Photo on New West

My photo that I called missing parts and featured on my blog previously is the feature photo today on the mountain west oriented blog "New West".

So here is the same photo that is in the blog but done in black and white instead. The photo was taken in the yard of the Heber Valley Railroad back on September 19th.

Making the Escape

Making the Escape
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Last Saturday night, Photowalking Utah got together for another excellent photowalk, this one taking place in the Old Greektown area of Salt Lake City which is just west of the main part of downtown.

We walked past the Intermodal Hub then took some pictures at one of the old buildings that is soon supposed to give way to a new hotel. One of our group volunteered to play model so she got up into one of the windows of the abandoned building and did some poses.

This photo was taken at 400 ISO using flash to keep the shutter speed from getting too low.

Sandy TRAX Crossing

Sandy TRAX Crossing
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another one of the pictures I took Thursday night. I put the camera on the tri-pod, metered off a couple of points to get a good idea on how long of an exposure and then used the car headlights to add a little more lighting.

Ghost TRAX

Ghost TRAX
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Last night I drove my wife and a friend to a class they are attending and decided to do some photography while I was waiting for them to get out.

As you can tell, I have been practicing my night shots for the last few weeks so I figured last night would be another great opportunity. I went to the TRAX crossing at 8680 South in Sandy which is just a block from where we used to live and took some pictures.

The lights you see in the foreground belong to my car.

Desert

Dirt over Mudd
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

When we were up in Logan my niece and her new husband made us a wonderful dinner and desert.

Since there will be a Photowalking Utah Mini-Clinic on taking pictures of food so I decided to take a shot of the lovely desert my niece made.

Not to make excuses about the quality of the picture, but I was sitting in a camp chair and could not move easily so I took a picture at the angle that was available to me.

Main Street in Logan

Main Street in Logan
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is one last photo that I took on Main Street in Logan. The photo is looking from the visitor's center toward the heart of downtown.

Jordan Peace Gardens "America"

Jordan Peace Gardens America
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Another shot from the Jordan Peace Garden taken last Friday.

In Need of Repair

Jordan Peace Gardens
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

On Friday I had some time to kill so what else did I do but go out and take some pictures.

I decided to stop at the Jordan Peace Gardens to take some pictures. This is only the third time I have ever been to the gardens so I do not have a lot of photos from there.

This is one of the first structures you encounter when you walk into the garden area. As you can see from the photograph the building needs some repairs (in fact several statures where showing signs of recent vandalism).

This photo is a difficult one because you have details that you want featured in the shadows with bright sunlight surrounding them. To help with the shadow areas I set my flash to minimum to use as fill. This allowed the details in the shadows but did not cause other areas to get blown out.

Union Station at sunrise

Union Station at sunrise
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

As I mentioned yesterday, my purpose for stopping off in Ogden was to get a picture of Union Station at sunrise. I have many pictures of the building but none of them when the sun new day glow is shining on the building.

So here is the final product. The angle was a compromise since the sun would shine into the windows at every other angle that I tried.

Trying a different perspective

Ex-Rio Grand Tunnel Motor
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Well I went a few days without showing a picture of a train but here is one that I took last Saturday but have been waiting to show.

I took this photo up in Ogden, Utah at Union Station which is home to a railway museum. The museum has several pieces of equipment to the south of the station that I have show photos of in the past.

On Saturday I stopped at Union Station to get some pictures of the station at sunrise and noticed that they had a new locomotive so I went and took a picture.

This is a former Denver, Rio Grande & Western locomotive that is referred to as a tunnel motor. If you look at the back of the locomotive you will notice vents near the bottom of the carbody. Normally a locomotive will have vents near the top of the locomotive but both Rio Grande and Southern Pacific experience overheating problems so the tunnel motor was born to prevent those issues.

In this shot I tried to do something different from the normal wedgie shot so I lowered the legs on my tripod to their lowest setting which gives this different perspective of the locomotive.

Logan Clock at Night

Logan Clock
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Another shot that I took while up in Logan last Saturday.

This clock sits on the main drag in downtown Logan. It was this clock that caught my eye and caused me to go around the block and take pictures that night.

When I first started taking pictures I didn't even notice that part of the neon was not working but thought the picture was still worth it.

U and I Sugar Mural in Garland, Utah

U and I Sugar Mural in Garland, Utah
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another shot that I took last Saturday on our trip up to Logan.

