Tag: Sunset Light

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – Sunset, Day 1

After scouting the area near my campsite, I decided to return to Little Baldy for sunset photography.  I arrive on the upper slope of Little Baldy early, as is my usual practice, to look around again and pick compositions prior to sunset.  As I was looking over the area, a herd of people from a parking lot visible in the distance, came up the eastern slope.  They were all heading for the summit to watch the sunset.  It was a Sunday evening and this is apparently a weekend favorite sunset viewing site for visitors.  I had not anticipated this, since I had seen so few people in this area earlier in the day.  We landscape photographers usually prefer no people in our photos.

After the crowd ascended to the crest of Little Baldy, I worked my way to the western slope, rather than going to the highest point, where I knew the crowd would congregate.

Little Baldy 1

Fortunately, most of those on the summit stayed below the peak on the eastern side and were not visible most of the time I was shooting.

Little Baldy 2
Wichita Mountains
Cacti Ridge
Red Grass, Red Rocks and Cacti
Red Rocks Delight
Wichita Mountains Sunset

As I was shooting the final images of this shoot, one couple did appear near the top of Little Baldy and I included them in some shots, but they were moving too much for me to get non-blurry images.  So I have no images of the actual peak of Little Baldy with the best of golden hour light to share.

Until the next time,

Ken

Colorado Mountains at Sunset

Dinner plans were complicated by a number of our choice restaurants being closed for various reasons, requiring some driving about looking for alternatives. As we drove between two local towns, I made mental notes of possible locations for sunset photography.  After dinner in Hotchkiss, I returned to one of those location for sunset photography.

Mountains and Clouds
Clouds, Mountains and Valley
Mountain Peaks at Sunset
The Cloud
Colorado Sunset Clouds

As I returned to Hotchkiss, I noted an almost full, silvery moon rising above the clouds.  The moonrise was hidden by the clouds, when I was shooting.  It was too late to find a good vantage point from which to include the moon in my late day images.  That was disappointing.  If I had hung out at my sunset shooting location a few more minutes, maybe I would have had an opportunity to get the moon in my images.  Never the less, I thought I had a good sunset photo session.

Ken

Dallas Divide – Sunset Photos

We spent a portion of our second day in the Ridgway area driving over Owl Creek  Pass, making a loop over the pass from Ridgway, down to US 50, through Montrose and back to Ridgway for dinner.

I planned better today, going for an earlier dinner to allow time afterwards to drive along CO62 prior to sunset to shoot mountain scenes at sunset.

Serene Evening
Golden Mountains
Dallas Divide Sunset Peaks

Until next time,

Ken

Salvaging the Day

After a day of browsing and walking around in Ouray and Telluride, quaint, old Colorado tourist towns, we had dinner in Ridgway.  I had hoped to be able to rush up the highway toward or over the Dallas Divide from Ridgway, after dinner for sunset photography,  but we were a little late getting out and the service was slow at our restaurant.  By the time we finished dinner, it was too late to go anywhere.  Arriving back at our lodging and resigned to having lost my opportunity for sunset photography today, I hoisted my camera backpack, grabbed my tripod and camera and began to walk into the lodge. Then I noted golden sunset light on the nearest mountaintops.  So I jogged down the road past the inn to get past other buildings, power lines and trees to try to get into a location to shoot the rapidly changing scene before the light faded away.

Eventide
Eventide 2
Day’s Final Performance
Finale
Moon, Sunset Clouds and Fading Mountain Light
Day’s End

As the sunset light faded away, I walked back towards the inn, stopping to photograph grass and wildflowers in the dim evening light.

Grass and Wildflowers
Grass 1
Grass 2
Progression
Fuzzy, old head

What will tomorrow bring?

Until then,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 25 – Bentonite Hills

Continued from Part 24:

After sundown, I continued to shoot in the dimmer light, going back to some of the earlier locations to capture the scenes in muted light.

Bentonite Hills 9
Bentonite Hills 10
Bentonite Hills 11
Bentonite Hills 12
Bentonite Hills 13
Bentonite Hills 14
Face Off

Staring at this old tree I see what appears to be a fierce guardian of the hills, rising up from the desert sand, spreading its tentacles and roaring from its upper, dark center.  (Viewing on a large screen can help viewers see what I see, or else maybe I’m off my tree).

Contortionist
Twisted
Bentonite Hills 15
Rest Time

This concludes the Capitol reef portion of this trip.  I’ve just got a few other miscellaneous items and experiences from this trip to share.

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 24 – Bentonite Hills

Bentonite Hills 1, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old Tree

On the final day of our time in Capitol Reef National Park, we photographed around some of the many bentonite hills in the northern portion of the park and/or along the roadway into Cathedral Valley.  The area where we photographed may actually be outside the park boundary on BLM or private land.  We had driven past these hills numerous times during out trips into and out of Cathedral Valley.

Bentonite Hills 2, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old Tree

There were a number of old, gnarly trees in this area, so I used those and other desert vegetation as foreground for photographs of the colorful hills.

