SGirimont Photography Blog: The Stories Behind the Images


Archive for the ‘Nature’


The Hidden Wash

Hidden Wash

Hidden Wash

In Canyonlands National Park, a little way outside of the Squaw Flat Campground, was an area that had some promising rocks and features for some sunset photography. Carefully making my way along what rocks I could find to avoid damaging any cryptobiotic soil, I came across the area you can see in the image above. I call this image “Hidden Wash” as nothing you can see here was visible from the road; there was a terrific bit of serendipity coming across this.

In the foreground is a young Juniper Pine just beginning to grow from a crack in the large boulder on which I’ve positioned my camera. In the middle distance is a Cottonwood Tree that has already undergone it’s autumn color change, even though this image was taken in early September. The Cottonwood is located in what appears to be a wash that collects water fairly frequently, to judge from the amount of greenery within it. The sun had set behind some nearby hills about 5 minutes prior to this image being taken, which explains why there is no sunset light in the scene. I’ll have to try to find this location again the next time I’m in the area and see if I can catch this area in full sunset light.

By the way, the small web-resolution image you see here doesn’t do justice to the full-sized print. The print is all about textures: the texture of the rocks and pine in the foreground, the crispy texture of the dry Cottonwood Tree in the middle distance, and the texture of the rocks along the sides of the wash in the background. The final image is made with a single exposure from a Canon 5D Mark II, a Canon 16-35 mm lens and an exposure of 1/2 second at f/16 at ISO 100.

Needles Starburst

Needles Starburst

Needles Starburst

Canyonlands National Park in Southeast Utah is divided into 3 geographically diverse areas: Island in the Sky, The Needles and The Maze.

The image above was shot in the Needles district. This is a region of the park where columns of stone are practically everywhere. In this image, taken about an hour before sunset, the late-afternoon sun is being reflected from the rocks on the other side of a small canyon to camera right. This reflected light is striking the needles in the scene, causing them to practically glow with warm colors. The rocks in the foreground are lit by the cooler blue light of the sky, creating the warm-cool color balance in the image.

The sun can be seen peeking through a hole in the rocks, creating a starburst effect. You can achieve this effect by positioning your camera to catch just a bit of the sun as it appears around a foreground obstruction, and use a small aperture on your lens. For this image, I noticed the sun would be coming down close to a hole in the rocks and I positioned my camera to just catch this event. As I was preparing to take the shot, I kept having to move my camera closer and closer to the rocks to keep moving the sun slightly upwards relative to the hole, so I would be ready just as it made it’s appearance.

This image is made from a single exposure on a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 16-35 mm lens. The exposure was 1/8th of a second at f/22 (the smallest aperture available on this lens) at ISO 100.

By using such a small aperture, I sacrificed a bit of resolution to maximize the starburst effect. On a 21 megapixel image like the Canon 5D Mark II, diffraction effects at apertures smaller than f/16 will cause a detectable loss in resolution. However, I felt it was worth it for this image.

Mesa Arch Sunrise

Mesa Arch Sunrise

Mesa Arch Sunrise

This is an image of the famous Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park in Southeast Utah. This is one of the most photographed locations in the whole of the southwest, but it’s something I really wanted to have in my own collection.

This location has become, perhaps, far too popular. At the time I clicked the shutter for this image (and the two other images of which it is composed), there were approximately 80 people surrounding me. I thought it was getting bad before the busload of Chinese tourists showed up shortly after sunrise.

At one point, I got so fed up with the crowd just before sunrise that I backed off and climbed a small tower of rock behind the arch just to take pictures of the madness of the crowd. Then the tour bus showed up. Sigh.

This image was taken after I got brave enough to venture back into the crowd. I had noticed the position of the sun, combined with the haze, was beginning to form a shadow in the air cast from Monster Tower you see in the background. I wormed my way into the crowd so the shadow would come in at the point where I wanted it and proceeded to get several exposures from 1/10th of a second to about 15 seconds at ISO 100. This image is a blending of three of those exposures to retain detail from the shadows through the highlights.

