Heavenly Light

Located just 260 miles from my home, Shenandoah National Park is a fantastic place to visit. In particular, the 105 miles long and narrow Skyline Drive that runs along the Blue Ridge mountains, offer you some of the most spectacular mountain landscape in the world. Many visitors travel exclusively by driving, as the highway itself is the park, and it is often associated with deer and black bear sighting along the way! We spotted 3 black bears and countless of dears in this trip.

We found this fantastic viewpoint after some driving and decided to stay for the sunset photography. While enjoying the majestic landscape and preparing the gear, a cloud was passing over the sun and the light rays piercing through it, creating the mix of warm and cool tints on the invading mist. All these combined created a magical moment - one of the most charming moment imprinted in my mind and my camera "mind".

Waves of Imagination

We visited Canyon X after an awkwardly trip to Upper Antelope Canyon. I have to emphasize that Upper Antelope Canyon is a charming location but with hundreds of people jammed into this confined space is not a pleasant photographic experience. We had a wonderful trip to Canyon X. With only 5 of us in the tour lead by Overland Canyon Tours, and plenty of time, creativity is limited only by our imagination. 

What makes the slot canyons so incredibly beautiful to photograph is the breathtaking interplay between the reflected light and colored sandstone. With the infinite selection of form, texture, color, contrast and light, composing all these elements harmoniously in a single image is a challenging yet rewarding task. Perhaps this explains why slot canyons are so alluring for photographers.

Love from Valley

This picture was taken at the Dante's View, Death Valley National Park. Dante's View offer a magnificent panoramic view of various geological formation. Particularly to the west, Dante’s View offers the best view of the Panamint Range, as shown in this picture.

When the sun gradually rising from the horizon, the Panamint Range is bathed with the warm light. While scouting around for abstract artwork, a heart-shaped shadow cast by the elevated ground was spotted. I carefully frame the burning heart in my viewfinder and freeze the beautiful moment by pressing the shutter. What's a great way to start a day!

Love is everywhere! I wish you all a Happy Valentine!

Dante's View, Death Valley National Park

Dante's View is a viewpoint terrace located about 25km (16 miles) south of Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park. At the height of 1,669m (5,476 feet), Dante's View offer a magnificent panoramic view of various Death Valley geological formation. Particularly to the west, as shown in this picutre, Dante’s View offers the best panoramic view of Badwater Basin and the Panamint Range. From here, the highest and lowest points in the park - Telescope Peak 3,367m (11,047 feet) high and Badwater Basin −86m (−282 feet) can be seen. Badwater Basin is also the lowest point in North America. 

To capture the best light of Dante's View, we woke up at 4am and start driving from Amargosa Opera House & Hotel at Death Valley Junction. Despite the road toward Dante's View is paved, extra cautious is needed because it is narrow and winding. It took us about an hour to reach the peak of Dante's View. The view is breathtaking despite the bitter cold and windy due to the high elevation. This is a fantastic location for wide-angle landscape, as well as telephoto abstract photography. When the sun gradually rising from the horizon, the Panamint Range in the West is bathed with the warm alpenglow - it was when I press the shutter while enjoying the beauty of our mother nature.

Chasing the Light at Badwater Basin

These photos were taken in Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park. We walked about a mile from the parking lot into the polygonal salt flats to find a place that hasn't been trampled by the visitors. Once we were there, we scouted the area, searched for the interesting patterns, setting up the camera and tripod and wait for the best light.

These 2 photos were taken just about 30 minutes interval. The first photos were taken about 10 minutes before sunset - the golden hour. We often refer the first and last hour of sunlight during the day as golden hour or magic hour. At this time, the contrast is significantly reduced so the shadow and highlight are less likely to be underexposed and overexposed, respectively. In addition, the warm color of low angle sun heavily enhance the color and vibrancy of the scene. In this particular shot, the low angle sun cast a rim of warm light at the edge of protruded salt formations and also on the background mountain. The quality of light at this time is amazing although it doesn't last long.

The second photo were taken about 20 minutes after sunset - the blue hour. We often refer the period of twilight in the morning and evening as blue hour, where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. We also call it sweet light because the quality of light is a gift for photographers. As a result, the bluish ambiance evokes a sense of peace and serenity.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Seeing Abstractly - Valley of Fire State Park

This picture was taken in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. Over the last 150 million years, compression, uplifting and erosion of sand dunes form the park fiery red sandstone that we seen today. Although the color is awesome, the wavy and swirling patterns of the sandstone stand out very well, and these combined provide endless creative opportunities. I decided to go for black-and-white conversion, which is the best way to see these shapes and patterns without much distraction of color.

