alright...so im taking a nature photography class right now, and i absolutely love it! and we had field trip this last weekend! we went to moab and it was a-mazing!
{thursday}
we met in the rb [not arby's] parking lot and loaded up around noon... there was a truck with 5 people and a van with 11... i was in the van. and we drove to arches national park, and hiked straight in to the "delicate arch" [its the one that is on the utah license plate]. we took our time, took some other fun pictures along the way, but got to the arch in time for the sunset... and it was absolutely beautiful. i learned how to bracket... it is a fun little technique. and then we hiked out in the dark. it was a bit windy and pretty cold, but fun anyway.
we drove, i dunno... 45 minutes away... to our campsite. [off-roaded, for a good bit of it...] and it wasnt really a campsite, it was more like a cattle ranch with cactus and dirt and cows amd their pies. so it was completely dark and pretty cold when we got there and set up our tents. and let me tell you about these tents! they were they weirdest oddest tents i have ever seen! me and lynell [the girl that i am sharing the camera with... not for this trip, i was borrowing one of my professors cameras...but for the rest of the semester] were little tent buddies... so we rented a two-man tent from the rmyl, and good heavens... it was quite literally just big enough for the two of us... there was definitely not extra room, and it was peanut shaped... and so weird! i was expecting a dome tent or something... and this one was just so silly! and there were two doors... that were just screen... and then the rain fly covered the whole entire tent, but the it didnt really connect, so the wind kept coming up under the fly... and it was really cold- cold and windy. okay so we got into our tents to go to bed, and i was so cold! i had my little mummy sleeping bag and i like to sleep on my side... so i would turn and face the door, and my face would get really cold, so i would turn to my other side... and then i could hear the wind at my back... and i was kinda spazzing a bit, thinking that something was out there and trying to come in, or kill me or something! lol... at girls camp, we were never never allowed to keep food in our tents, but on this trip, we kept everything in the tent, and i think that kinda made me nervous. but i probably did sleep a little bit... hah...
{friday}
the next morning we were woken up by peter [our prof] ... at 4:20 in the stinking morning. and good grief. that is really early! but it was so worth it! we went to "mesa arch" to get sunrise pictures... and it was really quite spectacular... the underneath of this arch glows when the sun starts to come up... it was beautiful [and the little hike to this one was more like a walk... i liked it! lol]. we stayed there for awhile... and then went to the "white rim" for lunch [which the majority of the girls, including myself ate in the van... it was pooping windy!!] and a little lesson on panoramas. oh... peter had two dudes come and help... one is david whiting, he has a pretty cool website [check it out... click here] and the other one was cameron... they both had amazing cameras and lenses and it was so interesting to hear their advice and tips.
anyway... after that we drove back to arches national park and went and shot "windows" [i think thats what it was called at least!] and then we went to the "fiery furnace" and that was trippy! this is where we had our 3 or 4 hour hike [but we stopped often and took a lot of pictures!] apparently, youre not allowed to go in there unless you have a park ranger guide or a hiking permit... we had a park ranger... and she was really funny! we learned a lot too... like about cryptobionic soil [which i really wish i would have gotten a picture of...] and the carbon dating of pack rat pee and that shrimp live in the watering holes.... pretty interesting stuff! haha... we saw dozens of arches [learned the differences between arches and bridges... how they were made and everything... it was a very educational experience! :) ] we did little spider walks across crevices and walked along very tiny cliff edges... at rather frightening heights... jumped across cracks [all the while during 30 mile an hour winds...] and we were in these valley-like things... and the sand was blowing like crazy! i did get a little wind-burnt... my face was hurting! and i think my butt got chapped too... lol... but overall it was an absolutely amazing experience!
