We had finished dawn photography of nearby formations on this October morning at Arches National Park. As I was working that subject I kept noticing this remarkable bit of cliff, also in the direct morning sunlight. The larger formation of which it is a part did not offer me any obvious photographic subject, so I switched to a long lens and zeroed in on the colors and textures of this small portion of the scene.
Continue reading Cliff Face in Morning Light
Arches National Park is red rock country, a landscape dominated by the colors of Southwest sandstone. Almost all of my photographs of the area are in color, for that obvious reason. It is not just the rocks themselves — the complementary greens of vegetation and the blue of the sky feature strongly, too. But this particular view, a veritable moonscape, seems to call for a monochrome interpretation.
Continue reading Sandstone Terrain and Mountains
Several things about the scene caught my attention as we passed through this area in of Capitol Reef National Park. The background is one of the thickest and most monumental strata in this area of the park. The surface of this solid rock is, however, marked in all sorts of ways. Notably there are stains from flowing water, and in a couple of vertical bands the flow has been regard enough to encourage the growth of lichens.
Continue reading Juniper Tree, Water-Stained Cliff
Remembering the October day when I made this photograph, I recall that there were some thunderstorms around the area and that we had mixed light. These were those wonderful conditions where it might rain one moment and the next there might be brilliant sunshine, always with the possibility of a dramatic sky. It appears that I made this exposure during one of those sunny breaks. (Looking at other original exposures in the sequence, not all of them had this light.)
Continue reading Sandstone Towers