Rock Shapes – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 2

After photographing wildflower scenes around my campsite, I left the campsite to travel into Badlands National Park to scout locations for golden hour photography. But first, I drove around a little in the large public land area, where I was camped to get a better feel for the area and scout other possible campsites, in case my prefered location was again taken or the site I occupied on my first night here was taken, when I returned in the evening.

There are numerous road trails through this area, which is popular with off-road vehicle riders, who create their own trails with their dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and other vehicles. I traveled into the area a bit, but did not take time to fully explore the area, after I was satisfied that it would be no problem to easily find numerous suitable places to overnight here.

I parked along one of the trails on my way out, hiked up to the top of one of the many hills in this area and captured this pano:

There is a gravel road that leads from the small town of Interior, SD into Badlands NP, which I take as a short cut into the park, rather than following the highway to a main entrance. There is a sign indicating when one is entering the park on this backroad, but no entry station. The sign does inform that a permit or fee is required to be in the park, so anyone in the park might be asked by a ranger to show proof of fee payment or other permit. I have a Senior Pass, one of the few benefits of old age, so I never worry about having to show proof that I can be in a National Park.

I stopped on this gravel backroad to shoot a few images of the Badland features in the distance that appear to “erupt” out of the flat land in the foreground.

It was a mostly heavily overcast day with periodic light rain. I stopped at a number of the overlooks to snap a few scouting photos with my iPhone. The dramatic clouds in the sky made for interesting photos and I probably should have taken more time to capture better quality images with my Nikon Z8 and wide angle Z14-24mm lens. The Z8 is sealed well, but keeping rain drops off of the big lens glass can be a problem and I wanted to be able to scurry about quickly, so I left the big camera and lens in my vehicle, while I scouted various locations for shooting later in the day.

With the heavy cloud cover, not much direct light fell upon the badlands features, but occasionally a little light broke through the clouds to highlight some of the rocks.

The shape of the mound of dry, cracked, gray earth in the foreground bears a similarity with the shape of the rain clouds in the sky, yet the dryness of that mound of clay contrasts with the wetness of the clouds.

Lush green vegetation in the low areas contrasts with the almost barren rock in the background.

A meandering stream runs through the low area at the base of the badlands features.

More Badlands images later,

Ken

P.S. These images are best viewed on a large screen.

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 9

This is the final installment of photography in the area of Southern Utah known as ‘White Rocks’.

‘Rocky Slope’ give an indication of the environment one must navigate to photograph in this area.

‘Leaving White Rocks 1’ was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page.

And that’s a wrap,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 8

This is a continuation of multiple shoots in an area of Southern Utah known as ‘White Rocks’.

This first image on the Flickr Explore page.

To be continued,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 7

We returned to the area refered to as White Rocks in Southern Utah for an early morning shoot. I switched from the Nikon D850 and 24-70mm lens to the Nikon Z8 and Nikon Z14-24mm for this shoot.

To be continued,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 6

This is the final part for the first afternoon visit to White Rocks in Southern Utah in March 2025.

Late day sunlight reflects off of the bodies of these hoodoos and illuminates the underside of the flat tops, which would otherwise by in shadow.

I’ve made up names for these hoodoos, which seem fitting to me, but others might think of other names they like better.

After climbing out of the White Rocks canyon, which was already nearly all in shadow, I paused to capture a few shots over the canyon and the landscape around the canyon. The sun was low in the sky, not quite golden hour, but the lighting was good. We still had to hike back to our vehicle and make a slow drive out of this area, which is best done in daylight, so we never quite waited for sunset.

This wraps up this late day shoot in White Rocks.

Until next time and thanks for following,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 5

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

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 4

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

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 3

This post is a continuation of photography in Southern Utah in March 2025.

What’s on the agenda for today’s meeting? Maybe the weather, since that is critical to the formation of these rock features and for their survival.

Stay tuned for more Rocking the Rocks in Southern Utah,

Ken

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 2

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

Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 1

I met my son at White House Trail Head and Campground in Southern Utah to spend a few days hiking and photographing in the area in mid-March 2025. We had previously spent some time in this area in 2009. So we knew a little about the area and had some ideas about where to go and what to see, but we wanted to avoid some of the most popular areas, which tend to be the ones most easily accessible and are, consequently, crowded.

Yet, we did spend a fair amount of time driving around and hiking to check out some possibilities. We also had one really windy day that curtailed all but some driving exploration in the area.

We ended up going to one particular area a number of times at various times of the day. This area is not awfully difficult to get to, but it does involve a fairly long drive on gravel and dirt roads, with a long portion on a rugged, 4 wheel drive road, which probably keeps out many casual visitors, followed by a sandy hike. One has to know where this site is, otherwise it is not obvious from any roadway. We saw evidence of other recent visitors, but never saw anyone else during any of our vists here.

For those that are not familiar with the term, “Hoodoo” is used as a description of a pinacle of weathered rock, usually with curious shapes. My pareidolia causes me to see creatures is some of these rock features, so I will often name these hoodoos for what I perceive.

“Ghost Rocks” is an accidental multiple exposure, due to my forgetting to reset my camera menu from an earlier multiple exposure shoot; but I like it. Maybe I should have made more such multiple exposures here.

The generic name for this area is “White Rocks”, for the mostly white rocks in this desert canyon.

Wind whipping the blades of this desert grass around leaves circles in the sand around its base.

White Rock Hoodoos, Fat Man and Little Boy

I called this area with the many hoodoos a “canyon”, but I’m not sure that is the best term. It is more like an area eroded down into a large flat plain, where the harder rock remains as pinacles with rock caps of various colors and sizes. “Rim View” is a late day shot from the flat plain above the eroded out area.

More Utah rock features later,

Ken

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Tag: Rock Shapes

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