Little Wild Horse Canyon

While at Goblin Valley I was looking for other places to explore. I had read about Little Wild Horse Canyon but wasn't sure I would go.



Right outside the entrance to Goblin Valley there's a cattle guard and a dirt road heading off to the left. A funny thing happened to me as we left Goblin Valley, the car made a left turn almost on it's own. I thought how strange that was and we must be going to Little Wild Horse Canyon.



I knew the hike wasn't long, just about 3-4 miles if my memory is correct. The sandy wash approaching the canyon was very cool, lots of photo ops if one has the time (which I didn't). This was the first slot canyon I had explored in decades and I was pretty excited. There were a few spots where scrambling was necessary and Thule freaked a bit. I had to hold him while I scrambled up the rocks otherwise he had a ball.



The slot was quite narrow and slanted so you had to support yourself with a hand, or two, as you made your way thru some sections. It wasn't particular easy to photograph nor was it very interesting, the slot itself.



I did find a bunch of detail that I concentrated on and that is what I'm sharing with you now. The last image is of a crusty old Cottonwood sitting right in the wash. I wasn't able to capture the real character of the tree but thought it was so cool I had to include this picture. Go do the hike and you'll see what I mean about the tree.

Roger

Goblin Valley at Night

We left Goblin Valley with the intention of catching sunset and spending the night at Capitol Reef. Once there we found the scenic drive closed due to ice. Didn't know if it would be a good sunset since the sky was clear, ie no clouds. HHMMM what to do?



That question lingered for about a nanosecond, I'm an IT guy professionally, before I decided to turn around and head back to Goblin Valley. No clouds and a close to new moon means great night shooting. After getting back to Goblin Valley and scouting around a little in the dark I found this first group of Goblins. The first image was a straight 30 second exposure with my Sigma 20mm f1.8 lens. The second was still a 30 second exposure but I turned on my lantern for a few seconds to light up the Goblins just a little.



After a couple 30 second exposures I went for a couple half hour ones. Picking different Goblins varied the images a little. The streak of light going off to the right I figure is the space station. I saw it going across the sky when I was shooting and wondered if I had captured it. Airplanes have blinking lights that leave a pattern (and yes there were plane lights in this that I took out).



During these last two exposures there wasn't anything to do but wait. So I sat against a rock and counted meteors, I think about a half dozen. Also during that time I got really cold. I figure the temps were in the low 20s but laying on the ground really sapped my warmth. I wouldn't warm up the rest of the night but I did get these fun images.

Roger

Goblin Valley

Thule and I left home at noon on Saturday. I had hoped to leave early, like by 8am, but a package I'd expected to have arrived Friday didn't. So I had to wait till 8am to call the Post Office and see if they had it. Well to make a long story short, I finally tracked down the mailman at a gas station and he had my package and I was ready to leave. We drove all day, and half the night, to North Platte, NE. The next day from North Platte to Green River, UT over the Rockies where it snowed the whole way.

After 2 days of driving it was time to do what we came to do, explore and photograph. My friend Travis had been to Goblin Valley in the spring and after hearing him talk about it I just had to go to. We got to Goblin Valley before sunrise and made a silhouette of these goblins standing tall just outside the valley.



We arrived to an empty parking lot and empty it would stay our entire visit. Thule was in heaven roaming with me thru this wondrous land.



The valley is laid out to the South and the sun rises over some cliffs to the East. Sunlight slowly creeps across the valley warming the land to just above freezing. Capturing sun stars as the sun just breaks over land form adds a bit of magic to the image.



Snow adds a dimension to the valley unseen by most visitors to the park. It accentuates the surface of the land with interesting lines, shapes and patterns.



Thule and I spend 6 hours roaming around the valley, exploring many nooks and crannies. We could have spend more time as there was more to explore. It was special having the valley to ourselves. It certainly adds to the magic when the winds are calm and silence consumed your being.

Roger

Spearfish Creek

Spearfish Canyon is a fascinating canyon, a scenic byway. Travis and I were visiting the canyon on Thanksgiving afternoon and stopped at a location in the canyon where I had shot before. The canyon stays very cold compared to the surrounding area so the snow that had fallen earlier was still on the ground. Actually this spot was some 20-25 degrees cooler than in the town of Spearfish just 15 miles away. We spent quite a bit of time here shooting and sharing different compositions, Travis found this one. As the sun set, the clouds above the canyon turned pink and with the help of a split neutral density filter a beautiful image was born.



