Selected images from my nature photography tour (March 2020, Utah)
After months of lockdown, I managed to get out of town and spend a few days with Dima from UTadventure doing a nature and landscape photography tour. The first afternoon after my arrival we went to Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake and managed to find some wild animals including several large herds of buffalo. At sunset, we also caught some hazy moody shorelines that seemed more reminiscent of the Northern California coast.
The next morning we headed down south and spent the remainder of the tour exploring a multitude of sites in the San Rafael Swell and Moab areas. After driving down, we went into the San Rafael Swell to explore and photograph Little Wildhorse Canyon. This is another beautiful slot canyon, in the same general vicinity as Crack Canyon where we’ve shot a couple of times with models, but much narrower with tighter meanders. It was quite beautiful and required some scrambling up some rocks to climb through. The only downside was that even though this was midweek in March, there seemed to be a lot of families with kids hiking through (including one very large family group). Some of the tight areas could feel a bit claustrophobic with gangs of kids coming up loudly behind you pressing you along faster than you might otherwise want to travel. Nonetheless, we got in a good hike and I was able to take some interesting pictures. After that we drove out to Molly’s Castle overlook for some nice scenery, then headed down into Goblin Valley State Park to check out the Valley of the Goblins near sunset. We had driven past signs to the entrance a number of times on previous tours but had never gone in, so I was pretty happy about this. It was very surreal and cool.
The next day we headed down towards the Moab area for what turned out to be a wide-ranging scenic tour. We took the road traveling along the Colorado River and were hoping to see some bald eagles. It was a bit windy and we never did see any, but we saw the spectacular landscapes. Coming in we had a nice view of Fisher Towers and the monoliths from Professor Valley where I’ve shot before. We explored up one of the side roads that took us above and behind them for a different view. Passing Moab we sent south on Highway 191, driving by Wilson’s Arch, an interesting sandstone arch right off the highway, and then headed out west into the desert. We ended up at Needles Overlook, which sits at the edge of a large plateau overlooking a vast valley that contains Canyonlands National Park. The overlook was part of a nicely maintained little park that had an interesting path going around the curve of one outcropping of the plateau. The panorama was amazing. After spending some time there for photography, we headed back into Moab for a late lunch.
After lunch, we headed a bit off-road again to the north, stopping at a place that allowed us to walk into the backside of Arches National Park for a little distance. We were able to get some interesting shots of the sandstone columns. After that, we headed back to Green River and actually headed into Green River State Park hoping to either get some nice sunsets or even some wildlife. We kept missed any spectacular sunsets, but as it got dark we got a brief glimpse of a bighorn sheep. We stopped and waited in the dark, and we could hear them moving around back in the trees along the river, but they never revealed themselves. Eventually, we headed back into town and went to bed.
The last day began with an epic sightseeing tour around the San Rafael Swell. A primary goal was to see if we could find some wild horses. Along the way, we managed to see a couple of groups of pronghorn antelope. We started in on some moderate 4-wheeling paths and came to Swasey’s Cabin. After a little looking around, we then headed out onto McKay Flat. There we spotted a small family group of mustangs. We stopped and tried getting some shots, but they spotted us and headed off across the plains. We decided to drive past where they were going and stop and head out onto the plain ahead of them. Eventually, they got comfortable enough with us to get closer to us. Dima had an apple and was trying to coax them in, but they came within 6 or 8 feet but then moseyed off. It was very cool to see them, and I got some nice shots with the epic landscape in the background. Afterward, we drove around the Swell some more going to Hondu Arch and up Reds Canyon, even passing an old Uranium mine. We eventually got back to a paved road at the point where we usually take a rest break on the way to Crack Canyon. It was an amazing landscape tour, with the added bonus of seeing the mustangs and some pronghorn antelope.
After getting lunch in Hanksville we headed toward one last feature Dima wanted to show me, something he called the spire, but which seems to be known more as Long Dong Silver. It is a rock tower located near the badlands, a desert area with very gray rock and sand, distinct from the other red and yellow desert features we had seen during the trip. This tower is a sharp shale spire jutting out of the sandy gray surroundings and has a very Mordor/Isengard-like feel. It was a bit of a hike to get out there, almost 2 miles, which was only a challenge due to my lack of sleep and a bit of car sickness. Nevertheless, we made it out, Dima urging me up the final hill, and we got some nice shots. We also met a young guy who had also trekked out to see it (who was much more energetic than me). After hiking back, we headed back for a final drive to Salt Lake City, stopping along the way for a nice relaxed dinner.
Today I participated in my first photo shoot of the year, which was also my first remote photo shoot ever. Necessity being the mother of invention, in this time of worldwide lockdowns, photographic models who would otherwise have no way to earn a living have figured out the technology of doing photoshoots remotely over the internet. The camera is tethered to the model’s computer and operated through some local software, then the model’s computer desktop is shared with the photographer who can then operate the camera controls and take pictures. I connected with Anoush Anou, with whom I’d worked many times before, and we did a shoot with her in Ohio and me at home. It had its challenges but it worked out well. I was able to get some good images, and it was fun to finally be able to do some photography again. She had a Fujifilm XT-2 and we were shooting with only available light. Despite the day being a little more cloudy than we’d hoped for, we still got good quality images despite having to push the ISO a bit. I may try to do another of these, particularly considering my planned photo trip to Mexico was just postponed till sometime later in the summer.
