Travels

Home/Travels

Abandoned Locations in Texas

2020-12-05T22:48:00+00:00

Chata Ortega’s Bar & Grill

Many weekends are filled with hours on the back roads of rural Texas. Its pretty common to spend 8 hours traveling in either direction for abandoned locations in Texas for one night photo and then return home. But the places etched in time are worth the effort with night skies away from most light pollution. The above shot is the Abandoned Chata Ortega’s Bar & Grill near Toyah, Texas.

Location: 31°21’02.2″N 103°42’45.8″W

Charlotte’s Farm

Many places are on private property. And we always like to get permission first. One place in particular the land owner gave us permission to explore we call Charlotte’s Farm. A pretty vast acreage of abandoned farm houses and cars litter this area. We have gone back to this location 4 times now. Some in the summer, some in the winter months. But always have to be on the lookout for snakes.

Lake Pauline Powerplant

I was lucky enough to catch this old art-deco looking power plant just before it was demolished. Traveled here two different times. The […]

Abandoned Locations in Texas2020-12-05T22:48:00+00:00

Escalante Utah

2020-12-05T14:25:11+00:00

The area encompassing the magnificent landscape of the Escalante River canyons is known as the Escalante Basin and is a small part of the greater province known as the Colorado Plateau.  As the plateaus were uplifted by the shifting and buckling of the earth, and the canyons were eroded by meandering streams, a great cross-section of geological formations was eventually exposed. Some of these formations contain the fossils of dinosaur bones, sea shells, land and marine organisms, and the petrified wood of ancient forests.

My first trip to the southwest was back in 2000. On that trip I traveled for two weeks trying to cram in as many locations as I could around the Grand Circle. On my first visit to the Escalante area, I hiked to see Zebra Canyon, Devils Garden and Spooky Gulch. Since that first year, I have been to the Utah area every year at least once and had many more visits to the Escalante area, mainly down Hole in the Rock Road. In the sections below, I will be adding locations and hiking stories […]

Escalante Utah2020-12-05T14:25:11+00:00

Photographing The Florida Keys

2020-11-26T02:51:19+00:00

Well start off with tips and locations with a mix of the things we enjoyed most about our trips to the Florida Keys.

As always, most my trips are all about the photography. I spend most my time in the desert canyons or mountain regions with strenuous hikes with either 30 pounds of camera gear or 50 pounds of both camping and camera gear. But the trip to the Keys was a pleasant change for sure. Only compliant was the 27 hour drive from Dallas. Should have just flown in. But I like to have the freedom and mobility at all times and never want to be hindered by a rental or restrictions on what I can bring with me.

With a brief stop in Jupiter to photograph the Blowing rocks at Coral Cove State Park, I split this trip in two. First part of the trip was to hang out at Key Largo and shoot the upper Keys. Then move on to Key West to focus on the lower Keys.

I found the best spot for sunsets to be at a […]

Photographing The Florida Keys2020-11-26T02:51:19+00:00

The Oregon Coastline Trip

2020-12-13T20:23:14+00:00

Several trips now exploring the Oregon coast. We typically fly into Portland and drive from Portland to Bandon over night to get the first light of sunrise. Then drive on to stay near Brookings, Oregon and work our way up the coastline.

The light for the Bandon sunrise was a bit of a disappointment one one of our trips. Too much fog, but it was still a surreal setting and this just means I will have to come back again for another trip along the coastline. Second trip the light was pretty epic.

We traveled from Brookings all the way up the coastline to Cannon Beach on our first trip. For the most part we had perfect weather and I was up at 5am everyday for the sunrise and was also shooting well into the evening for those fantastic sunsets.

Areas we got to explore include Harris beach, Lone Ranch, Whalehead Beach, Arch Rock, Natural Bridges, Samual Boardman Scenic Corridor, Hunters Cove, Cape Sebastian, Bandon Beach, Heceta Head Lighthouse, Cooks Chasm, Devil’s Cauldron, Yachats, Seal Rock, Yaquina Head […]

The Oregon Coastline Trip2020-12-13T20:23:14+00:00

Waterfalls of Arkansas

2020-11-21T17:57:18+00:00

Exploring the great state of Arkansas on my waterfall hunts. Can’t believe I have put this area on the back burner for so long. but my plan is to go there once every month right up into the fall season for the fall colors. The first trip was an easy one to kinda break into it all. We stopped by and photographed a small waterfall called Haw creek Falls. Then went on to an area called Six Finger Falls, Falling Water Falls and finally Fuzzy Butt falls. Check often as the next trip will add more images to the collection. Will place all my GPS locations here as well for you to write down.

Eden Falls near Ponca in the Hidden Valley area Eden Falls, Hidden Valley, Ozark Mountains of Arkansas – USA

Eden Falls near Ponca in the Hidden Valley area.

