Devil's Dawn, a photo from Utah, West

Photographer's Note

Today I bring you another photo from Devils Garden. A area of unusual rock formations and hoodoos located south of the small town of Escalante, Utah. A fairly long drive down a dirt road is required to reach this place, but the road isn't too bad. We drove it in a Honda Civic. We did see a jeep with a flat tire though. ;)

This photo was taken just a few minutes before the sun came up.

Floydian, luisafonso, BWJ, cdmonson, Dpbours has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Adrian_S (1159) 2009-04-02 14:22

Hello Ryan!
Apart from the weird-looking subject, and the clever framing, the first thing that cought my eyes is the outstanding sharpness of the picture. You can distinguish every single string(?) of grass! But, we're talking about a Canon, so it's kinda normal. But great pictures don't just pop out of the camera. You need a skilled photographer too... so, great work

All the best
Adrian

cebe (1139) 2009-04-02 15:22

Hello Ryan,

Pretty rare shapes, well composed, well exposed and sharp. Very well done. Claude.

devimeuxbe (58557) 2009-04-02 15:43

Bonsoir Ryan
What a strange landscape ! Very nice composition with a great sharpness. Very beautifull picture
Well done
Bertrand

dvlazar (6644) 2009-04-02 16:54

Hey,
Lovely colors and light in this one - the graduated sky is so nice as are the warm colors on the rocks.

Perfect compo. Well done
Dave

cdmonson (4301) 2009-04-02 19:30

Hi Ryan:

Nice one. I like your other shot of these hoodoos, but this one has a bit more variety. Looks like four Pillsbury doughboys. :) The soft light on the rocks is nice as well. Glad to see you back and posting.

Clark

delkoo (68) 2009-04-02 23:50

hi ryan,
Interesting image with a very well observed POV.
colrs, sharpness and composition are simply superb.

didier

BlueRaven (37) 2009-04-03 0:56

Hi Ryan,

I visited Devil's Garden in the late afternoon so this looks different from what I saw...
Superb composition, awesome light. I think I would have cropped it a tiny little bit on the right side to eliminate that little piece of rock (or cloned it out - guess that small amount of PP would have been acceptable for TE). Otherwise it's a beautiful shot with excellent natural colours and light.
By the way, I heard that some people call Hole-in-the-Rock-Road (the road that leads to Devil's Garden and all the way down to Lake Powell) "Hole-in-the-Tire-Road"... ;o) We had a big Suburban so we didn't have any trouble driving it, but of course there's never a guarantee that you don't damage a tire on roads like that. I got that flat tire much later, on a paved road...
Great shot, thanks for sharing!

Best wishes
Claudia

Floydian (30970) 2009-04-03 3:48

Hi Ryan,

How are you man, hope you're doing fine.
You bring up an oldie, means you are busy with other things than photography?
Two years ago i heard they want Grand Staircase also turn in to a NP, it's worth it i think, maybe your images give some extra promotion to that ;-)
The vertical format works excellent here with that grass in the foreground and soft light on the rocks. Being early paid off....as usual.

Have a nice weekend,

Henk

luisafonso (862) 2009-04-03 4:11

Nice one Ryan! The vertical compo produced nice results here. So much to see... Those "statues" in the top of that boulder are really amazing. I wonder how they got there... It's an amazing site!

BWJ (3022) 2009-04-03 17:55

Hello Ryan,
This is a wonderful composition so sharp and clear with beautiful light and colors. The rock formations are amazing natural beauty. You captured them very well.
Kind regards,
Betty

Dpbours (222) 2009-04-04 2:47

Hi Ryan,

Haha, nice story of a Honda Civic outdriving a 4WD :-). A pity that those rock formations are not a bit more photogenic. But nice with the rugged grass in the foreground and the light hitting the top of the rocks.
What was the depth of focus here?

Have a good weekend! Dennis

toto (0) 2009-04-04 8:26

Bonjour,
belle photo de ces quatres statues pleines de lumière, bien découpée sur le ciel bleu, bien posée sur ces rochers.
La végétation est de toute beauté a l' avant et au centre de la photo.

Amitiés Thomas

leo61 (0) 2009-04-04 8:33

Hello Ryan!
Good shot of these unique rocks,well composed with these nice bushes in the foreground.Colors and light are excellent.
Regards,leo

kensimage (8557) 2009-04-05 13:18

They look like four little space aliens up there, standing guard, watching out for photographers and other intruders, whom they will promptly zap with their ray guns.

But I guess you're quick and got away. I like the choice of POV, to set the aliens against the sky and put them in the context of the varied textures of the landscape. (The very landscape they are about to obliterate with their massive heat ray??) I don't think it's one of your best photos, because the lighting isn't particularly special, but it's still very fine.

Regards, Ken.

cherryripe (21015) 2009-04-06 10:12

Hi Ryan
Interesting formations as they look like Gaudis' ones on top of La Pedrera in Barcelona. They contrast nicely with the grass. We'll see if we have time to visit this. The car should survive being a Chevrolet Blazer.
Regards
Nikki

Elaine_Blath (8509) 2009-05-27 3:38

Hello Ryan,

nice light and strange place, which is always great combination...you have composed it well, with grass in the FG...

Take care, Ivana