In Memoriam by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook IN MEMORIAM:, THE SENTINEL: The Sentinel in Bryce Canyon National Park fell on Nov. 25. It is seen here as the lighted spire just to the right of center. This was taken several years ago in an effort to accentuate the Sentinel. The spire was along the Navajo Trail which can be seen in the lower center of the image. The Sentinel was one of the named landmarks in the park. Farewell!
The Aged and the Ageless by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a Bristlecone Pine encompassed by the Milky Way. One is the oldest individual species on earth, and the stars are the oldest thing we can see. For perspective, a human generation is estimated to be the average time between the birth of a mother and the average birth of her children, approximately 25 years. Bristlecone Pines are the longest living single multicellular species on earth, living up to and beyond 5,000 years. That is basically the length of recorded human history, 200 generations. The Milky Way above is estimated to be 13.21 billion years old, and the universe 13.77 billion years old, so the life of the Bristlecone Pines are but a blink of the eye. Since the light from the stars and galaxies can take millions or billions off years to reach us, when we look at the night sky we are looking back towards the beginning of time. Thanks for all the kind comments! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
The Potholes of Escalante by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Escalante Utah Pothole. These are giant eroded holes in the rocks and many have their own isolated landscape or ecosystem. Very fascinating! This was captured during a workshop with Royce Bair. I highly recommend his workshops. This is a reprocess. I think this is the hardest image I have ever processed. I just did not have the skill to do it adequately at the initial time, and I am not so sure that I have it now, lol. The difficulty comes from the wildly colorful sky (with bands of color and brightness, all the airglow, and all the clouds. I did several short panoramas over the pothole, and I did another 10-12 photos all from the same spot and with the same exposure factors. I was waiting for the clouds to clear, which they never did. I went back and pieced together the parts of the MW without clouds from the various frames. I “borrowed” parts of the MW and sky from the other photos I took at the same spot. The wild air glow makes it hard to know just what the sky is supposed to look like. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
The Sailing Stones of Death Valley by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook The Sailing Stones or Walking Rocks of the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. The Playa is an extensive "dry" lake bed at a height of 1130 meters, 3608 feet, in Death Valley NP. It is 4.5 km long and 2.1km wide. The Moving Rocks have long been a mystery, leaving behind long tracks as they move without human or animal intervention. It's a fascinating and mysterious place at night. Cameras were set up to monitor them during the winter, and it is now thought that the stones move due to ice in the winter. A temporary pond can form and ice over. As the ice sheet breaks up the ice panels are blown by the wind and push the rocks along the semi frozen lake bed. This is a composite image with focus stacking, all taken at the same sitting and position. There is one exposure focused on the stars and distant mountains, one on the middle ground, and one on the stone, other camera factors unchanged. The rock was too close to get it all focused in one shot. Hope you enjoy, Eric Gail masterminded the trip to this site. Thank you Eric! Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
The Organ by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This butte is called The Organ, located on the main road in Arches National Park, Utah, USA. This is a panorama of about 12 vertical images (some were cropped off the sides), taken with a Nikon 810A and Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 20 mm, f 2.8,20 sec., and ISO 12,800. Processed in PS and LR. This was taken from the path to "Park Avenue", a nearby area. The main challenge here was to get all the shots without car lights. Arches has become a very popular location for star gazing and night photography, and there is still a lot of traffic on the roads until midnight or so. The milky way was centered over The Organ shortly after twilight, and to get this composition you needed to shoot early. It took about 5 minutes to shoot the whole series, and 5 minutes without car lights was hard to come by. Due to the location near the road, car headlights can light up the formation from pretty far away. This was shot multiple times until I could get a series of photos with only a few interruptions. Anyway it worked out well. After midnight things get quieter in Arches, and most of the stargazers go home, but it's still a busy place for photographers. The butte is dimly lit with what I call "LLL", or Low Level Lighting. It is done with LED light panels (on tripods, and with warming filters) turned down very low to match starlight, and then left on the whole time. People passing by would not be able to see any light on the structure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
Grandstand at the La Playa Racetrack by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is "The Grandstand" in the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley. The Playa is a dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park. It lies in a relatively remote area, about a 4 hour drive from Furnace Creek, mostly down a rutted and sometimes rocky dirt road. This is not a road to hurry alone. There are many tales of flat or ruptured tires, and this is not a place to get stuck. The dry lake bed is sonic and unusual. It is best known for the "Sailing Stones" or "Walking Rocks". The Grandstand lies in the NW area of the Playa, and the Sailing Stones are better see more to the South. The Grandstand is a large rock formation arising from the dry lake bed. The photographer in the right foreground of the photo is Eric Gail. He masterminded the trip to the playa. Thank you Eric! You can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Hey Eric, I'm going to need another model release! Maybe you can send me the name of your agent! Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