Mesa Arch itself is a wonder at sunrise. The arch is situated such that sunlight, reflected off the cliff face below it, causes the underside of the arch to glow a deep orange-red for a few minutes after sunrise. To get to the arch in time to photograph this phenomenon requires a short walk in the dark (less than 1/2 mile, I believe) from the parking lot. It’s not a difficult walk, but you must be careful about the numerous rocks and roots along the path.

This image was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 16-35 mm zoom lens. The lens is zoomed out to 16 mm, but this image is bit of a crop from the full frame.

Sunrise at Larkin’s Garden

Sunrise at Larkin's Garden

Sunrise at Larkin's Garden

Wow. Can’t believe how long it’s been since I posted a Blog update. I must apologize; my only excuse is that I have been incredibly busy these past few months and things are only now slowing down enough for me to begin posting updates again.

What I’d like to start with are the images from my trip out west in September. Take the one above, for example.

What I love most about this image, after its apparent uniqueness (I can’t find any image like it after extensive searching) is the way the clouds are a reflection, if you will, of the canyons below them. I love how the pine provides a balance with the canyons in the background and how the entire image generates a sense of isolation and peacefulness.

Most folks I’ve shown this image assume this is the Grand Canyon. It’s not. It’s called Dead Horse Point State Park and it’s in Southeast Utah, next to Canyonlands National Park.

Almost every image I’ve ever seen of Dead Horse Point is taken from the observation deck at the end of the road, or from the rim near the observation deck.

“Sunrise at Larkin’s Garden” is taken from a ledge about 20 feet BELOW the observation deck. Some published images of Dead Horse Point are wide enough that you can actually see this tree, a Pinyon Pine, in the bottom right of the image. I thought this was such an interesting tree, I had to find a way down to it to make it the subject of my picture.

To get to this tree, you must brave a short climb (about 10 feet) down to the ledge by walking west of the observation platform until you see a way down to the lower ledge and then make your way back to where the tree is, almost directly below the observation deck. It’s not exactly a narrow ledge, but there is the small matter of an 800 foot drop straight down should you venture a little too close to the edge. Overall, it’s about 2000 feet down to the level of the Colorado River you see in the background. From the point where I’m taking this picture, I’m about 5 feet from the edge in front of me, and about 8 feet from the edge where the ledge ends to camera right. This image was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 16-35 mm zoom lens at 16 mm. The exposure was 1/10th of a second at f/16 using ISO 100. The camera was on a tripod, naturally. Unlike many of the images I make of my trips out west, this image was made with a single exposure.

I’ve titled this image “Sunrise at Larkin’s Garden” because there is a boulder to the right of this pine tree (just outside the frame of this image) with the words “Larkin’s Garden” carved into it. From the amount of weathering, it might have been 100 years since these words were carved.

Larkin's Boulder

The boulder with "Larkin's Garden" carved into it

I wonder who Larkin was. A little research has shown that Larkin is a fairly old name somewhat common among the Mormons of Utah. If anyone who comes across this blog post knows anything about who this particular Larkin might be, a rancher in the area at some time in the past, for instance, I would be very interested in hearing about it.

More images from my trip out west to come!

A Canyon’s Rim

Canyon RimI’ve been specifically requested by the leader of the workshop I was attending in Arizona to not mention the name of this canyon, as he is trying to keep it from being as overwhelmed with visitors as Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons have become. I will say, however, that this picture was made on the rim of another slot canyon not far from Page and requires a hiking permit from the Navajo Nation to get to.

The rim of this canyon is an interesting study in various shapes and textures of sandstone. This particular image was made with a Canon 5D using a 70-200mm lens at 200mm to utilize the telephoto compression that such a lens produces. This “squishes” the foreground and background together to make it seem as if what is actually in the distance is right up on top of the foreground, thereby giving this image a layered effect of the many different directions of the lines within the sandstone.

This image was taken just after sunset, which brings out the warm colors of the sandstone. Just a few minutes earlier and the texture and colors of these rocks had looked completely different; much whiter with greater contrast.