Autumn 2017 Roadtrip Postcards: The Night Sky Photos

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Maria Langer

So far, I’ve attempted night sky photography in two places: Horsethief Campground Just outside of Canyonlands National Park and Lower Onion Creek Campground in Castle Valley about 25 miles from Moab. In both cases, I shot before dawn because a waxing crescent moon illuminated the night sky until after I’d gone to bed. I’m not really happy with any of the images, but I thought I’d share four.
At Horsethief, the problem was that the night sky didn’t really get dark enough and there were some light clouds.

The night sky to the southwest. You can clearly see Orion’s Belt.

My Truck and camper, parked under the night sky. The light in the camper is a candle.

At Lower Onion Creek, the Sky was very dark. But the problem there was wind. Although I have my camera on a very sturdy tripod and stayed on the west side of the camper so it would shield me, there was enough movement to blur the stars. Very disappointing!

Milky Way on the left, Big Dipper on the right.

Another night sky shot with disappointing focus.

Autumn 2017 Roadtrip Postcards: Canyonlands National Park, Grandview Point

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Maria Langer

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I arrived at Canyonslands National Park’s Island in the Sky district early enough on Wednesday to get a few photos from the Grandview Point Lookout. Here’s the best of the bunch off my phone. That light colored line in the foreground is 100-mile long White Rim Road, a dirt road I’d love to explore with my Jeep one day.

A view from Grandview Point into some of Canyonlands National Park’s canyons.

Snowbirding 2017 Postcards: Salton Sea Birds

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Maria Langer

A few photos from my visit to the Salton Sea.

While I was traveling around Arizona and California this winter, I had more than a few opportunities to do some photography. At the Salton Sea in California, which I visited in mid January, I spent much of a day photographing the birds along the salty water or walking on the barnacle beach. For most shots, I used a 70-300mm Nikkor lens on my Nikon D7100 DSLR. I thought I’d share the best of them in a quick “postcards” blog post here.

I suppose I should say a few things about the Salton Sea. It’s a strangely beautiful, highly saline lake in the middle of the desert in southern California. It’s surface is roughly 235 feet below sea level. It was formed years ago when the Colorado River flooded and jumped its banks, pouring water into the low-lying desert for about 16 months. There are no outlets; the lake is fed by irrigation runoff and kept level by evaporation. The salt level rises steadily. The beaches are not sand; they’re barnacles. The place is home to more than 300 species of birds, many of which are migratory. The visitor center has a lot of good information with friendly, knowledgeable staff. I would definitely visit again. You can learn more on Wikipedia and the Salton Sea Authority website.

Here are the bird photos. One of these days, I might get back into this blog entry to add captions with the names of the birds. If you know any that aren’t named here, please comment to let me know and I’ll add a caption.

Salton Sea Birds