Sportsmobile – Page 4 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Cold Springs Campground – Day 2 – Sunrise Photography

In the morning of July 13 we shot sunrise photos just east of the lake at Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest. We began shooting from a hillside just east of the lake.

Coldsprings Camping Area, Routt NF, CO — An area adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 2s, ISO

I thought that the weathered tree stump made an appropriate foreground object here.

Coldsprings Campground — Cold Springs Campground Scene. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.

The lake made a great mirror, reflecting the clouds in the sky and the trees along the edge of the campground. None of the other campers were up and about yet. We tried to be as quiet as we could so as not to disturb them.

I put the weathered stump and a taller stump with slight side lighting at the edge of this photo.

After shooting on the hillside, we moved down into the meadow at the base of the cascade. There were lots of white and blue wildflowers in the meadow, especially around the cascade and stream. The area below the cascade was wet and marshy, which I had not anticipated and I was not wearing my water resistant hiking shoes. My shoes, socks and feet got soaked with cold water.

Water Cascade, Coldsprings Campground, Routt NF, CO — A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1.6s, ISO 64.

As you can see, I got multiple compositions of the cascade with varying amounts of the surroundings. I used slow shutter speeds to get the silky effect of the flowing water. There was not much wind, but there was enough motion in the vegetation to keep from getting really sharp images of the wildflowers. I tried to make the images at times when the wind was most calm in hopes of getting sharper images. This works with only limited success.

After breakfast, I hiked to the marshy area above the cascade, where there were many wildflowers in another meadow around the stream. By the time I got there the clouds were mostly gone, the light harsh, still a little too much wind and many swarming mosquitoes. I tried a few shots anyway, but those were not presentable. Somewhere in there, I apparently lost my Rocket Blower, which I had just put into a pocket for convenience, rather than take it along in my backpack, which I left behind in the vehicle. (For non-photographers, a Rocket Blower is a device for blowing dust off of lenses, filters and camera sensors. This is an essential piece of gear, in my opinion, so I have since acquired another one. For the rest of this trip, I had to borrow my son’s whenever I needed it).

Later in the morning we walked 10 minutes down the road to Smith Lake Trailhead. Smith Lake Trail is only 0.7 miles, steep in a few places, mostly near the start, but mostly an easy trail. We hiked to Smith Lake and decided to return the next morning for sunrise photography.

On the way to Smith Lake Trailhead, we noted a small field of Columbines, which would possibly be good for foreground shots at sunset, assuming the clouds cleared by that time, as it had gotten much cloudier and rained lightly off and on during the day.

We also walked back to the reservoir, hiking a short distance along one of the two trails starting at the reservoir. We turned back as lightning and thunder got closer and more active. It only sprinkled lightly and we took time to explore more in the area south of the roadway, along the stream from the reservoir.

That is it for this post. Stay tuned for the sunset shoot results,

Ken

Cold Springs Campground Day 1, Routt National Forest, Colorado, July 2019

To avoid possible monotonous posts, I’ve decided to mix up things a bit. I still have a week’s worth of photos from a May visit to the northern area of the Bisti Wilderness, but since I’ve had many consecutive posts about Bisti, I will now intersperse posts about other areas with the Bisti posts. This means getting posts out of the heretofore chronological order. I hope this will keep followers from being overly bored and will not result in confusion due to the lack of timeline continuity. This is the first such out of chronological order post.

In July, 2019 I traveled to my oldest son’s place north of Denver, Colorado and we set out the following day for a week of camping and photography in the northwestern portion of the state.

Our first destination was Cold Springs Campground in the Routt National Forest adjacent to the Flat Tops Wilderness, named for the Flat Top Mountains of the Rocky Mountain Range.

When we arrived at the campground, there was only one spot left in the first come, first serve campground. Even though it was not the most sought after camping spot for most, it was actually a good spot for us and the Sportsmobile, since it was fairly level, easy to pull into and out of and had full sun exposure, which was perfect for utilizing the solar panels for maintaining the battery charge. The spot was closest to the roadway, so we got some dust from passing traffic, which tended to travel faster than the speed limit, but the dust was minimal and not a real problem.

The Sportsmobile in Cold Springs Campground July 2019. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Since all other campers or those looking for an empty spot had to pass our location on the way into and out of the campground, we had several people asking about our camping vehicle and taking photos of it. One couple even stopped beside us in their vehicle, as we hiked along the roadway towards the reservoir, after they had seen us around the Sportsmobile. They asked questions about the vehicle and seemed interested in looking into acquiring one, making a note of the Sportsmobile name.

The biggest problems at this campsite at this time of the year were the mosquitoes and other swarming insects, which swarmed us every time we were outside for any length of time. This is typical of forested mountain areas in the summer, especially those near water and there was a small lake adjacent to the campground fed by a mountain stream cascading into it on the north end of the campground. We used lots of insect repellant, still it was difficult to concentrate with so many mosquitos and/or other insects buzzing about. I also had to edit out a number of mosquitos from some images. There might be others hidden in the image details that I did not see, when editing.

There were fairly abundant wildflowers in the area, especially around the wetter areas near the streams.

Mountain Stream and Wildflowers. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 40mm, f/16, 1/15s, ISO 800

I tried to use higher ISO to get faster shutter speeds to freeze the flowers, but with limited success, since I still wanted to have a slow enough shutter speed to get a silky effect on the flowing water.

There is a small reservoir, maybe a half a mile up the road, where the roadway ends. We hiked to the reservoir to check it and the area to the south of the roadway, looking for suitable areas for photographic interest.

We also explored around the small lake adjacent to the campground, determining that we could do sunrise photos on the east side of the lake.

A Gnarly Tree Stump in the forest near Cold Springs Campground, Routt National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

At sunset, we got good light, after the afternoon clouds opened, shooting south of the roadway.

Routt National Forest Scene — One of the Flat Top Mountains in the Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 64

Routt NF, CO, Near Coldsprings Campground. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 38mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 400.

The bands of color in the sky of this photo are in the raw file. I thought this was not normal and would not have included this photo, but my son convinced me that this is not the abnormal banding sometimes seen in digital photos. He thinks there are just layers of clouds that are separating the colors in this manner and I can see some layering in the atmosphere. It just looks so unusual to me, so I am still not fully accepting that this is normal coloration.

Stay tuned for more about our Colorado experience and resulting photographs.

Ken

Spring 2019 Road Trip – Bisti – Day 1 – Sunset

While in Farmington, I took advantage of the city amenities to do laundry, have a simple restaurant meal and acquire a few more provisions, including food, water and filling my spare fuel containers, before heading to Bisti.

Upon arriving at the parking area for the southern access into Bisti/De Na Zin, I noted only a few visitors were there; but with the eminent weekend, I expected more soon and, indeed, more began to arrive as I set up.

I parked in a north-south direction near the back end of the parking lot and began installation of my solar panels on the roof rack, being sure to secure them well, since it was quite windy. Normally, I would move the solar panels during the day to get the most power possible from them, but with them on the roof and the required tying down, it would not be convenient to move them, so I just left them facing south at about 45 degrees to the roof rack. It turns out that this arrangement was sufficient to keep the house batteries charged, as I did not have to resort to running the engine at anytime.

