Virgin River Canyon, AZ

The Interstate 15 (I-15) highway between Utah and Los Angeles goes through a canyon dug out by Virgin River. At 85 mph it's hard to get good images with a camera, and through the canyon there are no good places to pull over for a quick snap. But even the drive-through was quite an interesting experience. I would love to come back to this area some time and photograph the way the road winds down through the canyon. This time around, I got a few pics from the North end of the formation, where there is a public campground and day-use area.

Utah SR-9

Another light-trails shot, from the Canyon Overlook.

It took a four minutes' exposure to get enough light for this one.

A nod to mr. Rowell

While in Bishop, California, I stopped by Galen Rowell's gallery. Many of his pictures feature natural light from a rising or setting sun, and he seemed to have a particular fondness for mountains brushed by the first light of morning. After seeing the Sierras, I must say the mountains of Western USA lend themselves particularly well to this sort of motif.

To capture this in a way comparable to Galen Rowell's work would take a lot longer than my brief visit to his realm. I would like to show this anyway as a tribute and acknowledgement to his way of seeing the world through the camera. Here is one morning in Zion National Park:

First Night in Zion

By mistake I drove to Kolob Canyon first. The first three pics are from Kolob. Then I turned South, drove to Springdale and into the Virgin River Canyon, where I arrived a few hours after sunset. There was still enough moonlight for a couple of long exposures, though.

At Dante's Viewpoint

Dante's Viewpoint is named after a nearby peak, and conveniently placed about 1600 meters above the lowest point at Badwater. At this point I was very happy to have brought my 500mm lens, but also glad it was not the only lens I had.

Minerals exposed

Ores enriched in the sedimentary rocks of Death Valley, along the "Artist's Drive". Colours not beefed up, just a polarizing filter to deepen the sky blue and take away some haze.

Badwater Basin

A few images from the lowest altitude landpoint on the Western hemisphere.

Old Root

From the Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley.

Entering the Deserts

After Bristlecone Pines, I drove East and reached Death Valley after sundown. I stopped to make this shot, a 14 minutes exposure of traffic through the national park. The light on the horizon is from Furnace Creek, the tourist centre of the park where there are campsites, motels and restaurants.

Bristlecone Pines

Bubbly Hot

At the Hot Creek Geological Site, Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Tufa garden

Tufas are limestone formations once built up under water.

Sunset on Cottonwood Canyon

Cottonwood Canyon is where the old road Southwards from Bodie went down to Mono Lake. Most of the timber used to build the houses were hauled up this way.

From Bodie Ghost Town

Calaveras Big Tree Park

The Rim Fire

Images from Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park. The first one is not directly related to the Rim Fire, but I thought it belonged in this group of images anyway.

Red-tailed Hawk

On burned forest near Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite Valley I

Sierra Nevada roadtrip

There will be a series of posts coming on this blog over the next couple of weeks, featuring images captured on a roadtrip around the Sierra Nevada. I began my trip on 27. Oct., and will post as I get around to process images. Some will come while travelling, some after I return home on the 16. November.

There will not be much text with each image, so I'll sum up the technical details up front. I travel with a kit consisting of a Pentax K-5 camera, with a Samyang 8mm fisheye, DA 14mm, DA 21mm and Sigma 500 mm; and a Pentax 645D with 35mm, 45-85mm, 120mm macro and 300mm lenses.

As I write this, I'm one week into the trip. Some images will follow immediately after this post. Thanks for watching this space, I think I know who you are all three of you. :-)