The Sailing Stones of Death Valley by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook The Sailing Stones or Walking Rocks of the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. The Playa is an extensive "dry" lake bed at a height of 1130 meters, 3608 feet, in Death Valley NP. It is 4.5 km long and 2.1km wide. The Moving Rocks have long been a mystery, leaving behind long tracks as they move without human or animal intervention. It's a fascinating and mysterious place at night. Cameras were set up to monitor them during the winter, and it is now thought that the stones move due to ice in the winter. A temporary pond can form and ice over. As the ice sheet breaks up the ice panels are blown by the wind and push the rocks along the semi frozen lake bed. This is a composite image with focus stacking, all taken at the same sitting and position. There is one exposure focused on the stars and distant mountains, one on the middle ground, and one on the stone, other camera factors unchanged. The rock was too close to get it all focused in one shot. Hope you enjoy, Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
Dreaming of Alien Lands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a panorama taken in the Valley of Dreams in NW New Mexico. 11 images taken at 15 mm, f 3.2, 15 sec., and ISO 6400, stitched together in Lightroom. I was hoping to create a feel for the bizarre and otherworldly landscape. There is a light panel with a warming filter behind the larger hoodoo to the right, and another behind me to the side. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
The Three Gossips by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook
Arches National Park, Utah. This is a night panorama of the landmark "Three Gossips" formation (foreground on the right), with "The Organ" rock formation in the center background. Sheep Rock is to the left. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images shot at 24 mm, !5 sec., f/2.8, and ISO 12,800, combined in Lightroom and processed in LR and Photoshop. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
Bristlecone Pine by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Bristlecone Pine in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
http://waynepinkstonphoto.com
The Tree Sisters by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr:
The Three Sisters, Goblin Valley State Park, Utah. The lighting is done with an LED light panel, made for video, with a warming filter that comes with the light. The light is too blue without the warming filter. This is an F&V Z96 panel I got on Amazon.com. It is placed on a 10 foot, 3 m high lightweight tripod (from B&H Photo), turned down to the lowest setting and left on the whole time. You can hardly see any light at all. I call this Low Level Landscape Lighting , or just Low Level Lighting (LLL). This is not classic light painting. Once you get it set up you can move around, get different angles, etc. (This discussion is in response to a question I received). Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne
http://waynepinkstonphoto.com
Canyon Country by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Canyon Country. This is the view from Muley Point atop Cedar Mesa in southern Utan. It is near the top of the Moki (Mokey) Dungway, a spectacular dirt road that drops 1,200 feet or 400 meters from the top of Cedar Mesa down into the valley below. The views are spectacular, looking from southern Utah all the way to Arizona and Monument Valley. This is canyon country, atop the vast Colorado Plateau, occupying parts of Utah,Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. The plateau is around 5,000 - 6,000 feet or 2,000 meters high, with innumerable deep canyons and gulches. You mostly travel on top of the plateau or mesas, and descend into the canyons. It is like an endless wonderland to explore. I love the night photos taken on mountain tops, but this is a bit different. You are atop the mesas looking down, but you are looking down into deep dark canyons. There is not much light down there!!! Hopefully I have captured some of the beauty. This is a composite image consisting of a 15 sec., ISO 6400 image for the sky, and a 5 minute ISO 1600 images of the foreground, taken back to back. Both taken at 24 mm, f/2.0 with a Rokinon 24 mm f/1.4 lens. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Stillness Reigns Over The Alabama Hills by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This was taken in the Alabama Hills in eastern California, near Mt Whitney. For those who have not been there, it is a wonderful place for night photography, or any landscape photography for that matter. There are numerous large rock collections separated by largely flat ground, making it easy to get around. This panorama was made from multiple vertical images shot at 14 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., and ISO 10,000. Processed in Lightroom and Photoshop. My daughter served as my photo assistant this summer, and that is her standing on the rock.A big thank you to Eric Gail (www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios/) for finding this spot. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