This photo is of a mural that adorns the side of a building in Garland, Utah. The photo is a memorial to the U and I Sugar plant that existed from 1909 to 1979. It appears that that sugar plant was the main employer of the city and once it closed, the city suffered.

This is one of the reasons why I love travel photography so much. It is amazing what you can discover by getting off of that boring Interstate and searching out real America.

Startyn's Buy-Roz Gum Sign

Startyn's Buy-Roz Gum Sign
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Have a change of pace today.

Photo taken of a sign on the side of a building in Garland, Utah which is just north of Tremonton in the north eastern part of the state.

One of the fun things about away from the interstates is that you never know what you might find. After all, a trip should be a journey of exploration.

Logan Visitor's Center at Night

Logan Visitor's Center
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

In case my regular viewers were getting tired of train pictures from my trip last week, today I have a picture that I took last night.

Drove up to Logan to visit a niece and her new husband who are attending Utah State University. After spending the afternoon with them and a wonderful dinner that they cook it was time to go home.

While driving through downtown Logan I decided to get out the camera and tripod out to take some pictures.

Here is a shot of the Cache Valley Visitor's Center.

Heber Valley 1011

Heber Valley 1011
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Yes, here is another photo taken from the Heber Valley Railroad.

This shot is of locomotive 1011 which formally belonged to the Union Pacific Railroad and is the only active locomotive in their fleet that has not been painted into the Denver, Rio Grande and Western inspired Orange and Black paint scheme.

Heber Valley Locomotive 1218

Heber Valley Locomotive 1218
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another one of the locomotives of the Heber Valley Railroad that I photographed while walking around the tourist Railroad's facilities.

Our Train

Our Train
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

My last couple of entries I shown some photos from the Heber Valley Railroad that I took before our train left. What I have not show you is a photo of our actual train so here it is.

The train included the former Union Pacific locomotive, caboose, two open air cars, an enclosed coach, and a combine car that was used as a snack shop.

When we first go on we sat in the enclosed coach but very shortly I moved out to the first open air car and stayed there for most of the trip.

On the way back the caboose was at the end of the train I spent a majority of the trip on the back platform which was a great place to take pictures.

Is That Duct Tape on our Coach???

Heber Valley Coach Car with Duct Tape
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another shot that I took at the Heber Valley Railroad last Saturday.

While waiting for some of my wife's family to show up, I took a walk around the grounds and of course had to take pictures.

While I didn't notice it at the time, when I looked at this picture full sized I noticed that the corner of the roof closest to the camera is covered with duct tape. If you look closely you can also see that there is more duct tape along the roof line.

Heber Valley 1813

Heber Valley 1813
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another photo taken on Saturday during my visit to the Heber Valley Railroad.

This photo is of locomotive 1813 which has been used in several of the railroads promotional shots but in its previous paint scheme which was black with a red stripe as opposed to the Denver, Rio Grande & Western inspired scheme it currently has.

Missing Parts...

Missing Parts...
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Yesterday my wife along with several members of her family took a trip on the Heber Valley Railroad which travels from the city of Heber which is just southeast of Park City on US Highway 40 down to Provo Canyon.

While waiting for the train to leave I took the opportunity to walk around and take some pictures. I came across this locomotive that had been stripped of parts sitting along side a former road crossing signal that has also been stripped of parts.

I thought the two pieces of equipment complimented eachother well in the photograph along with the older passenger car in the background.

More Miami Beach

Miami Beach
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Yesterday I showed a picture looking North from Collins and about 25th in Miami Beach. Today's shot is from the same position but looking south toward the heart of the Miami Beach area.

Will Need those heavy blankets...

Miami Beach
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another photo taken on my business trip down to Miami in November, 2007.

The day before I went out and took these photos I watched the weather report and the weatherman said that everyone should put on their heavy blankets because it was going to get down to 75 degrees that night. I guess if you live in that weather all the time that 75 would start feeling cold but...

The next day when I took this photo even though it was 9:00AM or so, the mercury was up to 80 degrees with humidity to match. I was almost tempted to stay inside the hotel but then again there was too many pictures to take and this was my last day in Miami.

This photo was taken at Collins and approximately 25th in Miami Beach looking south.

Alternate Transit in Miami

Miami Mini Bus
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another photo from my trip down to Miami in November, 2007.

While Miami does have an extensive transit system run by Miami-Dade County transit, I also encountered these many buses running around the area especially North Miami.

