Going South Day 1

There comes a time in a photographers life that you have to step back from the camera and observe life independent from the viewfinder. I haven't encountered that time yet in my life. I still can't enjoy looking at the world without wanting, (craving?) to photograph the scenes that I see. I try to spend time without having a camera close by, but it is hard for me, like I am missing one of my senses.

Then there are times where your whole intent is to immerse yourself in recording those precious moments of beauty that constantly surround us that not everyone has the wit or ability to see. Back in January I had one of those times. A three day trip to a Balloon Festival in Bluff, UT with a few side trips and scenic routes added in.

Leaving the Salt Lake Valley just after 5:00 am with my brother and his daughter I headed to a favorite place, for what may be the last visit for awhile. New horizons await, there is so much to see in Utah.

Our first stop: The Wedge Overlook/The Little Grand Canyon, in the heart of the San Rafael Swell. It is a most amazing area. It is accessed via a well maintained dirt road that turns off of Utah Route 10, just before the town of Castle Dale. We left pavement just as the sun was cresting the buttes to the east. Looking back I saw the setting moon just above the cliffs to the west. Lacking the time to set up my tripod I stopped and  braced myself against a fence post just in time to catch the moon kissing the horizon.

 The ethereal impact of the scene was matched by the impact of the cold air! I had not put on my coat, fleece or down vest and a simple t-shirt over thermax was no match for this desert freeze. Once out to the viewpoint, I woke everybody up and we got busy. While I am not a huge fan of haze as a general rule, I enjoyed the depth it provided to this shot. Using a moderate telephoto focal length to compress the layers of rock formations, added a dimension I have not captured here before.

Turning more southwest, the light gilding the tops of the walls highlights the textures of the formations, the snow adding illumination to the shadowed canyon stretching to the San Rafael River far below.

Leaving the higher plateau edge, we drove east to the entrance to Buckhorn Draw (also known as Buckhorn Wash) I experienced the area as I had not before, instead of the fall colors I got brown and dead dusty yellow. The skeletal cottonwoods simply waiting for the warming spring and the water running down from the high country to give them new life. The incredible harshness of the environment gives no quarter, if you do not learn to conquer then you eventually die. The beauty of the limbs gnarled by their struggle to survive frames the sheer massiveness of the buttes and canyon walls.

The ancient peoples left their marks, and others less ancient as well. A testament to the impermanence of life, and the long reaching effects of those who have passed on.

Choosing to make an image as surreal as the place it is taken, I am disturbed by the over emphasis of the colors and textures, yet I wonder if this is not closer to the visions of the old ones, altering their senses by chemical means as they celebrated the traditions that kept them together as one.

The monuments of modern men being both more permanent and less graceful. Proceeding further down the draw lies a now unused bridge, the mark of the need for quick and easy transportation. Constructed in a place far from anywhere and a time where labor was cheap.

The details of the structure provide an abstract beauty an "industrial art" you could call it.

Heading south out of the swell to Interstate 70 and Gas in Green River, we journeyed on our way, no longer stopping but simply looking at the sights without the lens to select only those parts we focused on. In anticipation of the simple power and beauty of hot air balloons awaiting us the next morning.

If you would like to see a few more images, from this part of the trip, they may be viewed here.

Telephoto Fun!

Promised my wife I would run down to the lake and shoot some birds. Being a guy who keeps his word I ran down last night towards sunset with my K5 and Sigma 300mm f4 lens. I had to step back from the action a bit, but I like this lens when it is behaving.!

This first shot is my favorite of the shoot. Something about the heads and necks of the geese.

Lovely, LOVELY morning!

Not much better than a nice sunrise, especially when you are able to both sit back and just experience it AND photograph it! Due to low patient census at work I didn't need to be in to work until later than usual yesterday morning, which gave me the opportunity to get up and get out the door during the sunrise.

Walking past the lake the sunrise started to heat up and I started looking for good compositions. The problem was the WHOLE SKY was lit up... hard to shoot without a really wide angle lens. Which I didn't have along. Hello Panorama software! All of the first three shots were multiple images stitched in either Photoshop CS 6, or in PTgui.

Pentax SMC 24mm f2.8 lens for this one.

Pentax SMC 135mm f2.5 for this one.

Back to the 24mm for this one.

These last two shots are NOT panoramas, but they were taken with the 24mm. The first is a single image, shot at f16 to enhance the rays off the aperture blades, and pushed as far as the file would let me.

This was also at f16, but was three images: Underexposed 2 stops, as metered, and Overexposed 2 stops. Combined in Photomatix, and converted to B&W in Photoshop.

Nice productive morning walking to the light rail station!

Gadding About Town....

It sucks when you realize that you have put on a few pounds and you need to get it off. It sucks even more when time is an issue on a daily basis!

