Continued from Part 5.
As the sun gets a little higher in the morning sky, the colors begin to wash out.
Even in the brighter light, there can be interesting shadows cast by the hoodoos.
More Bisti later,
Ken
Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 6
Tag: Rocks
Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 5
Most of the rocks and geological features in the Bisti Wilderness are dull under bright sunlight, but in the early morning and late day light these features seem to come alive with color. At these times one can get landscape photographs with soft pastels or bright, golden hues.
To be continued,
Ken
Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 4, Cloudy Sunset in The Nursery
A popular area for visitors to Bisti is called “The Nursery”, where there are unique rock shapes that are referred to as “Cracked Eggs”.
It was very overcast this evening in The Nursery, so there was very little golden hour light; but the heavy clouds were great for creating dramatic photographs.
More later,
Ken
Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 3
I’ve hiked past this small bridge hoodoo in Bisti, usually when photographic conditions were less than optimal, many times on my way to a predetermined destination. This feature is not easily photographed in an interesting composition that clearly shows that it is a bridge, not just a chunk of rock in a jumble of other rocks. So even when I’ve stopped by, I’ve decided not to shoot it or did not get anything worth sharing. Still it is an interesting little bridge, so today I decided to make an attempt to get a decent photo. I wanted to clearly indicate the opening in the bridge with some object behind it. I could not get the sky through the bridge opening, so I needed some distinct object to show through the opening and not fill the entire opening. Moving around to vary what was visible through the bridge, I decided that the small rock that is visible behind the bridge, would work to give some depth in an image. To get this image, I made multiple exposure with different focal points, then stacked them using Helicon software to get the best overall sharpness.
Moving on, we found numerous portions of petrified logs and then in an area that neither my son nor I had previously explored, we found a long petrified tree specimen. It was so long that it was difficult to photograph its entirety and still get it into a good composition.
I worked around this long petrified log, trying to get shots that showed how impressive this petrified log is.
A shot from the base of the log shows the base well, but this point of view does not indicate the significant length of the log.
I did not get any shots of this long petrified log that shows how impressive it is to see in person, but I think the shot above with the adjacent hoodoos and cloudy sky is the best image I got here.
In the same general area of the long petrified tree are several other petrified logs that are partially exposed from the encasing sediment.
Even though it was heavily overcast on this hike into the Bisti Wilderness, there was a little break through of sunlight, but no golden hour light.
The tall hoodoo in the image above seems to be tilting its head towards the sun to catch the late day rays.
More Bisti later,
Ken
Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 2
It was frequently cloudy during the days spent at Bisti in early June of 2021, which is good for dramatic sky backgrounds, but it can be bad for golden hour photography.
I thought the rock (photo above) with the pointy feature looked like some sort of weird creature guarding an egg, others have suggested it looks like a baby elephant. I can see that, too.
There are many pieces of petrified wood, logs and trees scattered around in this area. The mineralization of these objects is not as colorful as that in the Petrified Forest National Park, but it is amazing how much of the original tree detail is retained in these rocks. Most of the petrified log sections are horizontal, but occasionally there are vertical ones, which I suppose tumbled into this position somewhere in the distant past.
The cap on the hoodoo in the photo above, looked like a turtle soaking up some sun, but there was no sun.
I made some photos just to capture geological features, even if the photos are not highly interesting in an artistic manner. Having worked with many geologists and as a petrophysicist, might make me more prone to see and marvel at the layering in rocks.
Weathering and erosion continue to create and modify the features found here. Some features might linger for many years and some might be changed quickly by a heavy rainfall.
The petrified log in the photo above, may be the longest exposed one that I’ve seen here. It was difficult to capture in a single photograph, so I shot it from multiple view points and on multiple occasions under different light conditions.
More later,
Ken
Bisti Wilderness, June 2021, Part 1
I know I’ve multiple posts from my visits to Bisti and I hope that readers do not get bored with these. The Bisti Wilderness, in a desert area of New Mexico, is a marvelous place and one of my favorite places for photography. Each visit reveals new areas and new features to photograph. Even revisiting the same areas within the wilderness can result in different photographs, since it is never possible to photograph everything within even a confined area during one visit and the scenes will continue to evolve with time, weather and lighting.
In early June, 2021, I met my oldest son here for several days of exploration and photography. We chose to visit the area known as The Nursery the evening of our arrival, since we knew we could get there easily before sunset.
This is a popular area with photographers, requiring working around each other and proper etiquette to avoid getting in each others way.
The photo above is an example with my son in a shot I wanted to set up. Of course, I made this shot just to capture him, but since we landscape purist try to avoid people in our shots, we sometimes have to modify our point of view. So I just turned a little to get this image:
This is a much better composition, anyway. Although, I regret clipping a little off the front and right edges of the foreground rock.
There are so many objects, arranged haphazardly by nature, that it is virtually impossible with a wide angle lens to avoid clipping some object at the edges of a shot.
As the light began to fade on the Cracked Eggs, I began to explore the nooks in the hillside area to the east, where I found this tall hoodoo with a pointy top and small cap that I could set against the sunset clouds.
Preparing to hike back to the parking lot, I got one last shot at the edge of the hillside with the sunset light fading from the clouds.
Stay tuned for more Bisti exploration,
Ken
Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 4 – Tsankawi 2
This is a continuation of a previous post with photographs from the ancient Native American site, Tsankawi, a part of the Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.
Up above the main continuous trail through Tsankawi, I spotted a portion of a trail that was obviously out of place. This part apparently broke away from its original location and lodged here many years ago.
The depth of this portion of the trail is impressive. The pathways are narrow, which suggests that the people that made these were not large people.
