Aaron Paul Vogel

It's Day 3 of my Moab, Utah travel adventure, and I thought I'd post up a little update of how things are going, as well as a link to the Flickr gallery where I'm posting my images on a daily basis.

Yesterday I joined Canyon Voyages Adventure Co. for some calm water kayaking. I put one camera in the Ewa-Marine bag with a 16-24mm lens and put the other in a dry bag in the stern of my open-bow kayak with a 100-400mm lens. The open-bow worked perfect as it allowed me to jump in and out of the water without flooding the boat. The bag worked well, though I quickly realized that I'd need to put some Rain-X on the front glass in order to keep the water droplets off as they were which were quickly drying and leaving nasty dust spots. I also realized that I'd need some small, possibly boogie-boarding style, fins in order to more easily move around in the water. The kayaks were moving much more quickly that I was in the water. Also, some kind of lanyard to attach to the kayak would be good so I don't have to hang on to it to keep if from going down river without me.

Some other things I've found is that there's a lot more to Moab than heat and slickrock. If you head northeast of town, up River Rd. and then along the La Sal loop road you'll go through some down right Aspen-like mountainscapes. With Birch and Poplars surrounding you, and themperature dropping as quickly as you ascend, you'll forget you're so near to desert-like conditions down below. There also a number of primitive campsites up there that would make for a great escape from the Moab heat.

The last, kind of sad, thing I've found is that the majority of local mt. bikers are so used to getting paid by photographers taking stock or corporate advertising images, that I'm pretty much SOL for getting local riders to shoot. I'm gonna have to start hitting up the tourists now. Could work... could be a major pain in the ass. We'll see.

That's it for now. I'll be heading out to Negro Bill (I swear, that's the name!) Canyon to do some sunset and night shots of the arches there. I'm so happy there's a full moon for the next few days!

I can't remember having more fun on four wheels in my entire life! The fun I had on Elephant hill and in the surrounding canyons that the trails run through was surpassed only by the amazing beauty of the red rock formations. Being late summer the trails were almost completely empty; a little troubling from a safety stand point, but oh so serene.

It's Day 7 here in Moab, and I'm coming up on my first deadline. I have to get 15 images in to Rick Rickman by 7 p.m. on Sunday evening. I have almost that so far, so I'm feeling pretty good. I'm heading out for some more off-roading today. Probably cruise over to slick rock in the evening and try re-doing that on-bike shot of the trailhead marker. Other than that I'm just kind of cruising. I have another post to write up. Something I'm calling my Photographer's Notebook, then I'm gonna head out.

#1. Traveling is Best Done With People. As much as I enjoy the tranquility of being in a secluded place completely removed from civilization, having at least one or two traveling companions not only makes for safer exploration, but also ensures subjects for your photos. This, oddly enough, goes against one of my personal rules of photography: don't mix friends and work. I've muffed too many shots because I had friends around to deal with. I think the key in this situation, however, is for the traveling companion to know exactly what they're in for from the beginning: lots of stopping, going back, doing it again, etc... in order to get a shot.

#2. Persistence Pays Off. I was getting worried about getting into some of the back-country canyons. No one was calling me back, and from my research it was clear that I definitely couldn't be going at it alone. It seems that anything off the map isn't going to be found by luck, or by asking around. And I'm not experienced enough yet to find stuff any other way.

#3. There's No Such Thing as Unlimited Visibility. You may be able to see those mountains or natural wonders 30 miles away, but that doesn't mean they're going to expose well. I've found that I can get to some incredible vistas, but take a picture? Nope. First off, how do you decided between using a 14mm to show the expansiveness of the view - only to minimize anything farther than 20' away - or using a 70mm to focus in on one part of the view - only to love the expansiveness and have atmosphere totally flatten your exposure and contrast. It seems the best thing to do is get close to a feature, use a 35mm and make sure the background is expansive or interesting.

#4. Don't be in a Hurry. The things you're photographing will be there for a while, especially if you're photographing rocks. Triple check your gear, bring water, bring extra battery.

#5. Take Advantage of Mid-Day Light. Put the camera gear away, plan your next moves and enjoy yourself! You're traveling!

Now mom, don't panic, I wasn't nearly as close as it looks. And the wind was calm. And it was just for the picture. Promise.

That out of the way, I spent another crazy day of 4-wheeling. This time I went north of Moab to the Entrada Bluffs road and took the Top of the World spur to get to this outlook. The spur was a very fun and fairly challenging 4x4 trail with some great, steep climbs and some hairy off-camber descents. All in all though they were no challenge for the jacked-up Wrangler I rented from Canyonlands Jeep Adventures. With the stock gearing, a 3" lift and some 33" All Terrain tires she handled some pretty big drops and some big climbs very well. Pretty amazing what these rigs are capable of with just a few modifications.

After Top of the World I took a wrong turn because I wasn't paying attention and ended up on a "singletrack" section of the Kokopelli trail. While it's not the true single track that midwesterners are used to - 2" wide trails winding through bar-width gaps between trees - it was definitely narrower and more hair-raising than the double track I'd been on. I didn't get any pictures because I was too busy trying to stay on the trail and get up the insanely loose and steep hill. Thankfully the Wrangler pulled through with flying colors (and I'd like to think my driving skills had a little to do with it).

After that I headed around what I thought would be a nice little loop back to HWY 128, but halfway through realized I was heading to a hill that the trailhead signs had warned required a winch to get up. Turn around time. I took a couple of wrong turns along the way, no thanks to crappy signage, but thanks to my GPS and the map I had I got back on track quickly each time.

Today I'm taking it easy and just hitting the more travelled trails looking for other drivers to take pictures of. The brilliant red Jeep stands out nicely, but I'm getting tired of looking at it. And I'm sure my teacher will too.

Well I've just returned from Moab, Utah, after spending 2 weeks trying to cover a tourist destination in the slow season. It worked out though. I've decided to go with a theme based around Edward Abbey's book Desert Solitaire. I'll be whittling it down to 20 for the final portfolio.