Picture my World

Oregon in July!

2009-07-17T13:04:00.001-07:00

I went up to Mom's, up on the Oregon Coast, to celebrate her birthday and to tame her wild yard. My "brother" Chris and his friend Mercedes was there and we all went out on the local tour, with Shore Acres included. The Oregon coastline is spectacular and here's a photo to prove it.

Of course, at Shore Acres Botanical Gardens, there are always lots of flowers during this time of year. I practiced my macro techniques on some of the flowers and got some good results.

The pond had some great lilypads and I took a few really nice artsy abstracts.

Mom and I took a nice drive on some Oregon backroads and ran across this nice picnic area underneath some very large bigleaf maples. The Oregon rainforest is very good at growing trees, as well as moss.

On the way back from Mom's, I made a short little stop at Crater Lake National Park. It was an idyllic day and I got an early start so, the sun was still at a good angle for photography. After I took a series of pictures on a rocky outcropping on the edge of the caldera, a Park Ranger was waiting for me with a stern look on his face. He reminded me that such activities were dangerous and that I shouldn't be doing them. I replied that I have lots of experience but, he seemed like he wasn't in the mood for an argument. I decided that I couldn't win against his badge and uniform so, I moved on down the road to find another cliff to stand on and shoot until my camera battery was gone.

Redwood forest

2009-05-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

My brother Ken and I took a short hike in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, in the Santa Cruz mountains. The intense green of spring here made for some good pictures. Here's one of the nice hardwoods that inhabit the park.

Within the park is this remnant of historical industry. Lime was mined out of the landscape and processed here before it was sent out to a growing building industry in the Bay Area for making mortar. The lime first had to be cooked in this kiln before it could be used in construction.

Here is some more maples framing a redwood tree. The lighting was very difficult and I again didn't have my camera set right to capture images with all those shadows and bright sunlight. I ended up with some blurry pictures in the darker shots.

Here is a good example of one of those blurry pictures. Funny how the exposure is good. This would have been a great picture, otherwise.

This is the overhead view of one of the lime kilns. Yes, I was on the wrong side of the safety fence, yet again.

Springtime in Yosemite Valley

2009-04-03T09:28:00.001-07:00

My brother Gary came and visited me on one of his business trips and I surprised him by taking him to Yosemite Valley. He hadn't been there for more than 20 years. We bought some lunch materials and had a nice meal on the banks of the Merced River.

Here's a view of Half Dome, the Washington Column and Tenaya Canyon.

I felt I needed to get some more shots of Bridalveil Falls, as the meltwater was very high with the warm spring day. Gary and I walked up the main trail to the viewspot and it was very wet and very crowded. Not good for picture taking. This was a good opportunity for me to exercise my best photography and outdoors skills. I scanned the area and checked the wind direction and decided to go to the other side of Bridalveil Creek. I did slip and fall kind of hard on a slippery rock, bashing my elbow but, saving the camera. I did find a secluded spot and was happy that Gary was there to hold a tree branch out of the way for this shot.

Of course, no photoshoot in Yosemite Valley is complete without the required Half Dome shot. You always have to have something in the foreground to show just how big that rock is.

Another thing Yosemite is famous for is the world-class climbing. The Royal Arches is one of the world's 50 classic climbs. Many years ago, I was on top of North Dome on one of my own classic jaunts. Also in the picture is the Washington Column, another favorite of climbers.

And here is my brother Gary, at my secret spot along the Merced River. I couldn't get one of those fantastic reflection shots with the water being in motion from the spring runoff. We both had a great time enjoying this world treasure.

Pics for Sale!!

2009-02-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

I currently have 8x10 pictures up for sale on eBay. There's a link (on the righthand column) to my seller's profile on eBay and you can see just what I am selling there. Maybe your favorite one, like this lichen picture from Pennsylvania, is there.

Extra Yosemite, ala carte

2009-02-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

I always seem to find some more good pics after a photo shoot is long since done. Here a few I took before Thanksgiving. El Capitan is hard to photograph up close, and even with a wide angle lens, you have to be creative to compose interesting shots.

Forests often grow into complex, living works of art, themselves. Pines and oaks duel for the sunlight and water, while cedars bide their time in the shade.

It really took some jockeying around to get this whole reflection into the picture. I still need to play with the lighting to recover those washed out highlights. My secret spot along the Merced River never fails to get me quality pictures.

I had to play with the lighting in this shot, where I chose a shutter speed that was too fast for the lens to adjust to. I was better able to freeze the water but, there's much easier ways to accomplish this by changing the ISO film sensitivity level. That will allow for faster shutter speeds. I haven't quite figured out what I really like about this one. Maybe that there is a lot to look at in the whole of the picture.

Ribbon Falls video

2009-01-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

Here is North America's tallest single waterfall during the peak of the spring runoff a few years ago. I'd like to hike up to the base of the falls this spring and see what I can capture.

Watch me ski!

2009-01-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here's an attempt at doing video with my old Fuji camera. It's a little difficult to watch until I get down to the easier part of the ski run. High speed internet recommended.

Birthday Trip, Part Deux

2009-01-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

I have just a few more pictures to share from that great day. I am kind of disappointed that I didn't get more (and better) shots but, I had some technical difficulties with cold batteries. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

Here's another Merced River pic that is just so serene. It hadn't snowed in about 10 days but being in the shadow of massive cliffs has kept the snowpack looking pure and white. In fact, there was "hoar frost" everywhere that occurs when moisture in the air condenses on the existing snow and freezes into large flakey crystals that reflect light in interesting ways.

Here's a view from the courtyard of the Ahwannee Hotel. Despite the pricey luxury, a visitor can't help but feel so tiny in such a huge setting. The cliffs lead up to Glacier Point.

From the Wawona Tunnel View, I zoomed into Cloud's Rest and Half Dome, which dominate the eastern end of Yosemite Valley. On the left is a small taste of El Capitan, which I couldn't squeeze into the picture with my wide angle lens.

This zoom shot is the most balanced out of all the rainbow shots I took of Lower Yosemite Falls. This is somewhat of an abstract shot and it won't appeal to everyone. It seems that I have almost exhausted all of the best shots in this particular spot. Maybe I'll come back during the spring runoff to capture the amazing intensity.

Here's another capture inside the "Mural Room". I really like the shimmering effect of the copper fireplace. The mural has some pleasing colors and even the gray wall serves a purpose, reflecting the natural light coming through the big picture windows.

Birthday trip to Yosemite Valley!

2009-01-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

I've planned this trip out weeks in advance, hoping for fine weather in the midst of this harsh winter, and it worked out great! However, it almost never happened. On the way to the Park, I ran into some very slick ice and nearly slid off the road, In fact, a car a few minutes in front of me did just that. Staying off the brake saved me from ending up where they did. They were OK and just shaken up a little bit.

Again, I intended to explore some of my favorite spots to get another winter perspective on Yosemite Valley. I also found some ways to get different shots from those same areas, too. I climbed up to a small ledge about 12 feet up and took this Half Dome shot from near the bottom of Yosemite Falls. It's nice but, not a jaw-dropping picture.

I had intended to have an awesome birthday breakfast at the VERY ritzy Ahwannee Hotel but, I just wasn't hungry enough to eat $60 worth of food at the time. If I had never eaten there, I would have dined just to say I have been there and done that. Instead, I wandered around the inside of the historic hotel and tried to capture some of its wonderful features. The fireplaces had roaring fires, except for this one.

I generally don't go to places where the other tourists go but, the Wawona Tunnel view is a special place. I came up with an idea to get a unique perspective on this spot by walking into the tunnel and shooting outward. Interesting but not really a showpiece.

I always go back to my "secret spot" and see what the Merced River will give me. The cold was giving my camera battery fits and I couldn't fully explore this place again before my battery got too weak.

