Cedar Breaks - Spring 2021 - Favorite Photo

 

              I think this could be my favorite photo I've ever taken at Cedar Breaks, Utah

PHOTOGRAPHY PEP TALK:   

This is for landscape and nature photographers who USED to chase the light by hiking up mountains, enduring adverse conditions and traveling around the world, in order to find and capture that perfect photo.  But now those days are only memories, either because of physical limitations, advancing age, or other barriers limiting mobility and endurance.  But I say, DON'T GIVE UP WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO.  There are still beautiful photos to be taken in your current situation.  You just need to look harder and recognize what is in 'your own backyard' or at least nearby.  This photo and spectacular scene was taken at over 10,000 ft. elevation and I started at 2800 ft. to get there.  But I didn't have to hike, I drove in a nice air conditioned car, and this view is seen from a parking lot.  I walked about 8 steps from my car to find this composition and take my photo.  So dust off your camera and find a way to keep doing what you love!

Cedar Breaks Spring 2021 - 1

It was a beautiful afternoon and evening in Cedar Breaks, Utah.  After a week of temperatures well over 105 degrees in St. George, it was a very pleasant 73 degrees here.

Bridal Veil Falls - Spring Green

 

Monument Valley

 

On the road to Monument Valley we watched this thunderhead develop and stopped along the road to take a quick photo before the rain started.  Inclement weather can turn an ordinary scene into something dramatic and interesting.

Meequite Car Show - 2021

 

Festival of the Americas - Kayenta, Utah

 

Bridal Veil Falls in Springtime

 

 Datura Stramonium

A story and a word of caution for those of you new to the St. George, Utah area, (or are visiting). This plant is called Datura stramonium, (Jimson Weed). It is common, 'showy', invasive and pops up in many places this time of year. It has large white flowers that are attractive, have a pleasant fragrance, (so I'm told), and capture the attention of nature lovers, flower photographers....and small children. We had one pop up in our back yard and hadn't bothered to remove it. Last week some of our young grandchildren were visiting. My granddaughter began picking tiny yellow flowers from another bush to make a bouquet for her mother, without asking permission. I noticed her doing so but did not care as the bush was loaded with these unremarkable flowers. A while later she came and asked me if she could pick one of the big pretty white flowers in the back of the yard. This time I was thankful that she asked first. I recall knowing they were poisonous, (but didn't know how poisonous), so of course I told her "no". Depending on which source you read, these plants are extremely poisonous under certain conditions and when ingested, have been used as a hallucinogen and known to cause intense visions, delirium, hypothermia, tachycardia, bizarre behavior. The effects on both mind and body are subjectively perceived as highly unpleasant, causing a state of profound and long-lasting disorientation with a potentially fatal outcome. Yikes! We now have one less plant in our backyard!

Poppies in Alpine, Utah

 

                                                                           Missing Spring in northern Utah!