travel

WPC: Scale

hawaii, volcano, eruption, big island, kalapana

On my first trip to the big island of Hawaii, we had lucky timing with the volcanic activity. The day before I took this photo, a lava tube broke, and all the lava was now running over the hillside instead of underneath it. I wanted badly to get closer to this spectacle, but the viewing area was roped off, and there was a security patrol to make sure nobody went where they weren’t supposed to go. Or so I thought. The viewing area closed at 10 pm, and at 9:55, three men came walking from the other side of the rope and in plain sight of the guards. None were wearing ranger uniforms, or showing anything indicating authority. I remember thinking “Who are they, and how the hell were they allowed out there?” I couldn’t make it back on this trip, so my thoughts of trying to figure out how to get past the rope were not going to make a difference anyway.

What you are looking at is not the source of the eruption. There was so much lava coming down, that this was where it met the ocean, causing it to shoot up in the air 300-400 feet. It was really hard to fathom the size of this event, and it wasn’t until I looked at the images blown up on the computer screen, that I saw that those men were in a couple of the frames providing a sense of scale.

October 17, 2017 6

Monochrome Madness: MM4-19

Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, Steve Bruno, gottatakemorepix

After having spent most of July in Oregon and Hawaii, I have to admit I’ve been a bit uninspired to head out into the desert. Last week we had a beautiful day that started out with clouds and rain, and I made a relatively unplanned tour through the desert. One of my stops was at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge along the Great Basin Highway. I probably would have seen more wildlife if this hadn’t been towards the middle of the afternoon, but tall shade-providing trees, roads lined with sunflowers and small lakes were enough to soothe the senses. The breezes would occasionally find a lull, and the clouds were just enough to provide a little contrast for my photo here.

You can see this photo on Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness this week. To see what other photographers have contributed, or instructions to join in, please visit her website.

August 31, 2017 2

WPC: Elemental

lava, rainbow, hawaii, national park, steve bruno, gottatakemorepix

My recent trip to Hawaii provided me with the perfect shot for this weeks Daily Post Challenge of Elemental. Earth, air, fire, and water are all there, but you can’t tell that the air is not exactly the best for you from this shot. I probably could have gotten a little closer if this hadn’t been the downwind side. I was fortunate to grab a couple shots before retreating to cooler non-toxic air. In full size images enlarged on my screen, I can see the distortion from the heat.

August 9, 2017 23

Monochrome Madness: MM4-11

Bryce Canyon, National Park, Utah, hoodoos, Steve Bruno, gottatakemorepix

For this week’s Monochrome Madness, the theme is wild. I have been to several places so remote, not even the governing agencies could answer my inquiries as to trail conditions or water reliability. And although these remote places are seldom seen by people, images captured there may not necessarily reflect the feelings of isolation.

Bryce Canyon, the location of my photo, has spots that you can hike to that will give you a feeling of being in a wilderness, but most of the trails will have you hiking side-by-side with a bunch of strangers. Despite that, it is still the wildest looking place I have ever been to. This is my contribution to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness this week. To see what other photographers have contributed, or instructions to join in, visit her website.

July 7, 2017 4

Summer Daze

Nice to have some time to post again. It’s my own fault – I told everyone that I wasn’t going to be available in July, so I’ve pretty much done 3 months work in the last 6 weeks. I haven’t been hiking or touched my camera for non-assignment work in 2 months. Thank God it’s July!

Summer usually doesn’t take its time getting to the desert. This was one of the most comfortable springs on record, but late June doesn’t hold its punches. Record and near record highs occurred for several consecutive days. During this time I happened to be listening to local news when they were talking about people coming to visit here and specifically, Death Valley, to experience the intense heat.

To those of you thinking of visiting for that reason – don’t! There’s a much simpler solution. Instead, turn your oven on to about 200 degrees. (Disclaimer: I don’t know who might be reading this, and don’t want to be contacting my attorney, so electric ovens only, not gas). Next, kneel in front of the oven with your face towards it, ensuring that your head recoils in reaction to the blast of heat. This is what all of us desert dwellers feel every time we step out of our air-conditioned cars and homes in late afternoon this time of year.

If that’s not enough discouragement, don’t visit here for the sake of the earth and our children. Jets fly on less fuel when they’re not carrying as much weight, and the car you’re not renting won’t be putting emissions into the air. Furthermore, you can take some of the money you’ll be saving and donate it to an environmental program that will prevent temperatures from reaching 125 degrees in the future.

For those of you wishing to visit for sane reasons, come on down! The heat wave is gone for now, and it’s almost pleasant again (in the mornings). It will be 103 to 108 every day for the foreseeable future, but most of those days won’t be hot (that’s according to the National Weather Service, see below).

