A Photographer on Vacation. First stop – Bryce Canyon National Park

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[This is the first installment of a series of posts of photographs from a recent trip out west. Additional posts will follow.]

We just returned from a two week trip through Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Traveling with my wife of 50 years, I was mindful that the purpose of the trip was not photography, although we saw lots of beautiful country and between us took lots of photos. I am reminded of the poem “The Vacation,” by Wendell Berry. It begins, “Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.” It recounts the story of a photographer who flew down the river in a boat, his video camera to his eye. “He showed his vacation to his camera, which pictured it, preserving it forever.” When the trip was over, he could show his vacation at the flip of the switch, “But he would not be in it. He would never be in it.” I was bound to be in my vacation and not let photography get in the way of enjoying the experience with my wife. Oh yes, I took photos. But I took photos like a tourist rather than like a photographer. (There’s a difference.)

After flying to Las Vegas and picking up a rental car, we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. President Warren G. Harding proclaimed Bryce Canyon a national monument on June 8, 1923. One year later, Congress passed legislation to establish Bryce Canyon as a National Park. The park officially became a national park in February 1928.

Bryce is actually not a canyon. It is an amphitheater. The difference? A canyon is a deep valley with steeps sides usually carved by a flowing river. A natural amphitheater is a wide, bowl-shaped depression formed by erosion, rain, and ice. In Bryce Canyon, that erosion has created the largest collection of hoodoos in the world.

We arrived in the early evening and, after a quick dinner, went to Sunset Point to watch the sun go down. We arrived too late to see the sun hitting the hoodoos. Nonetheless, even in shadows the view was awesome.

In my photography, I am drawn to the roots and fallen trees. So this tree, perched on the precipice of the amphitheater caught my attention, of course.

Situated at 8,000 feet and far from any major city, Bryce Canyon is a Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park. The day we arrived there was a new moon and an opportunity to see the core of the Milky way, the center of our universe. This was the only photograph I planned, researching the location and the method of capturing a photograph of our galaxy.

The next morning, we were up early and on the rim of the amphitheater to catch an amazing sunrise.

In this next photograph, Navajo Mountain, 82 miles from the edge of the amphitheater, glows in the predawn light.

Closer by, Powell Point also glows.

As the sun crested the horizon, the hoodoos and walls of the amphitheater came alive.

In this next photograph, a hoodoo known as “Thor’s Hammer” catches the morning light.

The main road in the park leads 18 miles to Rainbow Point, elevation 9,115 feet. There, we hiked on the Bristlecone Trail, which promised bristlecone pine trees at the halfway point. Bristlecone pines are among the oldest organisms in the world. The oldest bristlecone tree is estimated to be over 4,700 years old. With my taste for gnarly trees and roots, I was looking forward to actually seeing a bristlecone pine for the first time. Let’s just say, the trees at the halfway point didn’t live up to my expectations.

As the trail circled back to Rainbow Point, we could see a storm rolling through the park in the distance.

Driving back along the main road, the dark sky made for dramatic views.

Of course, the park itself has plenty of dramatic views, like this arch along side the main road.

On our last morning at Bryce, we hiked the Mossy Creek Trail before heading on our way. The trail begins in the bottom of an amphitheater, so it required no huffing and puffing to ascend. It was a different experience to look up at the walls of the amphitheater rather than down from the rim.

The trail leads to a small waterfall

and, not surprisingly given its name, a cave (if that’s what you want to call it).

For me, a bonus along the trail was this tree, with its outstretched roots.

Once done with the Mossy Creek Trail, we headed north on Scenic Route 12, which is touted as one of the most beautiful roads in the country. I became a believer. But that is for the next installment. If you have made it this far, thank you for taking the time to look at my photographs. I tried to pare them down, but I am sure there are too many. Thank you for indulging me.

Upcoming Lectures

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This fall, I will be presenting lectures at Kellogg Community College and Hope College.

On Tuesday, October 27, I will be presenting Is Photography Dead? on the main campus of Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek. The lecture will run from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. As photography moved out of the darkroom and into the computer, the ability to “doctor” an image or to create one using artificial intelligence has caused some to conclude that photography is dead. In this session, I will explore the impact of digital photography and the implications of generative artificial intelligence on our understanding of photographs. My aim is for participants to come away from the lecture as savvier consumers of photography in the digital age. Registration for the fall semester of KCC’s lifelong learning program has not yet opened but will be available at https://kellogg.edu/campus-community/lifelong/.

