Depot Rainbow

Where do they go?

Friend John called the other day and said he was coming to Utah to photograph & could I point him to some 'good' areas that were sure to result in great pictures. Seems he wasn't getting much inspiration where he was & wanted an area "filled with excitement" and was sure I knew where it would be after looking at some of my images of our local wildlife refuge.

Trouble is, friend John lives in Point Reyes Station, California. He is less than 5 minutes-on foot-from Point Reyes National Seashore, and only about a minute by car. He can look out his window and the view is Tomales Bay, a photographic gem. He is a short drive from Mt. Tamalpais, Muir Woods National Monument, China Camp State Park, the Golden Gate Bridge and a whole host of other excellent areas.

But, he wants to go somewhere else for 'exciting images'.

So, what do people who live in destination areas do to find excellent photo opportunities? Do they all have to go somewhere else, where the grass is always greener? Where they see scenes that will knock them over the head before they recognize opportunity in front of the lens? Do they drive for hours until they spot the little "scenic view ahead" sign, stop & get out & preserve a 'kodak moment' for eternity, and then drive back home fulfilled?

I don't know. What I do know is that a lot of folks seem to have a yearning to go somewhere else, no matter what is nearby. A number of friends want to come here to what they see as a really exciting area, a great wildlife refuge where all the animals must be jumping to the front of the line to be photographed. All just waiting for my lens and those of others who live nearby so they can look pretty and be immortalized on film.

Maybe the grass is greener... I doubt it. At least not for most photographers if they would take a close look at where they live.

Even the poor souls who live on the East Coast have some good areas nearby if they would take advantage of them. I would say that almost any area has good locations nearby if you are inquisitive and willing to work a bit at your photography.

Take Brigham City, Utah for example. People who live here seldom go to the wildlife refuge. They seldom go up into the mountains, other than the deer hunt and even that is getting to be a dying institution. Most I know have never been to the Golden Spike National Monument other than a trip taken while in school, some of them now in their 70's.

Local color? "There really isn't any" is a line I hear too often. In San Francisco, Montana and here as well, mainly from brain dead fools who can't recognize life because it isn't presented in a small box with a tube, interrupted by commercial messages every few minutes. Real life is not for them and no matter where they live it wouldn't be any different. As for a few friends in the city(San Francisco, the only real city anywhere) they have told me they have never visited the Marin headlands, or even the tourist mecca-the Golden Gate Bridge.

At the same time, others here in Brigham City love the area and seem to be able to continually find new and exciting things to take pictures of. Same with some I know in the bay area, in Bishop, in Nebraska and almost anyplace you can name. They don't continually pine for a new area, but rather spend their time getting in close contact with where they live. Yes, they plan big trips for major areas, major destinations. But just like most of us they realize these trips are few & far in between and make do, and enjoy, the local area.

So, if you live here in Brigham, the Wildlife refuge can be a great location every week of the year. If you live in Point Reyes Station, so can that area. So can almost anyplace if you like it and are continually excited by the visual drama of the everyday world. What is it like to live in Yosemite? Or Zion? Or Yellowstone? Or Glacier? The list goes on and on and many of us know friends who live in these places, some of whom pine to go somewhere else to shoot while others believe they are in heaven now and anything after death must be a letdown.

If you live in a "destination" area, how do you spend your time with your camera? Do you have a few regular areas you go back to in different weather conditions, different seasons? Do you have a few planned shots, based on your intimate experience, just waiting for the right storm front-the right season?

Do you even know what is in your area?

If you don't, there are some simple ways of finding some of the really nice attractions so you can make living in paradise even better. Try looking at a map-thats right, a map. Get one and see what is listed as a scenic area, a tourist attraction or something that might interest you. Get a tourist map of attractions from your Chamber of commerce and see what the tourists are being lured into your area to see. It may surprise you and I bet some will discover new attractions relatively close they have never heard of.

In our area one good one is Great Salt Lake. According to way too many who live here, a wasteland better paved over & used for bombing practice by the U.S. Air Force. But, it is one of the major birding areas in the world. It has migratory birds, sweeping mudflats and yacht clubs as well, all with good photographic possibilities. It has hot springs nearby, flowing wells & ponds, the transcontinental railway, ghost towns and Robins Arch, a 25 foot stone arch in the Newfoundland Mountains, a desert range on the list for Wilderness status. All relatively closeby, give or take 100 miles on dirt roads.

How about your area? Live in Yellowstone? How about Fort Robinson or ScottsBluff, Nebraska? Each of these places is a destination for tourists, with Yellowstone getting at least 30 more visitors a day than Ft. Robinson. Each has its own attraction, different, but close by if you live there. Tourist maps show a lot. History books tell even more and oftimes have older photos of natural attractions that are now overshadowed by 'newer' and more popular ones. Old Faithful in Yellowstone gets major crowds, but how about the hundreds of other geysers & thermal pools? Ft. Robinson has really good grasslands and hills with wildlife that is excellent in the morining, in the rain and dew.

If you lived in either area, would you have to go anywhere else to photograph?

Not really, if you learn to look at the world with a questioning mind. That elusive image is still waiting to be seen when the light & weather conspire and you are prepared. No, there isn't a seashore there, and Marin County, CA doesn't have natural stone arches like Moab, Utah. Washington State doesn't have the Great Salt Lake and we don't have the Columbia Gorge. Almost anywhere has local scenery, tourist attractions and natural wonders waiting for those who will see them. Even if you do nothing more than get the tourist brochures, I bet you will find something of interest in your area to photograph that you haven't seen or visited before.

