Sunday, February 25, 2007

Point Lobos, California

I had an extra day in the Monterey area so I went to spend the afternoon at Point Lobos State Reserve just south of Carmel on the California coast.  The weather was sporadically rainy and it made the park dark and moody.  The park encompasses the entire point of land and there are trails going all along the coast.  The surf was moderate and the waves were really spectacular for a mountain boy like me.  It was fun exploring the different paths along the coast and discovering one cove or grove of trees after another.  Occasionally I would hear a sea lion barking in the distance and there were lots of birds in the area.  I ended up on the south end of the park where the waves crash in on the rocks creating wonderful jets of water that would erupt occasionally along the coast.  I tried to capture these sudden eruptions but had difficulty in predicting where they would occur next.  I love to visit the coast when I can and enjoy the interaction between the powerful and seemingly endless ocean and the fragile coast.  It reinforces in my mind just how small we are on this vast planet of ours and that there is so much more we have yet to discover.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Shrine Pass, Colorado

It’s already February and this is my first chance to really get out and take pictures. With a group of 5 other people I snowshoed in to Walter’s Cabin on Shrine Mountain Pass, just under 3 miles from the top of Vail Pass in the Central Mountains of Colorado. What a great trip it was!

For the trek in, the weather was in the teens and the wind was blowing slightly at our faces, making the uphill trek a little harder. The clouds were in close and we couldn’t see much of the fabulous scenery, but we followed a drainage up before turning off into the woods to the cabin. The snowshoeing was harder than I thought, perhaps the altitude made it more difficult, and I quickly learned not to stray from the path as I would sink in the snow up to my waist.

After a leisurely lunch at the hut, I headed out to take some pictures while the rest of the group headed up to Shrine Mountain. I wandered around trying to get pictures of the contrast between the snow and the trees. There must have been a forest fire up there sometime as there were a number of burned stumps around, a perfect composition with the white snow wells surrounding them. Eventually I got frustrated with my snowshoes coming off and I headed back in for the evening.

When we awoke the next morning we were greeted by a 16 below zero temperature and a stiff wind and the real excitement was getting back to the cars without any frostbite. We all put as much clothing on as we had and made sure not to have any exposed skin and, luckily, the wind was at our backs. We made great time back and arrived at our cars just over an hour after we left. I must admit that safely surviving an experience like that is very invigorating and I’m eager to do it again soon.

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Keystone, Colorado

The last chance in 2006 to get out and take some pictures. I woke up early and decided to head out around Keystone’s River Run Village to get some pictures. It was cold, very cold at about 7 degrees, and I found a spot where the river goes up the bridge on the walk out to the gondola. There are some nice views with the river and the white-frosted trees with the mountains in the background. Also, there is a small wetland there and the water flows slowly and you can see the grass under the ice and there were these perfect little snowflake crystals on top of the ice. It’s funny to find this little micro-environment just steps away from where thousands of people walk each day, in a hurry to either get up or off the ski slopes, oblivious to the beauty of the environment around them. This just proves that there are wonderful photographic opportunities all around us, it’s just a matter of how you look at things. It was definitely a nice way to end the year off and look forward to more adventures in 2007.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

White Pocket, Utah

I had the most incredible experience today visiting this very remote and unusual rock outcropping just north of Lake Powell in Utah with my friends Susan and John. We drove north out of Page, AZ for about 20 miles on the highway and then another 20 miles on a dirt road and then another 8 miles on a very rough sand road, for a total of about 2 hours driving. The sand was difficult to drive through and we weren’t really sure where we were going as there are only a couple of references to this sight on the internet. The roads are mainly used to access the ranches in the area and we decided the one named “Poverty Flats Ranch” was appropriate. After a few wrong turns we came over the last sand dune and we were at the most bizarre outcropping of rock that I have ever seen. In front of use we saw a series of smoothly undulating hills covered with a tortoise skin of white sandstone on top of swirling yellow, red and white highly crossbedded sandstone. Across the top of the tortoise skin were shallow pockets, intermittently filled with either sand or water. Since it was such a remote location we largely had the place to ourselves, only seeing one other group the whole day we were there. We started our visit by taking a reconnaissance walk around the whole outcrop and then we got our cameras out and started to take pictures. We planned on spending about 6 hours there and I thought I might get bored, how wrong I was! I took tons of pictures and the time absolutely flew by. It was a difficult shoot trying to make order out of so much chaos and I think I succeeded.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Mori Point, Pacifica, California

After our workshop got out today I went out to Mori Point with another student and we had a very nice time. I was confused about when the sun set, so we got out there late and just got some nice afterglow pictures over the ocean. The other student was from France and we talked about many things during the nice hike out. We had the place to ourselves and I quickly took some pictures out over the pounding surf. It was completely dark on the way back to the car and luckily I had a small flashlight in my camera bag to help guide us back. It was definitely a memorable adventure.