The Sportsmobile with solar panels on the roof rack and the Penthouse raised. iPhone photo.

The photo above was actually taken near the end of our stay in Bisti.

I met and chatted with a few of the visitors Friday afternoon before heading into the wilderness area. It was a windy, cloudy day with a considerable wind chill, even though the air temperature was not so cold. I knew the possibilities for late day light were slim, but I went out late in the day, just in case. I wanted to explore new areas, anyway. If nothing else, I would be able to scout possible places to return to in more favorable photographic conditions.

An interesting feature in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I spotted the small hoodoos/toadstools in the above photo high up on a hill top. There was no direct way to get to these. So I hiked around this area for awhile, eventually finding a not prohibitively steep slope to climb up a hillside from which I hoped to be able to work my way to these features.

Interesting features in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The view to the east in the above photo is at the top of the hill that I climbed. I continued walking along the hill top to the west, looking for access to the interesting features that I had spotted from the valley below.

Scouting Photo, Bisti. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

On the northern side of the hilltop, I spotted this small wash with emerging hoodoos.

Working the area scouting photo in Bisti. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The view to the south of the hill, overlooking the area through which I hiked, to get here was quite good.

Working the scene scouting photo, Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

After a short hike along the ridge, I came upon the features for which I was looking. I wanted to be on the far side of these at sunset. Carefully walking around so as not to damage anything or leave footprints, which I did not want in a photo, I looked for a safe way to the other side. The drop off on the right side, I deemed too steep for a safe descent; but I could walk along on the left edge of the ridge past the hoodoos and the slope below was not excessively steep.

It is always a good idea to look at a photographic subject from various view points to find the best possible vantage point, so I took a number of iPhone photos as I worked around this area. One might note that these natural features can look much different from different view points.

A view from just below the feature from the west side.

Another possible composition from the west side.

And a wider view from the west side.

One of my concerns at this location was where my shadow would appear as the sun went low into the sky. So I thought I probably would need to go a bit more down the slope below this feature.

A view from just below this feature in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The view above is a bit deceptive. This photo is not taken from as far away a view point as it appears. From this point of view, I can see several different places along the slope from which to shoot and possibly eliminate my shadow from the composition.

Since I still had plenty of time prior to sunset, I continued to explore the area.

A view from a hillside in Bisti Wilderness. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Another possible feature to shoot from the top of the ridge is shown in the above photo.

I continued back down into the valley below, since it appeared that the increasing cloud cover was not promising for late day photos. I eventually set up to shoot one of the large colorful bluffs and waited for the sunlight to peek out from underneath the clouds.

I was rewarded with really good light for a brief moment, only to see that my shadow was a prominent feature in my composition. There had been no shadow due to cloud cover, when I set up my shot. I worked quickly to modify my composition, but the sunlight vanished more quickly.

Soon I gave up hope for more light and headed back towards the parking area hoping to avoid hiking too long in the dark.

About half way back to the parking area, the sun made a brief appearance. I turned around to see the desert lit up by great light and I hastily set up to attempt a shot.

Late day sunlight briefly illuminates the Bisti Wilderness. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 18mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

With such an interesting sky, I put the horizon roughly in the middle, which is generally not a good idea. I considered cropping this image, looking at various scenarios, but in the end I liked the original composition better than the crop possibilities. I think the little drainage wash coming in from the bottom right leads the eye into this image, then the diagonal lines formed by the vegetation and their shadows adds to this effect.

After this shot, I quickly tried another composition with one of the red hills in it, but the light faded quickly.

Late day sunlight briefly illuminates Bisti wilderness. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Note that in this image I included much more of the sky and less of the desert foreground, since the light was much more dramatic on the clouds in the sky.

Maybe had I gone back up the hillside to the little hoodoo/toadstool area, I might have gotten a good shot, if I had been prepared and waited patiently for the light. Then I would certainly be hiking out in the dark, but that is not a big deal here.

Even though this afternoon’s photographic excursion was disappointing, my expectations had not been high and I had found places to revisit again at another time. Such is the life of a landscape photographer.

More Bisti experiences to come,

Ken

Spring 2019 Road Trip – Bandelier National Monument

The third stop in my 2019 Spring road trip was Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico. This was mainly a convenient place to overnight on this trip, but I was, also, curious about this area. The camping area here is really nice with good restroom facilities, but no showers. The camp sites tend to be rather close to each other, but during my visit the area was almost empty with only a few scattered campers. This being my first visit, I stopped to chat with the camp site host, whom I spotted as I drove on an exploratory trip around one of the loops, all of which were open, even though the official website said some might not be open during the off season. The camp host suggested that I drive around, pick out several sites that I liked, then go to the self check in kiosk on the roadway just prior to the first loop. I did so, picking out a site with no one near it, but near a restroom. Most of the parking sites seemed to be at least slightly sloped, but not so much that it was uncomfortable, so I did not feel the need to try leveling my vehicle.

After setting up and having a late lunch, I headed out to the visitor center, which I arrived at just after the 5PM closing time, so I did not get inside there. There are a number of trails near the visitor center, so I picked up a trail guide outside the visitor entrance and decided to take a quick hike along the main trail.

Prior to this visit, there had been much snow in the area and the website said some trails were snowy and icy, so I brought along ice crampons for my hiking footwear. However, the snow and ice were all gone while I was there, so I still have new, unused crampons. I had received a weather notification of another spring storm heading this way with heavy snowfall expected over some areas.

Recent flooding had closed some areas and trails, all of which sounded more interesting than those that were open.

For landscape photography, I did not find this area of great interest, at least not on this visit. This is a beautiful forested (mostly evergreens) area, but a bit enclosed and confining for my inclinations. On my short hurried hike, I did not bother taking my DSLR and other gear, since I had no idea about what to expect.

Native American Ruins along the Main Trail in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

There are interesting Native American ruins here, so there is much of historical and archeological interest.

Kiva remains, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

A Kiva and entrance, Bandelier NM. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Ladder access into a Native American Cave Shelter in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

One is allowed to enter into any of the ancient dwelling with the ladders provided. The ladders are not ancient, of course.

An interior view of a Native American cave shelter, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The ceilings of the cave dwellings are blackened by fires used by the ancient dwellers. There were remnants of log elements protruding from the ceiling in some of the caves with a few charred by fire. These do not appear to have been necessary for roofs, so I’m guessing they were used for other purposes, maybe for hanging pots for cooking or storage. There is probably more information about these dwellings on the park website.

Native American Cave Shelter, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

There were quite a few caves carved into the volcanic rock of the cliffside along the main trail.

Ruins as seen from the main trail along the cliff face, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

There are interesting rock shapes along the cliff side trail and good views of the ruins on the valley floor.

Native American ruins along a cliff face in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

There are holes in the cliff face, where roof supports were originally installed. Some of the shallow alcoves along the cliff face contain paintings or petroglyphs.

