Arizona Treks

Last Friday a friend and I went to Oak Creek near Sedona.  We planned to hike the West fork Trail but found it covered with ice and chose to avoid injury to self and camera gear.  We worked the ruins near and the confluence of Oak Creek and the West Fork.  Then we went to Red Rock Crossing.  This was an unusual trip in that I was pleased with most of the photos made there.

Recently, few of the photos I make please me, at least the ones made on outings.  Another friend mentioned the Ansel Adams quote a week or so ago.  

"Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment."

 - Ansel Adams

This has been so true of what I have shot recently that I find myself not venturing out quite as much as before.  Waiting and hoping I would get past that for I believe it is a temporary condition, being hyper-critical of my own work. I like to think this is merely something many who do subjective, creative work find along the way and that it will help me to improve.

There have been few posts recently, partly because of the lack of satisfaction in my work, and partly because I have several critical software projects to be done and have been focusing on them.

The top photo is in the West Fork just above the waterfall at the confluence.  The ice, still clinging to the logs but above the water created some interesting lines and reflections.  The photo below is part of the ruins near there.  The ivy-covered stone column caught my eye.  The sun was filtered through the trees and made interesting patterns on the column.

That was one of those days that there were no clouds so we had to be creative with what we shot.

Last Sunday a friend and I went to the Wupatki/Sunset Crater area  in search of snow on the ruins and in the lava fields.  Alas, no snow on the ruins, but plenty in the lava fields.  I have been to this area many times and never found snow on the ruins in Wupatki, it is a bit lower in elevation than Sunset Crater and so when they get snow, it doesn't last long.  

It was another exercise in bold contrast to shoot B&W in the lava field.  I am looking forward to printing a few to see what they are like.  The scanner does not do a very good job with them.  Perhaps later today or tomorrow I will make some time to print a few.

The clouds had the sun obscured most of the day, totally flat light, we celebrated when we spotted a shadow.  So it was a game of waiting for the right light and looking for things to shoot that did not depend so much on shadows.  The sun did make a brief appearance in the afternoon just before we started for home.  Then the clouds almost all dissipated while we were driving home.