Spring Snow Dusting, Montpelier, Wyoming

Ok, I will be totally honest. We were in Jackson, Wyoming last weekend on our trip, but it was snowing so hard, and the clouds were so low, there was no chance on getting any shots in the 5 hour time frame we had. But I did get this shot just outside of Montpelier, Wyoming on our drive the same day. The aspens were just starting to get their leaves, but were lightly dusted with snow this particular morning. 

Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming

Scarlet and I made a quick trip to Bear Lake this last weekend. I didn't pull out my camera too much, but did take it on our short hike in Fossil Butte National Monument, Sunday morning. As for Fossil Butte, it was pretty fascinating. Didn't live up to National Monument expectations, but we still had a good time. The park has two trails, neither of which leads past any fossils. To find those, you have to know where to look, and be willing to walk off trail through the sagebrush. Fossil collecting is illegal, but the fossil hunt was fun and we saw probably 20 different fish fossils. 

 One of the many fish fossils we found in a recent rock slide. The rock here is in paper thin layers and is a very brittle limestone. A lot of the rock is so brittle, that just moving the rocks can fracture the 50 million year old skeletons.

 Another fossil with the upper limestone band of Fossil Butte sitting under the beautiful blue Wyoming sky. I tried getting a picture that would represent the park as a whole, but this is the only one I got before losing patience with the cold winds! I kinda like it.

 A closeup of the same fish from above. This is one of the best preserved fish fossils we found, and on the other side of the slab, was still the mummified decaying remains of other fish. Its hard to fathom the body of the animal is still present after 50 million years. 

 This is the cabin of David Haddenham. Haddenham was a popular fossil collector in the early 1900's at Fossil Butte. This cabin was constructed in 1918, and still has the frame of his old bed and parts of his handmade wood burning stove. Haddenham roamed the area for nearly half a century.

The grass and sage covered slope leading to Fossil Butte, which is in the background. If you look closely, you can see the limestone band mentioned earlier.

Lake Powell Country

Just got back from an amazing canyoneering trip in the Lake Powell Country. The trip consisted of 6 canyon descents in 4 days, and my butt got kicked. One of the best trips I have ever been on! Because of the technicality and tight ruggedness of the canyons, I did not take my camera on any of the descents, but I got a few "other" pictures of the area.

 Upper Ticaboo Canyon with Mount Ellsworth in the background.

 View down and arcoss Lower Ticaboo Canyon and other drainages. The land out here was so rugged, as if  God had beat it with a hammer. Absolutely beautiful country!

 Interesting clouds over the awesome landscape and Lake Powell.

 Viewing down into a slotted landscape with the canyon named "Fiddle Stick" in the background.

 Lake Powell and "The Dantes".

 A good friend, Kurt Sparenburg, studying the Upper Ticaboo Drainage.

Mount Ellsworth at sunset from where we had camp set up.

Interesting Cloud Texture

Not a big post today, but here is a picture with an interesting cloud texture. It was completely overcast and then these clouds rolled over. Then it was overcast again. Kinda weird, but cool!

Claretcup Cactus Closeup

The Claretcup Cactus is in full bloom right now, and even though it adds a great splash of color to landscape pictures, it's even more beautiful closeup. 

A Cloudy Morning in Zion

A couple of Friday's pictures from Zion. It was super cloudy and sadly, jammed packed with tourists, so I didn't do too much picture taking. I think my days of hiking the main trails in the park are over for the year. Time to hit the backcountry trails, away from the crowds!

 West Temple and the Alter of Sacrifice receiving a small dose of sunshine.

 A little closer of the Alter of Sacrifice. This mountain is one of my favorites in the Park. I love the streaks of "blood" red.

 An Indian Paintbrush. This flower becomes very common this time of year, and if you know where to go, you can sometimes find fields of this flower mixed with the wild grass. 

Another shot, from another angle, of the Temple of Sinawava. 

Toquerville Arches' Springtime Flowers

Scarlet and I went Jeeping and hiking out at the Toquerville Arches today and though it was overcast about the whole time, the springtime flowers were in bloom and I made it a point to photograph every different kind that I found. I don't know the names of all of them and do not in any way claim to be great at photographing flowers, but they were so beautiful, I could not pass up the opportunity! 

(WARNING! Seven (7) pictures long!)

 Claretcup Cactus in Bloom with the beautiful landscape behind

 Pale Evening Primrose

 Cliffrose

 Utah Serviceberry (Maybe?)

 Desert Sage

 Wild Rhubarb

Don't know what this one is called, but its one of my favorites!

I am sure there will be lots more in bloom the next few weeks, so I may do another post of just flowers :)

JPEG, RAW and Processed

Well I said that I would post up some examples of JPEG, RAW, and Processed to show the differences. It takes some time figuring out the settings, but I am thinking the Processed looks best, because you don't have all the blown out detail. I would love to hear what you guys think though!

