Big Bend National Park – Photography Workshop

Anyone who has kept up with this blog can tell that Big Bend National Park is near and dear to my heart. Being born and raised on the Gulf Coast, I am fascinated by the mountainous Chihuahuan desert. Every visit has something special for me and this visit did not disappoint.

A little tired after the 11 hour drive, thankfully shared with the workshop photolead, Kathy Adams Clark, we practiced the star trail technique the first night in the Chisos Basin and then planned to expand on the technique by finding interesting foregrounds and painting them with light for a more dramatic final image.

But, Big Bend suggested that we try something different on this visit. Two of the three evenings of the workshop, we were treated to some incredible light and sound shows when the lightning lit up the landscape and the thunder reverberated between the mountain peaks. The desert was washed and renewed with several rain storms and Kathy directed us to some locations where we were able to get some wonderful photographs of lightning!

The spectacular views of the desert storms dashed our sunset photography opportunities, but the sunrises were crisp and clear and as beautiful as ever. The crescent moon and Jupiter were the “stars” of the show on September 19th and later that morning, we were treated to some anti-crepuscular rays, seemingly emanating from Santa Elena Canyon.

Canon’s fisheye zoom ( 8 to 15 mm) lens is fun to play with anywhere, but Big Bend makes that lens sing.

At the 8 mm full circle end of the lens, I was gazing skyward from the base of a Cottonwood tree, desperately seeking foreground objects near a hoodoo and perching inside a Sotol (ouch!) plant. At the longer 15 mm end of the lens, I captured a metate and its surrounding landscape. Big thanks to Daryll, one of our workshop photographers for pointing out the metate or I would never have seen it.

It is never a trip to Big Bend without trying to catch some of the critters and admiring the plants that manage to spring out of that harsh environment.

My favorite is the Variegated Meadowhawk dragonfly with his midday snack. The Cottontail wasn’t having any part of a photoshoot, but the Cactus Wren posed nicely several times. The Honey Bees were easy picking since they were swarming the Cenizo flowers. Someone beat me to that prickly pear.

The Abstract Stuff

During one of the sunrise sessions, a bit of horizontal camera motion resulted in a blur. The dark lines “growing” from the desert floor are Ocotillo.

The second image is a telephoto capture of the layering effect of the lighting on the Sierra del Carmens.