After leaving the visitor center area, I went back past the camping area to a parking area at the Frey trail head and walked along the trail for awhile. The portion of the trail I walked along, just prior to sunset, was mostly through a thinly forested area. At a high point along this trail, there were good view of snow covered mountain peaks and I paused for awhile to see what the sunset would be like.

Sunset Clouds in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Skylum Luminar.

A dramatic sunset sky in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Skylum Luminar.

On this brief exploratory hike, I only had my iPhone camera with me, so the quality of the sunset photos are limited, but at least give one a sense of the possibilities here.

None of the photos in this post are published on my Flickr page, since I do not consider them of sufficient quality for sharing there (not to say that I have not ever published some poor quality photos on Flickr).

I will be away for a few days, so the next post may be delayed.

Thanks for following and reading,

Ken

Guadalupe Mountains National Park – Part 1

The second destination in my Spring 2019 road trip was Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO). According to my map, the travel time to GUMO from the Sandhills via the shortest route should be about 2.5 hours. However, a backup due to road construction on US 285, just past a signal light at my turn off from US 285, resulted in an hour delay. The longer routes would probably have been faster, but I did not double check the traffic before I set out. My bad!

Guadalupe Mountains rising from the plains of West Texas. This is an iPhone photo taken from miles away from the mountains.

In the above photo the sharp drop off on the left end of the mountain range is a feature referred to as El Capitan.

After getting to GUMO, setting up in the RV parking lot and having a brief lunch, it was around 3PM. Since I had never visited here, I did not have any idea about where to go for sunset photos. After reviewing the trails and information on those trails, I decided to take the Guadalupe Peak Trail, but not to take my camera gear. It was overcast, so the prospects for good sunset light was slim and I knew the heavy camera gear would really slow my pace on the trail.

This trail is around 8-9 miles round trip, rated strenuous and the literature said to allow 6 to 8 hours for the round trip. By the time I made my preparations for the hike, it was well after 3PM. So even if I could make the round trip in only 6 hours (doubtful), it would be after 9PM and dark before I made it back. I took my headlamp and an extra flashlight and extra batteries, just in case, but I knew it was not a good idea to be on this trail in the dark.

Shortly after getting underway on the trail, I realized that not bringing the camera gear was a good decision. There are very strenuous portions of this trail, it is mostly steep with considerable rocky portions requiring care in hiking. As I met hikers coming down and heard their comments, I really began to realize that I would probably not make it to the top, if I expected to get back down before dark.

This image illustrates why this trail is rated as “strenuous”. (iPhone Photo)

The weather was good for this hike, since it was cool and overcast. Even so, I quickly worked up a sweat, hiking with only a shirt and t-shirt on my upper body. I had put a fleece, gloves and windbreaker in my backpack, since I knew it would be cold somewhere along the trail. Indeed, in some windy portions it got quite cool with even a light snow off and on; but the effort going up the trail kept me warm.

If only I had a mount from which to dismount. iPhone Photo

As I progressed and became hungry, I realized that I had forgotten to put my trail bar snacks into my day pack. Fortunately, I had a full reservoir of water in my Camelbak. Otherwise, I would have had to turn around. Wanting to go as far as possible, I pushed on and I was able to ignore the hunger and my decreasing energy level.

A portion of the cliffs past which equestrians were to lead their horses. iPhone Photo

The haze in the distance of the photo above is actually a light snow.

As I neared the upper portion of the trail, I even began to think that I might actually make it to the top. However, as it passed 6PM, even though thinking I only had about 30 minutes more to hike to the top, I decided it was best to turn back or I would surely be hiking down in the dark.

Elevation profile for Guadalupe Peak Trail

I went some distance past the campground, so maybe I was only a few hundred feet below the peak, when I decided to turn around. It was disappointing to be so close and have to stop before reaching the peak. I just needed to have started about an hour earlier in the day.

I think this is where I decided to head back down the trail. iPhone photo

This is at or near the point on this trail, where I decided to turn back to avoid being on this rugged trail in the dark. The trail goes from the lower right corner down around the scrubby vegetation. iPhone Photo

This is a view from just below my turn around point on Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo

A cloudy, cool day for a hike on Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo

The feature on the mountain side at the upper right-center of the above photo is El Capitan.

Since the trip back was mostly steeply downhill, I was able to make much better time than I had expected. I was almost sure that I would have to stop and put on the fleece at some point, but I never wanted to stop long enough to do that. Even had I put the fleece on, I would have had to stop and take it off as I got back to lower elevation.

A view on the way back down Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo

There is at least one trail visible along the mountain side in this photo. I think the one in the center is the Tejas Trail.

On the way down, I had to frequently remind myself to slow down on the more treacherous portions of the trail. There were plenty of places with tripping or sliding hazards. I was making such good time on the way down that I passed a few people that I had met on the way up as they were coming down.

Sunset glow on a peak across the wash from Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo

The golden hour light in the above photo is what I looked forward to finding the following day.

Golden Hour Glow in Guadalupe Mountains. iPhone Photo

A zoomed in, noisy iPhone photo of the late day light on a peak opposite my route on Guadalupe Peak Trail is above.

A Scene from a lower portion of Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo

I was greeted by a nice sunset scene over the plains from the lower portion of the Guadalupe Peak Trail.

I made it back to the RV lot just after dark, with sore, sensitive, achy feet, a strong appetite and no plan for where to go the following morning. I had been on the trail for about 5 hours, so I think I would have made it to the peak and back before dark, if I had started up the trail just an hour earlier.

Until next time,

Ken

Sportsmobile/Photomobile Modification

For various reasons (weather, holidays, family matters, personal matters, etc.), I have put off travel (for outdoor photography) for much too long. Consequently, I have no new photography or journey about which I can blog. I have plans to remedy this soon. In the meantime, I have made a few improvements to my Sportsmobile.

Sportsmobile – before adding extra fuel containers.

As readers know, I acquired a Sportsmobile last year to get to places and provide a place to stay, while on photography expeditions. Previously, I had to stay in motels, requiring getting up in the very early hours of the morning to drive, then hike to the desired photography site for early morning photo shoots. If out late in the evening and tired, having to drive back in the dark, trying to stay alert and avoid road hazards, like deer in the roadway. After a few days of such activity exhaustion is inevitable.

To stay out in a wilderness area for a few days might require extra fuel, so I acquired three two gallon Rotopax diesel fuel containers and mounted them on top of the rear storage box. These containers are designed to be stacked, either horizontally or vertically.

Rotopax makes various sizes for gasoline, but for some reason they only make the diesel containers in a two gallon size. These can be mounted onto a vehicle in various ways. In my case, the top of the rear bumper mounted storage box seemed like the most logical place to put these. The rack on top of the storage box was just barely wide enough to squeeze in the first container on the bottom of the stack. In fact, I had to slightly tilt the first container at just the right angle and force it into the confines of the rack railing. While I thought this was ok, I later realized that getting that container out took more effort than I liked, even with an empty container. I’m sure with a full fuel container, this might prove to be a more difficult and unpleasant task..

Single container with locking accessory.

To stack the Rotopax containers, there are extensions that go between the containers.

One extension per container is required. Each extension screws into the base or the extension below it and secures the container below it. There is also a locking extension accessory.

