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| Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark, western Kansas © Doug Hickok All Rights Reserved It may surprise you to know whirlwind road trips can be a challenge to photographers, or anyone else with infinite curiosity. The temptation to stop repeatedly to explore can be heart rending. I wanted to stop at least 72 hundred times during our adventure... to take a photo, or look at a bird, or a rock, or a yak for that matter. But we had to press on to see everyone we wanted to see, and visit all the places we wanted to visit. I took pictures when I could. Hence, my road trip photography is of the "snap and go" variety. "Snap and go" is not especially conducive to good nature and landscape photography, which is often predicated upon capturing beautiful light to set a mood. Yet some subjects are strong enough to endure the snap shot style. Monument Rocks (or Chalk Pyramids) is such a subject. They are a strange anomaly, towering 70 feet above the endless agricultural flatlands of the Kansas high plains. These chalky formations were sculpted by wind and water. But the layers of fossil rich rock date back 80 million years, when this region was not an ocean of wheat, but an ocean of sea water (talk about climate change!). |
Friday, June 15, 2012
Go West II - Snap and Go
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That certainly is a landmark! my curiosity is such that I rarely manage to travel any distance at all...
ReplyDeleteIn Kansas of all places! Who would have believed it! As I would say, Doug, snap-and-go is better than no vacation at all!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness Doug. This is sensational. Needs to be framed and displayed in prime position on someone's wall.
ReplyDeletebeautiful nature... awesome
ReplyDeleteMy compliments Doug!
ReplyDeleteThese rocks are really impressive!
ReplyDeleteOutstanding image!
Léia
Fantastic shot with nice colors.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, Joop
Skała z "oknem" na świat jest niesamowita, a zdjęcie cudowne. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeleteRock with a "window" into the world is amazing and wonderful picture. Yours.
Great colors and contrasts.
ReplyDeleteAnd this photo matches your header...
Well, ya gotta keeper here.
ReplyDeleteFor a snap-and-go shot, it's absolutely perfect!! :))
ReplyDeleteThat's how I usually do shots - so much to see and so little time... :))
Greetings
WONDERFUL photo Doug!
ReplyDeletefantastic framing, colors and scenery
ReplyDeleteAn awesome photo, Doug, rivialing some I have seen of Delicate Arch in Utah. I had never heard of these formations despite driving through Kansas many a time and laughing at some signs that said "Welcome to the scenic flint hills of Kansas" when the landscape had been unchanged for a hundred miles.
ReplyDeleteKansas is amazing!
ReplyDeleteThat's where they made the cartoon, Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner?
Beep beep, don't run like the bird.
Hold your horses, perhaps coyotes or yaks, and enjoy the view, D. ;o)
Gorgeous color...and love the detail in the rock strata.
ReplyDeleteThis certainly doesn't come across as any casual snap, Doug. Beautiful light and very impressive detail!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting region, which I know more from National Geographics (both TV and magazine) and westerns.
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with you, Doug, in this "snap and go" matter, as I always lack time in my marathon travels in Asia.
Kansas will now have to be on my to-go list... I've perfected the art of snap and go...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting place.
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
ReplyDeletei find absolutely nothing to complain about here, doug! this is as good as it gets, both motive-wise and from an aesthetic point of view! never heard of these strange chalk rocks in the prairie before ... america is indeed the land of wonders !!!
ReplyDeleteexcellent framing
ReplyDeleteHola, Doug!!! He estado viendo tus últimas fotografías...son muy buenas, felicidades!!!
ReplyDeleteUn abrazo, amigo!!! ;)
What a superbly placed hole in the rock, it must have known you were en route, and in "snap and go" mode - a situation I can utterly emphasise with
ReplyDeleteCherill, my wife just refuses to go out when I'm shooting - probably something to do with me stopping and leaping out of the car every 100 metres as each magical potential pic appears. And then stop to have supper somewhere and that magical light appears half way through the main course...
It can't be fun to be a photographers partner!
Wonderful framing and a really impressive sight. As you can imagine, I can totally relate to the push/pull of stopping vs. moving on. My poor family--I think sometimes they're tempted to drive off and leave me.
ReplyDeletei didn't know there were formations like this in kansas, i'd better take this down.. :D
ReplyDeletei know what you mean.. it's a shame to not capture beautiful sceneries.. i still manage to get a few while driving.. i call it landscape paparazzi.. ;D