Category Archive

Partition Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.

A self portrait of me in Partition Arch.  This is the smaller of two openings at the location of Partition Arch, so maybe this one has a different name.  It is a great location – from the opening you can look down on the trail and viewing area for Landscape Arch.

See more Arches National Park pictures.

Mountain biking on the Slickrock Trail, Moab, Utah.

Since we rode the awesome Slickrock Bike Trail yesterday, I thought this would be a good time to post this photo.  It was sure a blast – and we were much faster then last year, that always feels good.

I didn’t bring my camera on the ride, as it is too heavy.  This photo was from two Fridays ago, we did this the night before the 24 Hours of Moab Bike Race.  You see I don’t do much shooting with multiple, off camera flashes and wanted to practice a bit before the actual race.

Most of my flash use is for a minor bit of fill light.  For this, mounting the flash on the camera works fine, as the light is usually just there for a bit of catch-lit in the eyes of an animal, and to brighten the subject a bit – the light really isn’t noticeable to the viewer.  When the flash provides a larger amount of the light source, I think it is important to get the flash off the camera and off to the side, and even behind the subject.

So I practiced multiple setups right up until near total darkness – I wanted some night shots.  I felt like I had everything dialed in, and wouldn’t you know it, on the day of the race my wireless transmitter worked for 3 tests shots and then died.  Nothing seemed to fix it, not even new batteries.

Well clouds saved the day for my daytime shooting as they helped defuse the light and soften the shadows, I didn’t really need flash.  For my night shots, I ended up setting up the camera on a tripod and opening the shutter for about 10 seconds, and manually popping the flash from off to one side to light the bikers.  After a couple adjustments to my distance and the flash power, this totally manual technique actually worked pretty well.  So much for being prepared.

Sunrise, Monument Basin, Canyonlands National Park, near Moab, Utah.

This fascinating location is found along the White Rim Trail.

The Green River from the White Rim Trail, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

How is this for an amazing campsite? !   There are two camp sites in this area, unfortunately, we had the site next to it which wasn’t as close to the river, but still very nice.   So, as these people slept in, I quietly used their tents for my photo.

This was definitely one of the nicest campsites on the trail.  On-line, I had trouble finding much information on the different campsites – so we checked them out on this trip and will do a write up on the best camp sites along the White Rim Trail when I have more time, probably once I get back to Alaska.

Here is more information about the White Rim Trail.

Star trails above our tent along the White Rim Trail, Canyonland National Park, Utah.

We just got in from 3 really fun, and productive days along the White Rim Trail,  so I thought I would do a quick post.  The star tails are the result of a 25 minute long exposure – I lit our tent with my flash light, and then stumbled out of the scene in nearly total darkness.

I really enjoyed sitting there and watching the stars and seeing shooting stars.  It has been awhile since I have spent a night under the stars – I do most of my camping and backpacking during the Alaska summer, a time stars don’t show well, if at all.

Here is a lot more information about camping on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands.

Janine stands in the lower arch of Double O Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.

I realized I have posted a number of photos from Arches National Park, but none of them included an actual arch.  So here is two for one photo.  Visiting Double O arch requires about a 5 mile round trip hike through some wonderful country known as Devils Garden.  With must see detours to Navajo and Partition Arches, the hike ends up being about 6 miles.

Yesterday we picked up a rental jeep and are heading out for three days on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park.  We found out last year that the limited number of camping sites along this amazing road fill way in advance, so we made back-country campsite reservations last Spring.  We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time – everyone raves about this area, I should have an update here Monday night or Tuesday morning.

See more Arches National Park photos.

Courthouse Wash, Arches National Park, Utah.

Hey, there are even a few fall colors in Arches!  This was at sunrise yesterday morning.

See more Arches National Park photos.

A train leaving Moab, Utah.

Last year when we pulled into Moab I saw these tracks along this beautiful hillside and thought that would be a perfect setting for a train photo.  But, I only saw one or two trains during the couple weeks we were here, and was never in a position to get a photo.  This year I noticed a train leaves Moab about the same time everyday, making this photo much easier to obtain.  Evidently, the train is hauling uranium tailings from along the Colorado River to a more permanent site.  It is a Department of Energy project – not sure why our government is taking on this job and not the original mining companies – they probably took the money and ran.

We had a great sunset last night, but I just couldn’t seem to find the right position or  composition, so I came away with nothing.  I feel like a let one get away – great sunsets don’t happen that often around here.