Revisiting Images - Canyonlands in Black and White
Ann and I have been to the desert Southwest, a lot. Multiple trips visiting new places and revisiting old. There are locations where, given the opportunity to visit, I won’t pass up. We’re also familiar enough with the area to say there are places we don’t necessarily have to revisit, and even some places we don’t think we need to visit at all. The one area that I feel we really need to dive into, to explore in a way we’ve never quite managed, is Canyonlands National Park.
Every time Ann and I have gone there it’s only been for a short stop and then onward. But the photographs rarely disappoint. With Len, I was able to take a bit more time than any previous trip, and visit a few more locations. And unlike so many other places, it left me craving for more. It’s accessible in so many different ways (although many of them not easily), and each uncovers a landscape that makes me wonder what more is there to see? I’ve been researching it a bit (in preparation for returning home) and realizing that there’s so much more than I imagined. Revisiting these images just reinforced the impression that Ann and I are going to have to plan to spend some substantial time there.
While Len and I spent a couple of days in the southern part of Canyonlands, we also spent an afternoon and morning in the northern part. Other than an amazing sunrise from the views overlooking the canyons at Dead Horse Point State Park, which did not disappoint, I wasn’t expecting much. I’ve become used to the amazing viewpoints from the mesa down into Canyonlands and have come to the conclusion it is largely viewpoint photography - beautiful as it may be, but limited in creative options. I made the images that I could (included a bunch in the blog posts made for the trip) and pretty much left not feeling inspired by the subject matter or the conditions. I also recall spending a lot of time just admiring the view and soaking it all in because one cannot deny the beauty from the viewpoints.
There were several images though that seemed different than the others - odd outtakes - that I recalled making, and at the time feeling a bit disappointed about upon initial examination. It was only when, during this revisiting of images, I thought to convert them into black and white did they bring back the feeling that made me pull out the camera and not just enjoy the view.
This was one of the images that I remember getting excited about once the thought to convert it hit me. It was an impossible photograph to do well in the mid-day sun given we were looking into the sun. The colors of the landscape looked so washed-out, with sunlight striking off slrickrock and waterways. In color it was harsh and lifeless, but it was the tonality of the bright slick rock that caught my eye and, with a bit of cropping to focus on the stark geology of the canyons, the image re-appeared this time around.
The next image was one of the few that was a pleasant break from viewpoint photography. We’d gotten to a location later in the afternoon, as the clouds started moving in, where we could wander around a bit. Which we did. I eventually made my way out to an uprising of rocks and trees, excited at the prospect of engaging with the landscape for once. It took me a while to find a composition that offered more than a simple glance, but eventually I found one, focused on a good-sized bush (it’s probably a tree), with smaller surrounding vegetation of all sorts, and a backdrop of rocks. In color, it leaves a bit to be desired - nothing about the colors are inviting or enriching (I would have thought the reds of the rocks and the greens of the bushes would complement each other well - shows what I know about color). Believe me, I tried to make the image work in color before and it didn’t. This time around, perhaps because of the previous image, I tried converting it into black and white and . . . it’s better.
It’s a bit chaotic, and the left edge could use some real work, but the main tree and its trunk has a presence lacking in the color image (probably because of the texture that renders so well in black and white) and that gives the background rocks, and the trees perched on them, something to play off from.
The last image was made as the clouds rolled in and the skies became ominous. I have to admit that, while I made the image back in 2023, if I hadn’t done the Iceland: Moody Mountains post, I doubt I would have seen the potential the next image had. The sky at the time had a presence to it . . . and there wasn’t even any thunder or lightening to go with it. The clouds just rolled in and the sky became the focus of one’s, attention instead of the landscape.
I had quite the eerie feeling at the time I made the image, which I recalled the instant I converted it to black and white.
That’s it for this time around. I just realized that, while these past few posts have been rewarding, Ann’s been reminding me about website updates. Maybe I better start turning some attention to that!