Vowing to add activity I walked down from the U of U to downtown after work Monday. It was a beautiful day, and I greatly enjoyed it, even if it was a bit chilly.

Part of the reason I love to walk that area is to see the historic and beautiful homes in the area. They are tough to shoot because of the hills, elevation change making it a bit harder to not have crazy perspective issues. This home has been a favorite of mine, I love the detail on the exterior and the turrets etc... just don't ever ask me to re-roof it!

Downtown at the City Creek Mall they have some wind sculptures that I have wanted to photograph but seem to never find the right light. I don't know if this was the best light, but I like what I got. The hard part was they were slowly moving and if you missed the right configuration you had to wait awhile to get it again. The crescent moon though small on a wide angle lens (24mm) still adds just a little bit. I really need to hit this on a day when there are some cool clouds!

Temple Square Christmas Lights!!!

So it seems that I go downtown every other year to shoot the Christmas Lights at Temple Square. Rather surprising considering how much I like to take photos of temples. Then I start thinking about crowds and realize that is why. People are EVERYWHERE, all the time. I tried to use my 10 stop ND filter but realized quickly that I would be taking very, very. VERY long exposures and that I need to try that some other year..... So with my usual HDR tricks etc... I was able to get some quite nice shots. Not perfect but quite nice!

I really didn't think I would get anything out of this, I was just getting settings right and working on getting the camera level. The clouds show the effect of some pollution, but I still liked the colors. As you will see further in this gallery, this is one of my favorite views.

I decided to go portrait orientation for when the lights came on (5:00 pm if you care) which I like a little bit better. I think I need to go back and pull down a couple of spots of greenish/aqua on the temple. WB is a pain sometimes!!!!

I have a special liking for this statuary that gets put out every year. Next year I will be on this reflecting pool right as the lights come on. I have an idea for a panorama that will be AMAZING!!!! If it works....

The steam coming off the water here was tough to catch, I like how there is just a little movement.

There is something about this angle that I like, not just because it is a walkway that I have walked a zillion times, I just like the... something. As a side note, this photo was taken with my OLD Pentax SMC 24mm f2.8 lens. It is at least as sharp as my Sigma 17-70, if not sharper.

The northeast side of the temple has been somewhat kind to me, but only when I am fairly close. I love the view from North Temple Street but so many things get in the way, it bugs me. I have been determined to find a somewhat new angle. This first one issomewhat similar to one I have done before, but from a more extreme angle. The biggest difficulty with this type of shot is getting everything vertical that needs to be vertical. I am usually less than .5 of a degree off, but photoshop makes fixing that a lot easier!

These next two shots are even more off to the side than is my usual wont. I have enjoyed this view from Main Street before, but never photographed it. I need to experiment more and find more unusual angles to shoot from.

This is my favorite from this angle, I like the sidewalk and movement of the people, the balance of the lit trees with the temple. Works for me.

I really wasn't sure whether this would work or not, I think it is interesting shot, I did no perspective correction and no straightening. Wonder if an 8x10 aspect ratio would work better....

Don't look too closely, this was shot through very dirty glass. I do love the angle though. I wonder what it takes to get up on the roof to shoot in the open air... bet it is more than a smile and  a "Howya doin?"

I prefer the sweep of the sidewalk in this shot to the one below, but I much prefer the trees in the shot below.

I think this is the shot of the evening, as I mentioned, I tried an ND filter to blur out the people, but didn't want to stand there for 45 minutes or an hour... People gave me a few looks, I'm guessing regarding why I was using a tripod etc... but I am used to that. I want ultimate sharpness and IQ, for that I need my ISO 80 and a tripod. If only they knew what I was thinking about them....

Back to the further reflecting pool, hoping there were less people... no dice. Heavy. Sigh. Still like the shots, well LOVE actually, but the people there just niggle at me, guess I could take a sleeping bag and a comfy chair, a 45 minute exposure would hopefully blur most of those folks out.

Yes this one is lighter, playing with the HDR settings and trying for a most pleasing result means each photo is different. I like the shinyness of this one.

 
I have shot this before. And again before that. This is the best so far, but I need to get there early and get the lighter sky like I got in my earliest shots. This will look awesome printed big!

 
I ran over to City Creek just to the south of Temple Square during the middle of the shoot, but I put them in here last because it makes more sense to me. It is a fun place, but not as photo worthy as Temple Square.

Looking back towards the Temple, busy but beautiful.

This fountain is a favorite, I missed the part where it has flames coming out, someday...

You can see the difference in field of view and perspective with a Fisheye (8mm) relative to the above rectilinear lens (10mm)

All in all, I had a really good time, I was dressed for the cold so I tolerated it OK, my largest problem was dealing with the camera backpack on my separated shoulder, no bueno....