The Rotopax locking accessory will only secure one container, as putting it on the top of a stack, still allows the entire stack to be rotated, unscrewing the extensions below the locking extension. I solved this problem by installing an angle bracket onto the storage box such that the upright portion of the angle fits through one of the cutouts in the tank. This prevents the tank from being rotated. I covered the angle with a foam materiel held in place by electrical tape to prevent chafing of the fuel container by the bare steel angle.

Rear view of the anti-rotation angle. Note that I had to severely shorten the bottom of the angle and drill another hole for mounting the angle to the storage box.

Back view of the stack with the anti-rotation angle extending up through the side cutout in the container.

Looking down from the top of the stack. Note the locking extension on the top of the stack.

Initial installation of containers onto the top of the storage box.

Interlocking plastic pieces provided by Rotopax can be installed into the container handles to help hold the containers together, which I’ve concluded are not necessary in this installation.

The reviews of the Rotopax lock noted that it was prone to rust with prolonged exposure to moisture. The Rotopax manufacturer suggested covering the lock to prevent mud and water from getting into the lock and even only using the lock, when security was required and using a lubricant on a regular basis. So one could travel with the unlocked stack, then put the lock in position when away from the vehicle. This seemed a bit too awkward to me, so my first thought was to just put a small tarp over the stack; but a tarp would not keep out dust, which could still accumulate on the fuel containers, maybe resulting in dirt getting into the vehicle fuel tank, when transferring fuel from the container. Dust getting into the lock might also be a problem and a tarp would just not look cool. Maybe having a bit too much of “Tim The Tool Man Taylor” in my psyche, I decided to build a box around the unit and remove the rack on top of the storage box, which was already an issue with fitting the bottom container and getting it out of the rack.

But what materiel to use for the cover? Wood is easy for me to work with, but it would have issues with weathering. I also though that additional security could be added, if a more robust materiel was used. So I looked into aluminum, some of which I could acquire from local big box hardware stores, which had the framing materiel readily available, but solid sheets, were more problematic. Upon further research, I discovered a number of local and online metal suppliers that would even cut pieces to order. One of these suppliers even had a facility not too far away, where I could order on line and pick up there or have it delivered. Their price was also about a third of that at the local hardware stores. So even with paying for shipping, rather than driving 30-45 minutes each way to pick up items, I could save money by ordering online, at least with a substantial order.

After designing the cover, deciding upon the materiel and thickness, I ordered the solid sheets cut to order and lengths of angle, which I could easily cut myself, for the box frame. The aluminum parts arrive a couple of days after ordering and I set in to working on the cover.

Initial assembly to insure proper fit of parts, end view without top. Note the plastic protective wrap is still in place.

Initial assembly, top, underneath side. The extra holes in the long side angles are for mounting the rack.

I made a few minor modifications to the initial design, as I went along, as I discovered that I had not thought through the details for some aspects as much as I should have. So I ended up with a couple of items that I did not use and had to acquire one additional item from the local hardware store, resulting in a bit more cost than had I gotten the proper materiel with the original order.

The bottom framing mounted onto the storage box. This keeps the cover positioned properly. Note the base for the Rotopax container stack mounted onto the storage box top.

In the initial installation with the rack in place, I had centered the Rotopax base on the top of the storage box. In hindsight, had I had in mind this installation without the rack on the box and a cover box, moving the base towards one end of the box, would have left more room inside the box on one end for other storage, like funnels and a self venting filler tube. (The filler tubes that are inside the Rotopax containers are not self venting to meet certain (California) environmental regulations. The non-venting spouts make getting fuel out of the containers very slow. Reviewers complained about this feature and there are self venting spouts one can buy to replace the Rotopax spouts. I have one of those spouts now. The containers have to be manually vented anytime the pressure (altitude) or temperature changes significantly, so the emissions regulations, have a limited effect, anyway).

I could still modify the position of the mount and angle; but at this time, I’m leaving well enough alone. After final assembly, I noted that I can put quart size bottles of oil and/or fuel emergency additives, if desired, at each end of the containers and these fit snugly between the containers and the base angle frame.

The cover with the top removed, being used as a guide for proper placement of the mating angles mounted on top of the storage box. The angles on the box top keep the cover in the proper position.

The anti-rotation angle, seen in the above photo, could have been left out, since the covering box will be locked; but the cover’s security is not great, so in the event that some determined thief manages to remove the cover, that thief will still have to devote a significant effort into removing the containers with the angle and Rotopax lock in place.

I used stainless steel bolts, screws and locking nuts to assemble the items, so one cannot back out the fasteners without access to the inside. I did not try to make the box completely water proof, since that is not really necessary. My initial idea was to thoroughly seal the cover at the seams and around the bolt holes; but as I began the final assembly, I realized that due to the simultaneous fitting together of multiple parts and layers, sealing with any type of sealant would get really messy and my favorite silicon sealant might start to set up before I could tighten all the bolts and screws. A non-hardening butyl caulk would have worked, but that can be a sticky mess. I think there might also be sealing tapes that would work or o-rings or rubber washers, but the tape was not readily available and my design did not allow for the thickness of o-rings or rubber washers, which would deteriorate over time, anyway.

Any water that gets in should drain off of the top of the storage box (which I have made sure is sealed) onto which it is attached anyway. If I find that I want to seal the cover, I can do so later, just by sealing each seam inside the cover. My fear with this method, is that moisture will be trapped in some places and might result in other problems. I can seal from the outside, but this can be messy and I might ruin the esthetic appearance of the cover, so I will wait to see whether sealing is really necessary or not.

My original plan was to paint the entire box black to match the existing storage box; but when I removed the plastic protective sheet from the aluminum panels, prior to final assembly, I really liked the way it looked. So I just put on multiple coats of automobile wax, which I hope keeps the finish looking good. I painted the framing parts black and I think the final product looks good as it is.

Final Assembly, end view, before adding the rack on the top.

Final Assembly, side view, before adding the rack on top.

I had also planned to give up the original top rack on the storage box, which had to be removed, as previously mentioned for this design. Then I realized that I might be able to put the rack onto the top of the cover box. It turned out to be a tight fit, but I was able to make this work and I now have use of the original rack.

Box with rack on top in place on the storage box. Note the latch on the end.

This modification obviously reduces the already limited visibility out of the rear window, but I do have a back up camera and really good side view mirrors and cameras, so I do not think this will be a real handicap.

To keep the box in place, I used marine grade, stainless steel, adjustable latches on each end, with padlocks to keep the latches from possibly coming undone with vibration. The padlocks and latches only provide minimal security, but I’m not overly concerned about that and it is much better than a tarp.

I thought that I might need to add some cushioning materiel where the bottom edge of the cover sits on top of the storage box to prevent chaffing, but the fit is rather tight and can be made even tighter via the adjustable latches, so I do not think this will be a problem. I will monitor this area and take necessary steps to prevent metal to metal wear, if necessary.

