More From South Coyote Buttes
July 18th, 2019
More photos from the rainy day at South Coyote Buttes.
Models Blueriverdream and Nevaehlleh are featured in this post, along with the incredible landscape of the red rock desert in the rain.
Still more to come from this day.
South Coyote Buttes
July 8th, 2019
On the next day of our desert trip we headed to South Coyote Buttes. The morning before I had gone to the ranger station to get a permit. Each day they give out 12 permits for South Coyote Buttes and 12 for North Coyote Buttes. North Coyote Buttes is easier to get to, not requiring a 4WD vehicle. It is also the location of the famed Wave. There were 200 people there wanting permits for North Coyote Buttes. They held a drawing and 12 people went away happy. There were 14 people who wanted the 12 permits for South Coyote Buttes. I was one of the lucky ones and we got the permits we needed for the next day.
On this day our whole crew had arrived. Blueriverdream, Nevaehlleh, Sarah 219, and fellow photographer and friend Dave Swanson.
Getting to South Coyote Buttes turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than usual. It was raining. Not terribly hard, but steadily. And it had rained through the night. This can be bad news in the red rock desert, also sometimes called the slick rock desert. There are signs on the roads saying, “Road Impassible When Wet.” But we had our passes and we had to give it a try. The rain stopped, but when we headed down the road to access the area from the north we came to a stream that was swollen enough that it was pretty clear that if we went into it we would not get out. Time for plan B. There is another way in, actually the same road, but starting from the south. The only problem with that is that the drive on paved roads around to the south entrance is about 100 miles. Off we went.
The road from the south turned out to be in pretty good shape. In one place there was water covering the road, but I waded through it to make sure it wouldn’t swallow us. Not a problem. The rain had stopped and we had a bumpy drive up the 4WD road to this fantastic location full of amazing rock formations.
More to come from this day of shooting.
Independence Day
July 1st, 2019
Just a few fun photos with the amazing Ayn Kaethchen to mark the July 4 holiday.
Hooray for the red, white and blue!
Wandering in the Desert
June 21st, 2019
After visiting Goblin Valley Blueriverdream and I met up with another great model, NevaehLleh, and went exploring Wirepass Canyon and Buckskin Gulch.
Wirepass Canyon above. Buckskin Gulch below. Some claim that Buckskin Gulch is the deepest and longest slot canyon in the world. I’m not sure how they figured that out, but it’s deep, long, and beautiful.
The next day we paid a visit to the Toadstools in the rain:
The problem with both these locations is that they have become much to popular. In the slot canyons there was a constant stream of hikers. At one tricky spot where some climbing was required, there was a line of people waiting their turn. And the Toadstools, even in the rain, had a bunch of hikers. When I first visited these places about 15 years ago, I pretty much had them to myself. I guess I just shouldn’t have told anyone where they were. Too late now.
Even more wet desert adventures to come in future posts.
One More Time for Blueriverdream at Goblin Valley
May 20th, 2019
I don’t think there’s any chance that I’ll ever get better photos from Goblin Valley. I was really fortunate to have such a wonderful model as Blueriverdream with me when I went there this time.
Blue really made the most of this weird location.
Toward the end of our time there the clouds started to clear out and the sun appeared. As you can see in the photo below, the wonderful sensor in my Panasonic GX8’s could really handle the added contrast with no difficulty.
But I still like the tones of the photos made with cloudy light better.
That’s it for this shoot at Goblin Valley. But that’s not the end of this trip to the desert southwest. More to come in future posts.
More From an Overcast Day at Goblin Valley
May 12th, 2019
Some more photos from a great day at Goblin Valley with the wonderful, beautiful model, Blueriverdream.
Blue is a master at finding poses that integrate her figure with the environment. And, as we said in the Air Force, Goblin Valley is a target-rich environment.
The soft light was perfect for bringing out the forms and color of the formations and blending them with the form and color of Blue’s body.
I have still more from this day to share in the next post.
A Good Day at Goblin Valley
May 8th, 2019
Goblin Valley is an amazing place. I’ve been there several times and have photographed there every time I visited. But it’s a somewhat difficult place to do photos. There is usually strong sunlight and the bright highlights and dark shadows make it hard to capture the real feel of the place.
But this past October I paid another visit there along with one of my very favorite models of all time, Blueriverdream.
As you can see, the sun was not a problem on this day. We had a pretty solid overcast for a good part of the morning. Perfect light for this place. And a perfect model. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Blue was in fine form and did a fantastic job of finding many poses that worked perfectly with the wild surroundings of this place. I’ll have more to share from this day in the next few posts.
Thanks Blueriverdream!
Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2019
April 29th, 2019
Here are a couple pinhole photos that I shot yesterday on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. The one above is the one I uploaded to the pinhole day site.
I shot these with my Panasonic GX8 and a Pinwide wide-angle commercially-made pinhole. Thanks to available usable high ISOs and the electronic viewfinder on my camera I was able to shoot these pinhole photos while hand holding the camera and viewing through the viewfinder.
One More Time With Daisy
April 25th, 2019
Daisy Von is a fine subject for portraits as well as figure photos, so I made a few of those too while we were shooting at the park.
And we wandered around to some replica pioneer/Native American shelters.
The lake in this park also offered a nice background.
That’s it for this shoot with Daisy.
Don’t forget Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day this coming Sunday, April 28. Go out and make some pinhole photos and upload one to the site.
Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day
April 21st, 2019
Next Sunday April 28 is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.
I try every year to do a pinhole photo on that day and upload it to the website.
Since I’ve been working with a pinhole on my micro 4/3 cameras making pinhole photos is much easier. The viewfinder works, so I can see what I’m getting. And the high-ISO quality is good enough that I can often just hand-hold the camera. The meter in the camera works, so I can get the correct exposure. Very different from the old days when you usually were guessing about pretty much everything. I like it better this way.
Another advantage of the method is that the exposure times are usually sort enough that taking photos of people is a reasonable thing to do. This photo is my submission from two years ago. I did use a tripod for this one, but it is a single exposure, not a double exposure as you might suspect at first. I just had Ayn hold still at first and then move quickly and hold still in the second position during a fairly long exposure.