Ok, what's next? The composition. I recalled a very useful composition strategy from Visual Flow by Ian Plant (it's a great ebook!!) - to create a better compositions, you must learn to see the scene abstractly. Instead of seeing rocks, mountains, and trees, you see the shapes, lines, and pattern. Importantly, organize them into the frame is the key.

This is the corresponding abstract diagram of the picture above:

The lines form by the sandstone and clouds point toward the triangular rock in the background (red). Perhaps, you may seen as the interplay between the five triangles formed by the sandstone and sky (green). All these lines and shapes guide you to go deeper into the scene.

Sometime we can be distracted by the beautiful scene. To get a great shot, we have to learn to see the scene in different ways. The lesson is, sit back and think before firing the shutter.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Artist's Palette, Death Valley National Park

Artist's Drive are located in the Black Mountains in Death Valley National Park. It is a one-way 9 miles scenic drive that can be accessed from 8.55 miles south of Badwater Road and Route 190 intersection. The Artist's Drive itself is like a roller coaster as you wind through the narrow cliffs. The geological formation of Artist's Drive is awesome. It's also an evidence that the area has gone through a very active volcanic period in the past.

Artist's Palette is among the most spectacular view along Artist Drive, which is famous with its colorful rock. The colors is a result of the oxidation of different elements - red, pink and yellow is from iron salts, green is from decomposing tuff-derived mica, and purple is from manganese.

These colorful rock formations are very photogenic at anytime of the day, although the soft light during the dusk and dawn would be the best. To add the sense of scale, it is good to include a figure in the picture. If you look carefully at my first picture, you may find a little kid squats on the rock at the right edge of the picture. Interestingly, I didn't notice that until my photography buddy told me!

Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park

Golden Canyon Trail is a short and easy hiking trail located 2 miles south of Highway 190 on Badwater Road in the Death Valley National Park, California. A short walk in the Golden Canyon trail gives an awesome montage of various geologic events in Death Valley's natural history. Looking closely at the rock formation and you will notice the layers that are composed of sediment of various size. Once upon a time, Golden Canyon was covered by lake. Over 5 million years of geological evolution, these rock formation transformed from the loose material into solid conglomerate, the uplift and erosion, and flash flooding exposed these formations that we seen today.

Golden Canyon is best visited and photographed at dawn and dusk. Nevertheless, the mid-day provide unlimited photography opportunities, particularly close-up and black-and-white photography. The geological formation is so diverse that you will be amazed with the patterns, textures and lines of the rock formation. This is a great place to photograph beyond the magic hour.

"Exploring Canyon X" on Extraordinary Vision Magazine

My article "Exploring Canyon X" is just published on Extraordinary Vision Magazine, Issue 12. This is an article about my recent trip to Canyon X, a slot canyon in the Navajo Nation near Page, Arizona. The article is mainly focus on my experience of the trip as well as the photography tips and tricks inside the slot canyon.

Extraordinary Vision Magazine is an outdoor digital photography magazine in Apple's Newsstand. The magazine published each month and it is a completely free multimedia magazine designed exclusively for the iPad. I highly recommend to everyone who love photography and outdoor exploration. It's a great magazine!

If you like to see more of my Canyon X photos, please visit Canyon X gallery.

Colorful Shenandoah

Dawn at Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park is best known for its spectacular mountain landscape. The ever-changing mountain landscape is attribute primarily to the changes of light throughout the day. The golden hour (before and after sunrise/sunset) is one of the best times to photograph the mountain landscape. Typically, dawn casts a cooler (blue) light and dusk casts a warm (red) light. The cool or warm light spread across the mountain is beautiful and the scene look fantastic.

Dusk at Shenandoah National Park

Sometimes, the light might be very different and complex due to the weather and atmospheric condition, e.g. cloud, fog, mist, and haze. Therefore, it might be warm at dawn and cool at dusk. These elements not only contribute to the changes of light and color, but also give a wonderfully moody feel to your picture. Moreover, the mixture of warm and cool light may occurred thanks to the interplay between the sunlight and cloud.

Dusk at Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park is an amazing place! This is the place with full of breathtaking beauty and wonderful landscape! I would love to return here to capture the light in different seasons.

Dusk at Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park

I have been scouting for the nice location for sunset shooting. Lipan point immediately caught my eye by its diverse and colorful landscape. It is located just a few miles west of Desert View. I think this is my favorite view point in the East Rim Drive.

