Zion National Park, Utah, the East Side

Springdale Winter

The tiny town of Springdale, Utah sits at the entrance of one of the best national parks in the US, Zion National Park.  Zion offers easy access to beautiful vistas for the casual tourist, strenuous hikes to challenge the physically fit and back canyons for skilled mountaineers.  I had the privileged to stay here through the changing seasons…. twice!
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Moab, Utah

Delicate Arch

Moab, Utah was just one of many small towns dotting my route as I frequently traveled between the University of Utah and my home town of Los Alamos, New Mexico.  Stopping to explore this impressive landscape was never considered.  Time was always short, rushing to get back to school, go skiing or to get home on a vacation.  Now that I have nuttin’ but time on my hands I rented a VRBO cottage in downtown Moab.  This great location did little good as many of the shops, restaurants and both photo galleries I wished to visit were closed, as February is considered the off season.  Some shops were scheduled to open up the day we departed for Colorado.  Many times while dining we were the only tourists in the cafe.  It was fun listening to the business owners in town discuss the issues of the day.  They seemed to look upon the inevitable onslaught of tourists starting in March with both great anticipation and trepidation.  Goodbye to their quiet little town.
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Zion Snow Melt

Zion Waterfall

Zion Waterfall

 

After a rain or the during the melting of an infrequent snow in Zion National Park, numerous temporary waterfalls are formed, which can disappear as quickly as they began.  These photos were taken after what is likely our last snowfall of the year.

Zion Snow Melt

Zion Snow Melt

 

Old Trucks and Cars, Hard to Pass Up

Pasture View

Pasture View

Car-Back-Seat-Driver-20130329-_ALL4078

Back Seat Driver

Old cars and trucks are often difficult for a photographer to pass up.  While driving a 52 mile dirt road loop in Capitol Reef National Park I stopped and photographed the above truck for well over an hour.  These are not typical HDR (High Dynamic Range) images, rather they are multiple photos with varying exposures manually blended together.  This is how the photo is able to show the dark interior of the truck while at the same time not over exposing the bright, sunny outdoors.  To get the three cows to line up is yet another trick….  This was done by chasing the cows until they were in the proper position, then running back to the camera and hoping they had not moved.

Watering Hole

Watering Hole

 

Quadcopter and the DJI Phantom

Flying Quad-Copter

Flying Quad-Copter

Jarvie at the Controls

Jarvie at the Controls

 

Met a fellow photographer in So. Utah over the weekend. He was very patient with my questions regarding his quadcopter (helicopter with 4 rotors) and a camera attached. It would seem he would get some wonderful viewpoints buzzing up and down waterfalls and cliffs in the area. While wedding photography may pay the bills, I can tell you he has some wonderful landscape photography. Go check out the site of Scott Jarvie, http://photos.jarviedigital.com/

Desert Big Horn Sheep

Mom with Baby

Mom with Baby

On just about any late afternoon in Zion National Park, it seems if one heads to the slick rock area on the east side, you will almost certainly find several Desert Bighorn Sheep.  While it is easy to get lots of photos, it is harder to get the sheep against the skyline, doing something interesting or in a unique setting.  It is very surprising how very agile they are and how easy they can climb up a steep hill.

Desert Big Horn Sheep of Zion National Park.Big-Horn-Baby-20130211-_ALL2235-Edit

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