after the fiery furnace, we went to the "balanced rock" to shoot sunset and i have to say, i was not very impressed by it at first... it really didnt look all that "balanced" to me... im used to the boulders through texas canyon that literally look that they could fall at any moment! this one looked mighty secure to me. and seriously... it was still super windy and cold, and a lot of people didnt even get out of the van... but i figured i should try to take some pictures of it... even though i didnt really like it... i would have regretted it if i hadnt at least tried... so me and one of the other girls from class [shes actually a grad student in the rmyl] walked around balanced rock... and i could appreciate it from closer up... and we got some pretty good shots i think! after that, we had a little lesson on lenses. cameron, david and peter had set up 7 or 8 different cameras with different lenses... they seriously had thousands and thousands of dollars worth of lenses and cameras! a few of the lenses were 4,000 plus! holy poop. they were pretty impressive. after that we went up a little hill so that we could get a good angle of balanced rock... the sun wasnt our friend then... it only came out for a few minutes.... and then i found a better spot and the sun went away! sad day... lol. it was still cool though.
we drove back to moab after that for dinner. all 15 of us [the students... peter and his friends went somewhere else] went to the same restaurant... and they were surprisingly able to seat us all really fast! it was this little place called zax...with an x... i thought it was weird! haha, but it was yummy... it was zax wood fired pizza and watering hole or something like that! lol... it was nice to sit down somewhere warm and with flushing toilets [i really dont enjoying just squatting and peeing... but the good news is that i only had to do that once... friday morning actually! the rest of the time there were outhouses at the trail heads or we stopped at gas stations.] we were all looking mighty nasty though... and had sand and dirt all over ourselves... haha. we stopped in at a gallery [the tom till gallery, if you were wondering...] before we left moab... apparently so that we could see what our pictures could have looked like. haha... we went back to camp after that... to find that our tents had been blown over... and one had been blown completely away... we found the sleeping bags and sleeping pads and duffels strewn across the cactus and cow-pie covered field, but never did find the tent... although we still had the stakes... which apparently didnt work! haha... i slept better that second night, didnt toss and turn so much... and i was a bit warmer, which i attribute to the fact that i was just super tired and just didnt care as much!
{saturday}
we woke up to snow on our tents. im not gonna lie... im not a fan of living in snow... let alone camping in snow. but we did get to sleep in a little bit... till 5... oh baby! and we went to "dead horse point" to shoot sunrise. it was an amazing view of this beautiful canyon. i had my tripod all set up and was just waiting for the sun to come up so that i could get my panorama. the sun came up and i got in 2 pictures... then my battery died. i was a bit bummed cause it really was an amazing place... i wish i coulda gotten better pics, but at least i got to see it! we were getting ready to go back and pack up camp when we saw that the truck had a flat [gotten a nail in the tire i think]. they couldnt get the extra tire down for quite awhile... but an hour later/ hour and a half later [all during this most of the girls were in the van sleeping... i slept for a few minutes too] they finally got the tire changed... then it started to hail and snow. no fun.
we drove back to the camp with it snowing like crazy! we packed up as fast as we could... and then peter said that the boys wanted to go hiking... in the snow! i was so not okay with this! i cant even walk to school in the snow without falling! i was so not about to go freaking hiking! and apparently it was a joke. but it was not funny. we started to drive out [and i told you before that it was mostly off-roading] and there was huge butt hill that we had to get up to get out of this place... and by this time it was covered in snow and slightly muddy [considering the fact that we were fish-tailing coming down it]. i was seriously afraid that we werent going to be able to get out. we tried a couple times, but couldnt do it... then peter came and got it out... but then we were still waiting for the truck [with the trailer carrying all our gear] to get up this hill too. and i guess the trailer popped off, and it took them awhile to get it connected again. but they finally got out too. [although the trailer didnt have any brake lights after that... that was an adventure in itself!] i cant really sleep in cars... but apparently everybody else can... so for half of the trip i was in the middle amongst a dozen sleeping girls... after we stopped i went to the front seat and talked to jessie, our driver, for the rest of the way. and we got home. finally. and i was tired... and smelly... and sore... and i showered and relaxed for a bit, then went to bed all types of early.
it was quite the adventure! and im so happy that i had a this opportunity! it really was an amazing few days!
like i said earlier, i was borrowing my professors camera, and it uses compact flash memory cards... the converter thingy isnt working with my laptop... or my work computer, so he is going to download them on his computer then give me the flash drive tomorrow... so i will put up pictures as soon as i get them! im really anxious to see them! im really hoping that they turned out good! and that i at least got a few good shots in! so be patient with me... the pictures are coming! :)