It appears the niche for the buses are one of the minority populations of the area.

Healing Field Part II

Healing Field
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Friday's post was taken at the Healing Field that has been erected for several years on the anniversary of September 11th.

It started with one flag for every person who had perished the day of the attacks. Later they started adding flags for those who have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq since that time.

Because I have not made it down to the Healing Field for a couple of years, I wanted to make sure to get down there this year. I had to pick up a some tables at my in-laws so I made a detour over to the field.

Sometimes as a photographer, you just seem to have bad timing and it started off this year. There was a wind blowing as I arrived but just as I crossed the street the breeze seemed to go away and the flags quit blowing.

However, I just waited a few minutes and a breeze kicked up and the flags started showing some motion.

I took this picture looking down the field for several reasons. First I wanted to get the line of flags (obviously). But another reason I took this picture was the Sandy City firefighter standing at the roadblock. With so many firefighters loosing their lives on that day it seemed fitting for him to be in the picture.

I also like that there is several other people in the picture as they take in meaning of the field.

Healing Field

Healing Field
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Remembering that fateful day 8 years ago...

Grumpy Old Man

Grumpy Old Man
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Picture of my father in law taken on when my wife's cousin was married a few months ago.

I will be using this shot tomorrow when I do a Toastmasters speech which involves a demonstration so I will be talking about photography.

Sometimes you have to compromise

Temple Square Night Picture
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Sometimes you just have to compromise to get the picture you want.

This photo was taken during the Photowalking Utah event at Temple Square late last year. The photowalk followed another excellent presentation by Rich Legg about night photography and since I had little experience taken night shots I was eager to give some of his excellent tips a try.

So where did the compromise come in?

The main focus of this picture was the Temple itself. However, you also have the statuary in the foreground which was also going to be a major part of the picture.

If you focused on the temple itself, the statuary would be in blow out overexposed. If you focused on the statuary, then the temple would be too dark.

The compromise was finding a setting in the middle that would not blow out the statuary too bad but also would have a good shot of the Temple.

Cow Canyon Trading Post in Sepia

Cow Canyon Trading Post
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

While yesterday I presented a photo in Black and White, today's photo is brought to you in Sepia. What Sepia does is make the picture look like an old time photo. I especially like using this technique on older and abandoned buildings.

This shot screamed to be done in Sepia. This building sits on the north side of Bluff, Utah along US Highway 191. Apparently the building is used as a restaurant but was closed during our visit. The old car in front of the building gives a feeling of abandonment.

No Gas

Gas Pump with no gas
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Here is another shot from anniversary trip my wife and took down to Durango, Colorado in May, 2008.

One of the towns we drove through was Bluff, Utah and while droving through I found a closed gas station and decided to take some pictures of it.

There is so much detail in this picture including the hand made sign saying no gas, the 2006 State of Utah inspection sticker, and even the taped and hand written covers to designate dollar amount.

Also, I thought that Black and White set the perfect mood for this shot.

The Forest Gump milepost

For those of you that have seen the movie "Forest Gump", there is a part of the movie in which Forest decides to start running after an incident in his life. After a while he has a large number of people who are running with him thinking he is on some noble quest or something.

One day he stops turns around, says that he is tired and starts walking past the other runners and down the highway.

This is milepost 13 on US Highway 163 just north of the Arizona/Utah border where that scene in the movie was filmed. My wife and I took a vacation in May, 2008 down to Durango, Colorado for our anniversary and stopped here on the way back.

In the background you can see Monument Valley which is not only famous for its many natural formations, but has been the site of numerous television and movie productions over the years.

Whether your a movie buff, photographer, or just like seeing interesting places in our beautiful country, you need to make a visit.

Character

House in Olympus Cove
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

Yesterday I had a couple of hours to kill so I decided to take a drive and see what I could find to photograph.

While driving around I found myself in the Olympus Cove area of Salt Lake City which lies to the east of Interstate 215 the eastside belt.

Olympus Cove is an interesting mixture of older homes that date anywhere from the 60's? to Mcmansions that have been going up in the area.

I spotted this house and had to take a picture of it. This home has so many interesting architectural details including the curved main level. Even back then there was plenty of boring tract homes being built but only a few really seem to have "character". You have to wonder in this age of "Wal-Mart" homes, will any of them live to say they have "character" in 40 or so years. I doubt it.