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[More pictures on my Photo Blog]
2020 has been a difficult year for everyone all around the world. Some have had it extremely bad, losing their lives or loved ones due to the virus. Others have just suffered under the administrative controls put in place by government officials, who still don’t seem to have a clear picture of the cause and effects of the disease, but who seem willing to implement draconian policies just to look like action is being taken. In my own state, they were among the first to implement lockdowns back in March, and have never really opened up at all, and yet still have among the highest infection rates in the country. Clearly, they don’t know what they’re doing and seem blind to the consequences of their policies. While some people are clearly particularly vulnerable to the effects of the virus, with a greater than 99% survival rate it is hard to understand the rationale for locking down people and businesses across the board. Hopefully, with the distribution of the vaccine 2021 will return some policies to a more rational basis, and hopefully, there is enough of the economy left to return to a thriving economy at some point. Sadly the state of public discourse, media, and politics has degenerated greatly in the last few years, culminating in the disastrous execution of this year’s elections. So I’m not particularly optimistic.
For myself, I have two distinct perspectives on this year. From one perspective, from the point of view of big activities, I have had a generally good year. I began the year on an international trip, having spent Christmas and New Year in Romania. I was home for a month and a half before I then went on two enjoyable photography trips, one to Hawaii and one to Mexico. The pandemic came to the forefront just as my trip to Mexico was ending and I felt like I squeaked back into the country just as there were rumors that the borders might be closing. I returned to a locked down state and basically didn’t go anywhere except for the grocery store for many months. I managed to travel out of state in June (despite the local controls in my area) and participated in one last photography tour. So despite all the lockdowns, I still managed to get in as many photo tours as I did in 2019. I even managed to squeeze in a few photoshoots at my house, although probably less than I would have had conditions been normal. The one thing that was very different was that my Shakespeare plays were all canceled, and I only got to see one ‘live’ production this year (King Lear online), which was a valiant effort under the circumstances.
This perspective would seem to indicate I pretty much got to do almost as much as I would have done in a normal year. From the 10,000 foot level that is true, but the alternative perspective is much less upbeat. Despite these few trips that got me out of the house, once the lockdowns came, while I was home, like so many others I was pretty much by myself stuck at home. I’ve always been fairly solitary, and comfortable that way, but this year I have literally gone weeks without interacting with another human being. Even going to the store, distancing from other customers, and using self check-out so as not to deal with a clerk, I hardly have any human contact. Being stuck at home is the experience of many people, but for those living alone, it’s very solitary, and it wears on you. The transition from working to retirement took some adjustment losing the daily interpersonal interaction, but it was mitigated by having activities where I left the house and had activities interacting with others. This year, when I wasn’t on one of my few trips, I was pretty much home alone the whole time … and this has been 9 months now. It definitely has a negative impact on my mental health and outlook. Sometimes my energy level seems to make it a major accomplishment just to get out of bed for the day. But not just to focus on the downside, I did have the opportunity and energy to go through my photos from over the last few years in more detail, and I even produced three photo books.
I am fortunate to say that I have had no virus-related health issues. But things have to change in 2021. I need to dig deep and find the self-discipline to have regular physical activity, to shake off the depression that sets in, and to try and recover some level of physical fitness. I feel like this year both my body and brain have turned to mush. I can only hope things open up in the year to come.
I’m a child of the TV generation, and in the 50+ years since I started I’ve watched more than my share. I can say without hesitation that my favorite TV show of all time was 1990s era Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though I didn’t fit the target demographic, when it was in production I was a die-hard viewer, and even held commercial-break telephone calls with a friend who at the time was similarly enthusiastic. When the series ended and went into syndication (twice a day in my area) I watched it over and over, being able to go through the entire seven year series in a little over a month. Then came the era of DVDs and I got them all and have watched the series through many more times.
Somewhere along the way I took a break. It may be more than 10 years since I’ve watched it though. I guess it was inevitable that in this unending lockdown and associated vegification I would turn once again to rewatching this wonderful series. I quickly went through the short Season 1, which was never my favorite, but ended up enjoying it more than I remember. I then plowed through Seasons 2 and 3 in the course of a few days. Season 2 was always my favorite. They didn’t quite grab me as hard as they did in the past, but it is still a great show. I’m about to start on Season 4 and may end up finishing the entire series by the new year. It’s great to have DVDs so you can watch old favorites at any time.
Fulfilling the old adage ‘when it rains it pours’ or perhaps the notion of ‘feast or famine’ I had my third photographic adventure in less than a week. I finally got a chance to shoot with Meghan Claire, who I’d met on the UTadventure tour earlier in the summer. After the tour we had planned to shoot together when she visited the Bay Area, but the temperatures and air quality had caused us to reschedule. Finally we got a nice temperate day with air that was finally clearing up.
