Across the Southwest » Travel

Cumbres & Toltec Railroad – An Early Morning

Adam Schallau — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:11:41 +0000

Engine 484 of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad prepares to leave the station in Antonito, Colorado on a cool September morning.

This was a photo of opportunity. I was on my way to Crested Butte to photograph fall color and had nothing but fall color on the brain. It felt a bit ironic to photograph this magnificent piece of western history, and in color no-less, when golden aspens were only a couple hours away.

~Tech details~
Camera & Lens: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens
Exposure: 1/320 second, f/11 and ISO 400
Filters: Hoya HD Circular Polarizer
Notes: hand-held

I’m Back from Arizona

Adam Schallau — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:40:23 +0000

Wow, it’s been over three weeks since my last post! The business has kept me very busy lately. I’ve taken on a few new photography students recently and had several submission deadlines to meet. All of this has kept me from posting on the blog.

Last week my wife Sally and I took a road trip out to northern Arizona to photograph Lower Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend (at both sunrise and sunset), Marble Canyon, the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and finally Shiprock peak in New Mexico. And while I’m not a wildlife photographer I was lucky enough to photograph a condor at the twin Navajo bridges in Marble Canyon and I also photographed a Kaibab Squirrel. I’ve just begun to process the images and hope to share a new shot each day over at least the next week.

We had both great and not-so-great weather on the trip. As was to be expected, it was hot as hell in Page with the mercury peaking at over 100 degrees Farenheit and hardly a cloud in the sky on our first couple of days. My greatest weather concern wasn’t the heat, but rather the smoke from a forest fire burning on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park which we could see from the lodge at Marble Canyon. Discovered on July 29th, the lightning-caused Aspen Fire has scorched over 4,000 acres on the Walhalla Plateau. The smoke from the fire had filled the canyon obscuring visibility. Not exactlly ideal photography conditions. Luckily for us, a few hours after our arrival a line of thunderstorms advanced up from southern Arizona through the Grand Canyon region, cleansing the air of the smoke and providing photogenic skies.

I’m going to get things started by sharing this image of rain falling into Bright Angel Canyon over Phantom Ranch. This was my last image of the evening as I was chased off the rim by an intense thunderstorm that was producing a lot of lightning.

Late evening rain. North Rim - Grand Canyon National Park

This image of a late evening rain falling into Bright Angel Canyon as viewed from the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park and others like it are available for purchase at my website AdamSchallau.com.

~Tech details~

Camera & Lens: Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens

Exposure: 1.6 seconds, f/16 and ISO 100

Filters: none

Alan Heuer – Artist at work

Adam Schallau — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:37:11 +0000

My wife and I were walking the Taos Plaza this afternoon when we stopped in Sage Fine Art on the southeast corner of the plaza. Inside, artist Alan Heuer was working on one of his latest paintings. Alan was kind enough to let me look over his shoulder as he worked and we talked about his art. If you would like to see more of his work, I suggest you visit Sage Fine Art and Alan’s website and blog.

Today’s Image ~ Patience of a Saint

Rio Grande Gorge with the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Adam Schallau — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:25:29 +0000

When it comes to getting new toys, there’s nothing better than getting a new lens. Sure, a new camera body can be great but it doesn’t necessarily change the way you see the world like a new lens does.

I recently purchased a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II ultra-wide angle zoom lens to replace my EF 17-40mm f/4L lens. You might ask yourself, what’s the difference? Let me start by saying that the 17-40/4L is a great lens and is definitely the better deal of the two in terms of the cost-to-performance ratio. The 17-40/4L is half the price, takes a slightly smaller filter, and is both lighter and shorter than the 16-35/2.8L II. Wait, now I’m having second thoughts about selling my 17-40/4L and getting the 16-35/2.8L II. Should I have done it?

After one day out shooting with the 16-35/2.8L, I can say “yes”, it was the right move for me. The advantages of the 16-35/.8L II are a brighter viewfinder thanks to the f/2.8 maximum aperture which helps with manual focusing in low light and allows for faster shutter speeds when trying to stop motion. This lens is also capable of producing stunning sunstars which I hope to have sample to share soon.