July 2, 2017 5

Day Trip Through Hill Country

While in Texas recently, I had a chance to get away for a day to see if that state had anything to offer this nature photographer. I have been to the Guadalupe Mountains in the far western portion of the state, but much of what I’ve seen has been flat and unphotogenic. My previous most favorable impression of Texas has been the best night sky viewing I’ve seen anywhere.

I had heard about the hill country near Austin and San Antonio, so that’s where I was determined to explore. A cold front blew through the day before, with tornadic activity in the northern part of the state, but I was left with blue skies for the day. Although I prefer clouds and softer light for my photos, I wasn’t going to complain with temperatures that barely hit 70, and almost no humidity.

I tried to research places to check out, but really didn’t see any photos that made stop and say, “Wow, I have to visit there”! I was really disappointed that many of these places didn’t open until 8am. With a sunrise at 6:30, that meant I was going to miss the best light of the morning. My first stop was Guadalupe River State Park. It really wasn’t a planned stop, but the sign said 3 miles, so it seemed a waste not to visit. The river is wider than I expected in this mostly arid environment, with a beautiful green hue to the water. Mostly I was charmed with the older trees along the banks and their beautiful exposed root system. The tiniest of clouds passed briefly in front of the sun, showing me a glimpse of how this place would photograph under softer conditions. That was just a tease, and I did manage a couple photos before realizing it was time to move on.

My next stop was Cave Without A Name. This was a planned stop. There are other caves in the region, but the remoteness made me think I would have a little quieter visit. There were just 5 of us in our little tour, and the staff was very friendly. I expected the usual stalagmites and stalactites that are common to caves, but there were features called “bacon strips” that seemed pretty unusual, and my favorite “the alien”.

I spent more time there than I had anticipated, but given the fact that above ground was midday lighting conditions, that didn’t seem to matter. I was definitely glad with this choice for a visit. Upon my drive out I saw a sign for a local county park. Kreutzberg Canyon Natural Area is on the Guadalupe River, and seemed like a nice place for a picnic, but given the fact that I had stopped previously along this river, and the sun was now too high, I kept my visit brief. I was planning to stop next at Enchanted Rock, but the people at the cave told me it was a popular area and might be closed due to crowd size already. The fact that they didn’t stay open until sunset just reinforced my feeling that this would have to wait for another trip.

After a late lunch stop, I was headed off to my last scouted location, Pedernales Falls State Park. Although none of the photos I had seen had a wow factor, the staff at Cave Without A Name said I would enjoy this place. They were absolutely correct. As I was driving through hill country, I realized I was at the tail end of the spring flower season, but there were still a few left, including these within the park.

My biggest surprise was the overall size of the place and volume of water. These are not tremendous falls, but a series of cascades all distinct from each other.

As I said, the volume of water was not what I expected after the photos I had seen online, and this river has perhaps the best infinity pools I have ever seen. This is the moment I was really wishing for clouds.

There were still a few people around at this point, but not too many. I think this allowed the wildlife to feel at ease returning to the water. The park’s website lists heron and vultures as part of the permanent inhabitants. Even with the telephoto lens, the vultures I saw were too far away to really recognize, but this heron put itself in the most perfect spot to be photographed. The bird was aware of my presence, so I kept my distance until I had many shots that I liked. When I took a couple steps closer, I was able to capture its takeoff.

With that, I was just waiting for the sun to get to the horizon for the soft light I needed for my favorite part of the falls.

May 8, 2017 14

Monochrome Madness: MM3-51

As spring transitions towards summer, cold fronts still pass through the desert, but they rarely contain significant moisture. They always bring a little breeze, and sometimes, a lot. A couple weeks ago we had wind gusts in the 70-80 mph range, and there’s never enough moisture to hold down the sand and dust when those fronts come through. Usually this is landscape photography hell, but if you happen to be in the right spot, you can turn it into opportunity.

My photo was taken in the desert of southern California during one of these spring fronts, and is my contribution to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness. Instructions on how to participate, and the contributions of others can be found on her site.

April 15, 2017 8

Monochrome Madness: MM3-29

A few years ago while I was in San Francisco, I was walking along the bay and the piers. I liked the contrast of this older style paddleboat against the city skyline. I knew I had to work it in b&w to convey this contrast and get the feel I wanted for this shot. The reality is that this boat is not very old and is very much in use today.

This is my contribution to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness this week, with the theme of Travel. You can see the work of other bloggers, as well as instructions on how to join in at her website.

