Utah Hwy 24 Mighty Good Road

Tropic, Utah

Tropic, Utah. Friday morning, 7/22/11

Factory Butte

Factory Butte. Friday afternoon, 7/29/11.
Roughly halfway between the small town of Hanksville and the even smaller town of Caineville, Factory Butte is a little more than 5 miles north of Utah 24 near a dirt road called Coal Mine Rd.
The area that I shot from is an off-road vehicle playground - you can see tire tracks in the foreground.

Sky Over Mesa Verde

Above Mesa Verde, Saturday morning, 7/23/11

Waiting for Redmoon

Peoria near Randolph, Thursday night, 8/25/11.
What is it that takes you a place to photograph?
In my case, the reasons will vary from assignments to road trips and my favorite, the unexpected.

Well last night, Redmoon was expected to have a guerilla performance of its Celebration Vehicle at 8:45. My daughter, a big Redmoon fan joined me along with my wife who I'll describe as an interested fan. I'd estimate that 60-70 people were waiting along Randolph Ave. for the evening's event. Being as it was a school night, we had to leave after 30 minutes of waiting, but I did get this shot just before departing.

Another Black Bike

Another Black Bike, Thursday am, 8/25/11
This one was parked about 20' from where yesterday's bike was shot. I wonder what will turn up tomorrow?

Alien Black Bike

Black Bike. Wednesday around 5 pm, 8/24/11

Back to the Road

Corn Field Along Interstate 80, Saturday, 7/23/11.
In the midwest, perhaps no other landscape is as pervasive as that of row after after row of corn. East of the Mississippi, west of the Missisippi, all you see is corn as you long to see just some type of elevated ground to break the level fields of green stalks.

Like it or not, this is my landscape of the road trip, devoid of expansive mountain ranges, great canyons or natural wonders, just corn.

Mount Garfield in the Book Cliff Range

The base of Mount Garfield, Sunday, 7/24/11.
Cruising by at 70mph on US 70 approaching Grand Junction, I see an interesting formation, hit the window button and grab a shot through the open window. While shot in the early afternoon, seeing this directly face the west, I knew at an instant that this was a golden hour shot before sunset. This kind of thought easily came to mind as Mt Garfield quickly moved out of frame and perspective. I never looked at the top, merely focusing on the shapes of the base which appeared to me as a 3-D image in pen and ink. All of this on and off in a matter of seconds.

Anyhoo, Mount Garfield is part of the Book Cliff Mountain and rises to somewhere over 6000'. It looks like a lot of mining has also been done to the Book Cliff range. This area deserves further investigation for photo possibilities - there's even a Book Cliff mtb trail.

Road Trip

Somewhere in Iowa, Saturday, 7/23/11.
A lot of buses with bikes on the top, converted school buses, with one broken down on the road, US 80. Must be the start of RAGBRAI but I'm in a van with six others, no bikes and constant bickering and complaints about life. I need a vacation from this vacation and a beer.

Tobiko - Flying Fish Eggs

Tobiko. Thursday evening, 8/18/11

Ute Petroglyphs on the Way to Delicate

Sunday late afternoon, 7/24/11.
Ute rock art dating from roughly 1650-1850. This is located in Arches National Park just off the trail that goes to Delicate Arch. It's on the first hill as the trail starts to go up a bit. It's a small panel and not very high from the ground.

Furama on Wentworth

Wednesday 2:19 pm, 8/17/11
Dim sum today at Furama which was pretty good. I even laid off the hot sauce.

Capitol Reef Petroglyphs

Capitol Reef National Park. Friday, 7/29/11.
A hot day well into the 90's. I can't turn down an opportunity to see American Indian rock art, especially when it's located right off the main road. The location probably also made it a prime target for local shooters. The images are pock-marked with bullet holes. Capitol Reef is on my short list of places to explore in Utah but mid-summer is not the time for me.

Colorado National Monument

Colorado National Monument, Sunday, 7/24/11.
Shot with the pinhole mode in the E-P2. A good place to visit with a beautiful drive as long as you have a vehicle with good brakes (we didn't)

Rock Art in Sego Canyon

Sego Canyon, Monday 7/25/11
Barrier Style. There are several styles of rock art that can be seen in Sego Canyon. This is an easy site to get to and also a ghost town nearby.

Domino Effect

Moab, Monday am, 7/25/11

Impersonating Vegas

Tuesday evening on the Strip, 7/26/11
Impersonating MM.


Impersonating Paris.


Impersonating Venice

2/3's of Delicate Arch

Sunday evening, July 24, 2011.
Sunsets at Delicate Arch during the summer are crowded. The crowds begin in the parking lot and you have to make sure that you get there early enough to just get a parking space before you can even begin the hike to Delicate.

The hikers run the gamut from kids in flip-flops to over-geared outdoor types in expedition hiking boots. The temperature is in the high 90's even though sunset is only an hour or two away.

Anyway, after 45 minutes of breathing thin air for a flatlander such as myself, we make it the familiar Delicate Arch at 4829 feet to join a couple of hundred other Arch worshippers. Reading Laurent Martres book on photographing Utah, I learned that Delicate Arch in summer falls in shadow during sunset. That along with the nuts who have to have their picture taken at the base of Delicate made me think that a partial shot of Delicate would be most effective.

I felt sorry for the German guy who kept yelling at the tourists posing in front of Delicate to get out of the picture. There was a bit of comic relief when one of them dropped their camera into the bowl next to Delicate.

Getting back to photo...I had planned this shot a couple of weeks previous, having been aware of the sunset shadow and the crowds as well as having been to Delicate previously. When I finally took the series of about half a dozen shots, I was locked into the sunset lighting the top of Delicate and all of the crowds seemed to disappear. A beautiful experience to share with Cece and Eva.