Even if you have lived in Yellowstone for 40 years, there will be something new to photograph, something that can raise the feelings of wonder as you view the world through eyes influenced by curiosity. It happens even in Death Valley, a mecca for photographers the world over & the residence of a number of photographers who get jobs there just to be nearby to capture the moods of nature in extremes. Every place has interest, even Cleveland.

But, live in a major destination and you may discover it can be harder to get out and photograph at times. What would it be like to live in an area where almost any view you have reminds you of images of Adams or Muench? Would it intimidate your or inspire you? After all, even the best can't photograph everything no matter how many times they visit. They can't know the small, secret locations you can. The fox run, the nesting sites of Western Grebes or how the moon rises over a certain hill when the air is still and the last golden light of evening hits the grass as the moon and sky meld in perfect lighting that allows you to capture it on film. Trouble is, you may not recognize it unless you are really creative or have a questioning mentality. If you don't, it is just another day & later you realize the moon is up again, missing the moonrise experience.

Or, you go inside and miss the dance of the Northern Lights as you think leep or television is more important. Sometimes it takes deliberately looking at your location through tourist or visitors eyes to realize what is there, even in the best of locations. Our visit to half dome may be a visit to a shrine, but to some who live there it is just a big rock that blocks the sun. Yellowstone is a big wasteland where "you can't hunt", and Point Reyes is "wet, foggy and has too many curves in the road".

Sometimes, even if you live in paradise, you just have to get away to appreciate it. At least that is what many tell me. At times, it isn't really the need to get away so much as the want to expand your vision by seeing different terrain, new territory, fresh views. If that is your reason for going elsewhere, when you return you will probably be better than ever because you know that when you live in paradise, nice as other places may be, there really is no place like home.

So when you think of photography near your home, try seeing it as an outsider at times. Look for the little things, or look at the big ones from a different angle or a different season. Refresh your view. Find out why anyone would ever 'really' want to visit. When you do, the batteries of the soul recharge and your images get more interesting. You have more fun with the camera. And, I bet there are a number of places within an hour of your house at the most you haven't visited with a camera.

As to old friend John, he will be coming soon and my guess is he will be surprised at how nice some images make our little refuge look, especially since most of his photos are mid-day attempts. So, I will roust him out of bed at 4am to go & lay under the mosquitoes to watch the Grebes splash in the pre-dawn light, to watch the light as it creeps down the East side of the Promontory Mountains on its journey to light the faces of fox pups for us to photograph. We will go up the dirt road out of Mantua to the snow in the mountains and out past the Golden Spike to watch the sunset with views of over a hundred miles without a visible light at night. We will sit in the pounding silence of the Great Salt Lake Desert, with hundreds of square miles of salt flats cooling after a days baking in the sun, listening to the salt contract as it cracks with crisp, stacatto noises that seem to pierce your very soul. Yep, this is a destination location and I will try to help him get some good images along the way.

When John goes back home to Point Reyes, maybe he will get better images as a result of the stimulatin to his vision. The contrast here is amazing, tho in many ways no greater than he has at Point Reyes. Here I get great foxes & birds, salt flats & mountains. He can take it with him for inspiration as he(I hope) drives out to Pierce Point at 4am in the fog, hoping to see a mature Tule Elk silhouetted in the rising sun, with Tomales Bay in the background.

All the good photographers I know go somewhere else to photograph and invariably come home knowing they live in the best place possible. After all, when you live in paradise, travelling away only makes you appreciate it more. Wherever they go, coming back is always the best part of the trip and the experience away results in even better images at home.

Where do they go? Those who live in the great destinations always go home.

Attached Images

This image is at a regular stop on the route around the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, almost a straight shot from my house and about 12 miles out of town. While they are young the foxes are easy to spot. At the refuge you know where they will be denning. Too low and they flood out. Too high and they are in the roadway & the den keeps getting caved in. Since the drive around is a dike, they have no other choice. We drive around or walk and spot the dens before the young start showing themselves. Then, when they appear, we have a number of dens spotted, factoring in the light angle for the sun at various times of day so as to maximize the quality of images we hope to make.

Close to home, easy to get to and animals many photographers travel a long distance to see, and we are lucky enough to live close by so we can come out when the light looks good.

Depot Rainbow:

The Historic Brigham City Railroad Depot. I made 8 different trips in rainstorms, late afternoon, before the clouds broke right and the sun hit the building as I wanted. This is about 8 or 9 blocks from my house and I can get there quickly if the storms look like they are rolling across the valley from the Promontory Mountains to the Wellsvilles behind town to the East. The storms make for great light when we get lucky.

The light hit the building as I was hoping for, late evening, rich and warm. The rain was coming down and the wind was rocking the truck as I was setup in the bed waiting. I estimated the exposure from experience and got three shots off before the light disappeared. I am standing in the bed of the pickup with an umbrella covering the camera, the rain giving me the added bonus of the double rainbows over the station.

This one is a result of planning combined with luck. Eight trips looking for the light, something that can't really be done when you have to travel too far. It is one of the benefits of living near excellent and scenic locations, combined with planning for lighting through the seasons.