Altitude

Lupines and Aspens, FR 610

Monsoon season in Arizona can be a photographer’s dream with clouds and thunderstorms and this year we started early, skipping the dry heat we talk so much about.  June was wet, too.  The other side of that coin is the humidity, with dew points in the upper 60s, mosquitoes, and no evaporation to speak of.  Seriously, why sweat if it doesn’t cool you?

The remedy, when my attitude reaches its limit, is altitude.  Last weekend I cobbled together a road trip, partly with friends and sometimes alone.

I met Greg at the V Bar V Heritage site on Friday.  It was his idea and it was a good one.  I don’t know how many times I’ve driven by this place; it was certainly worth a stop, with more than 1,000 Sinagua petroglyphs.  The image above depicts a solar planting calendar.  The rocks were modified to cast a specific beam of light on the wall (which we were fortunate to witness; it lasts just a few minutes each day.)  The light’s intersection with the zig-zag line at lower left is thought have guided the Sinagua about when to plant.

Last Light on the Grand Falls

Then we bounced (literally) along dirt roads to the Grand Falls of the Little Colorado River.  This 185-foot cascade is on Navajo Nation land. Flows fluctuate a great deal, sometimes to nothing (this is an intermediate flow) but the water is always brown. It is sometimes called chocolate falls or mud falls.  I’d seen the falls several times from the air, but this was my first view from the ground.

One of my favorite things about Arizona forests is that there are lots of places to “dispersed camp,” which is essentially pulling off the road (in places that have already been disturbed) and making camp.  I appreciated this and my Four Wheel Camper as is was good and dark by the time I found a spot that night.

Saturday Morning I met Jeff on his way up from Tucson, and we caravanned to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We stopped at the backcountry permit office to learn about road conditions and make a plan.  We felt fortunate to get last-minute camping permits for two overlooks.

We were advised to take the “easy way” to Point Sublime, which was about 3 hours travel from the office.  Now, I know the rangers know all about this, but we met a young couple in a rented minivan who went the “hard way” and said it was quite straightforward.  Oh well, we saw some lovely country and splashed in innumerable mud holes, one of Jeff’s favorite things.

 

Sunrise, Point Sublime.  The Colorado River is visible at the center.

Point Sublime was, indeed, sublime.  The river was visible and the sunset sky was impressive.  We even had a pit toilet and picnic bench.

We retraced our steps partially and ended up at Fire Point.  The wildflower (especially lupine) bloom is impressive this year and I had almost as much fun in the forest as at the spectacular viewpoint.

Lupines in the Forest, near FR 223

Monday morning Jeff had to hit the road back to Tucson and I reverted to my disorganized, somewhat spontaneous travel rhythm, puttering around in the forest and changing my mind repeatedly about the day’s destination.

Clearing Storm Near Saddle Mountain, Grand Canyon

I ended up at the Saddle Mountain Trail head, hiking, watching the light, and shooting some old favorite spots along the road which were also resplendent with flowers.  The sunset sky cooperated as a thunderstorm cleared.  I was a happy camper indeed, even though the weather when I got back to the desert was still abysmal.

Thanks for taking this little journey with me.  More images from this road trip are in the summer 2015 Gallery on the website.

“Do I have to?” Chapter One; Tripods.

You’ll get no argument from me; a tripod sometimes feels like one more thing to haul in an already heavy photo kit.  I do carry it for landscape work though, and there are some compelling reasons for that.

 

Water takes on a fabulously dreamy look with long exposures.  Grand Canyon.

Night and twilight photography, for example, absolutely requires solid stabilization.  Even if you know you’ll be shooting in daylight, though, there are others.  Images of moving water, for example, take on an entirely different character when a long exposure is used; likewise for clouds and other moving subjects.  If you’re planning on combining images, for example for High Dynamic Range or exposure blending, you’ll generally get much better results if your camera is tripod-stabilized.  Panoramas constructed from several images will also be much easier to create with a tripod. If you don’t have a good tripod, you’ll be giving up the opportunities to use these techniques.

 

After several hours standing in the river, my arms would have given out using a heavy lens without a tripod.  Katmai NP Alaska

We’ve been talking about landscapes, but all but the physically strongest among us will do better if our long wildlife or sports lens is supported on a tripod.  There are specialized heads for that.