A Candle Wax Landscape by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Thanks to everyone for the kind comments! This is a panorama from the Bisti Badlands in the NW part of New Mexico, USA. The landscape resembles melted wax in many areas, an is the result of erosion of an ancient sea bed over millions of years. It is "otherworldly" and a unique experience at night. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images shot at 18 mm, f 3.2, 25 sec., and ISO 6400. There is Low Level Lighting, or LLL, to gently illuminate the foreground. This is very dim constant light that attempts to match starlight, so dim you can hardly see it. In this case I have used LED light panels with warming filters turned down very low. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Fly Away... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is called The King of wings. It is a winged hoodoo in the badlands of New Mexico. I saw a photo of this hoodoo about 2 years ago and had a real itch to photograph it. Last year I went there and it happened to be the wrong time of the year. I returned this spring and finally got the right night and season. The trail there is not very long, and if you do it just right it is not all that hard. The trail is unusually unforgiving though, especially at night. You can be 3-4 meters, or 10-15 feet off the GPS track and not be able to pass. You may be just off the trail and on a ridge rather than in a ravine. This is especially true at night when vision is limited. It is an unusual place with a partial skeleton near the base, probably from a cow. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images. There is Low Level Lighting, or LLL, to give some detail to the rocks. This is lighting that is very dim and left on the whole time, done with LED light panels. I am not sure of the size, but it is easy to walk upright under the "wing". There must be a massive amount of weight cantilevered from the base. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Contemplation by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Corona Arch near Moab, Utah. The person in the arch is my wife and it was her first real night hike. She had accompanied me to other night shoot but not one requiring hiking. The hike was about 1.5 miles or 2.4 km. First of all we are from Virginia (flat). A Utah mile (km) is a lot different than a Va. mile. It would seem that they used a different rule to measure distance in Utah, lol. 😳 Second, everything seems longer in the dark, as you cannot see landmarks and it's hard to see you are making progress. Third, there are a couple of cables and a ladder to make the hike safer. They are not hard, but they do look intimidating in the dark. So, it was definitely a case of "are we there yet"???? She was really a good sport but thought I was crazy to take her there. It's all a lot easier if you have seen it in the daylight. So thanks Vickie for being a good sport and my model. One it was over she admitted she had a good time. 😀. Www.waynepinkstonphoto.com Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a night view taken of the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA. This was taken at Shafer Point, overlooking another "horseshoe" bend in the Colorado River. This is a composite of 2 images, the sky taken at 14 mm, 30 sec., f/2.8, and ISO 12,800. The foreground was taken at 14 mm, f/2.8, 600 sec., and ISO 2000. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Partition Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: The Milky Way shining Partition Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. Nikon 14-24 mm lens, f/2.8, 30 sec., ISO 6400. There is a constant light used, an LED light panel with a warming filter turned down low and left on. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
The Rubber Duckie of the Badlands (Bad Duckie!) by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: I posted this on 500px as the the Bisti Sphinx, but remarked that it looked more like a Rubber Duckie. Well everyone who bothered to remark liked Rubber Duckie better, so it is now the Badlands Duckie. There was one vote for Napoleon's Hat! It is about 10-12 feet, 3-4 meters high, and sits up on its own pedestal on top os a small ridge. The elevation gives a wonderful view of the badlands in the distance. It may have another name, but I could not find one. The hoodoo in the distance on the lower right is called the Ostrich Hoodoo, which may help for the location. This is a panorama of 15 vertical images, all single exposures, taken with a 14-24 mm lens at 18mm, f3.2, 20 sec, and ISO 6400 and stitched together in Lightroom. Sky and foreground were taken at the same time. Foreground was illuminated with a single dimmable LED light panel with a warming filter, set to low and left on. I've been away from Flickr for a while due to being out in the field photographing quite a bit. I hope to have some good photos to share in the future. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
River House Anasazi Ruins by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Anasazi Part 8: This is the River House Ruin adjacent to the San Juan River near Bluff, Utah. It is a very well preserved Anasazi or Ancestral Puebloan ruin. You can drive up to the ruin if you can survive the 4WD road. It is unusual in that you can actually get close in the car or by ATV. Most ruins require a hike. The 4WD road is a real adventure though. It takes about 45 minutes, and traverses a stream 3 times, and requires careful driving through rutted stone, sand, clay. I would not recommend it if the roads are wet. Driving the road in the dark was exciting to say the least. This is a panorama of 13 vertical images taken at 24 mm, f/1.8, 15 sec., and ISO 12,800. Taken with a Bower (also known as Rokinon) 24 mm f/1.4 lens. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
The Alien Throne with Comet 252P/Linear by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: No Aliens, just the Alien Throne. The unique Hoodoo is in the New Mexico Badlands, north of Chaco Canyon. I have been fascinated by the appearance since I first saw it's photo, and finally got to photograph it at night. The atmosphere is surreal. I love the melted wax appearance of the rocks in the region. 14-24 mm lens at 24 mm, 20 sec., f/2.8, ISO 6400. The small blue-green fuzzy object just above the right side of the large hoodoo is the comet 252P/LINEAR. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