On the way into the Valley, I saw this wonderful scene in the Merced River Canyon. This particular spot gets very little sun during these short days and the snow was still hanging in the trees and on top of the rocks. I struggled to get some nice new shots and a few did come out very good.

More to come!!

A "Golden Era"

2009-01-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

More than ever, this new year holds lots of questions and changes (on many, many levels, for all of us) but, I think I am on the verge of a Golden Era for my photography.

I went through my past year's files to find some pics that had "flown under the radar". Some of these were passed over in favor of other nice pics.

This one below is somewhat similar to other favorites of this scene but, it includes some other elements not found in the other more zoomed-in photos. This shot has a lot more to look at than the others. I printed it up, matched it with a grey and black mat, and put that into an 18x24" frame to make a very exciting piece.

Here's another undiscovered gem taken from Scout's Lookout in Zion. It was tough composing this shot while standing on this ledge with no railing. The wide angle lens enabled me to get all the grandeur in while still keeping some sense of scale of the hugeness that is Zion.

Here is even another pic that languished on my hard drive for many months. Once again, the wide angle lens captures this fantastic Bryce Canyon landscape very well. I'm still intending to take an extended exploration of this area sometime soon. This could be a big part of that Golden Era for me.

This rather abstract shot of the Kolob Canyon area of Zion does something for me. I always love those gnarled pines, growing in areas on their very edge of survivability. Something to be admired from these ponderosa pines, who out live us all.

Finally, I cropped this shot out of one of the pics I posted below. I have yet to print this one up but, I'll have to give it a try. So much neat stuff packed into one picture, here on the Merced River in Yosemite Valley.

Round 3 in Yosemite Valley

2008-12-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

In looking back on these pictures, I'm realizing that I should have taken a LOT more shots like this one below. The light was so very good and the reflections could not be better. In the immortal words of Redd Foxx, "You Big Dummy!!"

I'm thinking that there surely are some wonderful "crops" I could take out of this one, too!

I'm always looking for "natural abstracts" and the oak canopies provided me with shots like this one. The yellows contrast so well with the blue sky and the black of the boulder and tree limbs contrast with everything else.

I think this is a definitive capture of El Capitan. You can easily get a grasp of just how monstrously huge this rock is. Upon further examination in this picture, I noticed a rather peculiar-looking box-shaped shadow behind El Capitan. I had to look at other pics to see if it was in those shots too. I zoomed in close on this high resolution photo and just figured it was a shadow on some broken terrain.

Down at my brother Ken's, we went down to the beach and I took my new camera along for practice. The train trestle looked promising so I shot a bunch. I turned this shot into an old time "sepia" picture, like what was popular before color film. I really like the extra detail and complexity of this photo. The railing on the bridge is also pretty dramatic and artsy.

As someone on another photo site said about this one, it looks like waltzing trees alongside the serene Merced River, in Yosemite Valley.

The Revenge of the New Camera

2008-12-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

Back in 2003, when my Fuji S-5000 was new, I came to Yosemite to thoroughly break-in my new toy. I've shot many of the same shots I did last time. Despite having troubles with not reading the manual, I still ended up with some nice pictures, after an exercise in digital light manipulation.

I like how this one shows off a more generic part of Yosemite Valley in the background. Curry Village and the Happy Isles get so little sun this time of year, in the shadow of Glacier Point. I don't think I've ever seen pics of Lower Yosemite Falls from this angle before.

While resting at the top of the hike, I looked up and saw this imposing scene. I felt that tilting this image up on end made for a much better composition than how I originally shot it.

The forest on the Yosemite Valley floor is interwoven with the colorful California Black Oak carving out its own niche in the conifer-dominated ecosystem of today.

Autumn Falls! The fall colors contrast so well with those same old blues and greens we see all year round. I just knew I had to find some way to get this showy little bush into the foreground of this scene.

