Fight of the Forest by Pcoskun

his is an image I photographed back in May while making a brief visit to Northern California’s redwood forests. I had stared at this image too many times to count, opened it up and closed it feeling like it wasn’t worth my time. I decided to finally give it one more go and slowly but surely I liked the direction I was headed with it. This was one of the most chaotic scenes I have come across, but for some reason I was so attracted to it. Maybe it was the stunning morning light backlighting the mossy branches and ferns. I had to remove a ton of flare which was one of the main reasons I never decided to go ahead and process this image. I will probably keep working on that to the point where I will never want to look at this again! I wanted this to capture the wildness of the forests in the region with the early golden light of sunrise. The redwoods are one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I am sure to return again in the near future. I definitely would like to spend some quality time wandering around the towering trees and finding more scenes like this. Anyways, this will probably close out my posts for 2015, so I just want to say once again thank you to all of you for your continued support. I have plenty of plans already for 2016 that I can’t wait to get into. Happy new year!

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Temples of Light by Pcoskun

This is an older image from perhaps my favorite trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. There was just something about this evening that provided me with some of the most memorable and dramatic light I could recall. Interestingly enough, there was never a crazy sunset that lit the entire sky. Just this very brief window where the ridges and temples towards the north rim of the canyon lit up in crimson hues. I remember posting an image of this moment back then (2013), but I totally forgot I had taken a series of frames that puts the sunlit sections in a nice arrangement. The low clouds slightly obscuring the left ridge and right temple leaving the brightest and most vibrant butte in the center. The varied hues of the canyon really added to the dreamlike atmosphere here. Almost the type of scene you might see in Lord of the rings or something like that. Anyways, with some new updated adjustments and going with more of my current style I decided to share this one. Also, since it is a winter scene (albeit kinda foreboding) I figured it would be a good time to say Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of my followers! Thank you so much for your support over the years, it means a ton!

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Canyon Paradise by Pcoskun

A photo of the popular archangel falls in Zion National Park. Despite it’s popularity, it is quite a trek to get down here. It’s one of the few places I have been where the effort was well worth it. I was finally able to make a photograph of these cascades on my latest trip to the park, and with autumn colors still hanging on the trees.

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Structures by Pcoskun

Going back through this years portfolio and thought I would open this one up to process. I have always been attracted to golden lit dunes, so when I made a short detour to the dunes in death valley earlier this year I knew what I had in mind. I typically dislike wind a great deal, especially if I am out photographing. However, this is one of those places where blowing winds can really create some dynamic conditions. It was actually very very calm on this evening, not the slightest bit of wind, which I was still ok with as it left beautiful textures on the dunes. I really wanted to emphasize the light on the dunes, so I pushed the contrast up quite a bit here. I ended up enjoying the end result here, but going through this portfolio of sand dunes has given me many more ideas to execute more images from this incredible place.

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Canyon Smile by Pcoskun

The narrows in Zion National Park is one of my favorite places. It instantly became a favorite location of mine the first time I stepped in last year. I’ve always wanted to make some wide panoramas from this place, but had gotten so consumed by the beauty last time that I barely remembered to do so. It almost happened again this time, but on my way out of the narrows I saw these two trees against the canyon wall. I noticed the glowing corridor on the one side and the nice cascades below. I knew I couldn’t get this in one shot, so I thought this would be my chance to go super wide. The image is seven vertical frames stitched together and I was just barely able to fit the trees in going vertical. This is a pretty expansive scene and I had to wait for quite some time for people to pass as the exposures were a little longer here. Luckily, the glow lasted for a little while and I was able to get the series of shots uninterrupted. When I put the image together I noticed that the scene almost resembled a smile, as if the trees were the eyes, the large rock the nose, and the cascading water the actual smile. I did a lot of smiling in the canyon myself, not only greeting other hikers, but admiring the incredible beauty of this place.

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Mirror by Pcoskun

A distorted reflection of the famous subway feature in Zion National Park. I wanted to find something a bit different from the normal of this often photographed location. When I saw these shallow pools I noticed almost mirrored reflections of the landscape. There was one small pool that had a bunch of fallen leaves in it and thought that a long exposure would render the leaves in swirling streaks. I found it interesting that after the few exposures I took that the leaves seemed to flow into a small channel that got blocked up. It returned to being another mirrored reflective pool. While a traditional mirrored reflection would have been nice as well, the distorted reflection with the swirling leaves spoke much more to me showing that not everything is as it seems to be.

