Good Morning Bryce Canyon

A wonderful winter morning at Inspiration Point, Bryce Canyon National Park - this is by far the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen in my life! Nowhere in the earth has as many hoodoos as in this part of Bryce Canyon National Park. Winter is a great time to visit and photograph Bryce Canyon, it is much less crowded than the summer time and the snow adds interest to the scene, although there is limited access to the hiking trail (and most of the restaurant and store nearby the Bryce Canyon City are closed for the season). 

It was freezing in the morning but I had totally forgot about the cold when I saw this amazing landscape gradually light up by the morning glow! What's a great way to start a day!

Trajectory

I have been talking about the composition of this image in an earlier post, and today I want to tell the story behind the scene...

It was the 2nd October 2013, we will not be visiting Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park if the US government wasn't shutdown. Instead, we were planning to be in the Zion National Park, although we still had the chance to pass by Mt. Carmel Highway of the Zion National Park. This is how we end our day in Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.

After a day long of walking, we wanted to try something new, something exciting but without involve extra walk. We wanted to rent an ATV, and we thought that ATV can bring us to the site where we are not able to reach by foot, and get some nice sunset shots. However, we can only do this if we are the only people on the ATV tour at the particular time slot, I don't think we will be free to stop at any place we want and scouting around for photography sweat spot, if there are other people in the tour. Ok, we decided that if there is no one else on the ATV tour at 5pm, we will be in. Eventually, there were a group of people joined the ATV tour, so we gave up. Let's go back to the sand dunes, keep walking to find a sweat spot for golden hour shot.

The golden hour is approaching, I was standing on a higher elevation dune with my camera and tripod ready. To the east, it is the nice abstract patterns form by different elevation of sand dunes. I was hoping that, when the sun is getting low, I was able to get a nice and simple abstract shot with vibrant color. Suddenly, an ATV was just hurtling across the piece of land within my frame, creating the trajectories all over the place. With no time to think further, I intuitively pressed the shutter. This is an unexpected moment, but in a good way! When I view the image on the computer screen, I really love how the final image looks! Moreover, if you zoom in the image or view in a larger print, you will see a man riding the ATV with a dog at the back!

If the government wasn't shutdown, if the ATV tour wasn't fill up, if the ATV (with the driver and his dog) didn't invade into my frame, this image will never exist! What's an amazing coincident! Is this what the meaning of Alexander Graham Bell's quote "When one door closes, another door opens"? In this case, three door close and one open!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend ahead!

Dusk at Bryce Point, Bryce Canyon National Park

There's no place like Bryce Canyon National Park. Despite it looks gorgeous at anytime of the year, but the dawn and dusk in Bryce Amphitheater is always breathtaking. This is my second trip to Bryce Canyon, the last trip was during the government shutdown and we were only able to see some hoodoos outside of the park - at Ruby's Inn and the Red Canyon. This time, when I stepped out from the car, it totally blew my mind! How can such a beautiful piece of land exist on earth? Am I standing on earth?

OK, let me explain what is hoodoo. Hoodoo is a tall and thin spire of rock protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. It may range from 1.5 to 45 meters tall. Hoodoos were found in various places, such as Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, Cappadocia region of Turkey, Alpes-de-Haute-Procence in Paris, Devil's Town in Serbia, but nowhere in the earth has as many hoodoos as in the northern part of Bryce Canyon National Park.

This picture was taken at the Bryce Point, which is located just 3 miles from the visitor center. Despite it was freezing cold during the winter, I totally forgot about the cold when I saw this amazing landscape and start shooting. BTW, winter is a great time to photograph Bryce Canyon, it is much less crowded than summer time. Plus, you will get a bonus element in your shot - snow!

Exploring California/Nevada/Utah

We just return from the trip to California/Nevada/Utah (12/24/2013-1/1/2014). It was total of 1690 miles (2720 km) of driving, 2 National Park (Death Valley National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park) and 1 State Park (Valley of Fire State Park) visited. It was a fruitful trip, and I came back with 64GB of photos and wonderful memories and experience.

Here is the summary of our itinerary:

12/24/2013 (Tue)

Flight: Newark, NJ - Las Vegas, NV

12/25/2013 (Wed)

Death Valley National Park, CA (Golden Canyon, Badwater Basin)

12/26/2013 (Thu)

Death Valley National Park, CA (Dante's View, Furnace Creek, Artist Drive)

12/27/2013 (Fri)

Death Valley National Park, CA (Zabriskie Point, Stovepipe Wells, Mesquite Flat Dunes)

12/28/2013 (Sat)

Death Valley National Park, CA (Zabriskie Point)

Valley of Fire State Park (White Domes Slot Canyon, Fire Wave)

Las Vegas, NV

12/29/2013 (Sun)

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT (Bryce Point)

12/30/2013 (Mon)

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT (Inspiration Point, Mossy Cave, Farview Point, Agua Canyon, Natural Bridge, Sunset Point)

12/31/2013 (Tue)

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT (Inspiration Point)

Flight: Las Vegas, NV - Phoenix, AZ - Newark, NJ

1/1/2013 (Wed)

Arrived in Newark, NJ

Stay tuned for more photos and stories of the trip:)

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.

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!

"Dissecting" the Coral Pink Sand Dunes

This picture taken at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah. This is one of my favorite, of course, with plenty of reasons...

1. Golden hour - at a low angle, the sun cast a magical, golden grow across the sand dunes. Did I tell you light is important?

2. Composition - if you think abstractly (imagine everything in their abstract form - shape, color, contrast, etc.), you will notice the picture is formed by five triangles of different size and configuration. The contrast formed by light shade significantly enhance the formation of abstract triangles. Imagine if the picture taken during mid-day - can you see still the imaginary triangles?

3. Sense of scale - the ATV in the background gives a sense of scale to the picture. Wow! the sand dunes is huge! Don't you think so?

4. Gestalt principle - despite the discontinuity of the ATV trail, you might imagine the ATV is moving across the sand dunes, from the bottom right of the picture to the top right.

5. Simplicity - golden sand dunes plus an ATV. Is it simple enough? Sometime, less is more:)

Thanks for reading! What do you think?

p.s. This picture also published as Picture of the Day (October 11, 2013) at TodaysPhoto.org:
http://www.todaysphoto.org/picture-of-the-day/coral-pink-sand-dunes-s-p/

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!