Some pics from the South West...

So, I went on this roadtrip through the South West US last summer. Just wanted to share with you how beautiful I find your country. I could only embed four pics per post, so here goes:

Last Light, Half Dome, Yosemite NP, CA:


Church, Bodie Ghost Town, CA:


Car and House, Bodie Ghost Town, CA:


Sunrise, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, CA:


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The Racetrack, Death Valley, CA:


Evening Glow, Zion NP, Utah:


Sunrise over Angel's Landing, Zion NP, Utah:


Amphi theatre, Bryce Canyon, Utah:


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Hoodoos in Morning Light, Bryce Canyon, Utah:


Mitten, Monument Valley, Az:


Last Light, Monument Valley, Az:


"John Wayne Point", Monument Valley, Az:


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Walls, Antelope Canyon, Page, Az


Antelope Canyon Glow, Page, Az:


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Must be a subliminal hint. These are the second set of SW pictures I've seen on HBT today. Absolutely amazing what nature can create.

Nice pics! What camera were you using?

arturo7 said:

Nice pics! What camera were you using?

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A Nikon D200 with a buch of light weight lenses (10-20, 17-55, 50-150), Nikkor 300mm f/4, a diGPS (for geocoding the images) and and a lightweight carbon tripod.

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We went through the SW US two summers ago as well. We hit Arches, Bryce, and Zion. It was a wonderful trip. Your pics brought back some nice memories. Thanks for sharing!

Great stuff!

Bernie Brewer said:

We went through the SW US two summers ago as well. We hit Arches, Bryce, and Zion. It was a wonderful trip. Your pics brought back some nice memories. Thanks for sharing!

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We didn't make it to Arches (which I regret). The only time off I could squeeze in last year was 3 wks in july and as you know it is like a baking owen in the SW at that time so we decided to travel Hwy1, see SanFran and leave out some locations in favour for higher altitude/cooler areas. However, I'm planning a revisit at a better time...actually, I'm probably going to Utah to ski this winter (telemark of course:rockin...

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Amazing pics - SWMBO wants me to take a couple of weeks to a month off and drive around the country. Looking at those makes me want to leave tonight.

NWernBrewer said:

Amazing pics - SWMBO wants me to take a couple of weeks to a month off and drive around the country. Looking at those makes me want to leave tonight.

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Thanks. My advice is to Just Do It! We camped a lot (with ultra minimalistic gear) and it shure took its tolls. Since I often get almost manic when it comes to photography I had some pretty early mornings and a fair deal of late nights to try to capture the right light. Good thing we had booked a three day spa resort as a finishing touch (bad thing we ended up breaking up three month later, anyways, but that's another story...).

BTW Washington has some pretty awsome nature too. I've been travelling there too you know...

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Henrik said:

A Nikon D200 with a buch of light weight lenses (10-20, 17-55, 50-150), Nikkor 300mm f/4, a diGPS (for geocoding the images) and and a lightweight carbon tripod.

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Hey the d200 is what i got for graduation for college. I have a 18-200mm lens, but was planning on taking trip to glacier national park. Do you think I need to get a different lens or lenses for the sights up there?

Great pics, Bryce and Zion are some of my fav. places to go. These pic's make me want to go back.

Wow! That is some beautiful photography! Fantastic job. That must have been a fun trip.

G-E-R-M-A-N said:

Hey the d200 is what i got for graduation for college. I have a 18-200mm lens, but was planning on taking trip to glacier national park. Do you think I need to get a different lens or lenses for the sights up there?

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The 18-200 is a great lens -It's like the swiss army knife of lenses. It is really difficult to give advice on camera gear because it all depends on your needs.

In landscape photography you typically use wider angle lenses and small apartures (to get good depth of field) so in that case I'd probably get a tripod and a cable release/remote before spending money on another lense.

If you're into portraits or such I'd get a good quality 50-80mm lens with a wide aperture (say a 50mm f/1.8) that lets you use a very shallow depth-of-field that lets you isolate the subject (blur out everything but the subject).

If you're into street/party or architecture (and also landscapes) I would reccomend an ultra wide angle zoom lense (like the Sigma 10-20). It's great in confined spaces (the Antelope shots where all done with the 10-20). It's my personal favourite.

If you're planning to cary the equipment for extended periods (say hiking up a trail) the weight of the equipment becomes increasingly impotant.

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Ryanh1801 said:

Great pics, Bryce and Zion are some of my fav. places to go. These pic's make me want to go back.

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Thanks! I've been to the SW a couple of times now and like Zion and Bryce more than Grand Canyon.

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I love the picture of half dome, I hiked to the top when I was 12 or so. My GF and friends are going back up there pretty soon.

RichBrewer said:

Wow! That is some beautiful photography! Fantastic job. That must have been a fun trip.

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Thanks! It was probably the best trip ever, actually! The complete itinerary was:

Gear up in LA (and do the tourist traps while treating the jetlag), take Highway 1 to San Fransisco (camp halfway to "shake down" the gear) and do the SF tourist traps, Alcatraz etc, go to Yosemite, Mono Lake, Bodie Ghost Town, Death Valley, Vegas (on the 4:th of july to pick up a US friend), Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley, Page/Antelope Canyon, Vegas (to drop of US friend), Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree and then 3 days at a spa in Newport Beach before going home.

We planned this trip very carefully and with a pretty tight schedule, you never know what will happen so we where prepared to improvise if the planning wouldn't hold up. However, the planning payed off and the only glitch was that my girlfiend got sick in GC.

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sittingturbo said:

I love the picture of half dome, I hiked to the top when I was 12 or so. My GF and friends are going back up there pretty soon.

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Thanks! I would love to hike up there myself. Actually, I got to my photo location a bit too late because there was a traffic accident so I only got a few pics of the dome. Here's another one (also from Glacier Point, taken after sundown with a 10mm wide angle):



The cool thing was that you could see tiny light flashes coming from the vertical side of the dome from time to time - it was climbers getting ready for a sleepover taking pictures of eachoter...

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I'm speechless, those pictures are amazing!