Moab, UT

While planning this little trip to Moab, Utah, I really wanted to stay away from backpacking.  Mainly because of the heat, and the fact that there is pretty much no water on many of the hikes(which means you are packing a lot of water, along with your camera/camping gear).

We ended up deciding on a rafting trip to consume most of our time there.  This looked like a totally awesome way to stay cool and hydrated, while being much less expensive than renting a jeep.  We were set.

The night before the trip, I stayed up waaaaay too late getting ready/watching TV/eating Twizzlers.  Once I was mostly packed, I decided to get a quick nap in before heading to the airport. 
I live in a small town, so the airport is about 110 miles away, which means it would be wise for me to leave my house 4hrs before my flight leaves(keeping the 2hr at the airport rule).  I set my alarm for 2 a.m.(6am flight). 

I slept like a baby....  and then I woke up, with no alarm blaring, I checked the time.... 3:15am.  Oh Shit.  I raced to the shower to rinse off the night, grabbed my bag and headed out the door.  I was traveling 95-100mph at times, racing down the interstate towards Charlotte. 

Based on the fact that there are pictures further down in this post, I made it to the airport.  But without my tripod(I know, serious photographer offense) or a jacket.  So I phoned my buddy about a hundred times(forgetting that they were two hours behind me in mountain time) to see if he could bring a spare.

He complained about being woken up but did inform me that he would be bringing a tripod for me.  It was a Kodak, suitable for a point and shoot, maybe a mirror-less camera, but not near enough support for a Canon 5d Mark ii with a 16-35 2.8 L ii mounted to it:)  Oh well...

My buddies picked me up in downtown Denver.  I paid $22 dollars to get shuttled there so I could pick up a lens cap for my macro lens(which I later found out wasn't working properly... I'll spare you that story)

Once the guys picked me up, we were off.  5hrs to Moab. 

Once we got there, we checked in to the raft rental place, got a hotel room, and headed for Arches National Park to catch the sunset and take some starry night shots.

My buddies had never been here before, so watching them get excited was totally awesome.  It was great to share this experience. 




Delicate Arch with just a touch of lightpainting from the left






Not bad for 25,000 ISO

 

Hanging out at Delicate Arch :)



At 1am, we were out.  Of to catch a quick bit of sleep, then it was rafting time!




A frog mills about on the trail back from Delicate Arch(Shot with Droid Charge, lit by maglight)

 

Most of the rafting days kind of blurred into one.  We were low on food(because we didn't bring enough) we ran out of sunblock(I love my base tan), and the days dragged on and on... just like they should.

All in all, it was a flat-water paradise...



Campsite - Day 1




Day Two - Carving deeper into the Labyrinth Canyon

After packing up from night #2, we followed the river around a HUGE bend called Bowtie Bend.  Shortly after this bend, there is a place in the rock that has eroded down where you can scramble up the rocks and get to place where you can see two sections of the river...




Enrique and Mike making the climb.. This kinda gives a sense of how huge this place is..




The open portion of the canyon in the upper right is my destination here...




Same river, great view.







Campsite - Day 3(final night) The Distortion on the 16-35 L ii is very apparent here.



A view of the Sunrise from just in front of the tent.

  The final day of rafting was a short one, which ended with a Do-nut Burger from Milt's, a nice drive to Dead Horse Point, and of photograph of the rainy scene...



Dead Tree at Dead Horse Point, overlooking the Green River



The last day, we grabbed a sunrise at Dead Horse Point, drove through the Colorado National Monument, and ate dinner at the Tilted Kilt in Denver... 

Sunrise over Dead Horse Point



Colorado National Monument




An overlook at the Colorado Monument

 

 Thanks for looking, I cannot wait for the next time I get to head back to the western half for another adventure:)



 - Michael Speed 

 

Services used by Michael + friends

16-35mm 2.8 L ii Rental - LensRentals.com
Raft Rental - Canyon Voyages Adventure Company
Shuttle to and from - Coyote Shuttle

Post Raft Do-nut Burgers - Milt's Stop and Eat

Virginia Countryside 4-12-12

 After work this afternoon I decided to hop in the car and take a cruise through a small part of southwest Virginia.  I head from Galax, where I live, to Comers Rock.  It's located out by Elk Creek.  Along the way I snapped some shots with a 50mm f2 manual focus lens mounted to my Pentax k20d.  I finished up the day on top of Comers Rock, and shot the last image with a 135mm f2.8 manual focus lens mounted to the same camera.  Thanks for looking.

Weeds on the roadside 

The crop factor on this camera leaves everything smashed into the frame when I can't back up too far:)

Tree farm

I like the soft look this lens provides

Some phlox growing around a mailbox 

A common view of the Blue Ridge Mountains

A Few Days in the Smokies

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

     A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Smoky Mountains with my girlfriend Ashley and some friends of ours. I had a totally awesome time even though we got rained on a little bit (just kidding, we got drenched to the point where I thought my rental lens was going to be ruined). I rented a Canon 24-105mm f4 L for this trip. The lens was mounted to a 5d Mark II. The following are images taken with this kit on my journey in the Smokies.

A joyful view of Happy Valley from that Look Rock thing. 

The Smokies from a lookout on the way to Look Rock.

 On the way back to camp, I had the driver drop me off about a mile from our cabin so I could shoot this creek. We stayed in a really nice cabin courtesy of Westley Woods Church Camp.

This tree is located right next to the creek pictured above.

 Still on day one, we started hiking to view the phlox. It was a six mile hike into White Oaks Sinks (I think that's what it's called).

Some private property on the way into the Sinks.

Some vegetation above a bat infested cave!

Phlox:what we came here for.

My beautiful girlfriend.

Bob Hayes, one of the coolest dudes you'll ever meet.

Shooting Stars, Falling Stars, I'm not sure.

My girlfriend and and her good friend.

Curly ferns!

An atypical tree growth among the phlox (my girlfriend thinks it looks like a swan).

I had a difficult time framing the Phlox as I do any time I try to shoot in a new environment.

Bob, Ashley and Jessica.  Michael(Snow) is also in this photo, can you find him?

With lightening and thunder nearby(not to mention pouring rain), I had but one opportunity to set up this shot before having to bail.

Some deer bask in the Jesus light on the Cade's Cove bike trail.

This is an operational mill in Cade's Cove.

Inside the mill, the 24-105 image stabilization came in handy for this longer exposure of the gears.

Pennies dropped into the mill.

      On the final day of our trip, I took a stroll through the woods and took advantage of some nice light. Thanks for reading!