Valley Of The Gods

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Little by little I'm starting to get my hands on my shootout and post-shootout collection from this May. Here's a bundle I processed this night.

In the heart of South Utah lies hot, dry and mysterious Valley Of The Gods.

At first glance it may not look like much:

However pretty soon you start noticing magnificent statues:

Made of oh-so-typical-Utah red stone:

They are everywhere:

The road goes on and on:

And you can see new formations on every turn:

And under every bush:-)

It's really hard to pick up the best, there are so many:

Hope you liked the virtual trip!

:

The gallery is here: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/1662131

Gallery comes with the EXIFs, but just in case, these shots were taken with Canon 30D, EF-S 10-22 and EF-S 17-85 IS USM. Processed in ACR (no PS itself at all:-)

Cheers! :1drink

USAIR · July 13, 2006

Looks like a very cool place to shoot Nik
Not too much landscape like that round here
The last two are awesome photos

Fred

anwmn1 · July 13, 2006

Nice series of shots Nik. Do you plan on doing an B&W conversions?

Aaron

Seefutlung · July 13, 2006

Wow what a great landscape location. I'd like to see a couple of these in B&W or sepia.

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Thanks, Fred!

USAIR wrote:

Looks like a very cool place to shoot Nik
Not too much landscape like that round here
The last two are awesome photos

Fred

It is a very cool (or, in fact, *hot* :-) place, I agree.
However, it's a rather remote one, and you need to visit it many, many times to get the good angle at a good light.. I would assume it can be great in the winter, too. It's just in the middle of nowhere..

On a plus side, there are tons of lodging places in the vicinity, people are very friendly and the food is great. Just don't expect any Starbucks' lattes or veal medallions

. Instead, be ready for a nice 20oz steak and a glass of ale..

Cheers!

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Thanks, Aaron!

anwmn1 wrote:

Nice series of shots Nik. Do you plan on doing an B&W conversions?

Aaron

Appreciate your stopping by!

As to B&W - I was not..

I was kinda liking the deep blue sky and the all sort of shades of red, with the occasional greens. But now that you guys mentioned it I may look into it..

:

Cheers!

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Thanks!

Seefutlung wrote:

Wow what a great landscape location. I'd like to see a couple of these in B&W or sepia.

It's a great place, totally!

Interesting that you and Aaron thought of B&W here.
I'm just curious - why? What made you think of B&W and sepia, apart from the bare fact that they are two common conversions

I personally was so attracted to the primary colors of the scene (red stone, blue sky, green flora) that I did not even look into that direction...

wolfies · July 13, 2006

Nikolai,

I agree the contrast and colors make these pictures pop. Great work they bring back my trucking days.

Seefutlung · July 13, 2006

For moi, the color doesn't add much except in #3 and #6 (apart from the blue sky). To me the photo isn't about color but these incredible monuments to wind and rain and time. One of feelings I get is that this is a very isolated, almost spooky (haunting) place ... a place that the Gods did reach down and pile up rock and soil into these formations.

I think that B&W/sepia would add much more drama to the shots. The viewer would concentrate more on pure rock formations and not the color. The B&W could be punched up more vis-a-vis contrast and burning in without compromising the image. IMO B&W would say more about isolation, haunting and time than color.

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Thanks!

wolfies wrote:

Nikolai,

I agree the contrast and colors make these pictures pop. Great work they bring back my trucking days.

Glad it brought you some good memories!

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Interesting observation...

Seefutlung wrote:

For moi, the color doesn't add much except in #3 and #6 (apart from the blue sky). To me the photo isn't about color but these incredible monuments to wind and rain and time. One of feelings I get is that this is a very isolated, almost spooky (haunting) place ... a place that the Gods did reach down and pile up rock and soil into these formations.

I think that B&W/sepia would add much more drama to the shots. The viewer would concentrate more on pure rock formations and not the color. The B&W could be punched up more vis-a-vis contrast and burning in without compromising the image. IMO B&W would say more about isolation, haunting and time than color.

I can see your point, thank you very much for the explanation!
I think I will revisit this series and see what can be done in b&w or duotone..

anwmn1 · July 13, 2006

Nikolai wrote:

It's a great place, totally!

Interesting that you and Aaron thought of B&W here.
I'm just curious - why? What made you think of B&W and sepia, apart from the bare fact that they are two common conversions
I personally was so attracted to the primary colors of the scene (red stone, blue sky, green flora) that I did not even look into that direction...

