Window Seat
For this week’s challenge, I’m going back into my Calgary files and presenting three views of the Calgary Tower. The building is a rather tall and an impressive sight, but the further back you get, it just seems to get dwarfed by the rest of the city.
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “From Every Angle.”
The challenge this week is half-and-half, and as I was looking through my photos I came across some lake shots. Those were mostly reflections, not two halves. Then I came across this one, half water (with some rock), half sky. This was sunrise from the island of O’ahu.
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Half and Half.”
In response to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge-Three or the number 3
I have a trio of images for this challenge. The featured photo is called the Three Sisters, which are three detached pinnacles at the end of a mesa in Monument Valley, Arizona.
The next shot is of three elk resting in a meadow near the Lumpy Ridge Trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. I did manipulate this one a bit in Photoshop to emphasize the elk.
For the third image, I take you to sunset on the Atlantic Ocean at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This would be called “Three Palms”.
While driving between Phoenix and Payson, Arizona a number of years back, I came across this roadside sign. “Opening Soon” was a relatively loose term here.
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Off-Season.”
I’ve flown enough out of McCarran Airport to know the flight patterns towards every corner of the US, and earlier this month on my flight to Houston, we definitely started off course. I figured the pilot would make an adjustment, but we seemed to stay further south than all the previous flights to the southeast. I was enjoying the slight change of scenery, and one of the first things to get my attention was patterns of the Mojave Desert (above). As we approached Flagstaff, I knew we were still on a southern course because the San Francisco Peaks were visible out the left side windows. They had just received a late spring coating of snow. The Arizona Snowbowl looked as though they could still have been skiing, but I’m sure it was past season. 
The next feature to come into view was Meteor Crater. It’s really hard to grasp the scale of the crater from the air, but perhaps the tiny roads will help. 
There wasn’t much to see after that, until descending into Houston. The brownness of west Texas gave way to the patchwork of agricultural land and the greenery and waterways of the much more humid environment we were about to touch down upon. 
Then something very red appeared on the horizon. Amidst all that green, it was hard to miss. After zooming in on the computer screen, I can see that it is a manufacturing facility for heavy equipment. 
And then, finally, welcome to Houston. 
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “On the Way.”
If you travel at all, you will eventually come across something broken and abandoned. It’s in our nature, being so much easier to just leave something behind once it has outlived its usefulness.
Here in the US, cars seem to be a popular item to dispose of once they are broken. I have encountered numerous cars and trucks left for nature to swallow up. It’s sad when someone determines that the cost to tow and repair a vehicle outweighs the value of said vehicle.
Some things would require far more effort and cost to remove once they become broken. This mining operation, above, would be a perfect example of that. I’m sure it was perfectly functional when the people decided to move on, probably because they had exhausted the material they were mining. Nature eventually reclaims everything, and is slowly working her magic on this remnant of civilization.
Other examples of broken: a broken rainbow 
a broken down ranch grain tower 
canyon walls broken from rockslide 
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Broken.”
I’ve hiked many miles, and early on I discovered I preferred canyon hikes over those on a mountaintop or ridgeline. It’s not just about having shade or water, but more of the adventure of coming around a corner and being amazed with something unexpected. And while canyon exploring tops my list, some canyons are more memorable. Those are the ones where the skies disappear and I might have to take off the pack and step sideways for a moment or two. At that point, it’s hard not to feel enveloped in the land. Sometimes it’s challenging to find an angle to photograph these spots, because there’s no moving around for a better angle, and looking up just yields a washed out image. Whether it’s a slot canyon or just another thin slit in the earth’s crust, sunlight rarely penetrates to the bottom. If it does, the contrast is too much, so the best light is often reflected sunlight.
Here are some of my favorite places to become enveloped:
Top: small side canyon in Zion National Park, Utah
Second: Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona
Third: Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada
Fourth: unnamed canyon in Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Enveloped.”
First off, I would like to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day.
The photograph above was taken when I took my mother along with her mother on a several day excursion around northern Arizona and southern Utah. My mom has joined me a couple times since, but it was the only time for my grandmother. I kept the trip very ‘touristy’, and we all had an enjoyable time. Thank you, mom – for everything you’ve done for me and wanting to see my world.
Now, about the title. This photo was taken in July, 1983 when the waters of Lake Powell were at historically high levels. Winter snows had been abundant, and the temperatures stayed cool well into spring. Then, over a period of about a week, summer decided to move in. Although the authorities knew how much snowpack was in the upper Colorado River Basin, they hadn’t anticipated it melting this quickly. As they released water from the spillways of Glen Canyon Dam, they were losing ground to the inflow at the upper end of Lake Powell.
The spillways had never been worked extensively until 1983. They were run before for testing purposes, but never at full capacity. After a couple days, people noticed that the dam was vibrating. Engineers below the dam had observed chunks of concrete with rebar being ejected with water from the spillways. Water flows had to be cut back so as to not damage the spillways any further, and plywood sheets were attached to the top of the dam to potentially hold back the rising waters of Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation contends that the dam was never in danger during this period. I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure a 710 foot high dam holding back trillions of gallons of water, which was now vibrating, was headed for disaster had they maintained the flows. After the floodwaters receded, repairs were performed on the spillways which ended up going full throttle again the following year.