On to the photo. One of the first places I usually visit to test a new lens is the Rio Grande gorge just west of Taos, New Mexico. For the shot shown above, I shot from the bridge with camera on a tripod and the lens set to its widest setting to include as much of the gorge as possible while not cutting-off the top of the clouds. One of the biggest problems with shooting from the bridge is the vibrations that rattle across it everytime a vehicle crosses the bridge. You have to hope that there will be very little traffic and you have to time your shot between the vehicles. I got lucky and was able to capture a few frames when there was absolutely no vibration from passing cars.

Mission Concepción – San Antonio, Texas

Adam Schallau — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:45:15 +0000

Stairwell

I thought I would share a few photos from a visit to Mission Concepción in San Antonio, Texas a little over one year ago. The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park consists of 5 Spanish missions built along the San Antonio River in the 1700s to bring Christianity to the native population and to make them Spanish citizens.

On my visit to Mission Concepción several parts of the old church were going through a stabilization process and for reasons of safety were off limits. Even with the partial closures, there are limitless photo possibilities. The Spanish architecture is beautiful and the light plays off of the stone walls very nicely, providing photographers with lots of opportunities to test your ability to handle difficult lighting situations. In some ways, the light reflecting from one wall to another reminded me of the photographic challenges of shooting in the canyon country of the Colorado Plateau.

Bell tower and sky at Mission Concepcion

I’m often asked about my process when developing an image and I’m happy to share my techniques. The image of the stairwell was captured using a Daylight White Balance setting and has had minimal processing applied. In other words, this is how it looked.

For the image of the bell tower and sky, I took some artistic liberties selectively de-saturating the image while cooling the shadows and warming the highlights to achieve the look seen here.

Walkway and arches

In the last image, I have applied the effect of a cooling filter and added some contrast to emphasize the shapes of the walkway and arches. Again I have cooled the shadows and warmed the highlights.

All the images shown here were captured with the Canon EOS 5D and EF24-70/2.8L lens with the camera mounted on a tripod to insure sharp pictures. All images were captured as raw files and processing was accomplished using Photoshop CS3.

Please click on any image for an expanded view.

Cover Shot – Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers

Adam Schallau — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:48:53 +0000

My peers at the Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers have selected this image to be the cover shot which will great visitors to their website during the month of January 2009. This image was captured a few minutes after sunset on the boardwalk at the Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne, Texas. Located about 30 miles north of San Antonio, the Cibolo Nature Center contains over 100 acres of nature trails and wilderness and was one of my favorite places to hike when I was growing up in Texas.

Please click on the image for an expanded view.

Old Gas Station Signs

Adam Schallau — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:56:14 +0000

I spent the afternoon shooting at a cool place south of Taos that has tons of old gas station signs and memorabilia. This was another opportunity to test the low-light/high-ISO capabilities of the Canon 5D mark II and again I was left impressed.

This image was captured using ISO 800 with an exposure of 1/25th at f/5.6 and was shot with the 24-105 f/4L IS lens at 24mm hand-held with the Image-Stabilizer turned on.

Please click on the image for an expanded view.

Taos Ski Valley Fireworks

Adam Schallau — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:42:46 +0000

Let’s start off 2009 with a photo of the fireworks display in the Taos Ski Valley from last night. This was captured using the 5D Mark II and the EF 24-105 lens with a 30 second exposure at f/8 and ISO 500. I continue to be pleasantly surprised with the 5D Mark II, especially with regards to noise and image quality.

Happy New Year!

Please click on the image for an expanded view.

On the road again…

Adam Schallau — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:52:42 +0000

Approaching the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Cimarron, New Mexico.

Classic Southwest ~ ‘56 Chevy and Saint Francis de Asis Church

Adam Schallau — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:38:46 +0000

Every now and then, you get lucky. I was eating dinner this evening at the Ranchos Grille, on the patio, when this beautiful red and white ‘56 Chevy pulled into the parking lot.

The driver parked among all the other cars, and my first thought was “cool, I’ll get some shots when I’m done eating”. I went about eating my dinner of chicken enchiladas smothered in green chile (yum!) and after a minute or two I looked up and discovered that the car was no longer there. Bummer, I missed-out on an opportunity.

Much to my surprise, the car was now parked behind Saint Francis de Asis Church. Ordinarily I’d be very upset if someone parked right behind the church because after all, it’s famous for it’s backside. The last thing I’d want is an ugly car blocking my view, but this isn’t an ugly car.

This image is available as a limited edition print, please contact me for pricing and availability.

Click on the thumbnail image for an expanded view.