On, Now Off, the Road

A few days after presenting my photography workshop, I headed to the southwest on a roadtrip. Along the way, I followed the advice I tout in my photo workshop "7 Steps to Make Your Photos 10x Better" (see previous blog post)

Step 1. "Take Lots and Lots of Photos"...

Along the way we checked out:

• Gateway Arch National Park
• White Sands National Park
• BOTH sections of Saguaro National Park
• Then I spent three days on the Grand Canyon National Park south rim
• A couple days of "rest" in Sedona

After that, we had the long drive home.
The first day we drove quickly through Oak Creek Canyon,
then just a little more leisurely through Petrified Forest / Painted Desert National Park.
The final two days included just a pause to say hello to friends in St Louis.
...all the above are just the highlights.

I took over 1800 photos on a 17 day trip when a number of those days were just pure driving. I'm just beginning to wade through them all, but at first glance, here's some of my favorites:

Sunrise, Gateway Arch National Park, St. Louis MO

White Sands National Park, NM

Sunset, Saguaro National Park, AZ

Sunrise, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Sunrise, Sedona, AZ

Petrified Forest / Painted Desert National Park, AZ

Iconic, Cliché, or Original?

I've taken a lot of short, 2-4 day trips lately. With my cameras of course, and I do at least a little bit of research as to where and what I may have a chance to photograph. For certain places there's going to be the iconic photos that come up, think Ansel Adams and Half Dome. For many other locations, there's the clichés such as a million photographs of Half Dome that say "I was there too" and a feeble attempt at duplicating Adams' work. Then of course, there are the photos of a location that seem original, a way of seeing it that no one else has put out there.

I'm all for taking that "iconic" yet cliché photography. It gives yourself and others a frame of reference as to where you were. After that, I try to see things MY way, a bit original. Sometimes I have success, sometimes I think I have success yet find out otherwise later, and since I'm a details type photographer, I sometimes do have success. For instance, one of my "I have a good one here" photos that I took, only to find out later, that many, many others also took similar photos was in Prague. I noticed that the sewer lids in the streets were frequently works of art, so I photographed some. When I returned home and searched, I found that I was only the millionth person to notice the sewer lids.

I recently returned from a few days in New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia, you tell me which are the iconic or cliché photos and which veer toward original.

New River Flows Through the Gorge

Weathered Pine Above New River Gorge

Turkey Vulture Soars Above New River Gorge

New River Gorge Bridge

Fungi Along Stone Cliff Trail, New River Gorge National Park

Caterpillar Along the Trail

One Rock is Different From the Rest

The Wood Has Eyes

My slightly larger project during my week at the beach required a few days of thinking and observing followed by about an hour of actual photography time. Over the span of two days, I took "portraits" of the eyes and faces I imagined in the lumber of the steps, deck and walkway to the beach. Here are a handful of my favorites.

Giraffe Says Hello

Owl Says Who

Why The Long Face?

Sad Elephant

Watching

Mini Project -Tracks of the Transformer

Lately, as in the past year or so, I've been trying to limit the scope (time and numbers) of my photo "projects." Too many of my "projects" over the years have gotten out of hand. One particular project is still going strong at well over 2000 photos later, photos taken in my garden and home. But to be fair, I did have a book made for my wife at one point during this endeavor. So here is a very mini project from my week at the beach. Similar to last year's "Sand Project" and it's follow-up but much smaller, just one collage. I present "Tracks of the Transformer":

Tracks of the Transformer

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

One of the stops we made on our trip to Arizona was Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas. It was a weekday and early February, so we were among the very few people there. We drove down into the canyon, the colors were stunning, made more so by the moving clouds and bursts of sunlight. Here are a few photos from that morning driving through the canyon.


Our Greeter and Tour Guide

Palo Duro Canyon

The Road Into the Canyon

A Burst of Sunlight

A Few Seconds Later

Sunlight Highlights the Ridgeline

More Sunlight

Layers of Color

The "Best" Camera - "Sad" & "Old and Tired Sad"

During my wanderings in October, a couple times I found myself just walking around the town while my friend got some work done. I didn't carry my "real" camera w/backpack and lenses on those walks, but I did see things I'd like to photograph. In those situations, I pulled out my "best" camera, the one I had with me, my old iPhone, Here is one such photo as color and then black & white.


"Sad"- Frostburg, MD

"Old and Tired, Sad"- Frostburg, MD

This Year's Version of Fall

I got around a bit these past couple weeks. No matter where I went, the trees were glorious, especially the maples. Here is a sampling:


Hoye-Crest, MD

Mt. Davis, PA

Earl H. Barnhart "Buzzard's Roost" Nature Preserve, OH

Out The Front Door, OH

Reflection Out the Backdoor, OH

Looking Forward to the Colors of Fall

Some of the trees in the neighborhood are getting "toasted" on top. Leaves are falling. Going to head out on a couple hikes in the coming week and I'm hoping to see some nice colors. Here's a couple shots, the first from last year and the second from 15 years ago (time flies).


Middle Falls, Letchworth State Park, NY

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Islands in the Sky

A photo I especially liked from the DLSR part of my The Sand Project



Islands in the Sky

The Sand Project, Part 2 - DSLR

The second half of The Sand Project
I spent a week at the beach recently and decided to do a "project" that would be naturally limited.
Images of the beach sand.

The project was limited by:
Time, I was only at the beach a week
Tide times, so the sun would be low enough to get decent shadows and contrast
People/crowds, I didn't want contend with too many people or footprints in my photos

I took two walks with my iPhone, and two walks with my "real" camera (A Canon EOS 6D Mk1 for those who might care).

Here are a half-dozen of the "real" camera images.


A Walk on the Beach

The Rapids

Sunrise

Calm

The Wilds

The Keys

Here By The Sea And Sand ...

Nothing ever goes as planned¹

During one of my walks working on my Sand Project I happened to see an interesting shorebird that I hadn't noticed before. My camera wasn't setup for bird photography and I didn't think to just snap a photo anyway. Instead, I figured I would just walk again later with a camera/lens combination suitable for birds and maybe I'd get a lot of gulls, terns etc. and of course some of this particular group of birds (Royal Terns btw).

So I mounted my 70-200 with a 2x extender and took another walk. As it would happen, I saw very few interesting birds, but I had a lot of fun with some high contrast scenes.


Pier

Shore

Recede

Shimmer

Watching

My Model - The Green Heron

Every time I go to North Myrtle Beach I make a couple visits to The Heritage Shores Nature Preserve.
Almost every visit is rewarded by a few nice bird photos. This year was no exception. The Green Heron below sat and "modelled" for me for 15 minutes before I moved on in search of other "models."



Green Heron Facing into the Sunrise

Green Heron "I'll Stand Up Taller"

Green Heron "How's This Side Look?"

Green Heron "Let Me Look Off Into the Distance"

Green Heron "What's That?"

Green Heron "I See You!"

Green Heron "Is That Something to Eat?"