2016 TOUR OF CALIFORNIA - STAGE 1

This past Sunday San Diego hosted the first stage of the Tour of California Bicycle Race. The Amgen Tour of California is a Tour de France-style cycling road race created and presented by AEG that challenges the world's top professional cycling teams to compete along a demanding course that traverses hundreds of miles of California's iconic highways, byways and coastlines each spring. The teams chosen to participate have included Olympic medalists, Tour de France contenders and World Champions. Amgen Tour of California is listed on the international professional cycling calendar. This was the first year that San Diego was a host city though the race has gone through the county in the past.

As the course came very close to our home, I, and a neighbor, went out to watch. Of course, I took my camera with me, and had picked out a location at the bottom of a hill with a turn for some good action shots. This day’s race was 108 miles in length. When they passed us they had completed about 80 miles of the race.

The leading group had a very short lead of about 1 minute. I was not able to capture pictures of the leaders as they were blocked by police and race committee motorcycles. There were about 12 riders in this lead group.

Here They Come

The peloton, or main group of riders quickly followed. This is a compact group of the rest of the riders. This second group consisted of about 130 riders. As they made the turn onto Mission Gorge Road all I could do was hold the camera still and shoot in continuous mode. 

The total viewing time of the race where we were was about 1 minute and 15 seconds!!

ARIZONA SPRING 2016 - DAY NINE

  WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30^TH  


We had an early morning before breakfast shoot back at White Pocket. Once again we were out before sunrise, and today actually had some early sunlight. Our guide stayed back in camp collapsing tents, and preparing for our departure.  Breakfast was one consisting of breakfast bake goods, some fruit, yogurt, and  camp coffee.

Red Rock Waves

Swirling Rocks

After our return to Page, we were off to Canyon X. This is another slot canyon with limited access as it is on Navajo land and is monitored by the family that owns that area. As we entered the Canyon there was a great horned owl who oversaw the entry way. The canyon is relatively short but quite high so again it was a new experience and of course the light played differently on this day.

Great Horned Owl

Canyon X Sculpture

Canyon X Ceiling

Canyon X Keyhole

 
We enjoyed a Navajo Frybread Taco before checking into our hotel. After a brief rest break we were off to “The Fins” for sunset. This area is quite close to Page, and once again shows the diversity of the geology found around here. As you can see we had a good time trying to capture the “fins”.

Sandy Swirls

Claret Cup Cactus

Layers of Fins

Looking Up

A Look into the Fins

Afterwards we returned to Big John’s BBQ in Page for dinner.

The original schedule had us going to Desert View, Grand Canyon, for sunrise the next morning. Well I think I prevailed when I suggested we not do that as it was about a two hour drive from Page, and then afterwards we had a good ten to twelve hour drive home via Phoenix. (Sunrise would have been at about 0530 which would have meant we would need to leave Page by 0330!!) It would have made for a very long day, and we were all tired by then. As it was we were up and on our way by about 0630.We got home after about a 12 hour drive at 7 p.m.

It was a great trip, with many different photo adventures and experiences. As always, it was good to get home and unwind, and review and relive the trip through the pictures.

Happy Trails to all.

ARIZONA SPRING 2016 - DAY EIGHT

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 (DAY 8)
The wind continued to blow through the night, and the temperature dropped. We had some precipitation during the night and I thought it was rain! Well, my thought processes were slightly befuddled, as when I emerged from the tent I discovered that we had had about an half inch of snow, and it was still snowing!! I looked forward to photographing with snow as an element in the pictures.

The Photographer Setting Out

This area is a photographers dream in that there are so many different composition possible. I spent almost three hours just wandering around and creating different compositions. 

Snowy Stepping Stones

Snow and Swirl

Snow Island in Sandstone

Finally we called it a morning and returned to our campsite for some breakfast and coffee. We then relaxed and took a nap until early afternoon when we once again went out with our cameras.
The afternoon was not as windy and the sun prevailed allowing for some more images. In hindsight I wish I had moved on more to another area for some different views. I know that I never made it to an area which I had visited two years ago. It was still lot of fun.

