Petroglyphs, Overlooking Lake Abert

The Abert Rim rises over 2000' above Lake Abert, a highly saline

remnant of a much larger Pleistocene-era lake body of fresh water.

Poison Creek is one of only a couple of routes to the top of this rim,

though it is unmarked, trailless, and almost impossible to find, even

if you know what you're looking for. These petroglyphs lie within the

Abert Rim Wilderness Study Area, which will someday, I hope, go into

permanent protection.

Well done. You obviously put a lot of work and thought into this image and it paid off!

Superb composition John! Beautiful light on the foreground, and a lovely sky to boot.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, to you, and yours.

All the best, of the Season

Neil

Glad you went to the trouble to find these....some of the most vivid petroglyphs I've seen. Amazing colors and excellent composition. Hope you had a nice visit in Indiana.....the weather could have been worse! :-) And hey.....tonight we watched a movie called 'UP'.....an animated film. There was an executive producer with your name.....same spelling. I figured it wasn't you.....but you never know if you're doing some freelance work on the side. ;-)

Nah, that's a different John Lasseter. I do get the occasional fan letter for him, though.

Wow, John, it's been too long since I've seen your work--and I'm blown away! What a stunning image! The way you've placed the petroglyphs so that they're so naturally part of the composition--and of the landscape--very nice indeed.

 

I also wanted to thank you for your considered and excellent comment on my heron. I will definitely try the crop you suggest. I guess I thought leaving some space in front of the bird was a good thing, but let's see how it looks with the squarish format.

 

Cheers,

Nancy

It's usually difficult to make these Petroglyphs stand out against their background but you've done a splendid job here. Excellent processing in separating the low values and making them glow. Just an outstanding photograph. Well seen and presented, John.

Thanks for the kind words. It took me three trips to this place before I found these petroglyphs. I've been told there are many more around the same spot, but I never saw them. It was actually quite challenging to get the processing right on this one, because the contrast range of film is so high, and this contrast is only magnified by scanning. I ended up taking two scans, one normal and one with the highest possible "analog gain" boost, following by very meticulous (and time-consuming) blending. I'm not sure it would even be possible to print this using wet darkroom methods!

Superbly composed image with good clarity and color. A part of me likes the rich dark contrast of the foreground rocks and another part of me says - make sure you record a 2nd image exposing for the shadows just in case I want to do something with it. Just my two cents on a beautiful image. PS the work you put into this image is worth it. Best regards,