While I can remove the cover and install it while standing on the ground and put the containers in place from ground level, locking and unlocking the Rotopax from ground level is not possible for me. I can stand on the bumper to do this, but each of these tasks is much easier, if one has a small step stool or ladder upon which to stand. I looked online for suitable items to use, but I could not find exactly what I wanted and reviews of most lightweight, compact such items were discouraging. After thinking about this, I realized that the cover box is exactly the right height and it is strong enough for me to stand upon. But I do not want to stand directly on the top, scratching the finish, and the rack could be a tripping hazard. I realized that I had plenty of left over suitable lumber from previous home projects for making a standing platform to go over the rack and I have left over aluminum angle that can be used along the edges of the wood to keep the platform in place, when it is in use. I can store the platform away, if I need to use the rack area for storage or maybe even fit small items into the space below the platform.

The standing platform on rack above the extra fuel containers cover

I made the rack fit so snugly inside the upper rack rails that it has to be forced into place and I think the fit is tight enough that the platform will not vibrate loose; but just for insurance, I used 1/2 inch pipe clamps over the center vertical rail rod. The rod is 3/8 inch, so I placed plastic tubing over it to make the clamp fit tightly. The clamp is fastened with stainless steel wing bolts and self locking nuts.

Close up of safety clamp. The velcro wire bundle fastener is used to hold the split plastic tubing securely in place.

Fuel containers cover with rack and platform

While I’m at it, I might as well throw in a couple of other handy items that I added. To clean the front windshield requires a long handle cleaner and squeegee. Most ordinary fuel stations do not have a long handle windshield cleaner. After my first road trip in this, I found a long extendable window cleaner and squeegee. I made a couple of modifications to the extension handle to allow it to be mounted behind the spare tire carrier and allowing for a quick change of window cleaner sponge and squeegee. I stow the window cleaner and squeegee in a storage compartment within the driver’s side door. Upon using this for the first time at a fueling station, I noted that the window cleaning sponge is too wide to easily fit into the typically available water box at filling stations. So I knew I needed to change out those items.

Recently, I found an extendable automobile windshield cleaner that is suitable for use, even though it is not long enough to reach the very top of my windshield. I thought I could just unscrew the combination windshield cleaner and squeegee and screw it onto the longer handle, but the threads are different! So I will live with the shorter extension handle, which I mounted behind the storage box.

Really long extendable handle and storage mount

Extendable handle for windshield cleaner and squeegee and storage mount

To hold the handles in place I use 3/8 inch diameter hitch pins through the hitch pin tang on the storage box and/or the tire carrier and support the other end with curtain rod supports. I found the curtain rod supports in my surplus items in my garage and they are perfect for this purpose. I could have used the hitch pins that serve to lock the storage box and spare tire carrier in place, when these are swung out; but I figured I will eventually lose one of these, so now I just leave the original hitch pins in their storage holes in the bumper.

Since I will be traveling to cold climates, I also thought it best to acquire an ice scraper. I found a combination snow brush and ice scraper, which is suitable for a car, but much too short to use on my vehicle. So I modified that and the longer extension handle, so that I can put either the ice scraper (which I found that I could remove from the snow brush handle) or the snow brush onto the original longer handle.

I also acquired more self rescue items: Maxtrak boards for sand, mud, snow traction (in case of being stuck), tow strap and shackle, tow hitch receiver with shackle, jack base and wheel chock. I will be most happy not to ever have to use these, but it is good to have these along, just in case they are ever needed.

Maybe on my next trip into the wilderness, I might get some use from this most recent modification and have something more interesting to write about with photos to share. I do have one week of a two week trip fairly firmly planned with the second week still uncertain. The last week’s destination(s) will depend upon the weather.

Stay warm, healthy and safe,

Ken

Bisti Wilderness Area – Fall 2018 – Afternoon Day 2

I rested during the day, after my early morning shoot, and spent some time studying the photographs in the book gifted to me by John Eric Hawkins. John Eric went out a bit earlier than I did that afternoon and I headed out again around 5PM.

My destination for sunset photos was again The Nursery, where I would shoot with my Nikon 24mm PC-E lens. I do not have much experience with this lens, but I thought this would be a good place to use it. In my morning conversation with John Eric Hawkins, I asked him what he thought of my idea of using the tilt/shift lens in The Nursery. He agreed that would be a good place to make use of this type lens.

As I neared my destination, I saw John Eric shooting in an area with small features, that I had scouted the previous day. I recognized that area as a good place to shoot and I had thought that I might get back there at some point during my visit, so I was intrigued that John Eric was shooting there. We chatted for brief while. He really liked that little area for shooting and contrasted it to The Nursery. As we were chatting, he told me that the 85mm 1.8 lens was a good one for shooting here. I had recently seen other landscape photos taken with that lens and I could easily see that he was correct in his assertion. I had a Nikon 85mm 1.8 lens back in my vehicle and I had hoped to get a chance to try it out for landscape shots somewhere on this particular trip, but I never had time to do so. Not wanting to distract John Eric for very long from his shoot, I continued on to The Nursery, which John Eric pointed to from our location, indicating that I could walk more directly to it than the route that I had set up on my GPS via a satellite map view.

Arriving in The Nursery, there was no one else around and I had the place completely to myself for the duration of my shoot. Again the late day light was very good.

I began experimenting with the PC lens before the golden hour, just to get comfortable with the technique of using this unique lens. I’ve blogged about this lens and technique previously, but here is a brief description of how to use this type lens. The general procedure that I use, after setting my composition and determining a starting point for an exposure, is to focus on the nearest object in the composition, using a large aperture, then tilt the lens to bring distant objects in the composition into focus. At least with large apertures, the focus on the very nearest point in the composition tends to fall out of focus as those in the distance come into focus. Decreasing the aperture a little helps with this problem.

I found shooting with the PC lens was a challenge, especially determining when I had proper focus on distant objects, as I tilted the lens. It appeared that only a very small tilt on the order of 1-2 degrees was required to bring distant objects into focus and it was very difficult to determine when the focus was optimum. The PC-E 24mm is an entirely manual lens, with the exception of metering prior to tilting or shifting the lens. I was also trying to use large apertures with the tilt and still get good depth of field, since this is one of the capabilities with this lens.

I had what I considered good compositions, with the “cracked eggs” in the foreground and the hillsides in the background or an array of the “cracked eggs” and the focus looked good to me in the field. However, after reviewing my photos on a large screen, I was very disappointed. Nearly all of the images were poorly focused or had very shallow DOF.

So what went wrong on this shoot? There may be several possibilities. Firstly, the very slight tilt range with very slight changes affecting the focus made it difficult to fine tune the focus. It is also possible that the tilt might have moved slightly after it was set, even if I locked down the tilt mechanism or maybe locking the mechanism might have resulted in a slight tilt. Secondly, maybe my eyes can no longer properly detect sharp focus. Thirdly, maybe I expected too much DOF from this lens with large apertures in landscape photos with lots of depth and maybe I should have shot f/11 to f/16. In hindsight, I certainly should have made each image with a range of apertures, since I had so little experience with this lens.

On the positive side, this was an experiment, which even though, it was mostly a failure, I can at least learn from the poor results and hopefully get better results with the next trial with this lens and I must practice more with the lens before depending upon it in a shoot of this type.