 The pillar at the Temple of Sinawava in Zion- JPEG (straight out of the camera with its settings) 

 The pillar at the Temple of Sinawava in Zion- RAW (straight out of the camera, without any special settings). As you can see, it is a very bland picture, with no contrast or real color!

 The pillar at the Temple of Sinawava in Zion- Processed (A little work done with Picasa). Auto contrast, brightened fill light, shadow and highlight adjustments. 

 Angels Landing from a cottonwood covered floodplain- JPEG

 Angels Landing from a cottonwood covered floodplain- RAW

Angels Landing from a cottonwood covered floodplain- Processed

Hope this helps you guys see what the difference is between the three. It sure helped me! Looking forward to input...

Trying out Picasa with Zion Pictures

Well, I was recommended to download and do all of my photograph work through Picasa. So here I am, and some pictures I took today. Now with these pictures, they were all taken in RAW Format, still 100% in manual mode, but the camera only records what it sees, no extra color settings or anything. So the pictures are actually fairly "ugly" when they pull up on the screen. So there is some processing, which I am not a fan of, required in order to get an attractive picture. 

 Bridge Mountain, West Temple, and East Temple, blanketed by cloud cover. 

 Not too sure what this mountain is called (I am sure it has a name), but I thought it was one good lookin Butte!

 The drainage of the slickrock bowl which I hiked to today.

A black and white of the famous hoodoo located near Keyhole Canyon. I will have to get a colored picture, but I was thinking it looked better B&W with the cloud cover.

Tomorrow, I will have to post a series of pictures showing a JPEG created by the camera, an unprocessed RAW, and a processed RAW converted to JPEG. Just to show ya'll what that's all about.

Zion's Riverside Walk Trail

I am trying to fit in as much Zion as possible the next couple weeks, so Scarlet and I went for a casual hike on the Riverside Walk Trail. Got a few pictures, but here is my favorite one.

This is toward the beginning of the trail with Telephone Canyon Falls in the background. 

Zion's Gobblers

Figured I better do a different set with these "other" pictures I got this morning. I am not a fan of photographing wildlife, but I definitely will take the opportunity if one is presented. These guys were great models!

Early Morning Zion Virgin River

Headed out early this morning to "The Grotto" in Zion National Park. I have been spending alot of time on the slickrock of East Zion, so I figure I better spend a morning in the Main Canyon. I didn't get up there 'til about 7:15 (thanks to the mandatory shuttles) but here is what I got.  

 Lady Mountain, just above Emerald Pool, is brightly lit by the early morning sun, with the blurred Virgin River as the foreground.

 A 0.8 sec. exposure of ripples with a reflection made for an interesting abstract.

 My prized piece of the day. Angels Landing beginning to glow from Zions early morning "indirect" sunlight. I have to be honest, the driftwood was place in the water by me, but, I thought it would fill in the bottom half of the picture really well.

 And now for my obsession with rounded river rock. I think the wife liked this picture more than me, but everyone likes something different. 

This one, I do like better! I love how the picture is "split in half" from river rock to water. 

The Way of the Zion Sheep...

My intention for this morning was to drive to the mouth of the Narrows and photograph the canyon as the sun rose. Considering I got up too late, and upon entrance to Zion, found out they have started mandatory shuttles for the summer, I decided to go to East Zion again. I chose a hike that would take me to the a pass that would require me to do an Angels Landing style hike, without the chains. I was a little nervous on some parts, but the views were worth it. Yes, it was a trail made by Zion's bighorn sheep.

 A Ponderosa Pine dwarfed from lack of water and good growing soil with East Temple in the background. I think this shot would look really nice during sunrise. Maybe I will return someday for that shot.

 A reflection in a canyon at mid morning. 

 Of coarse, I had to snap a couple pictures of the beautiful springtime flowers. 

The slickrock dome on the opposite side of the canyon from the pass that I hiked. Love the clouds!

Got thinking while out on my hike today. I think I am going to do a few series within the next couple weeks. Flowers, trees, reflections. Be expecting something!

Sand Hollow Dunes, Southern Utah

I spent a couple hours out at Sand Hollow early this morning. Didn't get the sunrise, but did get some nice pictures of the freshly wind swept sand and the beautiful springtime life.

 A small piece of grass growing out of the rippled bright orange sand.

 A globe of Cryptanth in bloom. This plant covers the bottom leeward side of a lot of the dunes, and sure adds some nice character to the desolate place.

 A cottonwood tree on the way out to "The Bowl" with its new bright green leaves. Cottonwoods are markers of natural water sources in the desert.

A closeup of texture of the sand and its wind blown ripples.