High Plains Drifter


disclaimer:  "The meteorological views/forecast thinking expressed are those solely of the author of this blog
and do not necessarily represent those of official National Weather Service forecast products,
therefore read and enjoy at your own risk and edification!"

February 20, 2009

Moab Trip 2009 — Feb 20 (Day 5)

Filed under: Moab Trip 2009,Photography — Mike U @ 10:07 pm

I should rename this sequence of blog posts, since I’m now no longer in Moab.  I left there this morning after doing a sunrise shoot in Arches — I was more tired than I thought, and I only did some rather elementary silhouette stuff with Balanced Rock then came back to the motel to check out.  So I left Moab around 8:30am MST heading south.  Snow cover picked up quite a bit once I reached Monticello, about 45 miles south of Moab.  I then continued southeast to Cortez.  Much of this trip is going on gut spontaneous decisions — and another one was visiting Mesa Verde Nat’l Park.  I had not planned on visiting this park, but it was essentially right along my route to where I wanted to go — Alamosa — so since I had time to kill and a newly purchased yearly National Parks pass, it would have been kinda dumb not to.  So I spent much of the midday and early afternoon hours there.  It was a pleasant drive through the park with a few nice scenic overlooks, although nothing that will really blow your hair back, so I had to really try to add some foreground interest to some of the images.  This was largely an educational endeavor more than anything… learning about the ancestral puebloans and the number of very interesting alcove dwellings.  I went on a one-hour tour of one of the alcove houses "Spruce Tree", which is actually the only one they allow guests to tour in the winter season.  I’m glad I made this little side trip, since quite franky, I had nothing better to do other than drive straight to Alamosa.  I got into Alamosa about 6:30pm MST, unpacked and had dinner/beer at the San Luis Valley brewpub.  Not too bad.  I didn’t realize Alamosa was as big as it was.  Tomorrow I’ll play around Great Sand Dunes… I’m not sure if I’m up for a sunrise shoot, I’m just exhausted from all these 4:30 to 5:00am waking up for sunrise photo shoots… I’m on vacation after all, and I’m getting up 2 hours earlier than what I would normally get up for to work a day shift!  Call me a dedicated photographer I guess, or just plain nuts :)   It’s all about the light, though, and the sunrise/sunset "golden hour" is where it’s at.  Sorry, no photos uploaded for this blog post… I’m just too lazy/tired right now at 9:10pm MST…. I could just fall asleep right now as I’m typing the end of this blog post and not wake up for another 12 hours!  I may upload some in the morning if I don’t get up for a sunrise.

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