If any readers have experience with using the PC-E 24mm (or any other tilt/shift lens) for landscape photography, I would appreciate your feedback on this topic.

I only deemed 4 (or parts of 4, cropping some of the images to remove out of focus portions) of the 70+ images that I made on this shoot to be presentable and those are included here.

Bisti “Cracked Eggs”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Bisti “Cracked Eggs” in “The Nursery”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Bisti “Cracked Egg” Texture. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm (severe crop), f/3.5, 1/500s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Bisti “Cracked Eggs” in “The Nursery”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/3.5, 1/50s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Bisti “Cracked Eggs” in “The Nursery”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/3.5, 1/50s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

As usual, these images are posted to my Flickr page, where they may be more easily viewed.

I had planned to get up early the next morning and shoot again at sunrise in the area with the many wing like hoodoos with the Nikon 14-24mm wide angle, which is easier to get more DOF with than the 24-70mm; however, as I walked back to the parking area with the desert rapidly going into darkness, feeling the tiredness setting in, I realized that with a long drive ahead the next day, that it would not be a good idea to start that drive after a short night of sleep and after hiking into and out of Bisti again. A morning shoot would have resulted in a late start on my long drive, so I slept in until just prior to sunrise Monday morning. When I peeked out the window, just after awaking, I saw that it was going to be a glorious sunrise with colorful clouds in the eastern sky and I immediately regretted my decision not to do the early morning shoot.

After getting everything packed away and ready for the road trip, I wrote a note to John Eric, since I had not seen any activity from his RV. As I was about to leave the note on the driver’s side door of John’s RV, he called to me from inside, telling me to come around to the sliding door side. He and Jean were just finishing breakfast and they were planning to leave that morning, too. He commented that I must have had a very good morning for shooting and I had to inform him that I had not gone out. I thanked John again for the book and we chatted for a few minutes before I got underway.

It was only late in the day, as I approached Amarillo, that I realized that my decision not to shoot that morning was for the best. Otherwise, I would have probably been driving after dark, tired, and less alert, resulting in less safe driving.

There may be only one more minor post related to this fall trip. I do not know when I will get time for another photo trip. I expect it will be in the New Year before I get time for another trip, so either there will be an extended break in these posts or, maybe, I might blog about much earlier trips, as I do have several interesting stories and photos that I could share from past years.

Here’s hoping and wishing that you all have a happy end of the year holiday season!

Ken

Bisti Badlands Fall 2018, Day 2, Early Morning

I got up early Sunday morning, September 23, left the Bisti south parking area about 5AM and headed out into the dark wilderness area. I started out with a headlamp, but soon switched to a brighter flashlight, as the normally bright headlamp just did not seem bright enough this morning. It is one of those headlamps with multiple functions and it would not switch to the brightest mode. This is a good reason to have backup light sources, when hiking in the dark. I had another headlamp in my Camelbak, but the flashlight was easier to get to.

There are landmarks that are an aid to navigation during the daylight hours, but in the dark it is not possible to see those landmarks from a distance. Fortunately, my GPS device, linked to my iPhone via Bluetooth, with a preset route made it quite easy to navigate towards my destination in the dark. Before I got to my destination, an area with many hoodoos of various sizes and wing like or fanciful shapes, it became light enough that I no longer needed the flashlight.

I scouted the area for awhile before it got very light, looking for a good place to begin the early morning shoot. I made a number of photos prior to the sunrise. Since the light was still dim, getting good images was a challenge and those images required more extreme editing to bring out the details and produce more attractive images.

Early dawn in Bisti. This is an HDR image created from 6 images in Skylum Aurora2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11 at various exposures.

Early dawn in Bisti. This is an HDR created from three images, using Skylum Aurora2019, with final edits in Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, various exposures.

Pre-dawn in Bisti. Converted to monochrome in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 44mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 250.

Pre-dawn in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 31mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro4.

I am never really satisfied with these low light images in which the heavy handed editing often produces unnatural results and, even though, it is an artistic expression, being artistically handicapped, I’ve never felt completely comfortable with the results.

When the sun rose above the eastern horizon, there was magnificent light on many of the hoodoos.

Early morning light in Bisti. This is a composite of three images focus-stacked in Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 65mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.

Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Early morning in Bisti. Several images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm, at 62mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64.

Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64. Edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 45mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.

Note that I focus stacked images to extend the depth of field in many of my photos here. This requires a bit more work in capturing sufficient images and much more time in the editing process, especially on my old, slow iMac.

I continued to shoot even after the “golden” hour, which is very limited in duration and I wanted to make the most of the limited time that I had for shooting here. I felt that the contrast and shadows would still allow for the making of good images.

Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64. Edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 52mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64.

A small Bisti Hoodoo and its shadow in early morning light. Focus Stack of two images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

I am becoming more interested in monochrome photography and this area is superb for this, since the colors are mostly muted, but the contrast, textures and shadows make for interesting monochrome compositions.

An unavoidable progression. Three small Bisti Hoodoos and their shadows in early morning. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nike Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 42mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.

Three small Bisti Hoodoos and early morning shadows. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Bisti Hoodoos and early morning shadows. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.

Small Bisti Hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nike Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 62mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64

As the morning wore on, I meandered around the area looking for additional subjects and for ideas for shooting at another more appropriate time of the day.

Alien Woman? Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 56mm (prior to crop), f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I had spotted the above hoodoo on the previous day’s scouting. I think it may be one that I saw referred to as an “alien woman” in someone else’s post, but the GPS coordinates of that post do not coincide with this hoodoo. So either there are more than one of these or the coordinates in the other’s post were incorrect, which I think may be the case, since in that post the photographer commented that he could not find the “alien woman” in a subsequent visit to Bisti. Of course, these hoodoos are temporary and one of this sort might disappear over a relatively short time interval.

This “alien woman” hoodoo is in a difficult place to photograph at anytime of the day, but it is probably best shot in the afternoon, rather than the morning. I did not think I would get back here again on this trip, so I shot it anyway, if for nothing more than a record of it’s existence and location, recording its GPS coordinates on my InReach Explorer.

Bisti Hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 38mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.

The above hoodoos are in the vicinity of the “alien woman”, just a bit more to the east. These are moderately sized ones and would probably be best photographed earlier in the morning. One can see that these are fragile and easily damaged. I have seen photographs of people standing on some of the larger hoodoos in Bisti, which is not a good thing to do, it is not only dangerous, but could result in injury to oneself and possibly destroy or damage the hoodoos.

Hoodoo Window. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.

The “elephant head” like hoodoo above bridges a gap in the supporting structure, making a window in the rock.

The Seal Hoodoo? Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 56mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.

The smaller hoodoo in the background (above) looks like one that I have seen referred to as “The Seal”; although, I thought “The Seal” was located more to the west, so maybe this is not “The Seal”.

The aquarium/fish face hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 58mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.

I can imagine that the caps on these hoodoos look like fish faces, so I am calling this the “Aquarium” or “Fish Face Hoodoos”.

