#azimuth 11

[thorsenmark]

Taking Stock of Beautiful Places in Monument Valley by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the north-northeast while taking in views of sandstone formations white at an overlook along the main tribal park road. This is in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. Brighams Tomb, Stagecoach, Sentinel Mesa, and West Mitten are present in the image as a distant backdrop.

[thorsenmark]

Volcanic Outcroppings in Big Bend National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a roadside pullout exhibit for Castolon Peak with a view looking to the north towards eroded, volcanic remnants present in this part of Big Bend National Park. My thinking in composing this image was to capture this peak in the way it's seemingly jutted into the blue skies above. I wanted to capture some nearby foreground to add some depth and perspective for this setting. When I later looked at the image while post-processing it, it reminded me of an image I'd seen in an aliens type movie, but can't quite put the name to it.

[thorsenmark]

My Time for a Getaway in Indiana Dunes National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking through the national park beach house structure and looking to the north-northeast to the distant water of Lake Michigan. Here I used the concrete walkway as a leading line into the image. I also decided to use the framing of the beach house structure and keep that more or less in silhouette to draw the viewer into the image with that sliver of blue waters at the end of the walkway.

[thorsenmark]

Definitely Some Greens in This Woods! (North Cascades National Park Service Complex) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A point on the hike back along the Agnes Gorge Trail, looking to the north in Glacier Peak Wilderness. While a view looking without the trail might have best captured a view of that "pleasure in the pathless woods", I liked how the hiking trail seemed to draw the view to continue walking ahead into more greens of this part of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

[thorsenmark]

Even with People All Around, I Still Find Solitude in Beautiful Places by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at the Mittens and Merrick Butte overlook with a view looking to the north-northeast to sandstone formations and buttes present in the distance. This is in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. Based on the PeakVisor app on my iPhone, the formations present are from left to right, Brighams Tomb, Stagecoach, Sentinel Mesa, and West Mitten.

[thorsenmark]

Time Has Not Yet Destroyed What I Love Doing (Shenandoah National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at an overlook near the Hawksbill Summit with a view looking to the north across a ridge extending along the Skyline Drive and Northern Blue Ridge. This is in Shenandoah National Park. In composing this image, I chose to angle my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera slightly downward so that I could create more of a sweeping view looking across this ridge and down the nearby draw with the Shenandoah Valley and Masanutten Mountain off in the distance. I felt that bringing the horizon a little higher into the image would help bring out more of a sense of grandeur with this national park setting.

[thorsenmark]

My Time for a Getaway in Indiana Dunes National Park (Black & White) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A conversion to black & white using DxO PhotoLab 4 where I made some adjustments to color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Tree Spokes While Hiking Along the Blind Ash Bay Trail (Voyageurs National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting extending up and to the north while hiking along the Blind Ash Bay Trail in Voyageurs National Park. My thought in composing this image had been to take advantage of the clearing skies with the evergreen trees coming together with the look of spokes on a wheel. I wanted to have those blue skies above as a compliment to the greens in the nearby forest. The rest was moving around until I found that look with the trees coming together and then metering to not blow any highlights in the bright skies above while still being able to pull the more shadowed areas later in post-production.