Valley Of Fire & Zion, Nevada and Utah, March 2013: Night Sky, Long Exposure, and Landscape Photos of the Parks
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Title: Our Celestial Blanket Light painting in the dark has its hazards. I've bashed my foot into cacti and tripped over rocks. For this shot, I scratched up both hands light painting this, running into the long branch of a thorny bush. After I finished this photo, I looked down and saw both my hands covered in blood. Whooops! |
Unlike the previous photo, where the moon was threatening the lens but also causing the hills to be silhouettes, here, the moon was to my back, and I did not feel the need to light paint, preferring the moon to caress the rocks with natural light instead. Title: The Memory of Rocks |
I love the red sandstone sculpture, the small arch, and the night eyes created by the moon and a little imagination. Seeing images in the rock is much like lying on your back in the grass and seeing the images in clouds during the day. George felt that the two wind holes looked like eyes looking back at us, so I named this photo "Night Eyes". Title: Night Eyes |
Title: The Cow Pondering the Heavens |
 Title: John Wayne Night SkyInfo: Nikon D7000, Tokina 11-16mm lens. 15 second exposure f/2.8, ISO 800. Illuminated by moon. Taken around 9:23 pm 20 March 2013. Photographer: Ken Lee Location: Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada U.S.A. |
Title: Te Amo en el Cielo Azul |
This is a star trails photo, capturing the movement of the stars. Because I am using the telephoto lens, the movement of the stars is considerably more exaggerated than if I use a wide angle lens. |
Title: Arch Rock Star Trails |
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Although in March the water is very cold - rangers said around 45 degrees (7 C) - they also mentioned that when The Narrows opens back up around mid-June on and on through the summer, the water is considerably higher, and the way crowded. As it saw quite a few people hiking the river already, "considerably more crowded" seemed a bit much to us, so we thought that we would hike up The Narrows next March, renting dry suits such as the ones shown in this photo. We thought that these looked like Star Trek uniforms. However, George commented that the hats reminded him of the Man in the Yellow Hat, which made us rather curious. |
 We also visited Big Bend, where the massive canyon walls makes the Virgin River take an S-shaped curve. And it's also where rock formations such as The Organ and Angels Landing are, their magnificence inspiring these names by the Paiutes. |
 We also hiked up the popular Emerald Pools trail, viewing the Upper Emerald Pools, shown here. The photo looked abnormally red and was in the shade, and looks considerably better in black and white, so I went with that. You can see a man on the very bottom of the photo, giving you an idea of the scale of the towering cliff walls falls above. |
Moon over Zion. |
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Ken's photos of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, as well as photos of Peru, Burma, India, Morocco, China, Thailand,
Ghana, Ecuador, and elsewhere, have appeared in many books, magazines,
websites, and galleries. Visit the
Ken Lee Photography Website. Some of Ken's select photos may be
purchased through his
Imagekind Store. Join the fun and participation on Ken's Facebook Page. |
Valley of Fire State Park, Zion National Park, Nevada and Utah, March 2013
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Wednesday 20 March 2013 continued:
Proverbially licking my wounds from the last photo, I moved on, not very far at all, and saw these magnificent red sandstone rock formations. Valley of Fire is filled with them, seemingly with every turn of the head, with every step. Many wedding photographers choose to shoot out here in Valley of Fire. It's a stunning location.
You'll probably notice that without light painting, I was also shooting much faster, with much of these only a minute or two apart. This rock formation, with its arches and whatnot, looks much like a cow looking up at the stars.
Arch Rock, the rock formation that largely inspired me to take night sky photos this fine Wednesday evening. But there were signs everywhere imploring me not to climb on rocks. And I always obey signs, yes I do, although I so badly yearned to climb up and take photos near the arch. Even George managed to restrain himself, not scrambling up the rocks as he often does.
I did so badly want to get closer to the arch. I thought, "If I can't come to the mountain, I will make the mountain come to me." And so I switched lens to my trusty, tried and true telephoto lens, which I had taken on so many trips before, asking, coaxing it to shoot straight and true one more time. And so it did.
The glorious celestial movements of the night sky, captured in this long exposure photo of the heavens, a total exposure of 27 minutes.
Thursday 21 March 2013:
HIkers returning from Wall Street, hiking up and back through The Narrows, part of the Virgin River. 
In certain parts of Zion National Park, you can see quite a few mule deer. George kept commenting on how large its ears were compared to deer around California.
