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| The wave in winter ... a world of candy and icing! |
landmarks of the southwest photo essay ...2008
Dozens and dozens of times I've made my way out and back from the wave in the Vermillion Wilderness, and each and every expedition has been different somehow! None more so than this year's experience on our Landmarks of the Southwest workshop however.
We had Snow! Also rain, wind, hail, sunshine and clouds. Temperature ranged from the 20's to 50's and sometimes there was not a lot of time or distance between the two! As expected it was the perfect time of the year to witness and photograph this most exciting area of Arizona and Utah. We were presented with one photo opportunity after another on our 5 day chase of color and light.
We literally slid into North Coyote Buttes on our tails! From the saddle the snow made it impossible to do it any other way. The temperature was 23 degrees F as we departed the trail head and fortunately for us, was a balmy 32 by the time we reached the saddle on our way out, or we could still be there now!
This workshop also brought the adventure of a new camera body to work with. With the release of the Canon 1Ds MKIII a new creative spirit was flung into the mix!
In the image at the top I was confronted with a situation I'd never experienced before. Red rock and snow is a slam dunk for drama. There are few scenes in nature that translate better than this. However as most of us have found in prior experience, it can be a very difficult exposure to do properly. Defused light was key here. The magnificent detail held in the snow was more and more difficult to hold when direct light was present. The image is a stitch. A series of images (4) done quickly in the same light to convey the density and volume of the snow. I felt I needed to have a strong foreground to carry the felling of deep snow without having the stark color of the sandstone fade to just a mere component of the composition.
The following image is the reverse of the top one!
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| Wind and erosion seem to make the wave roll! |
The fact that most of the sandstone on the south (left) was snow covered made the scene seem more sedate and I had to imagine the setting that those of us who frequent this area have in memory. As I grounded myself in the texture and color of the exposed sandstone I did one frame from the same tripod location at 24mm. This one more faithfully captured the scale and scope of our perceived experience. Detail was easier to display and exposure was acceptable in the now more direct light. Since the detail in the snow shadow was now not a major part of the composition I simply let the shadow fall where it may. Both images are a well deserved reward for the effort involved on this beautiful day. A day I know all our workshop participants will long remember!
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| The only time the colorado river makes this type of turn is called Horseshoe Bend |
The Colorado River making its way through the area is a legendary part of the landmarks of the southwest. The Grand Canyon especially. Up stream though Marble Canyon, at the bottom of Glen Canyon before Lee's Ferry, the mighty river has been rerouted, at least for the present, by a gigantic turn! Known as Horseshoe Bend, this marvelous location is a personal favorite.
For the first time in my experience we came to it in deep fog. The morning was fresh with rain that had stopped by first light. Always a precarious place for photography, the fascinating movement of the fog was spell binding. Problems of dim light and moving fog were considered and an ISO boost to 800 was used with the better capability of the new camera's noise reduction in mind. ISO 400 was maximum for me in most cases on the MKII. The frame above was composed to show as much sky for impact as possible, which in turn, forced a slightly different look than I would normally have in a situation with only the river in mind. I felt at the time that the fog entering from the right presented a different look, almost like there was a nonexistent canyon there, giving it a much different respective than I had before. The sky made up for the normal loss of distance perspective that is inherent in a wide angle lens.
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| Navajo Bridge crosses the Colorado River |
A ship like monolith looms over its own erosion |
Telling the story of the desert is a favorite subject of mine. The narrow walls of Marble Canyon, viewed in the left image, made crossing impossible here but only a few miles upstream at Lee's Ferry the ledges subsided and a crossing was possible! Many years later a bridge was built here. The composition was anchored by the rock ledge, as was the bridge itself, to give the feeling of the 400 foot fall to the river below while the focal point is at the top where the light has struck the cliffs to welcome the new day. The iridescent glow from the reflected light of the morning sky on the water carries the eye up to those afore mentioned cliffs. A Singh-Ray 4-hard stop graduated neutral density filter made the shadow area as well as the river color possible while still holding the highlight of the sun streaked cliffs. The major benefit from the use of a graduated ND is always in the mid tones.
A 2-soft ND gave the detail in the foreground an added push in the desertscape on the right above. I thought it was instrumental to the story here. The prevailing sidelight on the cliff above was very strong and alluring but also distracted from what I had in mind. This frame also benefited from a slightly underexposed and saturated sky as a result of the filter use. A more balanced composition was the result.
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| Nature's detail ... | and nature's shape and texture |
Detail, detail, detail! Yes this is where it gets interesting for the new Canon MKIII. From 11.5 to 16.5 to a now 21.5 Megapixels. The evolution has been fun to go through. One thing I will not argue is the fact that Canon has shown us GOOD pixels throughout. I've never been concerned that one day the next addition will not be so. I'm also not willing to argue that more and bigger here is not better! But I'm not prepared to show you the difference. Not in a jpeg image anyway! You can find all this data/conversation/opinion elsewhere easily. What I see is all that is important to me. I can't show you a print here but can assure you that at 13" wide these are quite good! The detail in the frame on the left is amazing. The twigs are sharp and the snow has detail that looks as life like as I've ever been able to capture. The blur of the blowing snow adds an element of motion. While I have exposures that bring the snow closer to white and I could have achieved this in other ways also, in the end I felt the exposure shown above (left) more closely represented the mood of what I wanted. For me the beauty of the wall was the statement. As the snow subsided and light became more intense, in the right hand frame above, the snow was easier to render white while still holding detail. This time the story was about the lone tree on the ridge and the need to show its relationship to both the snow covered rock where it sat and the shelter of the sandstone behind it that most likely made life possible to begin with. Both these compositions just jumped off the printer!
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| Horseshoe Bend with a fresh blanket of snow |
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| Overlooking Antelope Canyon down to Lake Powell |
Upper Antelope Canyon |
Clear air at Horseshoe Bend on our last morning with fresh show and just a brief moment of streaking light made for quite a different look than the fog image. Adjusting the composition to accentuate the foreground was key. Watching your footing was even more so! "The Candle" in upper antelope presented another opportunity to look at texture at close range and the winter light helped saturate color as did our hike on the plateau at sunset pictured at left bottom.
This area of the landmarks of the southwest has yet to disappoint. Everyday is a new day here. Our 2008 workshop was certainly no exception!
Now it's on to The Yosemite in winter. Come along and be a part of our workshop!