Dark Tower. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 26mm (prior to crop), f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

I made numerous images of the features above with the intention of focus stacking them; but when I looked at those photos, they just did not measure up to what I thought I saw when making them. Consequently, I cropped one image to include the major features on top of this hill. Since the back side of the tallest feature is in shadow, converting to black and white, makes it look like a “dark tower”, surrounded by guardian hoodoos. (The one on the far left looks somewhat like a shark). This image contains a view of “The Seal” from another angle, just to the left of the dark tower.

Finally realizing that the best of the morning light was gone, I headed back to the parking lot. Just as I approached my vehicle, the photographer, whom I had met at The Nursery the previous afternoon, came out from his RV to greet me, saying “I knew when I saw you leaving at 5AM that you were serious about photography”. Standing in the parking lot between our vehicles, we chatted for quite a while. I was entranced as he talked much about his background and experiences as a photographer and as he offered suggestions on photographic topics that I questioned him about. Near the end of this impromptu discussion, he said, “If you don’t mind, I have copies of a book that I offer to those I find with a serious interest in photography and I would like to give you one”. Of course, I accepted and he autographed the book for me. The book, The Ancient Shape of Man, is filled with beautiful, very sharp, large format monochrome images.

The gift from John Eric Hawkins, whom I chanced upon in Bisti.

Meeting and conversing with John Eric Hawkins and receiving his book as a gift was the highlight of this trip. I found his website listed in the book, which he told me he has not updated for awhile; nevertheless, his website has beautiful images and more information about John Eric. His website is worth a visit for those of you interested in fine art photography.

Be sure to check out the images in this post on Flickr, where these appear in higher resolution and in a larger size.

Thanks for following and please feel free to offer comments, suggestions and critiques of the images and the writing within this blog.

Bisti Wilderness – Fall 2018 – Day 1

I left Ridgeway Colorado Saturday morning, September 22, via the San Juan Skyway, deciding to take that route to the south towards New Mexico, rather than travel the most direct route via US550, AKA The Million Dollar Highway, which I had just been on in July. I wanted to see some different scenery and I was not disappointed, even though, I know US550 from Ouray to Durango would have been a great, if somewhat scary with its hairpin switch back turns on a mountain roadway with steep drop offs with no guard rails, route, too.

There were some really good fall colors, more reds than I had seen in the past few days, along the chosen route in southern Colorado. I pulled over at one scenic pull out, needing a snack and to stretch my legs for a few minutes. Others pulled in and out of this area, to take a look around, while I was there. Before I got out of my vehicle, I saw, via my side mirror, the driver of a van behind me taking photos of my vehicle through his windshield. After my snack, I got out and walked back past that van. The driver was just coming back and he commented that he really liked my vehicle. The Sportsmobile does get a lot of attention, so it is not one to travel in inconspicuously.

As I was standing by the guardrail, looking out over the roadside mountain view, a group of motorcyclists, decked out in their riding apparel, pulled into the parking area. Most of the bikes appeared to be Harleys, but I noted one near the middle of the pack that looked different. I walked over to it to get a better look and commented to one of the nearby riders that I had never seen one like it before. He pointed out that it was a Spyder, a three wheel motorbike, and the rider was a “middle age” (not sure what this is now) female, who was really chatty about her tricycle and pointed out another “sportier, more powerful” model near the back of the pack, also ridden by a female. I asked one of the riders, if they were members of a particular club and he said they were just friends out for a ride. Most were from Wyoming, but a couple, he said, were “Idaho Potatoes”. He then held up his phone, asking if I would take a group photo. So of course, I did. Afterwards, I wished that I had had the presence of mind to ask their permission to get a shot of the group for my blog,

Nothing else of note happened along the route, but it was an enjoyable ride through countryside that I had not seen before.

I arrived at the south parking lot for Bisti access early Saturday afternoon, which, as expected on a weekend, had a number of vehicles in it, including a full size tour bus. I parked near the entrance of the lot between the bus and a long wheel base Mercedes Sprinter RV. After setting up, having lunch, gathering my selected photo gear for sunset photos, checking my Camelbak and InReach Explorer GPS device with previously set routes across the wilderness area, I relaxed a bit. Later, seeing the tour bus driver, I went over and chatted a bit with him. He turned out to be a very talkative person. He was originally from the northeastern US, but had moved to Colorado years ago, as had other member of his family. I learned that the tourists he was driving around were Latvian. It was a small group, too small to be profitable, he said, but the tour company had to host them, nonetheless. They had a guide to conduct them around Bisti, which was fortunate, otherwise they would, most likely, have no idea how to navigate to any of the interesting sites within Bisti. I was surprised that they were out there during the heat of the day.

Around 5PM, I set out into the wilderness, heading to an area referred to as the “Nursery” or “Cracked Eggs”, to which I had not yet been on either of my other two trips to Bisti. I loosely followed a pre-determined route that I sketched out via a satellite map view of the area with points of interest marked as waypoints, using GPS coordinates gleaned from online searches and a few from earlier photos that I had taken with GPS coordinates recorded via a device attached to my Nikon D90 some years ago. The one way distance to my destination was about 2 miles. So the resulting hiking distance was a bit longer, since I scouted a few interesting looking areas just off of my route for future possible destinations, recording a few new waypoints on my GPS device and getting a few reference photos with my iPhone. My Garmin InReach Explorer connects via Bluetooth to an app on my iPhone, which has an easier to use interface than that of the GPS device itself.

Routes that I set up prior to my visit. I only had time for portions of the south (red route) on this trip. The waypoints shown as 2011 photos were where I had shot in 2011 during my first visit here.

A satellite map view of my possible south area routes. My first day destination was “The Nursery” or “Cracked Eggs”.

Along the way, I encountered a few of the Latvian tourists heading back to the parking area. They were not youngsters, mostly female, all looked a bit bedraggled and did not respond to my greetings. Maybe they did not understand English very well or were just too tired, hot and thirsty to speak.

When I arrived at The Nursery, I was pleased to see that there was only one photographer there, since it is a relatively small area and multiple photographers there could easily get into each others way. I chatted with him for a few minutes, then left him alone to finish his shooting, while I scouted the area, being careful to stay out of his way. It was still a while before the “golden” hour prior to sunset and I was a bit surprised that he was shooting prior to that time, since he was obviously a professional. However, he appeared to be shooting close ups of details in the “cracked eggs”, so I think he only needed the shadows and the contrasts. When he finished shooting, he hailed me, saying “It is all yours”. We chatted a bit more about gear, cameras, photography, etc. before he began his trek back to the parking lot. In our conversation, I learned that the long wheel base Mercedes Sprinter RV in the parking lot was his.

The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 20-70mm @ 35mm, f/16, 1/15s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Soon afterwards, I proceeded to shoot a few compositions, even though it was still a bit early. I noted a small Z shaped hoodoo and, as I looked it over, I thought that one edge of it had a facial shape and I could imagine the top of it as long hair streaming back from the head. So I’ve dubbed this the Bisti Automobile Hood Ornament Hoodoo. To shoot it from the most interesting direction and angle, I could not isolate it against the sky and I could see that the hillside in the background was going to be problematic, unless I just left the background blurry, which would be ok; but I did not want a blurry background. To bring out the hoodoo from the background, I made a couple of images to focus stack in Photoshop, then played around with a couple of ideas for merging the images. I decided that the best looking result was a color background with a monotone image of the hoodoo, blended in Photoshop. I selected “seamless color and tones” for the blending during the focus stacking process, which muted the color in the background, but I still think it contrasts well with the black and white hoodoo image in the foreground.