November 3, 2016 7

WPC: Morning

As I developed as a photographer, it was evident that I was becoming more of a morning person. Part of this was due to the fact that I was living in the desert, and hiking and just being outdoors were limited to mornings on many summer days. When I say morning, I really mean from an hour before sunrise to about an hour after sunrise. That’s when the light can be truly amazing.

As I started travelling to the National Parks and other highly popular areas, I really appreciated the diminished (and sometimes lack of) crowds first thing in the morning. I can understand being on vacation and wanting to sleep in, just not if you’re a photographer.

That brings me to my photos for this week’s challenge. I was on vacation in Hawaii with quite a few family members. We had been to this spot the day before, and I just looked at everything and knew I had to come back for a sunrise. Upon returning to our rooms, I said, “I’m going back there first thing in the morning, who wants to join me?” As I expected the answer was pretty much silence.

I arrived at the parking area just before sunrise and took a couple shots before hitting the trail. It was a fairly short trail which descended a couple hundred feet to the beach. It was a very relaxing, almost meditative, morning on a beautiful black sand beach. About an hour later another person came down the trail, and by that time I was ready to head back.

I generally don’t like to wake to an alarm clock, but for occasions like this, I am glad to make exceptions.

August 6, 2016 19

WPC: Narrow

This week’s Daily Post Challenge of Narrow made me immediately think of slot canyons. The most famous (and photographed) one is Antelope Canyon, and you can find thousands of shots from inside the canyon, but have you ever wondered what it looked like from outside? This is lower Antelope Canyon (above), and that narrow crack in the earth is about 50 to 60 feet deeper than what you can see at this spot. Water has worn it smooth all the way, so think of this as the bathtub drain if there’s a thunderstorm nearby.

Not far from Antelope Canyon, even deeper and equally claustrophobic is Paria Canyon, with the branch known as Buckskin Gulch. Once you’ve entered, it remains this narrow for miles, with few escape routes. The drainage continues upcanyon for many miles, and there are logs jammed in a couple spots high above your head to remind you that this is a sunny day hike. If it has flooded recently, you will find this impassible due to quicksand.

A much tighter series of canyons exist in Cathedral Gorge State Park in eastern Nevada. No chance of being caught in a flood here, because these don’t travel very far. In some spots you will have to walk sideways to get through. Without some object providing a sense of scale, this may be difficult to obtain perspective, but I can’t walk through this canyon with my feet side by side.

One place that I find quite unique is this series of canyons at the base of Mount Charleston, Nevada. The canyons themselves are not that narrow or deep, but there is this narrow passage from one canyon to the next one.

July 31, 2016 14

Window Seat VII: Earth or Mars?

eroded mesas, Painted Desert, northern Arizona, Steve Bruno

Well, the obvious answer is Earth, but several locations I’ve flown across bear resemblances to sci-fi movie settings. These are all desert locations, so it probably helps that I fly in and out of Las Vegas. This also means we’re still at an altitude low enough to see great detail.

Mojave Desert, patterns, aerial, Arizona, Steve Bruno — Textures of the Mojave Desert

desert hills, southern Arizona, aerial, Steve Bruno — Hills in the desert of southern Arizona

Mountains near Lake Mead at sunset, aerial, Arizona, Steve Bruno — Mountains near Lake Mead at sunset

Desert ridges by stormlight outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, Steve Bruno — Desert ridges by stormlight outside of Las Vegas

Wash patterns, northwestern New Mexico, Steve Bruno — Wash patterns, northwestern New Mexico

Craters Near Flagstaff, Arizona, aerial, Steve Bruno — Craters Near Flagstaff

Desert Dunes near Death Valley, aerial, Steve Bruno — Desert and dunes near Death Valley

June 17, 2016 10

Window Seat VI: Where Water Meets Land

Atlantic Ocean, Florida, Islands, Steve Bruno

Although most of the flights I have taken in the US are entirely over land, there are times when the direct route veers over the ocean or other larger bodies of water. The contrast can make for striking compositions. It’s interesting that ocean currents seem to appear in photos from above, as in the top image, taken off the west coast of Florida. I don’t know my bearings off the mid-Atlantic so well, but I think the next shot was over the Chesapeake Bay, where patterns on the water also show up.

Rivers dissecting the land make great subjects, especially where they cut a sinuous course. This one, the Mississippi River shortly after takeoff from New Orleans, has those moments, but is more like a boating superhighway here.

Sometimes flights make it over the meeting of two water sources, such as this one from the edge of the Great Salt Lake, Utah.

June 1, 2016 4

Steve Bruno Photo

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