One hundred and sixty million years ago a deposit of creamy, erosive entrada sandstone was laid down in the shallows of an inland sea in what is now southern Utah. Sixty million years later, along the margins of a younger shore, a harder, more resistent layer of sandstone, called Dakota, came to be deposited over the Entrada. Over time, both layers were covered over with additional strata, which eventually eroded away exposing the Dakota-overlaid Entrada. As this eroded, it produced amazing white columns topped with dark-capped, small-grained, igneous-pebbled conglomerate. Thus were created the amazing Wahweap Hoodoos of the southern edge of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, where Wahweap Creek empties into the Colorado River now flowing beneath the mudhole of Lake Powell.
A focal length of 292mm from about 30 yards away allowed me to magnify the relatively small hoodoo and compress it with its background, the wall of the Entrada deposit. It also allowed me to control the background and elininate the sky from the composition. An aperture of f/20 provided depth-of-field and a shutter speed of 1/13th second at ISO 100 gave me an overall slightly lighter-than-medium exposure.
Even though the hoodoos of the Wahweap remain within the reduced margins of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and are thus still afforded some protection, the monument itself has been reduced in size by 47%, from nearly 2 million acres to just over 1 million; and places just as wondrous as the Wahweap have been stripped of protection and laid bare to loosely regulated mining development, expanded grazing, and other forms of exploitation. In the mountains of the Southern Appalachians, the GSENM may seem far away and beyond the need to consider, but our public lands are under attack, and if we wish to continue to have them, we must be willing to fight for their continued existence. Like the Wahweap, they are all special.
Although I have not been to that specific location I appreciate your geologic knowledge to help in my understanding of the events in time to create this natural masterpiece.i agree that we need to take a stand to preserve these awesome places. I, in my own way, am getting the message out to people through conversation,presentations, calendars,and my powerpoint mini-slude shows wherever I go. May you heal quickly from your surgery.
Wow this is beautiful. I have so much to learn and explore in this beautiful country of ours. Thank you so much for sharing your Photography, thoughts and knowledge of this land. Unfortunately I feel like it will take a one on one process of educating Americans about using up our natural resources and how our protected lands are being distroyed by our own lust for more creature comforts. It will take one small step at a time and every little piece of education that any of us can share.
Don,
Creamy indeed! I like your use of this small feature to stand tall for the cause of public lands which, yes, are under attack by those with little or no concept (nor care) of them. It’s a beautiful image, mysterious as to scale, but with such careful use of unobtrusive background (almost like a studio drape). Thanks for this! Ray
You continue to amaze me not only with your beautiful photographs but your insight into protecting our land that we enjoy photographing. I have been to the area you photographed and truly believe it is beyond beautiful. I have never seen so many National and State parks in one state as Utah afforded. A must visit in my book…and make sure to get off the beaten path.
I always enjoy your images of the hoodoos. These look like two grumpy, yet charming, old men. I like your composition that lights the hoodoos and just enough light on the backdrop to see the beautiful patterns. I wish these guys could speak; they could give lots of reasons why they should be protected. They have seen a lot and their stories would be very enlightening. Thanks for sharing.
I not only enjoy your images but your discussions about the subject matter. I have been to the Lake Powell – Southern Utah area and find that it is a photographers paradise. Good luck on your surgery. I hope to join you on one of your future endeavors.
Good evening Everyone. Thank you all very much for joining me for this conversation. It’s a delight to hear from all of you. I have been thinking a lot lately about the amazing beauty of this country of ours and our roles as stewards of the legacy of that beauty. As most of you know, I tend to identify very deeply with Native traditions and cultures with regard to our place in Nature and so I come at any discussion about that obligation first of all from those traditions. The Desert Southwest has a beauty – as do all of our public lands – that can only be described as “spiritual;” and it seems so obviously clear-cut to me that to use such a descriptive is to invoke the sacred, and to. I realize that for most non-Natives the sacred is confined primarily to the interior of buildings of worship, but for Native Peoples there is no such stricture and the sacred can be found anywhere in the natural world where spirit presents itself. So it is with me.
Hey Chuck. It’s great to hear from you. I hope you have been well. I truly admire and appreciate all of the many ways you are being involved in the care and preservation of our special places. May you good work continue and grow. Mitakuye Oyasin.
Hi Donna. It’s great to have you with us. Thank you for your wonderful thoughts and observations. The trench we have dug for ourselves regarding our relationship with the planet is now deep and long, and it was not created in a day. You are so very right: it will take many of us taking many small individual steps before we begin to turn the backhoes of destruction around. The time has become short and so there is no time to rest, nor cease from our efforts. I am happy to join with you in those care-taking efforts.
Hey Ray, it’s great to hear from you, as always. This small hoodoo seemed to represent all of the columns that have grown from that Entrada outcrop. Though short and a bit haggard, it seemed to possess a will to survive that I found very appealing. I really appreciate your description of the hoodoo and its relationship to the supportive background wall. Be well, my friend.
Hey Debbie. It’s great to have you with us. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I’m grateful that you have had the privilege to visit the places in Utah you have mentioned. Utah prides itself in the beauty of its five (5) major national parks, but its other public lands, state and federal, are equally magnificent. There are some great organizations, such as Canyonlands Natural History Association, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Friends of Cedar Mesa, and others working to protect these precious parcels. That which we love to photograph, we have equal obligation to protect. Thank you for being part of that effort.
Hi Nancy T. I think you are attracted to hoodoos in the same way you are attracted to gnarly wood; and I am grateful for both. You are so very right, these two do evoke a certain curmudgeonly appeal, sort of like Lemon and Matthau; and since Nature has chosen for these guys to live lives of mute silence, it is for us to give them voice. I hope you have enjoyed you visit to the Sunshine State. I meant to call last week, but will call soon. Walk in Beauty.
Hey Chris. It’s always good to have you join us for our discussions. I hope you have been well and your travels pleasant. Thank you very much for your kind comments. I worry that much beauty from the GSENM in the Lake Powell area will be lost unless the size-reduction is reversed and the full monument is restored. And now there is a new threat created by the State of Utah’s effort to turn over miles of old dirt roads and trails to the federal government under an old mining law provision. Bonnie and I would love for you to join us on an adventure. Take good care.
Thanks, again, Everyone for your thoughtful insights and kind comments. May we work together to preserve the gifts we have received so that not only we, but generations to come, may enjoy the beauty that blesses us.