Bisti Automobile Hood Ornament Hoodoo. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 64. This is a composite of two shots focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop, with prior edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

As I was shooting, a couple of more people showed up and we greeted each other. Recognizing a German accent, I struck up a conversation. The man (Wiener) and his daughter (Anna), who was a student (university, I surmise), were on a tour around the western US, having started in Los Angeles. He and his family had visited the US on numerous occasions and he commented on how crowded the National Parks are now as compared to his first visits.

As the sun went low on the horizon, we each went about our shooting, being careful to keep both ourselves and our shadows out of the other’s shots. Weiner did most of the shooting, but occasionally shared his camera with Anna. Both shot hand holding the camera, as most tourist tend to do and I expect they were shooting with their camera in Auto mode. There were clouds on the horizon, which intermittently blocked the best sun rays, so we would stop shooting and chat a bit, then resume shooting when the clouds moved away.

The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Cracked Egg. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/10s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The hillside, with emerging hoodoos, to the east of The Nursery with moonrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/16, 0.5s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 52mm, f/16, 1/6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

There was a beautiful sunset that afternoon, which we both shot, before heading back to the parking lot. When I put a reverse graduated neutral density filter into the filter holder attached to my camera lens, Anna was intrigued, as she was not familiar with the use of filters. I explained to Anna why that particular filter was useful for photographing sunsets; but I gathered that Weiner knew about the use of neutral density filters.

Bisti sunset silhouette at The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64, Progrey 0.9 Reverse Graduated Neutral Density Filter. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

There was nothing of interest in the foreground for this sunset shot, so I was satisfied with a silhouette shot.

Anna, learning that I lived in Texas, asked if I had been to Big Bend NP. So I told them about my first disastrous visit there, as we hiked back to the parking area. (I should write a blog about that trip sometime. It was a very memorable experience, although not a really successful photography trip).

We arrived back in the parking lot, where Weiner and Anna were tent camping, just before it got really dark. They were planning to go out again in the morning, but not prior to sunrise, as I was. We said goodnight and I did not see them again, other than from a far distance the next morning, so I did not get a chance to learn more about them.

The photo compositional possibilities here are only limited by one’s imagination. I have so many photos that I like from this photo session that it is not practical to include them all in this post, so I have selected only a few to include here, but others will be put onto my Flickr page.

2018 Colorado Fall Color Road Trip – Day 4

The last night camping along Owl Creek Pass Road was the coldest night I experienced on this trip. When I awoke in the pre-dawn hours the temperature inside the Sportsmobile was 45 degrees F. I turned on the furnace to bring the temperature up to a more pleasant 55 degF, as I dressed and prepared coffee. As I was preparing to leave the campsite for the final day of photography, I noted a patch of frost on the inside of the windshield and a bit of frost on the exterior. The frost quickly disappeared after starting the van and putting the heater setting on defrost.

I drove on Owl Creek Pass Road towards Silver Jack Reservoir and pulled into a wide pull out just before a cattle guard just south of an access road to Silver Jack Reservoir. This area was a mile or so further north of the area where I had shot the morning before. I gathered my gear, including knit hat and gloves, since it was still a bit frosty prior to sunrise. I walked down a slope in a pasture towards the broad drainage into Silver Jack Reservoir, looking for a good vantage point from which to shoot the mountainside to the west, dodging cow patties as I went along.

A frosty cow pie. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I set up the tripod and camera in a place where I thought the view was best and one that allowed me to move around a bit, if necessary, then waited for the sunrise, choosing initial compositions and taking a few test shots.

The sky was clear, much different than the previous morning. I made a number of photos, as the morning light moved from the top of the mountainside downward towards the drainage, from a couple of slightly different vantage points.

A fall scene off of Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Skylum Luminar 2018.

An early morning fall scene near Silver Jack Reservoir, Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

The compositions from my chosen location were a bit limited. It was difficult to avoid the foreground clutter, with the 24-70mm lens that I had elected to use this morning, and many of the shots looked so similar or otherwise just did not turn out as I wanted, that I am posting only a couple that I liked best. I chose to shoot with the 24-70mm, since I was rather sure that the 14-24mm wide angle lens, that I had used the previous morning, would be too wide for what I wanted to shoot today. It is possible that the 80-400mm lens might have been a better choice in this location for shooting beyond the foreground clutter and I certainly could have gotten some good shots of the mountain peaks with that big lens.

Finished shooting here, I drove north on Owl Creek Pass Road, exploring the area and looking for favorable places to maybe get mid-morning shots of the colorful Aspens. I walked around in an Aspen forest, shooting with the wide angle 14-24mm, which I found to be a bit difficult to work with in the woods. Nearly all of the shots that I had high hopes for, turned out poorly, but I do like the one below with the long shadows cast by the trees.

Fall forest shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 15mm, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

After shooting in the forest, I continued driving along Owl Creek Road, enjoying the great fall day and the scenery, stopping occasionally to shoot with my iPhone.

A scene in one of the Silver Jack camp grounds that are run by the forest service. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

A side road off of Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

A mid-morning fall scene along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Along the roadway, I encountered a lone cow that stood in the middle of the road, staring at me. I stopped to wait for it to move along. As it continued to look at me, I picked up the iPhone with the intention of getting a photo of it. As soon as I did this, it turned and started to walk away down the road. I followed, slowly. Eventually, it moved to the edge of the roadway and I pulled up beside it, stopped and it stared up at me. Again I picked up the iPhone, aimed it at the cow and it immediately turned and walked away. Again it stopped in the middle of the road to stare back at me. Again I started to shoot it with the iPhone and again it began to walk away. I can only surmise that it was a camera shy cow. I really wanted a shot into its eyes as it stared, but I only got shots of it walking away.

The camera shy cow. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Aspens in fall color and evergreens along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I began to make my way along Owl Creek Pass Road towards highway 550 and Ridgway, where I would spend the night in Ridgway State Park before heading to Bisti in New Mexico the following morning.

Along the way, I was hailed by someone driving a jeep coming up the road in the opposite direction. I stopped to see what was going on, thinking that they might be wanting to warn me about road conditions ahead. It turned out to be the couple that had visited my first campsite (the ones that wanted to use my campsite the following day). They easily recognized my vehicle since it was the only one like it in the area and they just wanted to chat. We only had time for a brief conversation, since other vehicles began to accumulate behind them. I also had conversations with others (campers, tourist, photographers, hunters) that I encountered at various locations in this area. It is always interesting to learn about others and their backgrounds, experiences, etc. and surprising how many times we find people with similar backgrounds, who are familiar with seemingly unusual places we or our family members have lived.

Future posts will cover the couple of days that I spent shooting in the Bisti Wilderness area in New Mexico, which is becoming one of my favorite places for photography.

Tag: Sportsmobile

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