Can’t say enough about this place. it’s beautiful and you can spend your entire day here photographing water falls in this area as well as spots along the way to the main falls. […]

Waterfalls of Arkansas2020-11-21T17:57:18+00:00

White Pocket Arizona

2020-10-20T02:28:45+00:00

White Pockets Arizona

This was my second trip out to go see white pockets. The write up below the gallery was from my first trip to see it back in 2003. I followed a different route this trip. The previous trip I used the same route you would if you were going to see Coyote Buttes South. Since then, conditions have deteriorated once you get past the main junction. You will still have a lot of deep sand, and you will still need a 4WD with high clearance. Directions to White Pocket are written below along with a map.

Lucky for us, it had been raining a lot, which helps tremendously in deep sand, so much so this trip was the easiest I have ever done. But the newer route even the park rangers are suggesting will be challenging for people who are not familiar driving in deep sand.

The weather systems made for some tremendous atmospherics for photography. As you can see from the shots below, most are from the latest trip we made over the Memorial Day weekend. During very heavy […]

White Pocket Arizona2020-10-20T02:28:45+00:00

White Mesa Arch – Arizona Landscapes

2020-10-20T02:04:23+00:00

White Mesa Arch in Arizona was on my bucket list for this winters desert trip. Adding to my collection of American Southwest Photography collection, this was my last stop on a long cold 9 day excursion into the desert southwest. This was trip number 16 for me exploring the four corners region. Though I have been to the northern New Mexico area numerous times, I do not include those trips into this number. Each time I leave the area, I think to myself, I hope I can come back next year. So for almost every trip, I treat it like it will be my last and cram as many locations as possible in to my itinerary, driving myself to exhaustion.

Sunset was uneventful since there were no clouds. And I was fine with that since this winter trip was all about night photography and doing star trails. Typically on my winter trips, I try and plan it around the phases of the moon because I have more time to photograph at night than I do during the day. So during winter […]

White Mesa Arch – Arizona Landscapes2020-10-20T02:04:23+00:00

Return to Shiprock New Mexico

2020-11-24T16:05:31+00:00

Photographing Shiprock in New Mexico was great to be out here all alone all night and into sunrise. Hard not to have a shot of American Southwest Landscape photography collection without a shot from Shiprock New Mexico. I have used this image many times now with other illustrations, and book covers. It continues to be one of my favorites. Looks like my plans have changed for the Christmas and New Years photography workshop. So I will be heading back out to the desert southwest again for winter hikes at night.

On one of my trips here,  I did this over winter endured -15 degrees and 40 mph winds. Lots of snow and blew out a transmission. But with all the images I came away with from that trip, I would have done it again. Luckily the transmission left me stranded at the end of the trip. But since then I have stopped by this place several times now on my way home and got some great drone footage.

Return to Shiprock New Mexico2020-11-24T16:05:31+00:00

The Chalk Pyramids and Monument Rocks in Kansas

2020-11-22T16:09:10+00:00

I got to spend Halloween way out in far western Kansas this past weekend at The Chalk Pyramids and Monument Rocks. This was my second trip out there. The first trip was during the summer months on a moonless night to photograph the milky way. For lighting up the rocks we used plain old Coleman lanterns. We spent two nights out there photographing as much as possible.

During our second trip, we had planned on doing a nice photography workshop out of Dallas Texas and go first to Lighthouse rock formation at Palo Duro Canyon. Then head to Monument Rocks in Kansas the next day. But it was turning into an overcast day there so we decided to head on into Kansas.

We had a half moon which is perfect to help light the landscapes without the need of all the lighting gear I carry with me. We spent the first part of the night shooting stills and then set up the cameras to shot time laps and got a lot of good shots with start trails.

It’s a nine hour drive to reach the Monument Rocks National […]

The Chalk Pyramids and Monument Rocks in Kansas2020-11-22T16:09:10+00:00

New Mexico Landscapes, The Badlands

2020-11-21T22:53:49+00:00

Over Labor day weekend I put on a Photography workshop out of Dallas Texas and took a group of photographers on a 13 hour drive to the Badlands of New Mexico. Our destination was The Ah-shi-sle-pah Badlands, The King of Wings and Aztec Arch also known as Cox Canyon Arch in north central New Mexico.

We had some nice clouds for a good sunset, and since I was not real happy with my shots at sunset during my first trip to Ah-shi-sle-pah, we headed there first and shot on into the night. We were smart and breadcrumber our way from the car with glow sticks so we could find our way back easily. But I also had a GPS as well as night vision, so I was not too worried. But for those of you who might not have night vision or a GPS, glow sticks are a pretty smart idea to use if your out at night.

Alien City, New Mexico Badlands

Next we did a short drive out and hiked to […]

New Mexico Landscapes, The Badlands2020-11-21T22:53:49+00:00
© Copyright KappleMultimedia -    |   All Rights Reserved   
InstagramLinkedIn
error: Content is protected !!