Fives

I have a ranking system for my photographs.
One is dreadful- I only keep these if they are old sentimental pictures.
Two is bad- I only keep these if they are for study purposes
(for example, a building in Europe I am researching).
Three is fine. Most of my photos are threes.
There's nothing wrong with a three, but there's nothing special either.
A four is a good photo-- very nice, good light, good expression, etc.
A five means "I would enter this in a photo contest."
I am rigorous with my self-ranking,
and I rarely give out fives.
It has to be a pretty spectacular photo to get a five.
But on my last trip to Canyonlands,
I got several fives.
All of the above are 'fives'
and were taken shortly after sunrise
at Musselman Arch on the White Rim Road
(I got up way before dawn to drive out there,
so I am pleased that my efforts paid off!!)

Tuscany Color

Amazing Tuscany Views

Tuscany truly is gorgeous.

England and the Picturesque

This small village of Dunster had everything.
Charming fields, nice walks,
cute thatched cottages,
pretty gardens.
I love rural England.

Cheddar Gorge

These are a few views of the famous 'Cheddar Gorge.'
There are caves there and cool cliffs.
It is a very pretty drive,
although only a few miles long.
The photos don't do the narrowness of the road justice-
at times the road just squeezes down and the cliffs squeeze in.
Other than that it looks a great deal like Logan canyon back home...

Evening in Monument Valley

Our trip into Monument Valley on a jeep tour had a mixture of cloud and sun.
Above: one of the Mittens formations, in nice evening light.
Below: John Ford Point (with Navajo 'cowboy') under clouds.

Even cloudy and backlit can be potentially interesting,
though we weren't getting the Typical Postcard Views.

The road itself was beautiful.
I hope they never pave it.

Perfect Christmas Snow

Up at Bear Lake we had lovely snow for Christmas.
Driving down Logan Canyon was also very Christmas-y.
The snowmobiles had evidently been out enjoying themselves,
and the plows had huge heaps of snow by the sides of the road--
taller than my parents' heads, as you can see in the photo--
and the trees looked all flocked.
Best, however, were the ice crystals that had formed on the snow surface:

I'm glad I got some pretty Christmas snow at Bear Lake,
because it had been raining down at lower elevations
and the snow was mostly gone except for a patch here and there.
It rained again today.
Sigh.

Tuscan Countryside

These are not the best pictures,
taken from a moving bus
with cloudy light,
but you can get a sense of the quality of the countryside.
It is very hilly, of course,
but I had envisioned vines everywhere.
Not so: mostly cereals are grown
(our guide said maize corn, primarily)
and the fields have been plowed for winter,
giving them a very stark look.
The roads wind across the tops of the hills,
following the old Etruscan road systems
(the Romans built in straight lines, up and over hills regardless).
Along the way there are many former farm houses
with long driveways lined by tall cypresses.
Apparently the more cypresses one has,
the greater prestige of the property:

This last picture was taken near the restaurant where we stopped for lunch,
so it is of somewhat better quality.
It shows the "crete", the dry rough terrain around Siena,
that is very hard to farm.
There are ravines and ruggednesses
that remind me of the South Dakota badlands.
Apparently the "crete" shows up a lot in art landscapes.
You can see it beneath the little town crowning the hillside.

More Hike Views

Autumn Morning

I went hiking today-- and I am so glad I did!
My sister and I went up to Stewart Falls.
The leaves were just gorgeous.

Golden Tree

Just Before Sunset

WOW.

A Reason to Get Up Early

I love the Alpine Loop.

Dedicated photographers

This is actually a double portrait:
my brother (as a "shadowbox")
and me in the background.
I am kneeling to photograph a blossoming yucca
(you have to enlarge the photo, but I am there!)

Worth the Wait

For about five years now I have tried to get out to White Sands for backcountry camping on a full moon night. The first time I tried it we were stormed out; after that plans kept falling through, but this June is actually happened.
And it was SO worth it.
All the tediousness of detail planning paid off.

It was a gorgeous evening with beautiful light and blooming yuccas (my favorites!) and a big beautiful moon shining on the sands, and then in the morning, moonset with sunrise glow on the dunes. I was in photographers' paradise.
And I definitely want to go back!

Swim, anyone?

One may swim in the pool below Calf Creek falls.
One MAY, but it is mighty cold.
I have only been in water that cold once or twice.
I do belong to the toe-dipping, gradually immersing school of bathers,
and this pool took awhile to get up to my neck.
It was pretty breathtaking once I did.
But, having worn my swimsuit under my clothes while hiking,
I was not going to waste the opportunity for a wilderness bathe!
The photos have to be enlarged to see my face,
grimacing from the cold,
as I swim a few strokes.

There was a definite plus: hiking back, I stayed nice and cool.
(Thank goodness for modern fabric developments;
it was great to wear a wet swimsuit beneath my nifty REI hiker-designed pants but it would have been miserable beneath jeans.)