New DSLR pics from Yosemite

2008-11-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

My new Olympus E-510 Digital SLR was unleashed in Yosemite Valley at some of my favorite secret spots. The fall colors were still in force and the weather was gorgeous. When I arrived at my first destination, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Unfortunately, the auto-setting on the camera tended to wash out the bright white highlights of Yosemite's legendary white granite. Even with Photoshop, it is difficult to restore washed-out highlights.

Below is a very minor example of how those highlights are overexposed. The contrasty blues and whites of Yosemite make it tough. This picture below is an example of how my camera eye continues to improve.

I'm always looking for those unusual "natural abstracts" people seem to enjoy. This one fills the frame with interesting stuff.

The fall colors were still quite potent with the yellow oak leaves hanging around. The backlit leaves of the hardwoods were a welcome contrast to the blue skies, gray granite and green conifers.

I've always found it difficult to show how truly big El Capitan is. On top of the cliff behind El Capitan are 75 foot tall trees. That gives you some kind of idea of the immense mass of granite overseeing Yosemite Valley.

Big changes coming!

2008-11-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

I've invested in several items that should jumpstart some sales of my work as "fine art". I purchased an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 that will print 13 by 19 inch glossy prints on photo paper. With practice, I'm getting really good at making fine prints. I also bought a mat cutter so I can make custom mats to put into a variety of frames.

In looking through my files for good examples to print, I found these two gems hiding, waiting, and plotting their escapes. I'm so very sure I could find some tremendous shots up in this West Rim canyon in Zion National Park.

This very serene grove of pines at the base of a huge cliff in Zion's Kolob Canyon makes for a very nice picture I can stare at for a while. I love the textures on all of Zion's cliff walls.

Here's one picture that everyone seems to agree will be one of my very best sellers. This little slice of Bryce Canyon has such wonderful colors and rock formations. Maybe someday I'll be able to get down in there and find some more "magic"?

Here are some examples of the 13x19 inch size framed and matted prints, out on the back deck. Maybe I can have me a trailerpark yardsale, eh?!? Some of those I am very proud of and can see them attracting a lot of attention at an art sale.

Here's my new work "shop" that is really just a corner of my small kitchen. Since then, I've added the big mat cutter. If business gets good, I may need to expand, somehow.

Very soon, I will have an online store at Yahoo, and maybe one on E-Bay, after that.

Gotta stay busy!

A heaping third helping of Idaho Pics

2008-07-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

I just had to post another set of pictures from Idaho.

This one below was one of the best ones during the entire 3 weeks I was there. The 2nd day I was there, I drove out of town for just 6 miles and found this scene with superb "golden hour" evening light.

Here's another "dead wood" picture, with those great browns and textures built up over a few centuries.

The Little Lost River Range has its own ruggedness and charm. Bell Mountain dominates the skyline, far above the sagebrush-covered rangelands.

This area of Idaho also has its share of volcanic rock formations that captivate the imagination.

My ski lift ride to the top of Sun Valley Ski Area allowed me to capture these abundant wildflowers at the peak of bloom.

Idaho Bounty

2008-07-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

I love the richness of colors and textures in this dead wood shot. I'm still too lazy to adjust my camera to get the best of close-up macro shots. I guess I have to learn all about ISO settings and aperture control, eh?

Despite all that California smoke that found its way into eastern Idaho, there were plenty of days of perfect lighting conditions. This kind of wilderness is certainly no worse than the Amazon Rainforest or Denali National Park. Just different. Different is GOOD!

On my Sunday hike, I was atop some cliffs along the ridge I was climbing, setting up shots when I heard a commotion and rockfall beneath the cliffs. I looked down but couldn't see through the tree canopy. While there are lots of wildlife in this area, including wolves, I figured it was a mule deer or maybe even a bear. I continued shooting for a few minutes until I heard another sound nearby. I looked up and saw this guy looking back at me so, I turned into the sun and couldn't see much at all through the camera. The first shot was underexposed as he was running away so I quickly made a squeaky noise and that caught his attention, somehow. I locked in a different exposure and snapped the shutter, not really seeing what I was shooting. This picture below was cropped out of a bigger picture.

