A "Golden Era"

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.

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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.

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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.

Big changes coming!

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!

Zionic Bliss, Part III

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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

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.

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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.