Elephant Rocks Photo

Photographer’s Note

This was shot this morning, very early, while I was on my way to work. Of course, today I had to go about 100 miles south of St. Louis to visit with one of my more remote employees, give him some good news. He will be promoted!

Anyway, I figured this would be an optimum time to get a sunrise shot of these rocks. This place is Elephant Rocks State Park. It is kind of on the way to Farmington, Missouri, if you take a back road or two.

The web site says "Imagine giant granite rocks standing end-to-end like a train of circus elephants. That's what you'll see at Elephant Rocks State Park. About 1.5 billion years ago, hot magma cooled forming coarsely crystalline red granite, which later weathered into huge, rounded boulders. Standing atop a granite outcrop, one of the largest elephant rocks, Dumbo, tops the scales at a whopping 680 tons!

I was the only person in the park, in fact, it wasn't even supposed to be open for about two hours yet, so I couldn't put a person next to them for scale. They are huge.

Anyway, I have to get to bed - I have more stuff to do tomorrow, too!

Have a great weekend, I hope to get some time Sunday to communicate to all of you who have communicated with me in the past day or so!

meltemi, phwall, johannes68 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rgarrigus (0) 2009-04-17 23:44

Hi Reed,

I guess I might not have expected this type geology in Missouri but there it is. You went here for the perfect light buddy. The warm light hitting them from the side brings out the very best color and texture - but you knew that. You've composed it perfectly to give pride of place to the sunlit stones and used that crack in the foreground to direct our attention. I wonder if a 1-2 stop grad might have lightened the foreground a tiny bit?

Have a great weekend buddy!

Bob G.

meltemi (9746) 2009-04-18 1:22

Hello Reed,
perfect point of view, great perspective, good framing once again, and still these attractive colours under the soft golden light of dawn. These colourful stoned always look there best with the blue sky, the colours compliment each other.Very good image quality, sharp and clear.
All the best.
Stella

phwall (5528) 2009-04-18 4:32

Hi Reed,
I like the way the warm early light is just lightly kissing these stones, perfect time of day to shoot.
Very good composition, the stones are perfectly placed and the tree on the left balances the shot nicely. Bob G is right about the placement of the foreground crack in the rocks, it works a treat.
Bloody good shot mate, well done.
Regards
Pete

johannes68 (2858) 2009-04-18 7:47

Hi Reed,
rather unsusual to see a landscape from you lately, but it´s really impressive - soft, tender colours, and an excellent composition as well. These rocks look almost soft in this kind of light.
Regards,
Johannes

Tobias__Ortmann (2589) 2009-04-18 9:21

Hi reed,
wonderfull picture great sunrise great light and verz good composition
well done
Toba

batalay (20800) 2009-04-19 7:04

Hello Reed,

Shooting with surpassing equipment, you really do give us all the best of TE packages — rich in photography and geography. An aspect that I also like is the "freshness" of the image, shot and posted the same day.

Warm regards from Virginia.

Bulent

dvlazar (6472) 2009-04-19 23:17

Really nice light on these rocks - brings attention to them straight away. Nice shot!
Dave

BlueRaven (35) 2009-04-20 5:31

Hi Reed,

On the thumbnail I thought this was somewhere in the Southwest and I was surprised that I had never heard of it. Looking at the full picture, I do realize that it's different from the Southwest. The rocks look a lot more solid and I guess they really are (granite is a lot harder than that soft sandstone). The light, however, does remind me of a sunrise somewhere in Utah.
Nice compo and soft colours, great job! Looks like a very interesting location - maybe I should go a bit more east on my next trip to the U.S.! ;o)

Have a great week,
Claudia

Waylim (10717) 2009-04-22 19:00

Hello Reed,
Are your sure it's not element dunk? Well, anyway, it's a lovely pile, and nice cracks, where a tree manage to grow out of one of them. The scene is nicely illuminated by the soft golden light. Beautiful nature shot. I enjoyed it. I can only imagine in the spring time, it will surely comes alive with beuatiful colors of green and various colors. Thanks. Have a good night.
Way