On one side, it is the typical Grand Canyon view - big fissures of the Colorado Plateau. Despite the hazy condition, the light after sunset is amazing. In this case, I would treat the hazy atmosphere as a friend rather than a foe - its help to create the sense of depth.

On the other side, the Colorado River winding through the colorful landscape. The telephoto lens did a great job in capturing the scene. When I return from the trip, I was amazed that many of the good shots are the merit of telephoto lens, not the ultra wide-angle!

This is one of my favorite close-up shot, with definite placement of elements. Granite rocks and trees as foreground elements. The rusty red rocks as mid-ground elements. The layered Paleozoic rocks and Colorado River as background elements.

This is another view on the East site. The soft light after sunset create a peaceful atmosphere. I am so glad I was standing here, witnessing one of the natural wonders of the world.

Zion-Mount Carmel Highway

Our initial plan was to spend 2 days in Zion National Park. Unfortunately, the park was closed following government shutdown. Our plan B is to visit adjecent state parks and towns. On our way to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, we passed by Zion-Mount Carmel Highway which is a good opportunity to see the park during the shutdown. Zion National Park is famous for its unique and diverse geological formation and luckily, many of the famous Zion landmarks can be seen on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway.

The harsh lighting condition in the middle of the day is best suit for black-and-white conversion. This is one of my shots taken on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. Technically, I purposely place the primary element in the center - there is no rule-of-third here! The tree on the bottom left and the hillside on the bottom right serve as secondary elements which draw the visual attention away, thus creating a dynamic and harmonious composition.

This is the skill that I recently learnt from an ebook, Visual Flow by Ian Plant. This is a really great book about composition in landscape photography and I highly recommend to everyone who wish to improve their composition skill.

Shenandoah Mountain Landscape

What's the best to see in Shenandoah National Park? For me, perhaps everyone else who ever visited Shenandoah - mountain landscape, waterfall and black bear:)

The 105 miles long and narrow Skyline Drive that runs along the Blue Ridge mountains, offer you one of the most spectacular mountain landscape in the world. Many visitors travel with drive, as the highway itself is the park, and it is often associated with deer and black bear sighting along the way!

Unlike other US national parks, Shenandoah is a place where people lived for over one hundred year before the park was established. Big portion of Shenandoah consisted of farmland and second- or third-growth forests logged since 1700s. Today the forests slowly come back and all these activities are mostly disappeared.

Enjoy the best of Shenandoah National Park! I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Dusk at Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon National Park

After 6+ hours of flight and 3+ hours of driving, we finally arrived in Grand Canyon National Park. We were fortunate enough to catch up the golden hour at Yavapai Point, despite the exhausting journey. This is not a place for shooting sunburst but definitely a great place for sunset. As you can see from the picture, part of the canyon light up by the low-angled sun, casting an interesting pattern of highlight and shadow. What's a spectacular view!

Finally, we were here! Welcome to Arizona!

Grand Texture at Grand Staircase

During my every trip, I use to be really busy in the midday - enjoying great meal in the restaurant, hiking, scouting for sunset location, visiting museum, filling up the gas tank, etc.

What's about photography? Most people might thought midday is not the time due to the harsh light. I think midday is great for many subject, e.g. black and white, intimate landscape, etc. Midday is also great for capturing detail - texture and pattern. Texture and pattern are found in most of the landscape photography but they are rarely a primary subject. They are often overlooked by photographer. Nevertheless, they can be pleasing and appealing. It's also a good training on how we "see" the smaller world through the lens.

I shot this picture when I was passing through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (Highway 12) during the midday. I love the texture in the background and how the tree coordinate harmoniously with it and forming a nice scene. 

This is a good article for further reading: Nature Photographers Online Magazine: Texture and Pattern in Nature

Enjoy your midday!

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park - often overlooked by photographers on their way to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park, is nonetheless a must see destination. It is as stunning as many national parks in US. The ever-changing landscape and light on sand dunes are one of the most beautiful, dynamic, and inspirational place on earth.

There are many good reasons to visit Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. It's located between Mount Carmel Junction and Kanab, south and west of US-89 in southwestern Utah. It is just 33 miles from Zion National Park, 75 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park and 88 miles from Grand Canyon National Park. Plus, there are plenty of photography opportunities at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park - the light is fantastic at dawn and dusk, while the mid-day is great for capturing small detail and abstract. You can even join one of the ATV tour!

