Just south of Zion National Park is a fairly well know ghost town called Grafton.  Several westerns have been filmed there including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The color of the adobe was amazing and the HDR brought it out even more.  Ghost towns are great subjects for HDR (High Dynamic Range Photography).  It really brings out the detail and color in the old buildings and if you happen to have a dramatic sky, all the better.

Coming back from Bryce Canyon last weekend we were passing through a small tourist town called Panguitch, Utah during the “blue hour”;  my favorite time to photograph.  The blue hour is that time after sunset while it is still a little light when everything has a bluish cast.  Just at the perfect time we passed a couple of great old roadside motels with neon signs aglow that came straight out of the sixties,  another of my favorite subjects!  After a quick  U-turn and dodging a couple of semis while setting up in the middle of the road, here are the results.  Time well spent.

I’ve been looking at these trees for about 3 or 4 years and knew that there was a picture there but just needed some interesting light and weather. The other morning on the way to work my patience paid off.  A quick overnight spring storm dropped a few inches of snow and some cold temps caused some freezing ground fog and frost on the trees that only lasted a very short time before it warmed up.  An hour later the fog, frost and snow were gone.  As they say, timing is everything!

A conference in Jackson Hole Wyoming planted the seed for another road trip.  First get a ski day at Jackson Hole where I’ve never been before and some winter photography in Tetons and Yellowstone. A short but sweet trip!  It’s been snowing non-stop for a week. Perfect for skiing and photography except for the gray skies and flat light.  You can’t have everthing I guess.

First; some wildlife from the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole.  1. a young bull elk in action.  2. a bighorn sheep up close and personal.  3. a huge coyote watching me while I was watching the bighorns.

I decided that I needed a three exposure HDR to catch all of the subtle shadows in this image and it worked really nicely. I think I’ll have to consider HDR a little more often in snow scenes.

This shot was taken in Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend.

Aspens and snow; it’s a world of white in the Colorado high country.

After a killer powder day at Copper Mountain on Wednesday I decided to stay in Frisco and catch another ski day on Thursday.  On the way home from dinner the mountain peaks at the end of Main Street were absolutely glowing from the rising full moon.

Even though it was about two below zero I couldn’t resist a few quick snaps.  Well of course a few quick snaps turned into an hour and some frozen fingers but it was worth every minute.

Here’s one of my favorites. Wichita Peak is on the left, Chief Mountain is on the right.

For all of you connoisseurs of Black & White Photography out there, here’s one for you.

“Fallen Yucca”