other side of the rock. They said it was their first day in this area and they did not want to risk an injury and not be able to enjoy the rest of their stay here, so they stopped at this point.

I considered my options and decided I agreed with them about the risk of continuing on the officially marked route. I looked around, considered and ruled out another option, before deciding I saw a possible route that I could access by backtracking a little.

That alternate route was still not as easy as it looked from a distance. It involved climbing up onto two rock ledges. I laid my tripod and camera up upon each of those ledges in turn and climbed up on my hands and knees (and those hard rocks hurt old knees). After a little more navigation, I got back onto the official trail. Now I had to hope that I could safely get back down.

I shot this panorama with my iPhone. The rock features from right to left are: Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, Lee Mountain and unidentified ones on the far left.

Upon getting as high up on the Bell Rock slope as I could safely do, it was still well before sunset, yet most of Bell Rock was already in the shade of features to the west. It was obvious that the light illuminating the very peak of Bell Rock was the best “Golden Hour Light” that I would get today. So I made a couple of images and moved around on the rock ledge below this feature to photography the other local features.

Lee Mountain – As seen from the slope of Bell Rock

Lee Mountain (Left) and Courthouse Butte (Right)

This wraps up my photography in the area around Sedona, Arizona in August of 2024.

Thanks for following,

Ken

P.S. Obviously, I made it back down safely, otherwise this post would not exist. I took the official trail down, sliding down that big rock on my rear end until my feet reached the step rock at its base.

Sedona, Arizona – Part 3

This is a continuation of my early morning shoot at Cathedral Rock, near Sedona, Arizona.

After the very brief golden “hour” at Cathedral Rock, I began to work my way back towards the trail and look for other photographic subjects.

There were numerous Agave around, so I made numerous images of those, converting this one to monochrome.

And scattered clumps of grass with curly blades.

Just after the sun’s brief appearance, the cloud cover became heavier and obscured the sun. There were interesting rock features across the valley, so I used those as fore and middle ground to capture those magnificent clouds in the sky.

There were a few ocotillo with vibrant greenery and other trees in the area. I used those as foreground with Cathedral Rock in the background. This required focus stacking images to get good depth of field.

This wraps up this morning’s shoot.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Sedona, Arizona – Part 2

I had a limited time in Sedona and I had never been here previously, so I figured it best to visit the “easy” photographic targets, which were also popular ones.

I had visited the Bell Rock area on my first outing. Today, I planned an early morning shoot at Cathedral Rock. “Planned” is used very loosely. I had not scouted here, other than to drive through the parking lot one day. So I knew how to find the parking lot, but I had no idea about what was involved in hiking the trail nor did I have a scouted location from which to shoot.

There was only one other vehicle in the Cathedral Rock Trail parking lot, when I arrived in early morning dark. I could see lights on the slope at the base of the rock feature, so I figured there were early morning hikers out or maybe even one or more early morning photographers.

I had a quick snack, finished the cup of coffee I had brought from the motel, gathered my camera, tripod, headlamp and began walking through the parking lot, looking for the trailhead. In the dark, I walked past the trailhead, went into an adjacent parking area, where I encountered a small group of young people getting out of their vehicles. They greeted me in a friendly manner and I asked about the trailhead. They told me that I had just walked past it and where to find it. They also said I could follow them as they were headed that way. But I went ahead, just getting on the trail, when they quickly came in behind me. Seeing that they were experienced on this trail, had bright headlamps and were likely to be much faster hikers than me, I let them pass and fell in behind.

The trail was well defined, but rugged and a little steep as it headed uphill. After getting out of the forest on the lower slope of the trail, it became light enough that I did not need the headlamp and the young, energetic hikers rapidly gained ground ahead of me.

It was a warm, humid morning and I worked up a sweat before arriving at an open area beneath the Cathedral Rock feature. It was well before sunrise and I had a wide open view across the landscape to the east.

There were plentiful clouds in the sky and daylight was beginning to show in the distance. I made a few images of the pre-sunrise sky, then scouted around for a good place from which to shoot Cathedral Rock. I was disappointed at the views I had, looking up at that feature. The young hikers were nowhere to be seen and I assumed they had continued along the trail.

