Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DAY 4, Springdale & Wildcat Willie's
This was another day that Ray decided to skip the sunrise shoot to fight an old cold bug on the favorable battleground
between his sheets. Although the advantage of the 2-hour time difference was wearing off, Matt & I were up early enough
to get to the parking lot of the museum before the sun. We were also well before the crowd of photogs that usually gath-
ers here for a sunrise pano of the magnificent rock formations behind the museum. On most mornings there are tripods
scattered all over the flatland that runs from the building to the beauty. This morning was particularly windy, limiting the
number of participants by significantly lowering the temperature. There were only two young ladies there and they had a
point-and-shoot sitting next to the bag of chips they were devouring, hardly any competition for the best spots.
Matt was all over collecting memory-card samples & I stayed mostly under the roof of the back portico, while only a few
others came to shoot and go. There was one guy who came to stand in awe of the unfolding display of beauty on the West
Temple, which he noticed as he was driving his family across SR9 on their way to Capital Reef National Park. "Awe-maz-
ing," I said to him below the rock wall I was standing on. After some smiles of agreement he went back to his car to get his
tripod.
After changing lenses a few times in the whipping wind I started noticing even more dust bunnies on my sensor. Some of
these were far larger and thicker, and hence more noticeable, than what the informed Reader will have noticed from the
photos of Bryce Canyon. I tried the prescribed quick methods to dislodge them several times, but started to resign myself
to the fact that this was Matt & Ray's trip really and the dots in the sky will remind me of why I was there. Still, I called
Barb to be sure the sensor cleaning tool I ordered before we left would be waiting for me when we returned. The little black
dots of varying opacity are often easy enough to remove in Photoshop and other post processing programs, but it is time
consuming, and I often ignore the process unless I'm printing.
Not only was the wind working against our efforts, but the sky was pretty much without character. The gallery shows only
8 photos from this session. All were taken with the Sony 24-70mm, and the sky was replaced in half of them. The last one
was a shot of Matt & me reflected in the back window of our Jeep with a bit of the magic light shining on the mountains
behind us. We headed back the 5 minutes to La Quinta to rouse Ray for our free breakfast.
When we finally found a table for our trays in the backroom of the breakfast area, we sat and talked about our plans for the
day. Since they mostly consisted of riding the shuttle up and down Canyon Drive stopping to shoot when we felt like it,
