A little field report from the little book cliffs ~
My wife and I were dyin' to get a 1st, quick backpacking trip in and went to Cameo, just east of GJ. The Little Book Cliffs WSA is also on the east side of Mt Garfield, which can be climbed by hiking up Coal Canyon. We chose the Main Canyon for available water and easier hiking than some of the side canyons. I had hoped for great paintbrush foreground opportunities - and there were deep red paintbrush, but they were generally too sparse for good photo opps.
There is good water in the Main Canyon, some in Spring Creek, and numerous springs. Very few people hike here - it's mostly traveled by horse. We saw a nice herd of wild horses from a distance.
The shooting from our location was tough and I would have preferred to be higher up, shooting into the canyon; rather than the other way around. There was one, very prominent cottonwood tree near our camp, which marks the cottonwood trail junction. This image of the cottonwood points to the east rim at sunset. I used an on-camera flash to bring out some bark detail.
Discussion
2 repliesMy wife and I were dyin' to get a 1st, quick backpacking trip in and went to Cameo, just east of GJ. The Little Book Cliffs WSA is also on the east side of Mt Garfield, which can be climbed by hiking up Coal Canyon. We chose the Main Canyon for available water and easier hiking than some of the side canyons. I had hoped for great paintbrush foreground opportunities - and there were deep red paintbrush, but they were generally too sparse for good photo opps.
There is good water in the Main Canyon, some in Spring Creek, and numerous springs. Very few people hike here - it's mostly traveled by horse. We saw a nice herd of wild horses from a distance.
The shooting from our location was tough and I would have preferred to be higher up, shooting into the canyon; rather than the other way around. There was one, very prominent cottonwood tree near our camp, which marks the cottonwood trail junction. This image of the cottonwood points to the east rim at sunset. I used an on-camera flash to bring out some bark detail.
I agree that the flash is critical for making this shot work.