I began to work my way up a dry drainage, trying to get to a better vantage point, taking time to check out various locations off to the side of the drainage, up the steep slope, where ever I could safely do so.

I never succeeded in getting a really good, open view of the most attractive portions of the unique rock features, but being well off of the beaten path, maybe I got views that other have not. Setting up for these shots was not easy either, at times I had to abandon my tripod and shoot handheld.

Golden hour came suddenly and I was not where I wanted to be, but shot anyway and I like this image:

As I was shooting from well below these rock features, I kept hearing voices, which I hoped were not just in my head. Eventually, I realized the voices were coming from those young people I had followed part of the way up the trail and they were rock climbers, not just hikers. I could occasionally just barely make out one or two up on the rocks. That is when I realized that in the dim light, I had missed a junction in the trail that would have taken me to the base of these rocks. This is why knowledge of the area is important, when planning an effective photo shoot. So, someday maybe I will get back here and I will know where to go. But I can’t deny that I enjoyed the experience and challenge of exploring in the off trail area below the main feature.

If memory serves me correctly, I think I shot this image sitting on a narrow, slope ledge that I was able to pick my way onto above the dry drainage. The early morning clouds abbreviated the golden hour, which lasted for only a few minutes this morning.

To be continued,

Ken

Sedona, Arizona – Part 1

Sedona, Arizona is in a picturesque setting with massive, colorful rock formations all around. It is also a popular tourist city with all the trappings of such a city, many shops, restaurants and art galleries.

In the outlying areas there are many popular hiking trails, scenic destinations and places popular with rock climbers.

My wife and I drove around the local area around the city to check out the scenery. I made mental notes about possible places to return to at sunrise or sunset to engage in my photography hobby.

My first chosen destination, Bell Rock, for a sunset shoot is just off of a major road and is a popular tourist draw. As I left our motel in Sedona, an afternoon thunderstorm erupted with lots of lightening and heavy rain. The local rock features that are visible from the city streets were surrounded by clouds with intermittent breaks in the clouds allowing sunlight to illuminate those features for a short while. There would have been great photographic opportunities during the storm, if only there had been a place to safely pull over out of the heavy late day traffic and not be exposed to the heavy rain and possible lightening. I could only observe and admire the views, wishing I were able to photograph the storm.

I hoped that there would still be some of the storm around when I arrived at the Bell Rock parking area, but the storm had moved on into the far distance by the time that I arrived. The nearby sky was mostly clear, but the distant storm clouds were still visible.

There are a number of hiking trails around and near Bell Rock. Most tourists opt to hike up the slope towards Bell Rock. I decided to hike the less popular trail that went around behind Bell Rock towards other rock features nearby. I only recall encountering two or three others on this trail. The parking lot was not nearly as full, this late in the day, as it had been during my scouting pass through it earlier in the day.

As these first two images reveal, the distant clouds caused the light to constantly vary from entire shade to partial shade and the sky to vary from dark to light.

I made numerous, not so interesting, photographs of the distant rock outcrops as the late day light changed. While the distant storm clouds added interest, it was not until I noted a faint rainbow appear that I began to hope for something more interesting. Indeed, as I watched the scene that rainbow became brighter and a double rainbow appeared, seemingly terminating on the rocks with a golden glow from the late day sunlight.

As I prepared to photograph this old, majestic tree skeleton (old trees like this are one of my favorite subjects), the clouds in the sky began to glow with the golden color of sunset light. The golden cloud was perfectly positioned above the tree, as if forming a crown of honor and remembrance for the old tree.

This is not the same tree as in Veneration, but it is nearby, with more of the local environment in the background.

As I walked the trail back towards the parking lot, after my late day shoot, I had to stop to capture these colorful, post sunset clouds with the silhouette of rock formations in the foreground.

When I turned to look back at this rock feature, I noted that the color was a deeper red just after sunset. In researching this area, I had seen information that said these rocks looked best for photography just after sunset sunset. My observation confirms that statement.

Until next time,

Ken

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Tag: Rock Forms

Lake Tahoe, August 2024, Part 1

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Yosemite National Park – Part 6

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Yosemite National Park – Part 5

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Yosemite National Park – Part 4

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Yosemite National Park – Part 2

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Sedona, Arizona – Part 3

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Sedona, Arizona – Part 1

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