Needless to say, there is still a Lake Powell. If the Sierra Club had their way, we wouldn’t. The organization fought the initial construction of the dam, and has even made recent campaigns for its removal. It was around 2000-2001 when I remember seeing billboards around Phoenix where the Sierra Club was asking to ‘restore’ Glen Canyon. This falls under the category of ‘be careful what you wish for’. In 2005, several years of drought had brought the lake levels down 150 feet. Parts of the canyon that hadn’t been seen in over 30 years were now accessible. Forecasts are still predicting long-term drought, and this is something we may see again. For now, if you want to see what it was like pre-Glen Canyon Dam, check out the book “The Place No One Knew” with the photographs of Eliot Porter.
A little closer to present day we have the photograph below, taken in 1996. I had no intentions of duplicating the above photo. In hindsight, I wish I had taken one from near the same spot. If I had turned the camera the other way, you wouldn’t see much water. A small trickle and some pools in the creek bottom, and that was it. This time I hiked in, on what is one of my favorite hikes in the southwest. That’s Rainbow Bridge spanning the horizon.
During my travels, I would inevitably encounter other photographers once in a while. One such meeting took place in Yellowstone. This photographer had a small portfolio that she carried in her vehicle. As we came across one photo, I stopped and questioned “Ooh, where’s that spot?” I had seen pix of that location before and had been dying to figure out where it was. Hesitantly, she began her spiel about how she didn’t know me and that this was a sacred location, and the person that took her there was a longtime trusted friend. Blah, blah, blah.
Did she think I was going to trash the place? Take my photos then tag the place like a gang member? Or was it just plain insecurity that I might go there and get better photos than her? Our conversation didn’t continue much longer, but she hinted it was near Zion National Park and only inspired me to find that location regardless of whether I was going to get any help.
On a previous effort to get a photographer acquaintance to reveal this spot, I was given the line “That was a five day backpack to get there carrying 100 pounds of equipment.” I think I unwittingly did my best teenager ‘whatever’ impression, because he stopped just short of telling me he had to cut off his sherpas’ tongues so they wouldn’t speak of this sacred land.
I did find the spot about a year later. You can get there and back in a day, not five. My first time there was a beautiful day for photographing and at one point Air Force One flew over. I’m pretty sure it was AF1 because I’ve never seen that many F-16’s escorting one airliner before (or since). This guarded location, in case you’re wondering, is known as Coyote Buttes. You now need a permit to gain access there because a video showing how to get to this location got posted to the internet once upon a time. These permits are available to those who can click at the precise seconds they become available each day for 6 months down the road. Or, you can go into the Kanab, UT BLM office and join many others in the lottery drawing for the next day’s permits. Videos of this are also available on Youtube!
In my initial meeting at Arizona Highways Magazine with then-photo editor Wes Holden, I had an image of what turned out to be Wes’ favorite spot to get away from it all. He admitted he loved the shot, but would be hesitant to run it because the place might get destroyed because of publicity. It was a waterfall, and waterfall locations are pretty rare in Arizona, so I could see his point. A couple years later I submitted the photo for a stock call and gave the place a very generic location in the title, which is exactly how it appeared in the magazine.
Some places just grew in popularity as the population has grown. Arches National Park would be a perfect example of that. Bryce and Zion used to garner all the attention for Utah’s parks and were often promoted with the Grand Canyon. Utah placing Delicate Arch on its license plate may have increased the attention on Arches NP more than any other event. Try getting a shot of the arch without any people in front of it nowadays!
When it comes to the internet, it’s almost impossible to keep anything secret. I’ve been known to pass along locations to people who I feel will respect the place, photographer or not. I am hesitant to post photos on the web that were taken in relatively unknown locations. When I do, it’s because I don’t think there’s a chance anybody will actually find it.
Photographers are supposed to be creative people, yet we seem to want to photograph spots that have been covered before. I was working with a book publisher once who put out a stock call to many photographers for images of the national parks. In his summary of all the work he viewed, he said to me “You guys all seem to end up at the same places. It just comes down to who got there at the right time.”
When I was starting out, often I would go to famous spots and try to capture images similar to what I had seen. I soon figured out the images of mine that were getting published were the places I had gotten a completely different take on. I had signed on with a stock agency, and would try to shoot with them in mind. One day I went in for a visit and explained I had some free time. I inquired about locations that might help sales and was told they could always use some more material on Sedona. Shortly afterward, I went to Sedona and spent several days getting some nice shots and then had the film processed. I went back to the agency, where they said, “Well, these are nice, but what we really meant was Red Rock Crossing. People always call for Sedona, and say they want something different, but end up choosing a shot of Red Rock Crossing.” For those of you unfamiliar with Sedona, Red Rock Crossing is the iconic image where the creek crosses in front of a large distinct sandstone butte. Elvis Presley and John Wayne both filmed there.
The creative side of me felt like I was just stabbed with a knife. The business side said “If someone wants to pay money for shots like that, it may as well be coming my direction.” I learned a lot from the person in charge of that agency and it definitely helped my sales. I still practice the policy from that lesson – when I go to a location I make sure I have several shots of the most famous feature, then I shoot for the unique features or details.
In my days as a photography student, there was a joke about a famous photographer whose tripod landed in the same three holes in the ground every time he revisited a location. It seemed very funny back then, but is something I have done on occasion since. When I find a spot that works but the light isn’t happening, I will return to (hopefully) capture it in the right situation. In my observations of other photographers, I have seen a lot of people drawn to the same spot as though there was a subliminal whisper in the air saying “Stand here – point camera this way – click now”. Maybe places like Red Rock Crossing and Coyote Buttes are just a way we have of connecting with each other “Oh, you saw that…..I saw that, too. Here’s my take on it.”
Stay Creative!
Steve Bruno Photo 
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