Wildflowers were blooming through the Challis National Forest. Brilliant mosaics of yellow, blue, red and white dominated most of the landscapes, at least for a week or so. Cactus flowers seemed to be the most rare so, when I found these two perfect blooms, I had to capture them.

Not everyday in Idaho was perfect. That morning, I had to get a flat tire fixed on the truck I was using. It happens quite a bit on the angular rocks of Idaho's dirt roads. So I go out to survey some aspen stands and I get 30 miles from town only to get another flat tire on the same tire. Now, only an idiot goes on those terrible "roads" with only 4 good tires. On the way back to town, this thunderstorm forms and provides me with such dramatic landscapes.

This pic below is looking eastward towards the Little Lost River Range, with 11,000 foot Bell Mountain as the most distant peak.

Idaho is MUCH more than just potatos!

2008-07-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

The Lost River Range of Idaho is one of the gems of our country but, it is an undiscovered secret to most people. Halfway between Yellowstone and the Sun Valley/Sawtooth country, this exquisite mountain range gets passed by. Dramatic geology, outstanding wildlife and recreational opportunities abound in this natural playground.

There are about a half dozen 12,000+ foot peaks in this range of awesome peaks.

As you go north, the peaks just get bigger and more dramatic. Those trees in the foreground are at least 35 feet tall! Despite my past inclinations, I really have no desire to climb this peak.

In the "backside", there is evidence everywhere of extreme glaciation in geologic history. Long lateral moraines are in plain sight, without trees or topsoil to hide their existence. Massive alluvial fans march unceasingly into the valleys with 10 mile long "soil fronts" inundating everything in its path. A few universities send all their geology students here to look and learn about Ice Ages, geologic upheavals and massive erosive forces.

Of course, you can't talk about this part of Idaho without mentioning the abundant wildlife here. You can find almost every kind of fascinating (and deadly) animals in this country, including moose, wolves, wolverines, elk, coyotes, antelope, mule deer and white tail deer.

While surveying aspen stands, I ran across this nest at about eye level. A normal horizontal shot was pretty boring so I took a chance and held the camera above to get this amazing shot.

The high country here is so dry and not many trees can survive the hot summers and frigid winters. This Limber Pine has incredible earthy brown colors and weathered textures. I took about two dozen shots focusing on these dead grizzled sentinels of the subalpine realm.

Sunday Morning Hike

2008-07-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

I took a good long hike yesterday morning in the fabulous Pass Creek area of the Lost River Range in central Idaho. I saw many sights but this video will make you wish you were here with me. Towards the end of the video, while I was twisting to get a decent panning shot, I struggled to keep from losing my balance. A tripod would have been handy but I was quite limited in what I could bring on this trip.

More still pictures later including a proud white tail buck and an acrobatic raven to go along with all that scenery. Also I got some very artsy pics of some anciently superb pine snags

Aspen video

2008-06-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

The true common name is Quaking Aspen and this video shows exactly why.

Slacker!!

2008-06-29T05:48:00.001-07:00

Yeah, guilty as charged! However, I'm still taking lots of pics in my many travels this season. We'll take you on a tour to give you a taste of where I have been.

My several weeks near Mount Shasta resulted in some very fine images.

I just love the lenticular clouds that form as a "cloud-cap" over the peak.

My next assignment was to work on the Mendocino National Forest painting cutting unit boundaries. In one of the units, I found this massive ponderosa pine that was around 70" in diameter and well over 200 feet tall. I decided to try and make a vertical panorama shot, stacking three vertical format pictures on top of each other. After "stitching" together the shots in Photoshop, I used the "Perspective Tool" to adjust for warpage of the trees image. This made the picture's edge all fouled up but, the tree is pretty darn straight. So, I cropped off the goofy edge and here's how it came out.