King of Wings with Comet 252/Linear by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This formation is called the King of Wings, and lies in the Badlands of New Mexico, south of Farmington, and north of Chaco Canyon. It is a "winged" hoodoo, and the massive eccentric wing is at least 30 feet, or 10 m long. You can easily walk under the wing. I am not usually claustrophobic, but every time I walked under it I had the feeling it would collapse on me, lol, so I qiuckly learned to walk around it. It has probably looked like this for millennia, but the eccentric weight on the rock must be tremendous. The camera was level, even thought the horizon does not look it. 14-24 mm lens at 19 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., and ISO 12,800. Cheers, Wayne The small blue fuzzy object in the right center sky above the stone wing is the comet 252P/LINEAR. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Table Top Hoodoos by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Well that's what I call them for lack of a better term. These are in the Bisti Badlands, and are mini hoodoos, only about 2-3 feet, or 65-100 cm high. There is at least one area with numerous small table top hoodoos. Here you can see more of them receding into the background. I'm always afraid I'll stumble in the dark and knock a top off. lol Fortunately that has not happened! The area was the floor of a vast inland sea millions of years ago, and many layers of sediment were formed, eventually compacted into sandstone, some layers harder and some layers softer. The unusual shape is caused by greater erosion of the softer lower layer, and slower erosion of the harder upper layer. Shooting in this direction the sky is wonderfully dark with minimal light pollution. More to the W &NW there is more light pollution. Shot at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Just a Walk in the Park by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Arches National Park at night in winter, along the trail to Landscape Arch and Devil's Garden. Landscape Arch would be off to my right. The was a beautiful and quiet night. I just love the was snow absorbs sound making the world seen very peaceful. There were animal tracks all around but I saw no animals. This is the far northern end of the Northern Arm of the Milky Way. The red color may be faint red airglow. Taken at 14mm, f 2.8,, 25 sec., and ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
In the Valley of Dreams by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Valley of Dreams landscape at night, New Mexico Badlands, New Mexico, USA. This is a single exposure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! . Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Winter Wonderland by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Pine Tree Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. This was taken on a chilly winters night in Arches National Park, following a recent snowstorm. The stillness and quietness were remarkable. I've always enjoyed the way snow absorbs sound and creates a sense of quiet solitude. There was no one else crazy enough to be out at there, and even the animals were nowhere to be seen. There were lots of rabbit and deer tracks though. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. The session continued until my camera literally froze. The battery still worked but everything covered over in a layer of icy frost, including the lens. After heating (with hand warmers) and cleaning it several times I finally gave up, but was able to get a few photos completed. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Where's Waldo? (aka Where's Wally?) by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is Double Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. Do remember the picture game "Where's Waldo"? You had to find Waldo in a crowded photo. Anyway, in this photo it's "Where's Eric" (sorry Eric, you volunteered!). There is a figure in the photo with a headlamp, posed to give some scale to the photo. The arch is huge. Since Eric is in front of the arch and closer to the camera, he is actually magnified a bit, and the arch minimized a bit. Nikon 810A Camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, 20 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 8000. I just discovered it's Where's Wally in most of the world, and Where's Waldo in the USA and Canada. Thanks Oscar for the info! The figure in the photo is Eric Gail you can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Eric kindly volunteered to pose in the photo. Thanks Eric. BTW, I need another Model Release! LOL Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Beyond Perception by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama from Joshua Tree National Park taken last spring. There is some light pollution on the horizon that adds some color. I did a series of photos from Joshua Tree that kind of got pushed aside by more recent photos. This panorama is a combination of 11 vertical images taken with a Canon 1Dx camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, at 14 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec, and ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Monarch Cave Ruins by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Anasazi Part 8: Monarch Cave Ruins in Comb Ridge, Utah
Racing the Clouds by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is an image of Cyclops Arch in the Alabama Hills of California (eastern part of Ca. adjacent to the Sierra Nevada Mtns.). I arrived and got a couple of unlighted shots, and this one decent lighted shot before clouds rolled in and obscured the beautiful sky. There is a thick layer of clouds just above the frame, but I was able to salvage this one shot. I ended coming back the next night. One good thing is that cloudy skies = a good nights sleep! This is a single exposure. Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog