Uploads from parkflavor, with geodata

Sundial Peak Sunrise

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:36:50 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Early Summer in the Subway

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:02:31 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Early Spring Sunrise at Snowbasin

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:19:51 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Definitely meant to be viewed on black.

Lower Calf Creek Falls

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:13:57 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Grand Staircase - Escalante is such a great place for photography, I can't believe I hadn't spent any time there until a couple weeks ago. You can camp for free (as long as you get a permit from the BLM), photograph slot canyons all day long, then check out some crazy place like Devils Garden at sunset, wake up for something else (or Devils Garden again, like I did) for sunrise, and then book it over to Calf Creek for some early morning waterfall action before heading back to the slot canyons or river hikes or whatever. There is just so much potential.

I had the intention of spending 3-4 days there and checking out all the slots, but the weather just did not cooperate. There was a chance of rain for the next few days after I arrived, so I stayed one night and then just came home, stopping by Calf Creek on my way. I was the first one on the trail that day and got there around 9am, which is probably the best for this place since you get a nice blue sky. I had every intention of finding a really unique composition here, but there just really aren't any (at least any really good ones) that I could see without getting somebody's name scratched in the sand in my photo.

If you've never been here, I highly recommend it. The hike itself is about two and a half hours round trip down a canyon with steep, tall sandstone walls and is beautiful even without the waterfall.

Antelope Cliché #2: "Excuse me, we aren't getting the whole beam to light up when you only use one handful of sand - do you think you could try two handfuls and throw one up high and the other down lower, please?"

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:12:02 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Here's another amazing area of Lower Antelope which is also, unfortunately, quite a cliché. The title is actually a request that one of the other photographers gave to the guide who was helping us out by throwing sand into the light shaft. It was quite amusing, really. We go through all this trouble to get these photos to appear as if everything is so natural and untouched, when in reality, there are people throwing sand in the air and then running behind a rock to get out of the photo and photographers lined up shoulder to shoulder asking other visitors to politely hang out behind a wall for 15 minutes so they aren't in the picture. I must say I love these photos, but I definitely prefer shooting out in the mountains somewhere and having my space.

This spot is actually the backside of the Lady in the Wind, so right after you get the good morning light shooting from the south side, you can move about 15 feet to the north and grab this one.

Antelope Cliché #1: Lady in the Wind

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:31:35 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Lower Antelope Canyon. I got here on Sunday just a little too late for the good light. There was some direct sunlight hitting the wall behind the arch, causing that area to be washed out. However, while I was here, I met Bobby Wheat, a fellow film photographer from Las Vegas who is preparing to open his own gallery in the next couple weeks. We both really wanted this shot and waited all day for the light to move out of the frame, but it just wouldn't happen in time. So we both decided to return on Monday and were the first ones in line so we could set up right here and wait until the light was good. Unfortunately, there was a photo tour that day with about 7 people that just took the fun out of the whole experience. Whereas we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves on Sunday, we were jostling with the tour members on Monday for good positioning for all the beam shots. Luckily, though, we didn't really have to contend with anyone else for this one.

While this shot seems to be a favorite in many galleries out there, I haven't really seen any shots of it here on flickr. I also shot this with the G617, and I got a really good, super sharp transparency out of it - I just wish my lens on that camera was a little wider for this shot. The 105mm was just a little too close and left me wishing I had splurged for the GX617 with a 90mm lens.

Return to Mesa Arch

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:06:39 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

On Friday morning, I woke up for sunrise and headed to Mesa Arch, hoping to get a decent shot with my G617 that I could get scanned, printed (huge) and framed on the wall. I haven't had a chance to get the film developed yet so I don't know how those turned out but the digital captures all look great so far, so I'm hopeful that the film will as well.

The first time I went to Mesa Arch was two years ago and I had neither a tripod nor the 10-20mm lens I use for most of my shots these days, so it was nice to get a return trip with the proper equipment. The wider lens let me get some of the sky in the photo this time around so I'm definitely glad I was able to go back.

Almost There

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:11:31 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

The Stairway

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Tue, 31 May 2011 06:29:12 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Had to shoot up canyon yesterday at the subway since there was already direct sunlight hitting the classic side. If there is a glow shooting down the canyon in the summer, it's gone by 9:45am.

Follow the Weather

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Mon, 30 May 2011 21:50:16 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

I was planning on heading up to Grand Teton for Memorial Day weekend, but due to the weather I decided to head south. Here's my first night's sunset at the lonely tree.

Sunset at Ogden Bay

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Fri, 20 May 2011 22:06:30 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

This was only the second time I've been here for photos, even though it's only 10 minutes away from my house. There was a pretty lackluster sunset tonight until the sun dipped right below the horizon and then just lit everything up from behind the Promontory Range in the distance. I managed to snap off a few shots with the G617 so I'm crossing my fingers that they came out as well as this did. Also, something of note - no filters or blending needed on this one, the light was actually even enough that one exposure worked out just fine.

The Fortress Window

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:12:07 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

My Tree

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:15:39 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

I was really disappointed at Bryce because I was really hoping to get some good shots of Thor's Hammer and Wall Street, but the Navajo Trail was closed from Sunset Point to the end of Wall Street, so I wasn't able to get the shots I wanted. However, I did find this tree, which I though was just too perfect with all the roots hanging out above ground. I was hoping for a great sunset so I could get some color behind the tree, but it never really materialized.

The Temple

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:43:04 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

I was at Zion on Tuesday and the waterfalls and rivers were raging and everything was incredibly green. I've been there many times before, but never in the springtime to see the waterfalls, so I was just blown away by the size of this one near the Temple of Sinawava. It was hard to find a clean composition with the waterfall and the virgin river, so I settled on this one without the river.

I also tried to hike to the subway, but I only made it halfway before turning back. The river was flowing so much that it took away parts of the trail, causing me to have to cross much more often than usual. Anyway, I had to wade through water up to my belly button (and only about an inch from my camera backpack) and my progress was much slower than I had anticipated so I just gave up. I didn't think I would make it in time for the best glow and I will be doing it from the top down in two weeks so it wasn't such a big deal. Anyway, if you can get to Zion in the near future, it is super green right now and you will not be disappointed.

It's Been a Long Time

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:49:10 -0700

parkflavor posted a photo:

Last night was my first time out shooting at Antelope Island in a while, and I managed to get a pretty nice sunset with some wind causing some movement in the water.

Shoshone Falls in Velvia!

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:00:01 -0800

parkflavor posted a photo:

I have moved to film!

A couple months ago, I bought a used Fuji G617 so that I can make a monster sized panoramic print to hang above my couch. It took a couple practice rolls, but by my fourth one, it seems that I have the exposure down (as well as remembering seemingly simple things, such as winding the film after each exposure).

Anyway, the camera is amazing and I just love looking at my transparencies through a loupe on my light table. It's so much more satisfying than digital since it took so much more work to get each image. Plus, velvia is just so beautiful - it looks like it's already been through post processing!

Like my last two posts, these were all taken at Shoshone Falls on my way back to Salt Lake from Sun Valley. We had a great sunset, which, to my surprise was captured pretty well in the bottom image. I had read that velvia's exposure latitude was quite low, but the film managed to keep a lot of definition in the shadows without blowing out the sky (although some of the definition may have been lost in the yellow clouds). The feeling of not quite knowing what I had until I got back from the lab is so different than with digital. I'm not used to having to be so patient.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with the results and I am really looking forward to taking this beast of a camera around with me in the future.

Shoshone Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:33:00 -0800

parkflavor posted a photo:

Here's another comp from two nights ago at Shoshone Falls. This one gives a better view of the canyon and the sunset than the last one.

Naturalist Basin

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:05:09 -0800

parkflavor posted a photo:

Here's one from back in August at a waterfall I found in Naturalist Basin. After the rain cleared, the sky broke out in some amazing color and this was the last of it.

Wintry Canal

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:54:24 -0800

parkflavor posted a photo:

As I was shooting this scene, I turned around and saw this.

Unexpected

nobody@flickr.com (parkflavor) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:15:23 -0800

parkflavor posted a photo:

I decided to drive the 10 minutes from my house tonight to check out the Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management area. I got out there and it didn't look like anything was really going to happen so I walked out onto a frozen stream trying to get some nice comps looking into the sun when I turned around and saw this. It was such an awesome surprise - definitely one of the top 5 sunsets I've seen in the past year.

The ground was really wet and slippery and there weren't too many good compositions that I could see. So here's the best foreground I could find.