Geology Study

The Inner Ear

Sandstone Swirl

Red Lion

Swirls and Hills

Lollipop Rock

A Pathway

Swirls and Cone

ARIZONA SPRING 2016 - DAY SEVEN

MONDAY, MARCH 28^TH  

This morning we were the second group to Horseshoe Bend, and there were only six of us there to start. Gradually more people showed up but there was no crowd.
This is an iconic view of the bend of the Colorado River as it flows through Northern Arizona just East of Page, AZ. As you can see it is a challenge photographically because of the deep canyon and the sun having to get down to the river level. Because of the extreme contrast between the bright canyon edge on the top and the river it makes for a good reason to try HDR, shooting for a high dynamic range. I did this and do like the results. Remember that the human eye can see a range of about 11 stops of light, while a camera in a single shot can only expose for about 5 stops of light, from black to white. By using the HDR software the image can record about twelve stops of light. 

Horseshoe Bend, AZ

After enjoying the view as the sun starts to descend into the canyon, we headed back for breakfast. We then packed our gear for the minimum needed for a two night camp out, and headed back to Secret Canyon for another chance to shoot it. This morning it became over cast and did not portend a good shoot in the slot. Generally you want full sun, almost directly overhead for this type of shooting. We were going to cancel the tour but the owner offered us the time for only the lost deposit. So … we took off again for Secret Canyon. 

Secret Canyon 28-20

Secret Canyon 28-31

Secret Canyon 28-41

Secret Canyon 28-49

Secret Canyon 28-57

Secret Canyon 28-58

Back in Page, we transferred to my car and headed out to meet our guides to White Pocket, Grand Staircase Discovery Tours.
White Pocket is a sandstone area in the Vermillion Cliffs area of Northern Arizona. It is full of many different formations and swirls. It is reached by four wheel drive as there are areas of low clearance, and soft sand to be navigated. (My first visit to it in 2013 we had to help a foreign couple out of the soft sand in their rented sedan.) 

After an almost two hour drive to White Pocket we tumbled out of the car and set about establishing our campsite. We each were given a tent, a thick air mattress, and two sleeping bags for our comfort. It was quite windy but soon we were all set to go explore the area with cameras, tripods, jackets, and gloves. 

White Pocket 28-59

Pedestal, White Pocket

Sundae Swirl 1

Sundae Swirl 2

Sundae Swirl w. Whipped Cream

Back in camp we enjoyed a warming camp stew and cornbread. After dinner it was time to get in out of the wind, set up our tents for sleeping and “hit the hay”.

ARIZONA SPRING 2016 - DAY SIX

SUNDAY, MARCH 27^th

  This morning we originally headed for Horseshoe Bend Overlook for sunrise. Well, it was Easter morning and the overlook was over filled with viewers at 0430, about an hour before sunrise. We decided to move on to Lake Powell for our photography. We chose an area East of the Dam where we were the only ones there. We spent two hours wandering about and finding pictures. Some could be said to be macro, a lot show the geology of the area, and one shows a big view of Glen Canyon Dam and it’s infrastructure. 

Shoreline, Lake Powell

Shoreline Formation

Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge

 Which do you prefer, 1 or 2??

Desert Primrose

 

Desert Primrose 2

Sandstone Detail

Which do you prefer, 1 or 2??Mid-day today was devoted to exploring and photographing Secret Canyon. Secret Canyon is a slot canyon located on Navajo land with only private access.   A slot canyon is a narrow canyon, formed by the wear of water rushing through rock. It is significantly deeper than it is wide.

Secret Canyon 68

Secret Canyon -70

Secret Canyon 71

Secret Canyon 72

Secret Canyon 75

We, the four of us and our guide, had the canyon to ourselves for about two hours. We all had a grand time choosing different compositions of the swirling red sandstone.

Secret Canyon 77

Secret Canyon 79

Secret Canyon 89

Secret Canyon 91

In the evening we went off to the Toadstools for sunset. As you can see the formations do look like toadstools. While there we came across another photographer, Gary Ladd, who lives in Page. I know Gary from rafting the Colorado River with him, and seeing him around the North Rim, Grand Canyon. 

Once again, it is a small world.

Toadstool

Toadstools and Sunset Sky