Since there are no motels in the very remote wilds of the Mendocino, I had a very long commute from Willows, all the way down on the Sacramento Valley floor, to the top of the Coast Ranges. I was struck by the beauty of those golden hills so, I stopped and took this dreamy shot.

I'm currently in the town of Mackay, Idaho, a remote place in the eastern-central part of the state. The Lost River Range is home to several 12,000 foot peaks and Mount Borah is the tallest peak in Idaho. Everything is just so HUGE here and my 10X zoom can only get me so close. These peaks tower 7000 feet over the valley floor and the geology is exquisitely-varied while not masked by deep soils and thick forests. Folded layers of cliffs and elevational variations of plants make this place a visual fascination for a guy like me. Everywhere you look you'll see beauty and "wildness".

However, I still have a job to do, and that involves some picture taking, as well. Me and a co-worker are searching for and documenting stand conditions in patches of aspen. It's very interesting and important work to see how we can improve or protect these very important clumps of trees.

More to come!

Extremes

2008-05-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

My first assignment this year was to help in inspections of property line maintenance in southern Mississippi. My two-week stint landed me in Wiggins, MS, home of baseball's Dean brothers, Dizzy and Daffy. There was sure a lot of new stuff to see there and a camera was an essential part of our inspections.

Here's a pic of a large interesting tree that somehow grew this way. I have to imagine that a hurricane did this many decades ago. This area was squarely in the path of Hurricane Katrina and damage was seen almost everywhere I went.

This particular type of magnolia has such HUGE leaves. I didn't see any large examples of this species, though. The biodiversity here is tremendous, with such good growing conditions.

Upon returning to Reno, I was greeted with a cool and stormy scene in the Sierra Nevada. It was so overcast and cloudy that the original picture was dull and bland. I used a new technique I saw in a camera magazine to enhance the shot. I made two layers, one with the shadows properly corrected and one with the sky adjusted. It's an interesting technique to erase from the top layer what you don't want, revealing the adjusted layer below. You can see that the shadows came out nice but, the lighter highlights aren't quite right. All and all, it definitely improved the original picture and this technique will be useful in "fixing" pictures that weren't exposed properly.

The next picture was at the 8500 foot Carson Pass on California highway 88. Red Lake was still frozen over in late April. The change in climates from Mississippi to California was almost as extreme as the change in cultures.

This is where I started my next assignment. The Sacramento Amtrak station still has that look of yesteryear, when trains were the only way to travel for long distances. I needed to pick up my work truck and riding the train seemed to be the best way to get to extreme northern California.

Marketplace!

2008-03-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded some photos, some of which are shown below, on to a website where photo buyers can browse and purchase individual photos. I don't expect to make more than a few sales each year but, you never know until you try. As soon as there is a link available to these pics, I'll have a big fanfare and post it here.

This first one is an amazing combination of colors and geology of Bryce Canyon. It certainly grabs my attention (as well as the attention of others on another website).

Here's another one that rates very high on the "unreal" scale. The day I get down at the base of those monster hoodoos will result in some unexpectedly amazing shots.

After the website accepts my uploaded images, I'll have to put a price tag on my works of art. Being that my camera isn't a top of the line new model, I can't price myself into that kind of range. However, the pictures WILL grab people's attention and they'll pay a pretty penny for an image that fascinates them.

I'm really not sure if my style of fine art pics will sell on this site called "PhotoShelter". It seems like it might be more of a stock photo/business world photo site. We'll see.

Zionic Bliss, Part III

2008-03-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here at the intersection of the red cliffs and the white "slickrock", this guy was posing on a pinnacle for his girlfriend and I sniped a shot when they weren't looking. Yeah, you have to open it in a new window really, to see it more clearly. That Saturday in Zion had lots of people on the trails.

