Southwest
May 7, 2003 8:04 PM   Subscribe

Southwest: an exquisite gallery of photos by three friends on the road, including shots of Bryce, Antelope, and The Wave. The web has done wonderful things to that old phenomenon of vacation photos.
posted by alms (26 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
woohoo! More places to check out next time I'm out there!

I'd like to find out what camera equipment they used - I've *rarely* gotten that kind of tonal range.

Any other MeFite landscape photographers out there?

by the way, [this is fucking excellent]
posted by notsnot at 8:34 PM on May 7, 2003


Deepest apologies. The correct links are Southwest, Bryce, and Antelope.
posted by alms at 8:38 PM on May 7, 2003


Can anyone tell me where The Wave is (as specific as possible)?
posted by BloodyWallet at 8:51 PM on May 7, 2003


antelope canyon and bryce are easily 2 of the most amazing places in the world. zion ain't bad too. page, az is close to both and a great little town. if you ever have the chance you've got to visit.

and only because notsnot asked: my take on antelope canyon - http://www.bobcroslin.com
posted by photoslob at 8:51 PM on May 7, 2003


I have gone on several road trips in that end of the country, many beautiful places, (I got a softspot in my heart for Arches National Park), absolutely amazing for photography. I have many thousands of pictures, but alas, no decent hosting.. but heres a few: 1 2 be gentle though, they are served off my cable modem connection, hopefully they aren't too slow. Good site alms, I will be sure to check out the wave next time in down in that end of the world.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 9:05 PM on May 7, 2003


Can anyone tell me where The Wave is (as specific as possible)?

"[I]t is virtually impossible to describe in writing or verbally how to get to it." (arizona bureau of land management website)
posted by eddydamascene at 9:26 PM on May 7, 2003


Thanks for the link, alms. I've been through Utah and Arizona many times, through all the counties in both states in fact, but not for a long time. It was nice to see some of the best-looking parts again. (Although, like Pink F.B., after the bottom of the Grand Canyon I love Arches the best.) Are there words anywhere on that site to explain who, what, or why the trip happened? (I almost always traveled alone; how did he end up with, as Jan & Dean used to say, "two girls for every guy"?) Also, as notsnot said, what camera equipment was used?

It's hard not to get great shots out there with any camera, if you just point it at the right time of day. Still, I especially liked this one of the Grand Canyon, the Earth's geologic masterwork, and this of Antelope Canyon.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:35 PM on May 7, 2003


Great... thanks alms.
posted by plep at 11:08 PM on May 7, 2003


For people who want to see more of this sort of thing, there's a guy who's shot thousands (!) of beautiful panoramas in the Western U.S. and Canada. He specializes in California (and for some odd reason doesn't have any from Arizona), but some were done in southern Utah.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:16 PM on May 7, 2003


Any other MeFite landscape photographers out there?

Yep. I'm just back from a trip out thattaway, in fact (Joshua Tree National Park is one of the hands-down best places I've ever been photography-wise, as is Zion, if you go to Zion, be sure to go to the lesser-visited Kolob Canyons at the north end (separate entrance)).

As long as you've got a decent camera and (far more importantly) a good lens, you should be able to get good tonal range, most of it is down to the film (or digital ASA setting) you use, the exposure you use and the natural light. Slower is better, and try to shoot either side of the day's maximum contrast light (i.e. not at high noon). And bracket like mad. I've been pretty impressed with the range my digital camera has thus far.

I liked this link a lot, thanks alms. There's some really spectacular pictures there (but I do agree with lelilo that it's in many ways hard not to take good pictures out there).

Holy synchronicity, Pink Fuzzy Bunny! I took a picture of the Ho-Made pies as well (yours is better, I just snapped mine out the car window)! (some of my pics here, obviously a self link).
posted by biscotti at 12:16 AM on May 8, 2003


holy smokes...

I've made more or less that same trip, but those are some NICE photots.
posted by scarabic at 8:37 AM on May 8, 2003


I also took a pic of the Ho-Made pies place.

Ate there as I recall.

Their sign is amazing.

I didn't sample the pies. Or the hos.
posted by scarabic at 8:39 AM on May 8, 2003


I have about a thousand photos, mostly landscape (and all done with a beat 20-year-old Canon AE-1), from my cross-country roadtrip a few summers ago (New York to San Francisco to San Luis Obispo, through the desert states, and back via Tennessee). I really should put those online.

Biscotti, and anyone else with an opinion: what films do you recommend? I generally like Ilford B&W films, but I haven't really found a color film that impresses me.
posted by The Michael The at 8:56 AM on May 8, 2003


Man, that makes me ache. I used to work in Canyonlands National Park, and moved from Utah to DC a year ago for a [gak] job - meanwhile finishing writing up a travel guide to the Four Corners for these guys. Talk about pining - like writing a biography of a wonderful ex you never got over.

I've been lucky enough to see a good bit of the world, and the Southwest is the most beautiful part of it, hands friggin down. *sigh*

Biscotti: Fuji Velvia is great slide film, but I hear Kodak films captures the southwest reds better. I've used both.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:02 AM on May 8, 2003


oops meant The Michael The
posted by gottabefunky at 9:03 AM on May 8, 2003


This was the country the Mormons settled, the country which, as Brigham Young with some reason hoped, no one else wanted. Its destiny was plain on its face, its contempt of man and his history and his theological immortality, his Millennium, his Heaven on Earth, was monumentally obvious. Its distances were terrifying, its cloudbursts catastrophic, its beauty flamboyant and bizarre and allied with death.
-Wallace Stegner, Mormon Country
posted by gottabefunky at 9:07 AM on May 8, 2003


what films do you recommend? I generally like Ilford B&W films, but I haven't really found a color film that impresses me.

