Keep on the sunny side….

Upon watching mi amigo cooking up these eggs, I was somewhat dubious….  That was a LOT of salsa.

breakfast of champions

But I gotta say….. it was pretty damn good!

Happy Friday, my friends!

The shaman

The last time my amigos and I were at Big Bend Ranch State Park we tried, unsuccessfully, to find the pictograph of the shaman.  We had been told about it by the park’s superintendent but couldn’t find its location.

This time, we were going to find it.  After receiving some more specific directions (and finding out that we were looking in the wrong spot last time!), we hit the jackpot.

The man

It doesn’t take much visualization to see a person, with horns on his head, raising his hands above his head.

It’s the largest pictograph I have seen to date – probably 4-5 feet tall from the tips of his horns to the tips of his toes.  Pretty powerful place to be sure!

It’s a new day

My last several posts have all come from one fantastic day of travel and adventure in Big Bend country.

Day two starts with an overcast sky, and hints of things to come.

sunup

Why in the world I can wake up well before sunrise in the field and can barely drag my sorry arse out of bed on most days is beyond me.

End of day

What’s better at the end of a long day in the desert than sitting around the campfire (proverbial in this case with a fire ban….) and sharing stories about all that was seen???

 

camp

The finale….

At least for this night!  Sitting on top of the ridge above camp, mother nature just kept putting on a show.

harmony

watching

Fans of my little blog here know that it’s not often I will place people in the landscapes I capture.    In the case of this image, however, I feel that my compatriot adds to the image rather than detracts from the landscape around him.

 

Two views

Working my way up the hill from the previous post’s location I fixated on this cactus.  Couldn’t make up my mind if I liked it in b/w or if I liked it in color.  And also couldn’t really decide on which composition I liked better…..  Shot the scene in both b/w and color and then worked it over, thinking when I got home one would stand out to me and that’s the one I’d go with.  And actually, I like ‘em both.

one way

or the other...

So, I’ll leave it up to you, dear readers!  Which one do you like???  And why?

The Ridge

Arriving in Big Bend Ranch State Park, my pals and I set up shop in the designated campsite of South Leyva.  There’s a small ridge that runs behind the camp and I was able to capture many great shots worthy of sharing either of the ridge itself or from the ridge.

sundown

They’ll be some color versions of this fantastic sunset later, but after experimenting with some monochrome settings in camera and in LR3, I really liked this one.  There just seemed to be some sort of balance to my eye between the clouds and the ridge and the color versions were distracting to me in this composition….

Also, as a side note – you may recall that I brought my KLR motorcycle on this trip.  Didn’t have a single fall the entire time we were there – but I did manage to fall down off this ridge shortly after taking this image.  Standing near the cactus on the left side of the frame, the rock I was balancing on came loose and I went tumbling down!  Luckily I was still wearing my riding pants and my hips and knees were protected from all of the rocks I would soon encounter.  ;)

Cottonwoods

I really love seeing a grove of Cottonwood trees in the desert.  For one thing, it means there’s water nearby.  For another, even if all the water is below ground, there’s shade in the summer.  And the golden glow these trees get in the fall is just magical. Topping it all off, the sound of the wind blowing through their leaves is something I’ll never forget; probably one of my more memorable experiences after years of Big Bend trips.

golden

The group of trees featured here can be found very near the cuevas amarillas at Big Bend Ranch State Park.  I just had to stop and grab this shot!

Roller Coaster

If you love to drive, there’s no beating FM 170 – the River Road.  It’s about 80 miles of goodness and I absolutely loved to get to ride it on my motorcycle.  I’ve driven it several times in a car or truck but doing it on the scooter was unbelievably fun.

FM 170

There’s little to no cell phone reception between Terlingua and Presidio – so make sure you’ve got gas; but if you love to drive, you’ve gotta hit this road.

Golden hour?

We don’t need no stinking golden hour!

There is absolutely no denying that as far as landscape images go, your most dramatic light is going to take place an hour or so on either side of sunrise and sunset.  That being said, I’ve read countless other photographer’s blogs that state that’s the only time they take pictures.

Strikes me as silly, really.  Focusing only on those two hours and not on the other 22 means you’re out sitting on your butt somewhere and not catching some great images.  Typically what I will do as the sun makes its way across the sky is transition from color images to monochrome.    My eye starts to shift from magnificent color to shapes, shadows and composition.  I think that actually benefits my color images, to be honest, as sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in a flash of color and lose sight of the other basic elements of art and photography.

Unlike other photographers who will often shoot everything in color and then shift to monochrome in post, I will actually make the shift in camera. It’s almost like I’m clicking a switch in my brain as well into b/w photography.

shapes and shadow

So if you find yourself on an adventure and the golden hour is over – don’t put up that camera and work on your craft. I think you’ll find it useful.