December 2003, I took the train out from Sydney to Bronte beach then walked back along the beach to Bondi. The ocean has carved these incredible rock formations, poorly captured here, I’m afraid, by my Dimage A1. Digital cameras way back then really didn’t have tremendous dynamic range.
Click any image to see them all enlarged (on laptop – doesn’t seem to work on tablet or phone)
This past weekend we went to visit friends in Ulster County, NY, near Woodstock. After lunch we went for a walk on the Ashokan Reservoir rail trail from which I got a number of interesting pictures.
Blog note: this is also the first time I’ve been forced to use the new block editor for my post and I can’t say I’m loving it. Please excuse the next few posts if they don’t look quite right as I get used to the new way of doing things.
Walking along Central Street in the Edge we noticed an interesting rock sticking up from some palm fronds – it looked like perhaps it had been carved into an animal shape. Hanging over the railing, hunting for the right angle from which to photograph it we were hailed from within a deep garden by Jazzmen who invited us to walk around the building to the back where he took us on a tour of the art park, full of scavenged odds and ends (and no trespassing signs) deposited in nooks and grottoes throughout the lush plot whose owner, Danny, it seemed we were expected to know.
Click any image to see them all enlarged.
There was some dramatic lighting allowing for some nice silhouette shots.
Click any image to see them all bigger.
After the wind farm tour, we raced like the wind to the Black Rock Canyon trail to take a 4-mile hike before the sun went down.
Click any image to see them full-sized.
Eventually we emerged from the car and took the brief 0.3 mile walk around Cap Rock as the sun began to go down and the fog rolled in and out. Gorgeous.
Click any image to see them all bigger.
Approaching the short Cap Rock trail in Joshua Tree National Park by car, I continued to shoot at 1/250th of a second yielding the same motion blurred foreground and sharp background. Processed using Fujifilm’s Velvia vivid landscape film profile on a cloudy day just before the late afternoon sun headed down.
Click any image to see them all enlarged.
Eventually, we got to a very short walking trail at Cap Rock (the light was fading fast) and we could walk around and take pictures at steady speeds.
After waiting to get down the elevator to the tunnels behind the falls, you line-up again to get your few seconds at one of these openings right behind the raging falls. Most people take selfies or family-portrait selfies. This image really doesn’t do justice to the full drama and fury of the water cascading past, right in front of you.
This graffiti’d crag is always a dramatic sight from the turnpike. According to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, “it is said that in the 1890s Laurel Hill inspired an advertising executive passing by the structure on a commuter train to create the Prudential Insurance “Piece of the Rock” slogan and Rock of Gibraltar logo.”
