Canyonlands

• Dennis Banks.

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

After Bryce Canyon exploration and our brief stint with the cold we went on to Moab, UT. The gateway town to both Arches and Canyonlands-Island in the sky National Parks. On our first day we decided to tackle the popular destinations and visited one of the most famous geological formations, the Mesa Arch of Canyonlands. There is a pretty short hike to get to the arch which is actually not as huge as I envisioned it but spectacular nonetheless. The only problem is the number of people at location, being one of the most photographed locations in Utah and perhaps southwest itself it's pretty popular even on a cold December morning. Thankfully I am early enough to get a decent spot, I heard some photographer to my left camped out in the location since 4 am for a sunset at 7am.

Anyways we had a nice time talking to fellow photographers about the locations and had a blast sharing tips regarding techniques. I made this pano shot once everyone started to leave after the sun burst through the horizon. This is a four shot panorama of the whole arch, with the early morning sun providing amazing light on the valley below.

• Guru Nanak…

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

Now let's move on to the customary shot of mesa arch, the sunburst through the arch just as the sun breaks the horizon. I had actually prepared for this a bit and through the use of this amazing app called photopills knew that the winter sun will rise to the right of the arch. So while most people were clamoring to get to the left of the arch, there were only a couple to the right side. Problem with staying to the left was that once the sun comes out you will only have a few minutes for sunburst as the arch is more open and the rising sun will soon overpower everything, while on the left side the arch opening is narrow so we had more flexibility to shoot the sunstar.

The one thing that surprised me most about the arch was how small it actually is, its tiny. Most of the photographers there were actually using fisheye lenses, I believe to accentuate the width of the arch and to get the whole thing in a single frame. But small or not this was a stunning sigh albeit a little crowded.

• Buddha.

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

Another shot from the majestic false kiva of Canyonlands National park. I don’t have words for how beautiful this site is and how much the hard scrambling hike contribute to the beauty. To be honest this site was one of the reasons why I zeroed in on Island in the sky part of Canyonlands over other sections. And the park didn’t disappoint, this is an absolutely gorgeous piece of land, I am glad I got to visit and experience the park.

For this shot, I used a slightly longer focal length to get the far away canyon walls more prominence and get the really gorgeous light coming in from the right lighting up the walls properly. If you have a chance add this park to your list and make the hike to false kiva a priority. Just be careful.

A view of the loneliest part of Canyonlands- the Maze District, from Cleopatra's Chair sandwiched by the Henrys, across Turks Head with the Green...

I almost waited for 4 hours at this spot with a hope that the sun will break through the clouds during sunset. You can see that it paid off. Just the...

WESTWORLD es el nombre de una sensacional serie de HBO, catalogada como distópica: término opuesto a utopía.

Fuera de términos literarios, este escenario es del parque nacional de Canyonlands, en Utah, Estados Unidos. Este escenario ha sido el marco de diferentes películas, como Thelma y Louise.

El parque nacional de Canyonlands está representado por un relieve lleno de color que se ha erosionado en incontables cañones, mesas y buttes (cuellos volcánicos) por el río Colorado y sus afluentes, como el río Verde. Los ríos dividen el parque en cuatro zonas: 'the Island in the Sky', 'the Needles', 'the Maze' y los ríos. Los cuatro comparten una atmósfera desértica, pero cada uno tiene sus propias características.

Esta imagen está hecha desde 'the Island in the Sky' y lo que vemos son los meandros del Río Verde. El escenario en conjunto me recuerda mucho a la serie 'WestWorld' por eso la he titulado así.

WESTWORLD is the name of a sensational HBO series, cataloged as dystopian: a term opposite to utopia.

Outside of literary terms, this landscape is from Canyonlands National Park in Utah, United States. This place has been the setting for different films, such as Thelma and Louise.

The park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries. The park is divided into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the combined rivers.

This image is made from 'the Island in the Sky' and you can see the meanders of the Green River. The stage as a whole reminds me a lot of the series 'WestWorld' that's why I have titled it that way.

The Island in the Sky Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah, United States September 2016

500pxfacebookInstagram

Canyonlands National Park

7 shots with 24MM stitched together. I exposed for the sky and "dug out" the shadows. The D800E has incredible DR. This is a very special spot. I have had it on my bucket list for some time. It's not on any park map but if you ask the rangers for directions they will help you get there. Please be respectful as this is an active archeological site.

It is scenes like this that keep us all coming back for more. It had been a few months since our last road trip and Kevin Benedict and I were...

USA 2011 - Canyonlands

• Ambrose Bierce.

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

One of the locations I was keen to visit during our December trip to Utah was the stunningly beautiful False Kiva site. I read a bit about the hike and it seemed pretty manageable added to the fact that we will be doing the hike in winter and not under the searing hot summer sun. When I looked at maps, it looked like this location was not ideal place for sunset as the canyon walls to the right will block any light putting the whole location in shade. So we decided to head out there early evening and get back to the car while there is still some daylight out there.

Turns out, this was an excellent decision, as the hike turned out to be much harder than expected. First of all the snow on the ground have covered any previous tracks. Add to that the trail seems to disappear over a small cliff and then seem to resume at the bottom of the cliff. Guide books talked about looking for kairns to find a relatively easy path down the cliff, but the snow made them almost impossible to find. We even ran into a Japanese photographer who gave up and went back. But with a trusted trail map we persisted and scampered down to the bottom of the cliff. From where there was a casual stroll for a bit before we came across what looked like a field of fallen boulders. The next stage of the hike was climbing over a multitude of rocks and boulders to reach the bottom of the cave that is false kiva. Then we had to basically inch our way up and finally climb over a giant boulder to get to the location.

Once we reached, the view was absolutely phenomenal. I managed to get this shot while the sun was fairly high up in the sky but was lighting up the canyon wall in stunning light. So I sacrificed some highlights for a detailed shot of the awesome False Kiva.

• Thomas Fuller.

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

One of the coolest locations that we have ever visited during our many trips to the American southwest is the false kiva at Canyonlands National Park. The trail to this beautiful location is barely marked and is almost impossible to find. We met two other hikers on our quest to find the trail who gave up and went back to their cars. Once we found a couple of trail cairns we were overjoyed but soon it looked like the trail dropped off a canyon cliff. It took me about 20 minutes to finally figure out that the trail actually turns sharply right from the cliff and while it looks daunting from the top its actually not the hardest part of the trail. The hardest part came when we had to navigate a bit of a boulder meadow full of rocks the size of a smart car. It took us way more time than we planned to get over the boulder field and finally to climb to the small cave that contains the false kiva.

While the trail was hard and difficult to navigate, the view from the kiva more than made up for the difficulties we experienced. While we didn’t quite stay till the full sunset, I got this shot with some fantastic details of the kiva and some great colors in the sky. Technically I find cave shots to be one of the hardest shots that I have to take and this image, not an exception. I had a hard time balancing the bright sky with the darkness of the cave and the false kiva. So this image is a composite of three images. The first one was taken to show off details of the cave and the second one with a 2 stop nd grad and exposing for the sky and the sunset and a third image where I did average metering of the whole scene with a bit of exposure compensation added to get the histogram correct. I blended my three images using a bit of exposure blending techniques by incorporating luminosity masks rather than using an HDR software. I think I am much more satisfied with luminosity masking than most HDR software that I have used.

Mesa Arch, Moab

Canyonlands National Park