Tag Archives: hiking

With Photography, It Pays to Experiment

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You never really know what shot is going to turn out to be your favorite.

I went on a hike yesterday morning with a friend. We met at 6:30 AM and proceeded to hike up a steep trail on the west side of Wenatchee, WA. It was a mostly clear day with thin clouds overhead and smoke from a fire about 30 miles away drifting in over the city.

Lone PineI brought along my camera. I didn’t really expect to find anything of interest to photograph, but on nearing the top of the first big hill — after an elevation gain of about 800 feet in 1-1/2 miles — I caught sight of a lone pine tree on a hilltop off in the distance. It reminded me a bit of the Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach. (Just a bit, mind you.) I had a subject for a shoot and captured multiple images of it against the sky. I thought that with the sun behind it, I’d get a nice silhouette. I peeked at the screen in the back of my camera after each shot and liked what I saw. (More on that in a moment.)

Weeds with TreeAs I continued the hike — my friend had gone up ahead because I’m so damn slow when hiking uphill — I got a little artsy with some weeds along the trail. I liked the way the sun shined through them. Remember, the sun was up ahead of me. Again, from what I could tell, the image looked interesting in the screen at the back of the camera. I felt good — as if I were getting some interesting shots.

I met up with my friend and we stopped near the base of the pine to take in the view. I only had one lens with me — my 16-85mm — so I couldn’t get a shot of the tree as close as I would have liked. But I figured I’d already gotten some good shots, so I didn’t beat myself up over it.

But as we were turning away, I decided to experiment anyway. The city was spread out beneath us, under a layer of haze from that forest fire. The light on the mountains in the distance was still warm. The clouds were interesting and random. So I shot one more photo before we began the hike down. I peeked at it on the LCD screen and wasn’t impressed.

That evening, I looked at the photos I shot on my 27″ iMac’s monitor. I was disappointed — to say the least — in the “lone pine” shot I thought would be good. Apparently, my eyesight simply isn’t good enough to see detail in the little screen at the back of my camera. Even the shots with the weeds didn’t do anything for me.

But the last shot — the one with the city in the background — the one I just framed up and snapped almost as an afterthought — that turned out to be my favorite shot from the morning’s hike. What do you think?

Lone Pine Over Wenatchee

I take away two things from this experience:

  • My eyes suck. I really can’t depend on what I see in that tiny LCD screen to know whether an image I captured is any good. I should probably bring along cheaters so I can actually see what’s in the damn screen.
  • Experimentation can be a very good thing. If I hadn’t tried that one last shot, I wouldn’t have come away with any images that I liked. I should definitely experiment more so I have more to look at back at my desk.

Thoughts?

Yes, Wilderness IS Special

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And we don’t need your signs ruining it.

Wilderness is Special?I took a short hike yesterday in the Secret Mountain Wilderness area of Sedona. Wilderness areas are “protected” by the government, open only to foot traffic. Hell, they even suggest air traffic minimum altitudes.

Yet apparently the government has no problem erecting ugly signs like this one and the equally unattractive one just down the trail from it just to remind us how special this area is.

Apparently, it’s not special enough to remain sign-free.

Jack the [Desert] Dog

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Not exactly a “dog park” dog.

Wickenburg just put in a dog park. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s basically a fenced-in area where people can let their dogs run around. It’s especially nice for folks who live in apartments or trailers or don’t have fenced-in yards. Wickenburg’s dog park isn’t anything special — at least not yet. I hope they plant some trees and do some cross-fencing to spruce it up a bit. Right now, it’s just a big area adjacent to the airport that’s surrounded by chain link fence. There are two leaf-less trees, two cheap park benches, and a bunch of molded plastic patio chairs.

But it’s better than nothing and I’m glad whoever put it in did so.

Throughout the day, folks gather there with their dogs, letting them run around together. The dogs bark, the owners shout. The dogs play, the owners socialize. It’s a relatively pleasant scene. Since the dog park is right on the other side of the fence from my Wickenburg hangar, I see its dynamics each time I’m at the airport.

My dog, however, will never set foot inside the dog park. You see, Jack’s a desert dog. He — like my neighbors’ dogs — roams freely on our property on the outskirts of town. On a nice day, we open the back door and let him out. He chases rabbits and squirrels and, when it gets a bit warmer, lizards. We have 2-1/2 acres of property, but he occasionally wanders off to visit with my neighbors, too. Their dog comes to see us once in a while, so it all evens out.

Jack goes lots of places with us. When I head out to the airport or store in town, he rides in the back of my Jeep or pickup truck. He likes to bark when he’s in the back of the truck, as if to yell out “Look at me!” It’s actually pretty annoying and I have to break him of the habit again soon. (Stopping the truck suddenly and throwing a cup of water on him usually does the trick.) When he rides in the Jeep, he likes to sit in my seat while I’m in the store. I don’t have the back windows on the Jeep and he’s fallen out twice. Once was when I was parked at the supermarket. An announcement over the loud speaker said, “Will the owner of a black and white dog please come to the courtesy counter.” I went out to the parking lot to find him circling the Jeep excitedly. He was very glad to see me. A woman standing nearby said, “Is this your dog and Jeep? He’s been trying to get into it. I was going to let him in, but I wasn’t sure if it was his.” I opened the door and he jumped in. We all had a good laugh. He hasn’t fallen out since.