As we did every night of the trip we planned a night shoot. Since the moon, although not full, was very bright we returned to this same location after finding our hotel room in Spearfish. I set up the same, well similar, composition as I had for the sunset shot. The moon lite the canyon nicely and the 30 second exposure froze, pun intended, the stars in place. It fun making images of the same location in different light.

Roger

Awesome Thanksgiving Day

My friend Travis and I planned to spend Thanksgiving week photographing in South Dakota. We started off in the Badlands before heading over to the Black Hills. One of our 'must' stop locations was Crazy Horse Monument. Travis is Ojibwe Indian and had never stopped at the Monument so this was an important visit for him. (read Travis' account here) Like Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial has gone thru alot of modernization over the years for much the same reason as Mt Rushmore, increased tourism. Instead of the stone architecture used at Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument is wooden and becomes part of the environment, instead of standing out from it.

They have assembled a wonderful museum of Indian culture at the monument so when you pay your entrance fee you're not only supporting the work on the monument you get entrance to this wonderful museum. In one part of the museum there are tribal and band flags overhead. Travis was able to find the Ojibwe tribal flag and the flags of other Minnesota bands but his bands flag was missing. I expect it will be there the next time I visit.

As we toured the grounds I learned they were open on Thanksgiving day since they were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. We didn't talk about it much at the time since Thursday was a long way off and I kind of forgot it was Thanksgiving week because I was having so much fun. As Thanksgiving Day arrived we were happy to learn that we could go to the 11:00am seating, and we did. The buffet was with all the fixings, turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, 2 different dressings and every kinda pie you could dream about, I had Cherry pie.

For me it was just such a wonderful Thanksgiving spending it at Crazy Horse Monument with Travis. The thought of that day warms my heart.

Roger

Mt Rushmore

Admittedly, I have not been much of a Mt Rushmore fan. At least not since it went modern. I'm old enough to remember the 'old' Mt. Rushmore when it's surroundings were much more natural. I understand why it had to be modernized, it just lost alot of it's charm, for me.

We decided to shoot Mt Rushmore at night with the lights flooding the monument. So after our Fillet Mignon dinner in Hill City we headed out. The first pleasant surprise was the free parking as no one was at the entrance to take out money. The second surprise was the parking structure was completely empty and the third surprise was there wasn't a soul to be seen the whole time we were there, except two people who looked lost in the parking lot as we were heading back to the car.



The temps were hovering around freezing which probably kept people away and at this time of year the sun sets around 4:15 so it was long after dark when we arrived at about 8:40. There is something special about having a popular destination like this all to yourself. There's a quiet and peacefulness you get to experience. We had heard the lights go off at 9:00 so we worked rather quickly. The wind was blowing which kept the flags in motion as we made our long exposures. I like being able to capture the wind this way as it gives you a physical sense of actually being there.

As 9:00 rolled around I stood watching the monument waiting for the lights to shut off and fade from the mountain. But they never did. We joked that they must have sensors sensing our presence and leaving them on while we were there or people meant 9:00 Pacific Time when they go off. A little after 9:00 it was time to head back to the car and return to our hotel room.

In the end I was really glad we went there. It was an experience I doubt I'll ever have again at Mt. Rushmore.

Roger

Leaves and Bubbles

During my last trip to the North Shore, sadly the last trip of the year, I had the opportunity to make some images of leaves and bubbles moving in the flowing stream. Hollow Rock creek was moving slowly and the sky was overcast, a great day for this type of photography.



A sunny day would have posed a number of problems. First, and the biggest problem, is the sunlight shining thru the trees within your field of view creating a huge difference between the bright areas and the dark shadows. There's really nothing you can to to reduce the contrast. The second challenge with sunlight is slowing the shutter speed down to where you can make images of a few seconds or more.



Even on cloudy days like this it's hard to make long exposures of more than a second or two even with your lens stopped all the way down and when using a polarizing filter. To the rescue is the Singh Ray Vari-ND filter. This filter allows one to dial in from 1 to 8 stops of neutral density. It's like putting a pair of glasses in front of your camera lens.



With the Vari-ND I was able to get exposures of up to 20 seconds and since the filter is variable I could reduce the exposure simply by turning the front glass ring.

