The other night I went up into Canada to meet up with some friends and drive to Nipigon to photograph the fancy suspension bridge that spans the Nipigon River. While I was excited to go, I never thought I would have as much fun photographing the bridge as I did. It is a beautiful piece of architecture, even more so than I was expecting. And, my favorite color is blue so of course I was really attracted to the way the bridge was lit up. We spent most of the night photographing the bridge from all different angles. It was 4 AM by the time I got home and I was exhausted, yet excited because I knew I had captured some really cool images.
Beautifully serene sunset last night over Lake Helen in Nipigon, Ontario. I met up with some friends to photograph the suspension bridge over the Nipigon River after dark, so I was geared up for that and thinking solely about that. I totally was not expecting to have such a fantastic sunset. It was the best of surprises!
Lower Calf Creek Falls in southern Utah is a favorite hike for many, and for good reason. Trails that go to beautifully tall waterfalls are not that common in the desert. I couldn't have chosen a better day to do this hike. It had rained quite a lot over the previous couple of days and the morning I did the hike the riparian zone approaching the waterfall was teeming with bird life and amazingly green. It was a fantastic way to spend the first part of my day!
"In the cathedral of the wild, we get to see the most beautiful parts of ourselves reflected back at us."
-Boyd Varty, author of the book Cathedral of the Wild
Photo: Sunrise in Cathedral Valley - Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Standing around for almost 2 hours in the middle of the night waiting for the clouds to clear paid off. I made this photo in Lower Cathedral Valley of Capitol Reef National Park in the early morning hours of April 28th, 2019. The formation in the foreground is called the Temple of the Moon. When the clouds finally did start to push out they did so in a way that really accented the angle and shape of the Milky Way. I was thrilled to be able to witness and capture such a beautiful scene!
Cathedral Valley... one of my favorite places in the southwest. One of the reasons I like it so much is because you have to travel quite a few miles down a rough dirt road to get there, which keeps the crowds at bay. I was hoping to have a nice clear night sky while I was in the valley, but as I arrived a couple of hours before sunset it wasn't looking too hopeful. Ominous dark storm clouds filled the sky. As day turned to night the wind picked up and lightning flashed in the distance. I was optimistic that as the night progressed the skies would clear.
I found a nice spot to camp on BLM land just outside the Capitol Reef National Park boundary (camping within the park is only allowed in designated campgrounds), crawled into my sleeping bag and set my alarm for 2:00 AM. After a short 5 minute drive over to the Temples of the Sun and Moon, it looked like MAYBE the sky would start to clear. And, after about an hour of standing at the ready behind my tripod, it finally did. A column of clear sky started to develop directly over the Temple of the Moon. It made for fascinating photos with a patchwork of clear sky anchored on the left and right by lingering dark storm clouds. As happens many times with photography, being in the right place at the right time and being prepared paid off.
I found a roadside Zen art installation in Hanksville, Utah and was really drawn in by it. It was immensely intriguing and I spent more time there than I thought I would. It was comprised mostly of metal work. A conglomeration of animals and such made out of various pieces of scrap metal, old machinery and bicycle parts. Inspirational quotes and sayings were peppered throughout on little signs. After spending way more time there than I thought I would, I left with a very deep sense of calm and peace.
The rest of the day was awesome. I did some exploring via Jeep through jaw-droppingly beautiful terrain and did an amazing 10 mile hike in Upper Muley Twist Canyon of Capitol Reef National Park. The hike started out hot and sunny but later on experienced thunderstorms and rain. I sat under a pinyon pine and watched temporary waterfalls cascade down the canyon walls opposite from me.
After the storm passed the air was extremely calm. On the return hike the only sounds were the gentle babbling of running water from the storm, my footsteps and the songs of canyon wrens which seemed to be everywhere. That evening I found a sweet campsite on BLM land on a cedar mesa just west of Capitol Reef. I slept like a baby that night in my Jeep mobile home.
The next morning I sat in my camp chair after eating breakfast and birds were calling everywhere all around me. The sun felt absolutely amazing. I could hear jets fly overhead every few minutes which conjured memories of past trips to California. And I realized how thankful I was to be right where I was at that point in time. There was no place else I would rather be.
A couple of passages that have been floating around in my mind since seeing them on the side of the road in Utah:
"To invite is to receive; to receive is to know; to know is to be."
"You will perceive only what you believe."