 

Detail shots require minute adjustments and meticulous composition.  Redwoods National Park CA

Beyond the technical, though, there are other reasons to use your camera on a stable platform.  We have a tendency, especially in the early part of our photographic career, to take lots of pictures quickly.  Some people call this the “spray and pray” method.  In most cases in landscape photography, we can take time to set up and to think.  We can (and should, if we’re honest with ourselves) slow down and really work on the best images, one at a time.  We’ll improve composition this way, including leveling the horizon, carefully policing the corners and edges to use them to best advantage, and thinking about shapes, balance, color, and the best background configuration to name a few.  It’s just a higher-quality experience to shoot with a tripod; more meditative and intentional.

There are many options and is a wide price range for tripods and heads.  Generally the best legs and heads are sold separately.  Really Right Stuff, Gitzo, Manfrotto, and Induro make sturdy, high-quality legs.  A set without a center column will work best for images shot close to the ground.  As for ballheads, the best ones, though expensive, come from Really RightStuff.  I use both the 40mm and 55mm RRS heads in conjunction with their L-bracket.  The L-bracket attaches to the camera and allows it to clamp to the ballhead in either the horizontal or vertical orientation.  The L-bracket allows us to avoid hanging the camera along the side of the tripod for all vertical shots.  Most people who have tried this configuration have had a bad enough experience to swear off it.  Make sure you carry all the allen wrenches that your rig requires as well.  RRS also sells a compact all-in-one tool which is worth carrying in case something shakes loose in the airplane or safari vehicle.

Are you convinced?  No, you don’t have to but you should.

Happy shooting and thanks for the read.

The Hunt

Storm light, Black River, White Mountains

Can you deal with another extended metaphor?  You’re strong; bear with me.

Landscape photography is a hunt.

No, I’m not a hunter.  I eat meat; I just internalized the “do no harm” part of being a physician to the extent that I don’t think I could.  I’d understand if you think me a hypocrite.

So, my friends who hunt tell me that the killing is a rather small part of the experience.

They say that, much like what I do in the field, there is joy in the skill development and planning.  Hunters also say that the quiet stalking requires patience and that there’s never any guarantee that you’ll come home with a trophy.  Mostly, though, they tell me that it’s about meditative time in the wilderness.

So, last week I started exploring some areas included in magazine “stock call lists.”  I blogged about this process last summer.  It's certainly an arrangement that works more in the magazine’s favor than the photographer’s, but I do appreciate the honor of being on the list as well as an introduction to some parts of the state that I wouldn’t otherwise have experienced. 

These trips are hunts, from time spent pouring over Google Earth (really, you should see the number of pins I’ve placed) to quietly waiting for the evening light to warm and mellow.

Train traffic near Ash Fork AZ

Between Ash Fork and Williams, there’s a neat forest road which snakes through the flagstone quarries and in part parallels the railroad tracks.  The trains made fun subjects during the day, but not such great camping companions.

Storm from Red Mountain Fire Lookout

 My goal in the Kaibab Forest was an old stage stop, but the road turned to axle-sucking mud before I got there, so I’ll have to try again in drier times.  Instead I hiked the Red Mountain Fire Lookout trail and was treated to fabulous 360-degree views and fast-moving thunderstorm cells.  Later I got some intelligence about a historical attraction in the area, but that’s a post for another time.

From there, I headed to Prescott back roads.  At one point I was in the middle of a 7-car-standoff between "I can't back my trailer" and "I'm afraid to back up; I'm from Phoenix." We got it done. I drove two wheels up the mountainside and pulled in my mirrors for a solution fit for Rubik’s Cube. Yikes.

Red Hill Road, Blue Range AZ

After a quick trip home for a can’t-miss surprise 35^th anniversary party, I photographeed the Blue Range at the New Mexico border.  It was a beautiful spot and nice camping, but I got distracted by the prodigious wild iris bloom and before I knew it I was near Big Lake in the White Mountains.  There I found storm light and more iris.

Iris, White Mountians, AZ

It was a good hunt.

More images are in the Northern Arizona Gallery on Skylineimages.net

Thanks for the visit and happy hunting.

Redwoods

Boy Scout Tree Trail

 I’d been looking forward to visiting the California Coast Redwoods for some time.  I’d dreamed of fog in the groves and rhododendrons blooming everywhere.

Not so much.

I’ll spare you my eloquence about making lemonade.  I guess that’s what happened, but really, I can’t complain about (up to) 2,000 year-old majestic trees, pristine ferns, spring flowers, and the rugged Oregon coast.

Harris Beach (OR) Arch

These forests have been preserved through an energetic public-private partnership.  Over 95% of the original old-growth trees are said to have been lost to logging, so the protected areas are truly precious.

It was quite a privilege to experience this place.  I’ll be back, despite having inhaled a few mosquitoes.

More images from this trip are in the Northern California Gallery on the website