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Inspiration Sunset by Pcoskun

I have been to many places in the southwest given that I live in the region. It surprises people sometimes when I tell them I haven’t been to certain places that I “should have” gone too long ago. Last year it was Zion after a few years of putting it off. This year while on a week long trip returning to Zion, I kept the thought in the back of my mind that Bryce Canyon National Park was nearly two hours away. I have also told myself that the only time I would truly go out of my way to Bryce Canyon was if there was snow on the ground. During the middle of the week, a day starting out to be gloomy turned out to be one that provided some of the most unique photographic opportunities I have had in the desert. A storm brought snow to Zion’s high country as myself and two of my friends wandered the parks east side where fall colors and falling snow contrasted the mixing of seasons in the desert. Just outside the park, there was nearly three inches of snow on the ground. I knew that the temps would drop greatly that day throughout the southwest and that the potential for snow at Bryce was a pretty good possibility. The very next day, my friend Scotty and I packed up and headed to Bryce Canyon. This was the first time I had ever been to this park despite passing the turnoff on multiple occasions. We went to almost every viewpoint to see the possibilities and how much snow was still present between the hoodoos. Thankfully, there was still plenty of the white powder contrasting with the vibrant orange hoodoos that make up this landscape. After checking out the views, it was decided that Inspiration point would be our sunset shoot. We arrived under wonderful looking skies that looked to be as promising for a stunning sunset. We waited, and waited for the colors to emerge, and while they didn’t explode like we were hoping, I enjoyed the subtle colors of the clouds. The sky contrasted quite nicely with the landscape below and showed the remains of the recent snow spread throughout the maze of hoodoos. It’s rare that a named inspiration point actually lives up to it’s name, but this one surely did. Perhaps it was due to seeing this place for the first time, but I surely cannot wait to go back when they get even more snow.

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Revived by Pcoskun

Last year when I made the hike into the famous subway area, I was particularly drawn to the scene opposite of the iconic view many have photographed. Perhaps it was the twisting canyon walls, the pothole, the green water. It was something that made me want to return and enjoy it in the future. I made the trip again this year to the subway, but I wasn’t so much interested in the subway itself, rather the falls that preceded the stunning canyon. I made sure that I would photograph them before reaching the final destination of my hike as I failed to do so last year. When I finally got to the subway, I noticed the scene that had initially caught my eye was very different. It looked even better than I remembered. The low light still allowing the shadows to play between the canyon walls as the green water popped against the multicolored stones. A fallen log now removed from the scene (likely from flash flooding), and a beautiful golden tree just above. There were no leaves on the tree on my previous visit, and to see how it popped against the cool colors of the canyon was hypnotizing. I was more focused shooting this scene than I was the main subway area as some of my friends had shown up at this point. There was a fairly large group of photographers here enjoying the scenery and filling memory cards with stunning images. Myself and a few others began the hike out of the canyon and towards the very end of the hike the others who I had ran into caught up with us. The hike is listed as very strenuous, and it will certainly tire out the legs if you are not used to hiking or climbing over rocks. It’s an adventure for sure, and one that I probably will do over and over no matter how many times I say “this will be the last time”. The canyon just draws you in, especially when draped in autumn colors.

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Chamber of Light by Pcoskun

Warm light bounces off the deep canyon walls of Zion’s narrows early in the morning. Rushing waters flow through this magnificent canyon constantly changing it’s appearance. Hard to believe, but I was nearly waist deep in the water here trying to keep my tripod and camera steady from the turbulent rapids. I tried making a similar image from this spot last year, however it was much later in the day providing more lackluster light on the walls and water.

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Reflection by Pcoskun

There is something magical about this particular section of the narrows. Last year on my first visit, I was overwhelmed at the beauty of this dark and narrow canyon. On this recent trip, the main goal was to photograph autumn color throughout the canyons. However, on this particular morning I had my mind set on spending some quality time amid my favorite part of this remarkable canyon. Unlike last years visit, I took a beeline straight to “wall street”. I knew if I could get there quickly and ahead of the rest of the hikers I would have the place all to myself. When I finally reached my destination, I took a moment to appreciate my surroundings. Towering canyon walls with the sound of water echoing throughout made me feel at peace. There was no place I would rather have been at this moment other than standing in the middle of this river. It would have made for a great self portrait and reminded me of those images of hikers peering out into the endless wilderness. I wish I would have thought of that looking back at this, but I will always have the memory of being there and the few photos I captured of the moments enjoyed. I was able to enjoy this spot for nearly a half hour before the first few people caught up to me. On the way out, I encountered enough people to make me really appreciate my quality time here in this canyon. If you have never been to the narrows in Zion National Park, I highly recommend a trip up the river. It is surely one of the most incredible experiences you will have in nature.

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