There is a good tips on photographing sand dune, which I recommended to whom interested to visit and photographing sand dunes: http://www.shutterbug.com/content/locations-sand-dune-parks-tips-shifting-sands.

I learnt two things from this trip. First, never change lens in the middle of sand dunes. Second, for grand landscape - wait for the good light; otherwise, keep your eye sharp and look for small detail for abstract shot - there are plenty of great subject out there!

Exploring Upper Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon is possible of the most famous, most visited and most photographed slot canyon in the world. Of course, with plenty of good reasons. It is located in the Navajo Nation near Page, Arizona. It's fantastic formation is caused by thousands years of sandstone erosion, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due to other processes, such as rainfalls. The light ray lit up the canyon through the narrow slots makes it one the most spectacular place on earth.

We visited to the Upper Antelope Canyon at the end of September. In order to visit the Antelope Canyon, you have to join the guided tour lead by the park office or one of the authorized guided tour company. We joined the 2.5 hours photographic tour lead by the Overland Canyon Tours. The extended tour allowed you to have more time to take photo inside the canyon, with the use of tripod allowed. If you want to photographed the Antelope Canyon, I strongly recommend you to join the photographic tour instead of the sightseeing tour. The canyon is always filled up by visitors (yes, I really mean filled up!) and you need more times to take good picture.

Not surprisingly, there are plenty of good photography tips online. To list a few here:

Digital Photography School: 10 Quick tips for Photographing Antelope Canyons

Fototripper: Antelope Canyon Photo Tips – Part 1 Scenics

Fototripper: Antelope Canyon Photo Tips – Part 2 Abstracts

Of course, I have a few handy tips as well:)

First, if you have two cameras - great! One with wide angle lens and one with telephoto lens. If not, use the widest angle lens you owned and never ever change the lens inside the canyon, you don't want the sand get inside the sensor. When we came out of the canyon, my clothes, bag, cameras are all cover with sand, and my gray hiking shoes turn into red!

Second, bracket all your shots! The high contrast inside the canyon might give you a really tough time during post-processing. I use manual blending to post-process almost all my pictures (I will talk about this in the future post). However, I don't recommend HDR, which give weird color to the resulting picture.

Third, take your time to explore the canyon. Someone might told you that everyone can take the best shot inside the canyon, without even looking at the viewfinder. I agree that the canyon is spectacular in all sense, but to create a good (or great) shot, you have to take time to search for nice composition - light, shape and pattern. And how to fit these elements in your frame is essential. So, take your time, you might find something interesting and unique!

I love Upper Antelope Canyon! This is a fantastic place and definitely one of the most beautiful place I have ever visited on earth. I will talk more about the trip in the upcoming post:) Stay tuned!

Hello World!

Dusk at Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon National Park

Hello World! My blog is finally up! I wanted to do this for some times but.... busy, no time... too many excuse! 

Perhaps a few sentences about myself - for the first post:) I am Kah-Wai Lin. I am from Malaysia and I live in Ukraine and Sweden for the past 10+ years (and a few more other countries for shorter term). In May 2012, I moved to US for a new job. I am currently a research scientist at Princeton University (yes, I have M.D. and Ph.D. degrees - not in photography). I shot since I was in high school, with a fully manual film SLR, and the hobby comes and goes when I was in medical school. When I was in Sweden, I worked as a part-time photographer in virtual reality tour and architectural interior. Now I am just a serious amateur photographer, a.k.a. cameraman:) 

My subjects of interest are very diverse - architectural interior, panorama, bird, nature, landscape and travel photography. Despite my broad interest, the two subjects that make me obsess for many years are church interior and nature. In the past few years, I have been photographing over 50 churches around the world, and the project continues. The beauty of church which is the mirror of human history and culture, have always amazed me, and motivate me to keep exploring the beauty of heavenly creation. Nature - one of the most beautiful thing created by God, has constantly amaze me and my mission as a photographer is to “capture” them and share it to the world. After visit to the National Park, my heart was immediately get captured. I want to visit them all!

I used to share my photos on Facebook, Flickr and photography forum. I always want a professional look website and I have been working on it for some times. Until recently, I switched to Smugmug and I love it! I guess I will keep it for a while until something better pop up:) For the blog, I would like to share my journey in photography and the wonderful experience of exploring our world.

I'd like to hear what you think about my website and blog - anything you like and dislike - design, content, photos, etc. Feel free to comment or email me at linkahwai@hotmail.com. I hope everyone enjoy my websites and photos! Thank you!