The Petrified Forest
One of the most anticipated days on the southwest trip was the day to be spent in Petrified Forest National Park. Part of the excitement was that it had been part of a previous western visit 10 years ago and held the fond memories of a very memorable day of shooting.
Back on that trip, I was perhaps 6 months back into my pursuit of photography as an enthusiast. I had owned the PEN E-PL1 for about 6 months and was getting pretty handy with it and found my composition skills coming back quickly and naturally with my level of confidence rising as well. We had spent several days hitting canyons in Utah and had dropped down into Arizona and were basing out of Flagstaff and decided to take a day to head east before seeing the Grand Canyon the following day.
The day in 2011 was late in October, a bright sun hung low in the autumn sky and everything glowed. It wasn’t golden hour exactly but autumn afternoons on a sunny day beat those in the middle of the summer all the time. On the recent trip, it was mid-May, heavily overcast with the clouds refusing to move; it was flat and dismal.
Looking back, I think the weather had a lot to do with how disappointed I was with the most recent visit when it was over. I really felt like I had done a miserable job capturing the vibrance of the stony gems and colored badlands. In a first review of the images it felt like I hadn’t composed or technically executed the images well. Perhaps the mood of the day had me off, perhaps I hadn’t improved at all over the past 10 years!
From this current trip, the Petrified Forest images were the last I processed. Partly because I shot at will that day with a lot to go through and partly because I dreaded to confront my own perceived failure. I finally got them done and sent them up to Smugmug for safekeeping. I held off on this post until I had the time to find the 2011 images and think analytically about where things stood.
Things have changed in that time. I have much better gear now then I did then. On this day I used both the M1 – mark II (with the 14 – 42 F2.8) and the PEN F (30mm macro). I have learned lessons that have changed how I shoot as well. I know what a raw file is now and have some experience processing the images in Lightroom. In 2011 I tended to shoot with the lens closed up as much as possible. Now I tend to open up as much as I can.
Looking back, if there was one thing I would have done differently this trip it would have been to close down the lenses some on both cameras. But then that is where the day comes back in – I lost a couple stops from the overcast skies and I am still slow to work with confidence at higher ISO’s. I had done a good job with DOF in 2011 where as this trip I hadn’t managed it well.
Before I sat down to write this, I dug up the original images of the day 10 years ago and reviewed what I had to show for it. I had about half as many images this recent visit. With the images as a reminder, the itinerary was a little different. We had started that day at the rock garden of logs near the visitor center. The garden houses many of the more beautiful logs from the park. On this day in May, it was overrun by Covid escapees so, we avoided it.
Once at the Long Logs and Agate house trail we realized midway through our wanderings this past visit that the parking area had been relocated half a mile from its original site. Over the years, gem thievery has been a big problem in the park. One solution being tried is to locate the attractions far enough from the parking lots that no one in their right mind would carry heavy objects such a distance.
Once my review was done, I was reminded of an old adage. Things are never as bad as they seem and likewise, things are never as good as they seem. 10 years ago I was working with lower expectations for my skills and on days when things went well, I easily exceeded them. Now, when I am having an off day, I disappoint easily. But a quick look back to compare the two, things levelled out. I still love the images I mage 10 years ago, the weather was with me as are the fond memories. I think the evidence of growth is that on a lousy day to shoot like I had at the park this May, I still managed some images worth showing.