Bentonite Hills 3, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old Tree
Bentonite Hills 4, Desert and Bentonite Hills
Scrubby Desert Vegetation, Rocks and Bentonite Hills
Hard Rock Desert and Bentonite Hills, Early Golden Hour
Bentonite Hills 5, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour
Bentonite Hills 6, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour
Bentonite Hills 7, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour
Bentonite Hills 8, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour

To be continued,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 16

Arriving at the area above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, overlooking Strike Valley, we hastened to find quick compositions before the late day light disappeared.

Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.

We were fortunate to get golden hour sunset light on portions of the foreground rocks for a brief interval, before the foreground went entirely into shadow.

A La Georgia O’keeffe

The repeating Vs in the image above remind me of themes or patterns often seen in Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork that she did in in the New Mexico area near her home.  The Vs begin in the old dead tree, continue with the intersection of the rock formations behind it and at the notch in the opposite valley wall in the background.

Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.

The gnarly, fallen old tree in the foreground seems to mimic the rock layers behind it.

Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.
Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.

I made a number of images with these rocks in the foreground.  I’ve only included a couple of those in this post.

Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.
Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.

Likewise, I captured a number of images similar to these two, getting a portion of the Burr Trail Road, going down into the valley.  As a reminder, clicking on the photos with embedded links will take you to the photo on Flickr and viewing on a large screen will better show the details in the images.

Strike Valley, above the Burr Road switchbacks near sunset.

This concludes today’s shoot,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 15

After shooting at the Strike Valley Overlook, we retreated back to the intersection of the the 4 wheel drive road and Burr Trail Road to shoot a window in a rock near that intersection.

I hiked along a stream bed to get better views of the window.

Window in Rock, just off of the Burr Trail Road, Capitol Reef National Park.

The window is so far away from this shooting area that it appears to be much smaller than it actually is, so the foreground scene dominates these wide angle shots.

Window 2
Highs and Lows

I scrambled up a very steep slick rock slope to get the photo above and a few of the others here.

Elemental Wounds

The canyon walls along the stream had some interesting texture and features.

Rock On
Pillar of Support
Sculpted
Endurance

Back at the open area around a parking area just off of Burr Trail Road, I looked for foreground objects to include in front of the distant window.

High Desert View
Desert Rocks
Tree Bone Dry

None of these shots turned out to be outstanding (although, I do like the vertical composition that I had to work hardest to get, climbing a steep slope), so we abandoned this area and headed towards an area overlooking Strike Valley above the Burr Trail Switchbacks, hoping to get there before the sunlight disappeared.

More on that in the next post,

Ken

 

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 14 – Return to Strike Valley Overlook

This is a continuation of a late afternoon shoot at Strike Valley Overlook in Capitol Reef National Park.

The Edge
Undulations
Shadow Remains

This old tree skeleton provided a number of compositional possibilities.  I think this one is the best photo I got here.  If there were only a few clouds in the sky…

Evening Rest
Life on Edge

I had hoped to get some of these compositions with sunset light on the foreground, but this area very quickly went into shadow before the best of the late day light.

Rock Climbers
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
Fading
Day’s End
Receding

This wraps up our shoot at this location.

Until next time,

Ken

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 13 – Return to Strike Valley and Upper Muley Twist Canyon

Arch in Upper Muley Twist Canyon

The trail head for Upper Muley Twist Canyon and the Strike Valley Overlook both begin at the end of a three mile, rugged, high clearance, 4 wheel drive road.

There are at least four arches in Upper Muley Twist Canyon in the southern portion of Capitol Reef.  The full loop hike of this canyon is a nine mile round trip.  Today, our primary destination was the Strike Valley Overlook, which we had scouted earlier in our visit.  We had just enough time before sunset to hike to the first arch, which is about a mile from the trailhead.

The first arch is easily missed.  It is high up on the canyon wall, does not stand out sharply from the surroundings, and it is obscured by rocks and vegetation along the stream bed.  We spotted the arch, though it was not easily accessible and we had no time today to try to find a route to a good vantage point for getting the best photos.  The shot above is taken from a sandy bank surrounded by trees and brush just above the stream bed.  We resolved to save any more exploration in this canyon for another day and hiked back towards the trailhead and the Strike Valley Overlook trail.

Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold

There are high rock outcrops to the west of this overlook area, so the late day shadows encroach rapidly, putting much of the area and the valley in shadow well before the best of golden hour.

Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold

This overlook area sits atop the geological feature called the Waterpocket Fold, which runs for miles in the park.

Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold
Linear Features on the Waterpocket Fold

This natural, linear, geological feature looks like a shrub lined walkway.

A Very Small Portion of the Massive Waterpocket Fold
Resting Place

This old tree remnant, resting at the base of a small rock drop off, reminded me of a line from a German poem that I had to memorize in college.  Amazingly, I can still remember the complete poem decades later.  The last line translated from the original German: Just wait, soon you too will rest.

Strike Valley Overlook and Waterpocket Fold

An old, dead tree and its shadow were good foreground objects, so this appears in a number of my compositions here.

To be continued,

Ken