This is a continuation of multiple shoots in an area of Southern Utah known as ‘White Rocks’.
This first image on the Flickr Explore page.
To be continued,
Ken
Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 8
Tag: Western USA
Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 7
We returned to the area refered to as White Rocks in Southern Utah for an early morning shoot. I switched from the Nikon D850 and 24-70mm lens to the Nikon Z8 and Nikon Z14-24mm for this shoot.
To be continued,
Ken
Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 5
More photography in an area known as White Rocks in Southern Utah.
This group of hoodoos seem to be looking about for the fallen head of the headless stump in the background.
There are many of these “Flat Top” hoodoos in this area and many headless ones as those flat tops eventually fall off.
The square shape of the head on this hoodoo looks as if it could have been purposely shaped. Getting this image with that georgeous sky behind it was a bonus.
Maybe those rocks in the foreground are from previous hoodoos here?
The creases and lines in these rocks remind me of baked rolls.
As the various layers of rock erode and collapse from a wall here, interesting textural features are created with lines, shapes and fractures.
The sunlight disappears well before sunset over most of this erroded valley, limiting the opportunity for golden hour light.
Shooting from “behind” these hoodoos, looking down and over the valley of their dominion, seeing that valuey as they see it.
Thanks for following and stay tuned for more White Rocks photography,
Ken
Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 4
More photos from Southern Utah, March 2025.
If one looks very closely, for a sense of scale, there is a photographer in the upper left of this image.
Thanks for following and stay tuned for more Utah landscape photographs,
Ken
Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 3
This post is a continuation of photography in Southern Utah in March 2025.
What’s on the agenda for today’s meeting? Maybe the weather, since that is critical to the formation of these rock features and for their survival.
Stay tuned for more Rocking the Rocks in Southern Utah,
Ken
Southern Utah March 2025 – White Rocks – Part 2
This post is a continuation of photography in an area of Southern Utah that is commonly referred to as “White Rocks”. There are many interesting rock features in this area.
I have to admit to cheating a little in the editing of this first image. In the original image there was a big rock where the two in the foreground are now. I found that single, large rock distracting, so I used Lightroom’s AI tool to break that rock into smaller rocks. This tool is often used to remove objects, but it can also modify objects. the tool creates three choices from which to choose at each activation and one can repeat the activation, if none of the choices are desirable. I could have completely removed that big rock, but that did not seem appropriate, so I chose this broken rock alternative, which I think fits better with the other rocks in the “Broken Circle”. Some will object to this blatant modification of a landscape, but I’ve finally gotten to the point of seeing such photography as much as art as in faithfully copying what nature provides. So I’m ok with modifications, within reasonable limits and we have to use our own judgment as to what is “reasonable”.
Geologist refer to these rock features as “hoodoos” or “toadstools”. To me the rock atop the pedestal in the foreground here looks like a toad. So Maybe this is a “Toad’s Stool”.
I titled this “Parent and Child”, but I can also see it as a dog with its tail sticking up. Some people’s pareiodlia may see it otherwise, but in the end it is another of natures marvelous creations, no matter how we perceive it.
This hoodoo, supported by many rock layers, seems to be looking down into the valley at those which lie below its lofty perch.
I made this second image of “Parent and Child” a few minutes after the first, composing from a different angle. Within those few minutes, the sky in the background had changed significantly due to the windy conditions, illustrating how a minor change in view point and changing environmently conditions can affect a photograph.
Just a pair of stylish, cartoon like hoodoos in Southern Utah.
A close up of the hoodoo with the pink bonnet in the previous image and a conversion to monochrome, give a completly different interpretation to this scene.
Getting into a position to make this image was not easy. Steep slopes with gravel size rock chips and thin layers of sand over the hard rock surface and other obstacles, made moving around treacherous and positioning awkward.
These hoodoos are the same one presented in individual photos. Grouping these into one shot, I’m imagining a father, child and mother in these rock shapes, all peering down into the valley below.
Another group of hoodoos that look like a family unit. Dad in the background, mom on the right, casting a sideways look at the child in a curious manner.
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more Southern Utah landscapes,
Ken
Buckskin Gulch
This is a continuation of hiking and photography in Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch slot canyons in Southern Utah in March 2025.
Upon exiting Wire Pass Slot Canyon, we turned right, proceeding into Buckskin Gulch.
The numerous rocks strewn over the canyon floor in Buckskin Gulch give evidence of the violence of currents that periodically rage through this canyon.