It took a little effort to navigate some portions of these ancient paths, especially when carrying a daypack and DSLR.
Interestingly, this portion of the trail had dual pathways, but one was a dead end. Was this two lane path created by having one foot on one side and the other foot on the other side of the trail? Each side is too narrow for having both feet within the narrow channel.
There were numerous indications of dwellings, shelters or storage areas along the pathways of Tsankawi. Some areas were off limits for visitors, so we did not get to see everything here.
The entrance to this cave (above) seems to have a torso with head shape.
There were numerous caves in some areas. Notice the foot and/or hand holds in the rocks around these caves.
A desert view from the main trail around the Tsankawi area.
This wraps up the best photos that I managed to get in this amazing place. Perhaps someday I will get back again, when conditions are more favorable for photography.
Until next time,
Ken
Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 3 – Tsankawi 1
We visited Tsankawi again one afternoon, but we never really got to be here at the very best time of the day for photography. Although, we did have some cloudy sky, which helped add a little interest at times.
Tsankawi is really an amazing place. I was most impressed by the paths created by Native Americans many years ago. Those ancient people walked the same paths so often as to wear deep trenches in the rock. Sometimes the trenches were only a few inches deep and sometimes several feet deep. Even though the rock may not be super hard here, it is not soft either, so it must have taken many walkers over many years to create such deep pathways in the stone.
One has to look closely to see the old, worn petroglyphs, of which there were many, in some of the rock faces.
Viewing a larger image on Flickr will allow for better resolution of the many petroglyphs on this rock face.
To be continued,
Ken
Rio Grande National Forest, September 22, 2020, Part 1
I arose early in the morning, still not sure that I wanted to tackle the creek hike with my heavy camera gear. I peeked outside to see what the weather and sky looked like, before deciding to prepare for the day.
The sky appeared to be mostly clear, so I had an herbal tea and a light snack, then gathered my gear for a morning shoot, having decided to have a go at getting to those two waterfalls.
I knew that I would need to be careful with the gear and with my footing and balance during this trek, so I brought along my hiking stick as an aid in balance and control. I usually do not use the hiking stick, since it is just another item to keep up with and easily left somewhere. I also tend to use my tripod as a hiking stick, whenever I carry it in my hands.
I also wanted to have both hands free when walking, so I fastened the tripod to the back of my Camelbak, slung a filter pouch over my head and shoulder and clipped the DSLR to the front of the Camelbak via carabiners and an old camera strap that I had cut and sewn to the pack years ago. The camera can still swing away from my body, when I have to stoop over, so I still have to hold onto it sometimes to prevent it from bumping into something.
Thus I began the hike up the steep slope along the ridge above the creek. I knew that I should have gotten out a little earlier, but my hesitation to even try this, resulted in a late start this morning. I also did not want to start this hike in the dark and I knew that the mountain to the south would shield the very early morning light until later, so the sun would already be fairly high in the sky before I saw it.
I was glad to have the hiking stick this morning as it was a safety aid in going down and across steep slopes and helping my balance, when crossing the stream.
The photo set up procedure was a bit slow and awkward, whenever I stopped for a photograph. I first released the carabiners holding the DSLR onto my backpack and put the camera in a secure place, then I removed the filter case from around my neck, then I removed the Camelbak, then I unstrapped the tripod from the Camelbak. After shooting at a location, I reversed this procedure to put all items back into place before moving on to the next location.
To get the shot above, I had to get into a tight place and crouch on my knees, being very careful not to drop something into the creek. As I was preparing to get out of this uncomfortable position, I could not find the metal plate lens cover for the Progrey filter holder and I was afraid that it might have slide behind me into the creek. I looked into the creek and did not see the cover from my vantage point. A closer examination of the filter holder case revealed the cover hidden between the individual filter cases, where I tend to habitually put it, when it is not in use.
When I arrived at the second waterfall, I stood below an undercut cliff on the south side of the creek, where the 24-70mm lens let me isolate the waterfall, excluding all the unattractive and distracting clutter around it.
The last image here was selected for Flickr’s Explore page, where as of the date of this writing, it has received 4,213 views and 103 favorites. This is not a record for me and far short of the number of views and favorites that others on Flickr have, but still nice for my level of activity on Flickr. I’m pleased with these photos and glad that I made the effort to get them. I might never have such an opportunity again.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 2
I continued to work my way along Treasure Creek towards the first significant waterfall I had seen from a distance.
After reaching the base of this waterfall, I retraced my steps a little to find a way to get above the falls.
I then continued up the creek hoping to see an even bigger falls, stopping to photograph other scenes along the way.
I’m calling the many little waterfalls “cascades”, since I expect these to disappear, when the water in the creek is deeper and there are cascading rapids in their place.
I made a number of various compositions of some of the cascades as the sunlight changed with intermittent cloud cover.
A little farther up the stream from this cascade a second significant water fall is visible.
Working my way upstream towards the second waterfall, I had to cross the stream first, making the image above looking down on the cascade shown in the previous images.
The photo above shows the steepness of the gulley in which this stream runs.
Getting closer to the base of the greater drop waterfall, it became apparent that the clutter around the falls and the beetle killed trees are going to be a distraction to deal with in getting a good photo here.
The fallen and splintered trees along and in the creek bed beneath the waterfall reveal the force of a recent heavy water flow here, which I’m sure was an aftermath of the early snow storm a few weeks ago.
In this final photograph of this waterfall, I excluded some of the clutter on the edges and at the bottom, but still have portions of the unattractive, beetle killed trees along the top edge.
This concludes this portion of today’s exploration, as I feel great disappointment that I will probably not get back here with my DSLR.
Ken