Darkhorse
pointed and shot
Last week was my wife's spring break from her university classes, so we decided to get away from the hubbub of Southern California and take in the wonders of the Colorado Plateau. We had been to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park before in 2008 but it was quite cold during the Thanksgiving break, and didn't do much hiking. This time we did about 20 miles in hiking overall which left us quite satisfied with this portion of the Plateau... now we look forward to exploring other portions like more of Grand Canyon, Arches, Monument Valley and so on.
To all foreigners (and indeed all Americans), I can't stress enough how wondrous the American West is. I despair that what most tourists come to America and wind up only seeing Vegas or worse, Orlando (no offense to any Floridians, and Vegas can be quite fun); But the National Parks of the Four Corners region is a unique jewel on this planet Earth. If you come to America this is the place you have to see... and gasp at its beauty.
We drove out to Utah, it takes about 8 hours to get from our place in Orange to Bryce Canyon. Not a bad road trip, and Audiobooks make it go by quick.
I've come here before, and so this would be my second time photographing the place. My first time out I brought a lot of equipment, lots of lenses and filters, and lots of layers of clothing. I quite like my photos of my first trip, particularly because of the fresh snow on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. But this time I packed very light and only packed an s100. I just wanted to relax, hike and take snaps. This has been my philosophy of my photography outside of my work now.
Bryce Canyon's distinct Hoodoos have a lot of personality to them. They're so delicate, intricate, and numerous. You could spend an eternity photographing them - I didn't have that long but still ended up with several hundred shots of them. It was difficult to pare them down.
Fairlyand Loop Trail is about 8.4 miles, you hike down 1000+ feet, then go up again, then down again, and then finally up again. It's fairly strenuous but very rewarding.
Strange thing about nature photography is that you ideally would like any sign of humanity taken out, but 1.) Actually having a human in the shot can give you a better sense of scale 2.) Sometimes signs of human activity is unavoidable like the shots above with visible contrails.
I quite like some of the gnarly trees of the areas, particularly the Bristlecone Pines. They contribute to the alien landscape.
Inspiration Point is above. A place you could photograph thousands of times for thousands of hours and never do it justice. This is maybe a third of the view from this particular lookout.
Things change once you get to Zion, the stratigraphy is more pronounced and elaborate.
The tunnel leading into Zion (westbound HWY 9) is about a mile long, and once you exit the tunnel the landscape hits you with a burst of wonder. Not a lot of scenic turnoffs at this point and minimal places to park so shots like the above were taken out of a moving car. Not a good way to compose a shot - you have to think fast and so the above shot is the exact same composition one I took of the same place years before.
Don't worry, I wasn't the one driving.
We left Southern California to escape the traffic, only to find it again on the trail to the Emerald Pools in Zion. I'm not talking about cars, Zion has a fantastic shuttle system to rid the park of auto congestion and pollution, but the trail itself was packed with people. Noisiest hike I've ever been on. Ever. There are much scarier hikes in Zion, but due to its popularity, Emerald Pools has had the most casualties in the park.
My dear wife at the Canyon Overlook.
To all foreigners (and indeed all Americans), I can't stress enough how wondrous the American West is. I despair that what most tourists come to America and wind up only seeing Vegas or worse, Orlando (no offense to any Floridians, and Vegas can be quite fun); But the National Parks of the Four Corners region is a unique jewel on this planet Earth. If you come to America this is the place you have to see... and gasp at its beauty.
We drove out to Utah, it takes about 8 hours to get from our place in Orange to Bryce Canyon. Not a bad road trip, and Audiobooks make it go by quick.
I've come here before, and so this would be my second time photographing the place. My first time out I brought a lot of equipment, lots of lenses and filters, and lots of layers of clothing. I quite like my photos of my first trip, particularly because of the fresh snow on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. But this time I packed very light and only packed an s100. I just wanted to relax, hike and take snaps. This has been my philosophy of my photography outside of my work now.
Bryce Canyon's distinct Hoodoos have a lot of personality to them. They're so delicate, intricate, and numerous. You could spend an eternity photographing them - I didn't have that long but still ended up with several hundred shots of them. It was difficult to pare them down.
Fairlyand Loop Trail is about 8.4 miles, you hike down 1000+ feet, then go up again, then down again, and then finally up again. It's fairly strenuous but very rewarding.
Strange thing about nature photography is that you ideally would like any sign of humanity taken out, but 1.) Actually having a human in the shot can give you a better sense of scale 2.) Sometimes signs of human activity is unavoidable like the shots above with visible contrails.
I quite like some of the gnarly trees of the areas, particularly the Bristlecone Pines. They contribute to the alien landscape.
Inspiration Point is above. A place you could photograph thousands of times for thousands of hours and never do it justice. This is maybe a third of the view from this particular lookout.
Things change once you get to Zion, the stratigraphy is more pronounced and elaborate.
The tunnel leading into Zion (westbound HWY 9) is about a mile long, and once you exit the tunnel the landscape hits you with a burst of wonder. Not a lot of scenic turnoffs at this point and minimal places to park so shots like the above were taken out of a moving car. Not a good way to compose a shot - you have to think fast and so the above shot is the exact same composition one I took of the same place years before.
Don't worry, I wasn't the one driving.
We left Southern California to escape the traffic, only to find it again on the trail to the Emerald Pools in Zion. I'm not talking about cars, Zion has a fantastic shuttle system to rid the park of auto congestion and pollution, but the trail itself was packed with people. Noisiest hike I've ever been on. Ever. There are much scarier hikes in Zion, but due to its popularity, Emerald Pools has had the most casualties in the park.
My dear wife at the Canyon Overlook.