On Monday, November 9, I will be present On the Road: Photographing American in 1955, at Hope College’s Hope Academy of Senior Professionals (HASP). The lecture will run from 9:30 to 11:00 am. In 1955, two photographers – Robert Frank and Todd Webb – each were awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to travel across America, Frank by car, Webb on foot and by skiff and bicycle. Frank’s photos were published in the classic book “The Americans,” which would influence a new aesthetic in photography, while Webb’s photos went virtually unseen until they were rediscovered in 2016. I’ll look back at both projects to see what they have to tell us about photography and America in the mid-fifties. As with KCC, registration for the fall semester has yet to open. When it does, you can find the fall catalog and register at https://hope.edu/offices/hope-academy-senior-professionals/courses-registration.html

Pieces of a Puzzle

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This past Saturday, I rose early and began driving to the Leelanau Peninsula in time to get there before dawn. The weather forecast called for several hours of fog and I saw lots of it on my drive. But as I got to the peninsula, the fog seemed always to be one step ahead of me. I caught up with it at Bass Lake, but when I stepped out of my car, I was swarmed with hundreds of mosquitos. I had bug spray, but I felt outgunned. So I retreated to my car and continued my drive north. In the end, I caught up with the tail end of the fog at Port Oneida and Sunset Shores.

I made a number of images. They are pretty good, but none of them stands on its own. Nor do they tell a story when viewed together. But each of them could be a piece of a puzzle in a future story. So I have processed and cataloged them hoping that I can use them in some future posts. I decided, though, to share them here, with a brief explanation of why they caught my eye.

The beach at Sunset Shores was still engulfed in fog when I arrived. I have photographed here for a couple of years. Unlike other beaches I have visited in the park, the beach at Sunset Shores has some erratic stones that add interest. I have photographed the beach in different seasons and at different times of the day and night. These images add to a collection of photographs that may sometime become a study.

When I returned to my car, this tree stood out to me. The hints of magenta and yellow in the tree’s smooth bark were such a contrast to the deep, rich greens in the forest. How I would ever use this photo is not clear to me, but the contrast between this tree and the others in the forest compelled me to photograph it.

The barn on the Dechow Farm is known to anyone who drives though Port Oneida on M-22. There’s nothing really special about this barn itself. But, the way the low-lying clouds shrouded the hill behind the barn got me to pull off the road and take a photo.

Fog rose behind the trees in the field across the road from the Dechow Barn. The sun was breaking into the field from the east. The scene was serene, but by the time I set up my tripod and leveled my camera, the magic beams of light began to be snuffed out by the clouds. The light would have been the star of the photo had it lingered. Instead, the star of the photo is the feeling of calm as the fog softens the view.

I have taken many photos of the outbuildings on the Carsten Burfiend farm, but never from this angle. The fog totally obscured the hill in the distance. The image by itself has a hard time standing on its own, but it may contribute to some future story.

The farms at Port Oneida no longer operate. They were acquired by the National Park Service over 50 years ago. The buildings now stand witness to a past community that eked out a hard living farming the sandy soil. The buildings are not, however, the only witnesses. If you look closely, you can find other signs of the past. Among those signs are fence posts that still stand, though the fences themselves are long gone.

A Foggy Memorial Day

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I woke up to dense fog today, so I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. Here’s some random photographs from my morning shoot. I took the first two in East Grand Rapids.

After shooting close to home, I drove 17 miles east to Lowell, Michigan, where I took photos of some of the King Milling Company’s silos. King Milling is a massive operation that I have enjoyed photographing for a number of years (see 2017 and 2020). The fog presented a opportunity for a new look.

Just north of Lowell, on the Flat River, is Fallasburg Village, which was founded in the 1830’s by John Wesley Fallass and his brother Silas. Fallasburg Village is designated as a “Historical District” with the National Register of Historic Places. The 100-foot long Fallasburg covered bridge was built in 1871.

John Wesley Fallas’s sons built this barn in 1896, on property given to them by their father.

Spring at Amon Park

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On Saturday, I took a hike at Amon Park, a 331 acre preserve six miles west of Grand Rapids, to photograph spring flowers. This time of year, the forest floor in parts of the park is covered with trillium and Virginia bluebells. Here are a few photos from my hike. (By the time I got to the bluebells, they were flooded with sunlight, so I did not photograph them.)

A Return Visit to the Birches at Houdek Dunes

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I visited the Houdek Dunes Natural Area in Leelanau County on Saturday. Spring has yet to really take hold. I saw little new growth anywhere. But that’s not why I went there. Houdek Dunes has a number of amazing birch trees, some of which are over 100 years old – unreal for a birch. For some reason, the birches at Houdek Dunes tend to live much longer than normal. Many of the trees have succumbed to old age and are lying on the ground. Those are the ones I came to see.

As I walk through our forests, more and more I am drawn to the downed trees. The fallen trees often have a sculptural character to them.

Throughout the preserve, decomposing birch trees lie on the ground, slowly merging into the earth. The sapwood and heartwood decay first, leaving the birch’s bark as a hollow witness to a tree that once stood tall.