Jack the DogJack also goes hiking with us out in the desert. He’s well behaved on the trail and never bothers other hikers. He’s a bit of a nuisance when we go out to take photos, as we did the other day. He always seems to get into the shot. But now that he’s older — he turned nine this year — he’s starting to slow down and spends a lot more time just relaxing in the scant shade of a tree while we bend over wildflowers and lie prone to shoot up at cacti. It could also be his thick winter coat — which I’ll soon be vacuuming up off my floors and carpets — that keeps him too hot in the springtime to run around.

In answer to a commonly asked question, yes, Jack has flown in the helicopter. He’s been flying with me three times now. I think he considers the helicopter just another vehicle. The last time we flew together, he was very well behaved alone in the back seat.

Jack’s a good dog — the best I’ve had so far. Although he tends to get excited easily and seems to live to be petted, he’s smart and listens — unless, of course, he’s chasing a rabbit. We may spoil him by making him a part of our lives, but we don’t pamper him and don’t allow him to misbehave, especially when there are other people around. In other words, we don’t allow him to give people a reason to complain about him. If more people disciplined and trained their dogs properly, we wouldn’t need so many “No Dogs” signs and leash laws.

And we probably wouldn’t need dog parks, either.

Shots from the Edge

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Two photos from yesterday’s hike.

Yesterday afternoon, I hiked up Doe Mountain, a mesa west of Sedona, AZ. The mesa has sheer rock walls on all sides except the northwest — that’s where you’ll find a 8/10 mile trail that climbs nearly 400 feet to the mesa top. The top is almost completely flat with stubby trees, bushes, yucca, and various types of cactus and desert grasses. It’s an amazing place at any time of day; simply walk to the side of the mesa with the view you want, sit down on a rock, and suck it all in.

I went up there around 3:30 PM; sunset was around 5:30 PM. It took nearly an hour for me to do the hike. I can hike on flat terrain or downhill all day long, but make me climb and you’ll be waiting for me. I was by myself, so I didn’t hold anyone back. When I got to the top, I was hot and thirsty.

I wandered around as the light continued to soften and redden. I found an excellent spot for photos on the north side of the mesa and shot the two you see here. These are unedited.

From Doe MountainI’ve been experimenting quite a bit with foreground/background combinations. This shot of grasses, rocks, and trees with the red rocks in the distance behind them really called out to me. The foreground elements are on the mesa top. About 10 feet beyond them is a sheer cliff with a drop of 300-400 feet. The green trees you see beyond that are full-sized pinon and juniper pines. The red rock cliffs are several miles away. This one’s a “keeper” that I’ll likely put in my Photo Gallery. (That’s also why it’s so small here; I don’t share larger images unless they’re watermarked.) The only reason it’s not there now is that I haven’t had time to examine it closely and remove any optical imperfections due to dirt on the sensors. (It’s a never-ending battle against dust here in Arizona.)

Maria in SedonaThis second shot is a self-portrait. I broke my third wired shutter release and there’s no way I could have used the self-time for this. So I used the camera remote. Of course, the sensor for the remote is on the camera’s right side (when looking at the front) and I was sitting at the left. Hence the stretched out arm and rather cranky look on my face. It’s a dopey picture and I look like an idiot. I guess that’s why I like it.

Oh, and I was about 5 feet from the edge of the cliff in this shot.

More from this trip in future posts. I’ll have better WiFi in Page.

Quicksand!

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I went looking for quicksand yesterday afternoon — and found it.

Quicksand is quite common along the Hassayampa River in Wickenburg. The river runs mostly underground, in the sandy river bed. It comes to the surface in rocky areas, like around Box Canyon and south of town. It also flows on the surface when there’s a lot of water — like during or after a heavy rain.

It had rained earlier in the week and there was snow on the Bradshaw Mountains, where the Hassayampa has its source. The river was running too big to drive in. So we took Scenic Loop around to one of the few dirt roads that winds down to the river. We parked on a hill and hiked down to walk along the river’s edge.

One of the places quicksand likes to form is at the base of large rocks or cliffs that end in the water. The water flows downstream, hits these rocks, and makes a kind of eddy before it turns one way or the other and continues downstream. Where it makes the eddy, the sand gets soft. Very soft. There’s lots of water under it, so even though the sand looks firm on the surface, when you step into it, you’ll sink in.

I was exploring one of these areas on foot with my video camera on a monopod/walking stick. I was getting to the point where the sand was just a little soft and I stretched out my left foot to feel the next step ahead. It seemed firm enough, so I shifted my weight onto it. Bad move. I sunk in past my ankle. Thrown off balance, I put my walking stick down nearby. It also sunk in. Before I could fall forward into it, I threw myself backwards, landing on my butt in the soft, wet sand.

QuicksandFor a moment, I considered panicking. Then I realized how dumb that was and inched backwards on my butt, pulling my feet and walking stick with me. After a few moves, I was on firm enough sand to get back on my feet.

Right after my incident, Jack the Dog wandered into the same spot, chasing a bee. He reacted quickly and managed to get out without assistance — he’s been in quicksand before — but it was interesting to see the sand shift and recover its innocent appearance after he’d escaped.

The photo here was taken when we got home. My left foot is still wet and sandy; my right foot is dry and clean. Sorry — no photos of my sandy, wet butt.

Quicksand is a serious thing along the river and not to be taken lightly. If a vehicle drives into it, it can quickly be sucked down to the point where it can’t be pulled out.

As for the dry quicksand of television and movies — I don’t think it exists. This stuff is wet and clingy and sticks with you until you change your clothes.