It was an awesome day of photography, as are most days of photography. One word of warning. Be sure your tripod leg(s) are securely tightened before letting go. I made this mistake on this trip and my tripod with a Canon 5D Mark II and 17-40 lens went crashing to the ground into a puddle of water. Is that ever a helpless feeling. I picked up the camera and lens and quickly dried it off but noticed water under the top LCD screen. I continued to use the camera until some of the controls started acting weird. Fortunately I was going home that day so when I got home the camera went under the hair dryer for a few hours. In to Canon it went and Canon exceeded my expectations by pretty much putting a new body on the camera and adjusted it to Canon specs. Fearing I'd lost the camera it turned out I feel like I got a brand new one. Thanks Canon.

Roger

Lake Superior Coming to Life

During the summer, Lake Superior has been a calm and silent force seemingly resting in the warm summer sun. I made many trips down to the waters edge and enjoyed it's serenity knowing that one day that would all change. And change it did. As we drove up to the North Shore on Friday night, Oct 2, the wind was howling, it was cloudy and every once in a while the full moon would make it's presence known. I knew I had to stop and make some exposures. The picnic area along the lake in Cascade State Park seemed like a good spot so I pulled in there about 9:00pm. It was really windy and I found a nice somewhat protected spot to setupd. There I sat for about an hour having a fine time making images. This first 6 second exposure really captures the wind with the pattern of the water and wind-blown branches.



The wind kept up all night and the trailer creaked and swayed like a boat on the water. I hadn't quite seen the lake this active so in the morning Artist Point became my destination. The rocks where Thule and I were used to lazily strolling, and from where I made many Facebook updates, were now the recipient of the lakes energy with waves after wave crashing over it's crest. Every few minutes a set of waves would pack double the force of the previous sets and all I could say was 'wow'. And of course those large sets would periodically catch me in the right spot but the wrong time and nail me in it's path. It is for mornings like that that you pack an extra pair or two of clothing cause I was pretty wet and cold after this adventure.



The action continued the following weekend. Prior to digging into a Sven and Ole's pizza we decided to do sunset at Artist Point. We were treated to a display much different from the one of the previous week. The wind was coming from the South, as opposed to coming from the East, and we had some light from the setting sun. The blue one gets at this time of the day accentuates the ferocity of the storm. The hardest thing to capture on a night like this is the sounds the waves make crashing against the rocks. Reflecting back on that night I felt like I was hearing train wreck after train wreck out there and that's coming from someone whose hearing is really crappy.

I've seen images of Lake Superior in a more furious state and would love someday to witness that state. But the lake on these two weekends left me in a state of awe that I will not soon forget.

Roger

Fine Art Note Cards

We all have special friends and relatives we’re close to and for whom we want something a little different. With the traditional time for card giving quickly approaching you should consider giving a special kind of gift, a Fine Art Note Card. Adding your own special message to a work of art, suitable for framing I might add, gives your special person something that will enrich their live long after other traditional cards disappear. You’ll also find a box of Fine Art Note Cards makes a perfect gift for someone that appreciates Fine Art Photography.



ALL images on my website and those you see on my blog are available as Fine Art Note Cards. Each Fine Art Note Card is individually printed and initialed, by me, on high quality card stock from Red River Paper Company. They measure 5”x7” and look great framed. It’s a very inexpensive way of acquiring and displaying Fine Art Photography and is a unique and appreciated gift.



Fine Art Note Cards are just $5 each or 5 for $20. You’ll get a gift box, which is perfect for gift giving, for every 10 cards ordered. And of course an envelope is included with each card. You can find out more, including ordering and contact information, and see samples on my website at: www.rogernordstromphoto.com/note_cards .

Roger

Foxes, Foxes Everywhere

Last weekend I was back up in Grand Portage. I went up early one evening, prior to meeting up with Travis, to see if the foxes were still around. Sure enough there were two right by the road.



I stopped and shot these guys for a while then went further down the road to see if there were any more. I found the fox that had gotten into a fight earlier this summer and is still looking rather ragged. It was laying on a small cliff soaking in the warmth of the day. (I don't have a picture of it.)



I went back to the original two, Got out of my car and slowly approached them. Once I got relatively close I got down on my knees and remained there quietly. One of the foxes laid down and started grooming itself.



Every once in a while it would hear something and pop it's head up to survey the area. These little guys are always on the alert and quick to respond.

On the way up to Grand Portage, from Grand Marais, the evening before I saw 3 foxes along the side of the highway. And when returning to Grand Marais after dark I always see at least one fox along the main road. There are foxes, foxes everywhere.

Roger