Brian Head, Utah Forest Fire

Before I put some more photos up I want to show a photo I took of the Forest Fire located up at Brian Head, Utah. This fire started last week after a man used a blow torch to burn some weeds on his property. The fire as you can tell quickly got out of hand and is currently the largest forest fire burning in the United States of America 42,800 acres. (According to the Salt Lake Tribune) Thankfully it has stalled out for the moment hopefully permitting the fire personnel to stop the fire from spreading closer to populated locations at the very least. 

Taken Tuesday evening with fire burning at ~1,800 acres

I should also add that blaming the guy who started the fire would be using him as a mere scapegoat. Yes, I agree that what he did was being stupid and ignorant without a doubt but our forests didn't die suddenly overnight. Anyone who's gone up there over the years and paid attention would agree that it's been ready to burn for years now. The guy may have pulled the trigger but we as a state assembled, loaded and aimed the gun a long time ago.

I tried taking a picture of the fire yesterday but the fire has spread so much that the smoke clouds aren't uniform like the one up above. If I want to get a better photo I will need to travel up the mountain a bit. Thankfully there are still areas that are far enough away from the fire where I won't be putting my life at risk. The last thing I want to do is put mine or another person's life at risk just so I can take a good photo.

18th June 2017

So far in the past two weeks, we’ve had two forest fires around Cedar City, Utah, United States of America. One being about twenty minutes West near a place called “Old Iron Town”. I have a friend living up there so it felt closer than other fires I’ve seen. The second fire started yesterday and in that short time, it had engulfed an estimated 957 acres of land as of last night. That one’s located at a place called Brian Head it being about 30 miles from Cedar City. Evacuations were issued later on that day for 750 people.  There has been a lot of dead trees up there over the years and this is the first fire that I’ve seen up there since moving to Utah in 2001.

As for the editing software that I'm using; I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of it, thankfully.  See you all next week.

Southern Utah Scenery

The photos that I have today are a mountain range that I drive by often when traveling on I-15 between St. George, Utah and Cedar City, Utah. While driving back home I decided to take a detour and take some pictures. I pulled off onto Black Ridge and came across a road that isn't seen on Google maps. I figured I'm up for an adventure and decided to take the road. I must admit it's somewhat nerve-wracking doing this when I haven't traveled much to the middle of nowhere. This is something I hope to change in my life. I traveled about 5 miles West and took these photos. I hope you enjoy them.

Yes, it's sand. Why you ask? Why not? 😊

See you all next week. 🙂

4th Jun 2017

I know that it's June but I wanted to post the last two pictures I have of Winter. 

I didn't realize how quickly I'm catching up with the pictures I've taken over the long hiatus. Thankfully I'm starting to get out and take more pictures and enjoy the beauties that Nature has to offer.

I originally was going to put this last picture on a later post but I want you to see a current photo rather than ones I've taken a couple of months ago. This picture was taken up and Woods Ranch west of Cedar City, Utah at 5:41 PM this past week. I originally thought it would look better first thing in the morning so I traveled back up to take another photo but the morning sun caused everything to blend together. I'm thinking it's mainly due to the clouds in this picture and the clear sky we had the following morning. I'm still interested on traveling back up and take a picture as the rising sun hits the back mountains and see how that will make things look.

28th May 2017

I started photography almost a year ago and have been trying to learn what I can from Youtube, articles and experience. The more I learn the more I realize just how much work it takes for a beautiful AND high quality photo. It did come as a surprise but it was a humbling realization. I've come to appreciate great photos that are shown online and instead of being discouraged by them they have begun to fuel the fire inside of me. I keep telling myself "I'm getting there." Talent will come.

The first four photos were taken this past February just up the Cedar City Canyon. Most of the snow had melted but some of the roads were still blocked off due to snow. It was fun to get out of town and into Mother Nature. I always enjoy taking a breather from civilization.

This last photo was taken in October of 2016 in St. George Utah. I have no idea who the person is and doubt the person will ever be known but it's still a pretty photo.

21 May 2017

After all this time I'm finally back. I apologize for the amount of time it's taken for me to start putting my pictures up once again.

I hope to eventually get to the point that I can consistently take great quality photos and share said photos with as many people as possible.

Post 6

 Every time I've taken pictures and come on a computer to pick out the best of the photos I'm always concerned that they have turned out bad. I'm also concerned with the thought that I have a terrible eye for photography or when I do some amount of editing I'm worried I'm making things look unnatural.

 My only goal when I do do editing is to bring out the natural color and make the entire photo look as close to what I saw in the moment. I've gotten a number of compliments from some of my friends who have seen my pictures but like a number of people it's easier to take scrutiny than it is to take compliments. I've never understood this but I'm still doing my best to take good photos.