For both outdoor work and portraits, I like Kodak's Portra series of color negative film -- it's less supersaturated than the drugstore Gold films, but it has a more subtle range of pale and bright colors. Actually, I only love the NC (natural color) and VC (vivid color) variations, not the UC (ultra contrast), which has very weird colors if I push it even one stop. (Not weird in a cool cross-processed way, just weird in an everything's-purple-or-yellow kind of way.) But NC and VC are great. (/kodak shill)
posted by lisa g at 9:26 AM on May 8, 2003


Oh, if you haven't had the Ho made pies (at the Mr Carmel Junction outside Zion for those not in the know), do so, they are amazing. So is the homemade blue cheese dressing on their salads. Its one of my favorite restaurants in the area, cheap prices and HUGE quantities. Just what you need after a long days hiking.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 10:00 AM on May 8, 2003


what films do you recommend?

I used to love Agfa's Ultra 50, until they stopped making it (it super-saturates colours, however, so things look a bit surreal, this isn't to everyone's tastes). I like Agfa's Optima II 100ASA, it's very fine grain, very forgiving, and gives you really nice, saturated, colour. The Optima II is about as close as you'll get to the way reversal film looks in a print film (Ultra 50 was even better in this respect...wah). Fuji's Superia line is also nice, but I generally prefer the Agfa. Also, use a polarizing filter.

I'm an Ilford fan myself when it comes to B&W, but I've really started to like the Agfa colour films. I love the Ilford SFX film.
posted by biscotti at 10:02 AM on May 8, 2003


Ho made pies (at the Mr Carmel Junction outside Zion for those not in the know)

damn, I've never taken a picture of it, but as soon as I saw the picture, I remebered where it was...funny how memory works.

Since we're self-linking to our own photos, here are some pics I've taken at various places out west.
posted by notsnot at 10:30 AM on May 8, 2003


notsnot: nice panorama of (what I'm guessing are) the Tetons.

(smacks self's head) I do have some photos online. Here are some from Yosemite, and more are accessible through the navigation on that page. One of my favorites, not on the website, is of an 18 wheeler in Illinois that reads "Redneck Trucking Supplies, Normal Il."

And thanks for the film suggestions; I'm just going to have to buy some Portra (which I've been interested in, but never tried), Optima II, and some others, and experiment.
posted by The Michael The at 11:04 AM on May 8, 2003


Thanks for the props, T M T.

I used Fuji consumer-print film on most of the shots in that page I posted, but I've switched over to Velvia for the color saturation. I've tried a couple rolls of Kodak Tmax for b/w landscapes, but the photos seem kinda washed out. For indoor b/w, I use Ilford 3200...the grainy look is great for band shots.

Biscotti, do you use Ilford for landscapes?
posted by notsnot at 4:34 PM on May 8, 2003


do you use Ilford for landscapes

For B&W yes - I've used their SFX film with a red filter - it mimics IR very nicely (not exactly, but it has its own neat look anyway), Delta 100 (which is gorgeous) and of course good old FP4 and HP5 (I also like XP2 for some things, it's a bit soft-looking which can work well). I've never used Ilford colour film for landscapes, that I can remember, I've found it hard to come by in many places. I very much like the look of Ilford B&W films, so there's no good reason for me not to have tried their colour films. I've generally been happiest with the Agfa pro products for landscapes (Fuji has a slight edge when it comes to skin tones in portraits, but the Agfa does a very good job as well). And lately I've been using my digital (a Nikon 5700) and have been more than pleased with the results for landscapes.

Agreement about the Ilford 3200 for band work - I've also had some cool results with the Kodak T-Max P3200 (which it seems they've discontinued), and with pushing T-Max 400 Pro a couple of stops (pushed T-Max gives you weird-looking grain). One thing I like a lot about Ilford films is that they're very forgiving in the development process, for the most part.
posted by biscotti at 5:14 PM on May 8, 2003


Great post, alms - thanks! Fabulous photos, makes me ache for a road trip.

And nice in-thread links too...I like seeing member photos of trips. Biscotti, I loved Joshua Tree too - thanks for the pic...here are some Joshua Tree pics by phil g that I have bookmarked since the ones I took were so pathetic. That's a wonderful place. Also visited Anza Borrego on the same trip - loved that too. (This is a cool place to stay if passing through & not inclined to sleeping on the ground.)
posted by madamjujujive at 7:53 PM on May 8, 2003


I loved Antelope Canyon (photo).
What *really* impressed me was this Xmas in Antarctica when I went INSIDE an iceberg (kids don't try this at home!) and it reminded of Antelope Canyon...
see this photo to see what I mean.
posted by ig at 1:29 AM on May 9, 2003


Aside from the absolutely drop-dead-gorgeous photos, anyone know the song credits? That's a great song for the Vegas shots... but not so great for the nature ones.
posted by silusGROK at 4:16 PM on May 15, 2003


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