The decompostion process is hastened by bugs, worms and fungi. I found this fungus on the end of a decaying log worthy of a photograph. I think it is called bitter oyster (panellus stipticus), but I can’t be sure of that. No matter, I found it beautiful.

This old tree is a favorite of mine. Whenever I visit Houdek Dunes, I make sure to pay my respects. How much longer before this tree succumbs to old age and begins the process of becoming soil?

You can see photos from my previous visits to Houdek Dunes here and here.

Churches of the Rhine: The Cologne Cathedral

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The Cologne Cathedral is the third tallest church in Europe and, at 157 meters (515 feet), the tallest twin-spired church in the world. With a normal camera, it is impossible to get a properly proportioned photo of the church from the plaza in front of it. This photo is a vertical panoramic image in which I stitched together seven photos to capture the entire front facade in one frame.

Stepping down the street a block away allows for a photo that captures the church with proper proportions.

Construction of gothic structure began in 1248, but stopped around 1560. In 1814 an effort was made to complete the construction but sufficient funding did not become available until the 1840s. The building was completed according to its original medieval plan in 1880.

Today, work on restoring and preserving the cathedral continues.

The meticulous effort to clean the facade is evident in these photo.

The sculpture below is the Archangel Michael, whose shield bears the phrase “Quis ut Deus,” or “Who [is] like God?” Michael’s answer, no one is comparable to God, is his defiant response to Lucifer’s arrogance.

The cathedral is Germany’s most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year. The morning we toured Cologne, the cathedral was closed for tours while the church held a service attended by thousands for the city’s professional soccer team. We were, however, able to tour the cathedral in the afternoon.

The window in the south transept is unlike the others. Like the others it once pictured secular and Christian rulers. But, it destroyed when the cathedral was bombed in World War II. (The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during the war, but nevertheless remained standing in a city that was completely flattened by allied bombing.) The window in the south transept was replaced 11,263 glass squares in 72 colors, 9.6 cm by 9.6 cm. The squares were placed randomly in the window. The window was sharply criticized for its lack of imagery. Cologne cardinal Joachim Meisner was quoted as saying “The window would be better suited to a mosque or another house of prayer. If we’re going to have a new window, it should be one that reflects our faith. Not just any.”

The window casts a gorgeous reflection on the adjacent wall. This is one of my favorite photographs from our trip.

Among the relics in the cathedral is a reliquary said to contain the remains of the three kings who visited the Christ child in Bethlehem.

 Our tour was only an hour long, not nearly long enough to take in everything there is to see at the cathedral. Here are a few more photos from our visit.

Churches on the Rhine: Basilica of St. Castor, Koblenz, Germany

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Our cruise ship docked at Deutches Eck, the point of land at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Rivers. Nearby is the Basilica of St. Castor. (The photo of the church is a little bit wonky, but it was the best I could do on our walking tour of the old town.) Saint Castor was a 4th century missionary on the Moselle.

The first church of St. Castor was built between 817 and 836. The church became a part of the Monastery of St. Castor and was an important meeting place for emperors and kings and their descendants.

The two towers replaced the church’s original towers in 1103. Reconstruction at the church was begun in 1160. In 1200, the two towers were increased from five stories to seven. By the end of the 13th century the church’s flat roof was replaced by a vaulted ceiling.

In 1991, Pope John Paul II promoted Saint Castor to a basilica minor.

A new organ was installed in the Basilica in 2014. The organ has 3,679 individual pipes

Churches on the Rhine: The Speyer Cathedral

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Conrad II, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ordered the construction of what would then be the world’s largest church in 1025 in the town of Speyer, Germany. Construction of the Speyer Cathedral, officially the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St. Stephen, was begun in 1030 and substantially completed in 1061. Emperor Conrad did not live to see the completion of the church. He died in 1039 and was buried in the cathedral while it was still under construction.

Around 1090, Conrad’s grandson, Emperor Henry IV, began a construction project to enlarge the cathedral. The expanded cathedral was completed in 1106, the year of Henry’s IV death.

As recounted in Wikipedia, “[t]he building became a political issue: the enlargement of the cathedral in the small village of Speyer with only around 500 inhabitants was a blunt provocation for the papacy. The emperor not only laid claim to secular but also to ecclesiastical power, and with the magnificence and splendour of this cathedral he underlined this bold demand. The purpose of the building, already a strong motive for Conrad, was the emperor’s “claim to a representative imperial Roman architecture” in light of the continuing struggle with Pope Gregory VII. Thus, Speyer Cathedral is also seen as a symbol of the Investiture Controversy.”

In 1981, the Speyer Cathedral was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cathedral is a significant, and the largest, example of Romanesque architecture.