Patience

This week I went to an area that was covered with aspen trees and was surprised at the mere quantity and density in the area. I traveled down roads that had aspen trees of all sizes on both sides of the road for miles on end. I also got up there right as they were in full swing of the Fall colors. I was lucky on this regard since today (two days later) high winds knocked most of the leaves off for the year. While I traveled I was welcomed by a small pond with about a dozen ducks swimming around. When I pulled up they all came my direction and investigated me. I'm sure they thought I had food stashed somewhere which didn't really exist. I was able to get a couple of photos of them before being stopped by a proprietor in the area.

Fall Colors 2016 Part 2

When I started this blog I had the thought process of "since I want to try my hand at photography; I'll go a head and share my journey with others through a blog." Then as I began learning about photography reality hit. I thought I had jumped into the shallow end of the pool without a care in the world. I didn't realize what I was jumping into was the ocean with the shallow end being non-existent... I have to say the thought of giving up has crossed my mind since I'm way out of my depth (see what I did there?). Instead I decided to go online and look at the photos that the professionals have done; great idea right? I compared their photo's with mine and learned I have a very long ways to go. Surprisingly I wasn't discouraged. I went to YouTube to watch some videos to find out what photographers do to make their photo's look so beautiful. This is when I discovered editing and shooting in RAW Format vs JPEG. 

Unfortunately I don't possess an editing program and even if I did I don't have a computer to install it onto. For all of those who are wondering how I'm posting my pictures here I'm using someone else computer with their permission. It has been my goal to change this but one thing at a time. Up until now I've been taking photo's in JPEG and have officially switched over to RAW in the hopes that I'll get the equipment I need to begin editing. Which for the record I didn't even realize was needed prior to two days ago. I'm consistently finding out that the water I'm swimming in is deeper and deeper and I just hope that I'm not making myself look like an idiot on here. I also didn't realize that their's quite the debate going on between taking pictures in RAW and taking pictures in JPG. Frankly (as all of you know) I'm new at this so I will be taking my pictures in RAW just in case I finally learn what in the world I'm actually doing here. After all I can switch to JPG if I ever want to but I can't switch the other way around. So for now RAW Format.

Apparently the computer that I'm using (probably this one time only) has basic editing capabilities so I edited these photos slightly so if these pictures look better (which they do). You know the reason why.

Anyways onto the actual update. In Cedar City, Utah I've always been interested in traveling up the C Mountain to a specific area where several square acres of aspen trees are clumped together. I finally went up there yesterday with clear skies (unlike last week) so it was beautiful weather. I still needed a light jacket due to the breeze but overall I was highly satisfied. Thankfully the area had a road close by so I parked and walked the short distance needed to get to my destination. 

Almost immediately I began taking pictures; and I've never in my life have consciously seen colors as vibrant and with such contrast as I've seen in this area. I'm not sure if it's because I'm beginning photography and I'm now seeing things in a different perspective or if it was the situation. I thought the photos from Cedar Highlands were beautiful but this time I was literally at a loss for words. I just hope the photos I took will at the very least do some amount of justice for Mother Nature.

I was taking pictures right and left and was surprised to feel adrenaline coursing through my body. I kept hoping that I was doing things right but knew even if some of the photo's I was taking were not up to par settings wise. That I would be able to see how they will turn out at a future time when I edit them (Someday). So the main thing I was worried about was taking photo's at the right angle and correct focus. I told a friend of mine who's name is Brooke how I was feeling through text and she replied "Isn't the mind of an artist/photographer wonderful?" 

I'm truly learning so much and seeing so much at the same time. I don't know if I'll ever be as good as the professionals are; but if I keep seeing the beauty I saw yesterday and continue feeling a feeling of utter awe. I don't care where I'm at on this journey it's all worth it in my eyes.  :)

2016 Fall Colors

I mentioned last week that I was hoping to take some pictures in the mountains. Thankfully I had the opportunity this year to travel up the Cedar City, Utah mountain and took some beautiful pictures. If you ever travel that way I would advise taking the paved route and not the rocky one through Cedar Highland. Both routes tend to close during winter conditions.

I know it's not showing the vibrant colors of fall like the two above but this photo still turned out beautifully.

This particular area is called "Cedar Highlands" located by Cedar City's letter C*. A number of cabins are built and the air is cool and clean making the experience of the Fall colors that much more enjoyable. If you ever travel up there or anywhere up the mountains be sure to bring a jacket and a poncho because the weather is unpredictable even in the summer.

* For those of you who aren't from Utah; most cities tend to have a letter somewhere that can be seen from the entire town or most of it. In Cedar City they have their's up on a mountain they call "Cedar Mountain" or simply called the "C". In Dixie and Beaver they have their's lit up so it can be seen at night. I'm not sure if this is shared outside of Utah but would love to know if it is.