We had a good four hour shoot starting mid-afternoon going until sunset. As usual I got a bit stressed out preparing for the shoot, particularly since I’d been away for the weekend. And as usual things went well once we got rolling. We got a chance to shoot a variety of things around the place, and Meghan was great trying things and making good suggestions. I think I got a number of pictures I really liked. I think I also sorted out the issue I thought I was having with getting soft focus on my 24-70 lens, and now the shots with that lens now look sharp. After a great week of varied photography I have a lot of images to go through and edit. I hope it’s not too long till I have a chance to take more pictures too.
[More pictures on my Photo Blog]
The day after the Weese’s Pieces shoot I drove further out into the desert to Joshua Tree National Park to do some more photography with Sienna Hayes. We had planned a sunset shoot, and it was a little over 2 1/2 hours from my Airbnb. I left before noon and got down to the park to do some sightseeing and scoping out before we got together. I was also able to buy my lifetime parks pass, one of the little benefits of getting older. The park is covers a large desert area with lots of different types of cactus and of course Joshua trees. The views again suffered from the hazy sky; it would have been nice to have a blue sky with clouds, but you can’t have everything.
I picked up Sienna in the late afternoon and we drove to a location she had in mind. Luckily she had some experience here. On my scouting trip through the valley parts of the park with all the Joshua trees I didn’t see much secluded space for shooting away from people. We ended up shooting in some rock formations in the northern part of the park, but we ran out of time to travel around to the part with the trees near sunset (even though there wasn’t much of a sunset to take advantage of on this day). We ended up driving back through the valley in the dark on the way home. Nonetheless, I got some nice shots with Sienna in the rocks, and I had a nice adventure seeing the park for the first time. I’d never been out in the desert regions of southern California before, and this was a nice new experience.
[More pictures on my Photo Blog]
After a long gap in fun photographic projects, I got invited to join a photo shoot being organized by Bay Area photographer Craig Colvin at a unique studio location in southern California, the Desert Oasis Water Studio and CYC, also known as Weese’s Pieces. It is located in the eastern region of southern California out towards the desert. I drove down to Palmdale the day before and stayed in an Airbnb. The only downside was that the skies in all of California are affected by the smoke from all the fires. The I-5 corridor was just hazy, and even out where we were shooting the skies were still colorless. We could even see smoke rising from some of the surrounding hills from a local fire.
Nonetheless, the shoot was a lot of fun. The property looked like a bit of a collectors junk yard with lots of assorted stuff like cars. The site was a large outside area, colored a bit like a swimming pool with white walls and blue bottom, allowing for water to a few inches deep. The shoot itself was a lot of fun. We were there for 5 hours with 3 models, Sienna Hayes (who I’d shot with a number of times before), and two other models Fae and Kitty who I met for the first time. Fae is an aerialist from southern California, and Kitty and her escort Aaron run Little Boxes Theater in San Francisco. The shoot space had a variety of geometric props to move into the water area including spheres, columns, disks, and cubes. This provides a lot of variety, and I ended up taking a lot of shots. The models were great, providing many artistic and athletic poses in the space. Aaron even jumped in for a bit to provide some variety. It will be fun going trough and picking out my favorites.
[More pictures on my Photo Blog]
One of my big disappointments in this year of pandemic lockdown was the cancellation of all of the Shakespeare festivals I normally would have attended during the summer and into the fall. But this afternoon, I got to experience a live production of King Lear by the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, performed in a distanced manner over the internet. This is the festival that normally does the Free Shakespeare in the Park performances during the summer. Apparently some theaters have produced plays using Zoom, where each actor appears in their own box in a matrix. This production was unique in that all of the actors were performing physically separated and used green screens, then they were composited together against different backgrounds appropriate for each scene. Apparently the actors couldn’t see each other, only hear each other. The resulting video quality wasn’t great, and the green screen artifacts were quite noticeable, but overall it worked as a play. Visually it was a little sketchy, but considering what they were doing it was quite impressive.
In this production they had the lead be a female, but still referred to her as King. It gave a few scenes a little different flavor, but no major difference. There was also periodic inter-scene sound effects of news reports on BLM unrest to try and make it timely. The setting was supposed to be America, but this was only superficially noticeable. They were clever in the way they had to appear to pass items between actors, or do stage fights. It was good to be able to see at least one “live” production this summer. Hopefully things won’t be shutdown forever.
While California remains in a virus driven lock-down that seems to be never ending, I managed to work in a photo shoot at my house with the traveling art model Sienna Hayes. I’ve worked with her previously on three different UTadventure tours, in both Utah and Mexico. After this year’s tour in Yucatán we had planned to get together to shoot when she visited the Bay Area. However, all of the shutdowns altered both of our schedules, and we finally managed to do it several months after originally planned. It was good to have something productive to do.
Like previous shoots at my house, I kind of stressed myself getting ready and straightening up the house, but once we got rolling everything went smoothly. Our shoot was in the afternoon, and luckily while it was warm, it wasn’t too hot shooting outside or in the garage. We got to try out a variety of looks and we used most of the locations I’ve identified in my house for shooting. I’m looking forward to the day when I’ll be more flexible in scheduling these kinds of activities.
[More pictures on my Photo Blog]