Seefutlung pretty much summed it up.

I recently shot Window Rock, Painted Desert, and Petrified Forest which have a similar terrain and converted several pictures. Though there was great colors in the sandstone, the formations themselves make for great b&w.

Of your pics I would like to see b&w would be 2, 4, 6, and 8. Nothing against odd #'s it just works out that way.

Link to my above mentioned trip.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=37831

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Aaron,

anwmn1 wrote:

Seefutlung pretty much summed it up.

I recently shot Window Rock, Painted Desert, and Petrified Forest which have a similar terrain and converted several pictures. Though there was great colors in the sandstone, the formations themselves make for great b&w.

Of your pics I would like to see b&w would be 2, 4, 6, and 8. Nothing against odd #'s it just works out that way.

Link to my above mentioned trip.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=37831

Thanks again, I see your guys' point..

BTW, I have a question about this image of yours (nice series, btw:-):

It looks exactly like a place where an old (1969) western "Mackenna's Gold" was shot.
Where is this? Can you get down there to the canyon floor, too? Do you have a color version of this shot?
Thanks!

anwmn1 · July 13, 2006

Nikolai wrote:

Thanks again, I see your guys' point..

BTW, I have a question about this image of yours (nice series, btw:-):

It looks exactly like a place where an old (1969) western "Mackenna's Gold" was shot.
Where is this? Can you get down there to the canyon floor, too? Do you have a color version of this shot?
Thanks!

You are correct about Mackenna's Gold. It was the only movie ever shot in Canyon De Chelly (pronounced shea). I met a local Indian at one of the viewpoints that hand makes Indian flutes. Really amazing work and he plays some amazing music on those flutes. I had to buy one of his cd's. Anyways, he told me the story about the movie and it was shot entirely in the canyon and the only movie ever allowed to be filmed in the canyon (his family owns most of the land).
You can get to the bottom via a jeep tour or hire an indian guide. The tours run $130 for 1-3 people up to 3hrs and a guide costs $20 per hour. You can hike or drive yuor own 4x4 to the bottom but you have to have a guide. The only exception is the White Horse Trail which is a 2.6 roundtrip hike to view the ruin in my series. It was hot and I had my 6 yr old son so I didn't hike to the bottom, just shot a few pics from the opposite cliff.

As far as a color version, I don't. This was one of my mistakes, I had switched to shooting in Monotone to get a better idea of how the canyon would look in b&w, and of course I failed to change it back. Oh well, lesson learned. I will be going back up in beginning of the fall or winter to shoot Bryce, Zion, Antelope Canyon, The Wave, and Monument Valley, so I might as well stop here again too.

The following link has the most information about the area.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/canyon_de_chelly/national_monument.html

Nikolai · July 13, 2006

Aaron,
Thanks, man, I just luuuve that movie..

I have found a color version for ya:-)

As to your future trip - you gonna have a blast (but you probably know that already:-). We made a similar (slightly longer) trip this May.

A piece of advice: do not get all thrifty, and reserve a photography tour in Antelope. It's well worth it. Also make sure you get a good tripod and remote trigger (and don't plan on changing lenses in case you have a (d)SLR). Some cover may also help - Ed (Hughes) had to send his 20D to a service center after this place. Typical shutter speed is between 10 and 30 sec (at ISO 100 and f/10), so you will need a good tripod, opt for one that can get very low (especially if you can frame a shot from down there, with an AngleFinder, ZigView or a tilting LCD).

erich6 · July 13, 2006

Great shots Nik. I like the last one the best. Colors are nice but I agree with the others that the B&W may work out better. I think the color would be better if you had low sun angle (dusk/dawn setting).

arroyoshark · July 14, 2006

Nice images. Was through there in April, myself.

Did you drive up the Moki Dugway, also?

Nikolai · July 14, 2006

Thanks, Erich!

erich6 wrote:

Great shots Nik. I like the last one the best. Colors are nice but I agree with the others that the B&W may work out better. I think the color would be better if you had low sun angle (dusk/dawn setting).

I will try b/w, I promise :-)

Low sun angle... It's coming:-) I might have a *few* shots from the sunset over there

Nikolai · July 14, 2006

Thanks!

arroyoshark wrote:

Nice images. Was through there in April, myself.

Did you drive up the Moki Dugway, also?

Well, then you've seen it for urself...

And yes, we went through the whole thing, from top to bottom:-)

Cheers!

Valley Of The Gods

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