The sky and canyon walls are reflected in this muddy puddle, including the upper portion of the wall with the glow of midmorning light. We were able to pass this puddle by using the rocks on the left as stepping stones, then making a big step to the right onto a large boulder at the far end of the puddle.
More pebbles and boulder in the pathway. This seems typical of Buckskin Gulch. Evidently, more water flows through this canyon than through Wire Pass.
The next puddle we came to was deeper and had no convenient stepping stones in it to facilitate passing without wading in the very cold water. This was an obvious turn around point for us, as we were not prepared to wade through the cold water. A small tour group turned around here, too; but one intrepid old fellow stripped down to his underwear and waded through. He moaned and groaned all the way through, then again as he apparently had to repeat the process at another puddle that we could not see around the bend here.
I made a number of images at this turn around puddle to capture the details in the canyon wall, the red, golden glow ahead and the reflections in the puddle.
It was a bit more awkward making that first step back across this first puddle, because of the location of the first boulder on the far side. I had to think about how to approach that first step, since a poor choice of step would put me into the cold water and maybe an unplanned cold bath. Once back on this side, I turned to get a parting shot with more of the canyon walls in this one. The dynamic range of light in these canyons creates a challenge getting a good exposure, so I bracketed several shots with different exposure settings, then combined those images into this one High Dynamic Range processed image.
After our shortened hike into Buckskin Gulch to the south of the Wire Pass exit, we hiked into the northern portion, which tends to be wider than the part to the south.
We soon came to another big, muddy puddle, at which we elected to turn around. Footprints in the mud attest to others wading on through the cold water. There was not as much water in this canyon the first time we visited here years ago and we were able to easily hike further into each of these portions back then.
After turning around here, we went back through Wire Pass, returning to the parking lot and then back to our campsite to plan the rest of the day.
Until next time,
Ken
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, March 2022, Part 11 – Strike Valley
We returned to the southern portion of Capitol Reef National Park to photograph Strike Valley in the late afternoon with the intention of photographing from somewhere along the switchbacks (numerous sharp turns on the roadway as it climbs steeply from the valley). There were no safe and suitable places to park along the switchbacks, so we settled for shooting from an area above the switchbacks.
In viewing some of these photographs now, I’m thinking some could benefit from cropping portions of the sky, but when I edited these, I was wanting to show the big open sky. Maybe that was a mistake, but I’m not going to change these now.
More later,
Ken
Abandoned Church, New Mexico, July 2021, Interior Views
After photographing the exterior of this old, abandoned church at the outskirts of a small New Mexico town, I ventured through the open doorway (there was no door) to check out the interior.
I had noted much graffiti just looking through the doorway and windows. Judging by the dates and graffiti messages, it looks like this place is popular with teenagers, presumably local ones, since this is a long way from any other towns or cities.
Shooting handheld in the dim light inside the church required high ISO to get sufficiently high shutter speeds to avoid fuzzy images. Shooting through windows from inside resulted in blowing out the exterior portions of the images.
I’ve brought out some of the exterior details in the editing process in the image above just to avoid having a white blur in the windows. The exterior details through the windows are very low quality as a result. If I had not been shooting handheld, I could have acquired images to create HDR images.
The floor boards were still sound, so maybe the missing boards are a result of someone looking for hidden treasure.
The ceiling bead board had a nice patina and mostly appeared to be in good condition. The covers to the ceiling light fixtures were all missing, presumably broken or maybe stolen. There were remnants of broken light bulbs in the fixtures.
There were no window panes so a breeze through the windows made the hanging light fixtures sway. I had to increase the ISO even more to freeze the motion of these.
Obviously some electrical item had been removed from the central portion of the ceiling. I’m guessing a ceiling fan had been here and has been stolen, if not removed legally, since those early day fans might be valuable antiques.
This wraps up my photography here.
Until next time,
Ken
Abandoned Church, New Mexico, July 2021, Exterior Views
As I traveled towards my second overnight destination in route to the Grand Canyon North Rim in July 2021, I spotted an abandoned church about a block north of the highway at the edge of a small New Mexico town. I had to stop to check out this old church.
The roadway from the highway to the church was gravel, but in good condition. There were other homes or building visible from the church site, but none were very close to the church, making it stand out from its surroundings.
I walked around the exterior photographing the church from various angles and capturing some of the exterior details, before I ventured through the front doorway.
This post is dedicated to the exterior views. It was afternoon and the lighting was not great for capturing this weathered old church, but I knew I might not pass by again for a long time, if ever, so I had to make the best of the photographic conditions.
I will post photographs from the interior next.
Until then,
Ken