This year seems to be a very active year for snakes. Last year we hiked all around southern Utah and saw zero snake activity. A ranger in the northern extension of Zion National Park confirmed that he had hiked hundreds of miles without a single sighting. This particular snake was in the middle of the trail to Suicide Rock and slithered off the trail, remaining coiled about 3 feet off the side in full sunlight; a rare photographic opportunity. I took many captures with my telephoto lens and was able to bring out the eyes using quasi HDR. Any snake experts out there care to identify this species...
Click here to view my updated Infrared Gallery. I've been posting a lot of infrared photos lately. I thought it would be good to discuss the process of Infrared Photography to understand it better. I had an older Canon body that I had to permanently convert to infrared. This involved removing a bypass filter over the sensor, and replacing it with a filter more susceptible to infrared light. For more information, click here. Over the next few weeks I plan to publish galleries from Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Florida, Minnesota and more from Utah.
I recently did some portraits for a friend and really enjoyed it. I made an effort to use creative lighting techniques; reflector and two off camera flashes. It eliminated shadows and balanced the color. Later, I spent a fair amount of time working on them in Photoshop, Lightroom and Portrait Professional. Pictured here is my friend Michael Triompo, who needed pictures for his Linked-in site.
I had been so excited by the regular photos that came out of this Utah trip, THAT I didn’t really spend a lot of time working on the IR Photo’s that I took. The thing about IR is that you have to really work them to see the potential. They always need the levels and curves adjusted. The pictures are by their nature a little bit soft. So you need to work a little harder on sharpening them.
I wanted to pick out a few IR photos to add to my new site, and was surprised that none of the Utah photo’s had been given a high rating. I went back to the photo’s from that trip. I realized that...
The second half of my Utah gallery is complete...finally. Highlights include the Burr Trail and the Petrified Forest State Park, where we camped. The huge tree trunks and pieces that people had returned over the years were amazingly preserved. Egypt to Neon Canyon and Golden Cathedral was classic Utah, and really tested our navigating skills. We got lost three times attempting to follow the rock cairns and imaginary trails, slid down a mountain, got torn to shreds wading across a river full of thorny branches and barely made it back before nightfall. The old woman at the Visitor's Center recommended...
We decided to do the easier and flatter version of the hike to Cable Mountain. This entailed driving east and out of the park, over the beautiful Zion Plateau, and taking a dirt road back to the Cable Mountain Trailhead at the park's edge. The trail was not very stunning, but it brought us to Cable Mountain which offered a great view into the canyon where the remnants of the Cable Mountain Draw Works still lie. On the way back we stopped on the Zion Plateau and did some exploring on the slickrock and sandy mesas.
Please "like" my new Facebook page, (click here). Our first day in Zion we tried to get passes to The Narrows, alas it was flooded out. Cable Mountain was our second choice, but we decided to do Observation Point instead. At the trailhead we forged straight up 2100 feet, taking advantage of the cool, overcast morning while our coffee was still coarsing through our veins. The clouds proved fortuitous in that they made for dramatic photography. Up top we had our sandwiches and enjoyed the 360 degree views of Zion Canyon. The way down was hotter, but easier, albeit rough and blistering...
After leaving Snow Canyon we decided to take the back route into Zion through the Smithsonian Butte Scenic Backway. The road was treacherous in spots; luckily we had rented a Jeep. This route provided a spectacular view of the entrance to Zion Canyon. On the way we checked out the ghost town of Grafton, a former Mormon outpost that was moved when some villagers were attacked by Indians. The town is being meticulously restored, and the pictures and historical write-ups paint a window into the harsh lives of the Mormon pioneers.
On our way to Zion curiosity got the better of us, and we decided to check out Snow Canyon State Park, a place most people race by in favor of the better known national parks. The Hidden Pinon Loop Trail/ Three Ponds hikes didn't disappoint. These combined hikes had everything: slick rock, petrified sandstone, lava formations, and stunning red rocks along the sandy path. Photographically speaking the second half of the Three Ponds Trail wasn't worth it, but the sheer beauty of the area easily compares with the nearby national parks, minus the crowds.