Again, here's another cliff and pine tree picture. That pine is probably around 300 years old. Trees just don't get all that big with such short growing seasons. Again, you also see the neverending variety of patterns from the cliff faces.

Up in the the higher elevations, you still have the great patterns and picturesque pines but, the colors and shapes are changed. There is plenty of "wandering" that can safely be done up here, off-trail. Yeah, Mom, I know it's dangerous but, haven't I lived for that most of my life?

This Photoshopped picture with the "Poster Edges" filter applied really brings out the texture on all these Zion cliff photos. I like the little plants hanging down from the overhang. I used my zoom to reach across Refrigerator Canyon and pull this scene in.

Here's another Photoshopped pic using "Poster Edges" to enhance the texture. This picture conjured up a comedy bit with these three trees always bickering over their situation, stuck on a high cliff for decades with each other.

That's it for Zion for a bit. I still have another posting from Bryce to do, too.

Zionic Bliss, Part II

2008-03-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read the first part of this story, you'd better scroll down to the previous entry and start from there.

The rest of you were left up in Refrigerator Canyon to gawk in adoration of nature's most detailed masterpiece, Zion National Park. The terrain in Refrigerator Canyon is so rugged that even the smallest of side canyons can be impassable to humans. The hike is so magical that you think it's almost a part of Lord of the Rings.

In this picture below, the trail goes switchbacking up to gain the ridge I was standing on. It forks at Scouts Lookout and the lefthand fork goes around the top of the side canyon to the right. The trail has big dropoffs on both sides until it reaches the far end of Refrigerator Canyon in this picture.

By the way, this picture was enhanced with a Photoshop filter, Poster Edges.

Along the way, you're treated to cliff views with amazing patterns and arrangements.

Here's another Photoshopped cliff picture in Refrigerator Canyon. I'm always drawn to those forlorn, but defiant old pines on the cliffs.

At Scouts Lookout, you can take the "trail" to the top of Angel's Landing, seen below. I chose to go farther up towards the West Rim but had hoped to be able to do it on the way back down (or at least, that's how I planned it on the funky map). There's a narrow fin where the "trail" goes and some rather steep rock before it starts to level out on top.

I decided to zoom in on the scariest part and saw quite a few people going up and coming down. I can definitely compare it to the Half Dome cables in Yosemite. I did see some cables embedded into the rock on part of the route. Next time I come back to Zion, I will come back and do this trail. I really like how this pictures shows the "exposure" part of hiking in Zion.

Next posting will take you up to where the white "slickrock" meets the red cliffs. I took nearly 3.5 gigabytes of pictures on this one day. Lighting was difficult so I did some "bracketing" to see how the camera captures scenes with lots of shadows and sun

Zionic Bliss

2008-03-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

The two days in Zion were packed with great shots and almost perfect conditions, given that it IS still mid-March! I had planned on staying another half day but, a little snow storm put the damper on that.

My plan had me spending a full day in the Kolob Canyons part of Zion. I didn't check this place out the last time I went so a full day of shooting was in order. The funny thing is that, despite how huge this place is and how close it is to Interstate 15, you can't see any of the park from the freeway. I drove right past it and had to backtrack. It's a view-packed 17 mile drive, ending on a high ridge across from a collection of monolithic red cliffs like these below.

I just love those soothing red colors, the incredible textures and the endless varieties of shapes and sizes.

The second day had me on an expedition to get up on top of the cliffs. This scene below greeted me as I entered the park. The last time I was here, I didn't have my nice Fuji with the 10X optical zoom. I'm now able to get an infinite amount of better pictures with this camera and Zion is so full of scenes like these.

This is what I saw looking up from the bottom of the trail. Carved right out of sheer cliffs, in places, the trail winds its way up, amongst the cottonwoods, cactus, oaks, junipers and pines.

Nope, there's not too many railings on this trail. All these switchbacks get you into the the dramatically narrow Refrigerator Canyon. We'll continue the journey next time as I reach Scouts Lookout, atop a 1000 foot cliff.