Trips | Brian H. Powell Photography

Oct 2

Joshua Tree National Park

I was in southern California recently, and had an afternoon to drive over to Joshua Tree National Park. I first visited there in 2007, when I was in Palm Springs for a NANPA photography summit.

I planned my trip to arrive for sunset light. There weren’t many clouds in the sky, but I still managed to get a little sunset color. I just had a great time quietly hanging out among the Joshua Trees and watching the sun set.

Afterwards, I drove down to the town of Joshua Tree and had dinner before driving back west towards the city. It was an incredibly short visit, but I loved every moment.

Jul 8

Hiking in the Dolomites, Part 1

From June 23 to July 5, I was in Europe, mostly hiking and photographing around the Dolomites, in the Alps of Northern Italy.

I met my friend and travel partner, Jennifer, in Munich. She and I have been on several photography trips together—Utah, Alaska, Vermont, New Mexico, Hawaii. Once we got to Italy, we would meet our friend and pro photographer, Kerrick James (http://kerrickjames.com/ and http://kjphotosafaris.com/) and a few others for the remainder of the trip.

But first, we spent the day in Munich. We stayed at the Hotel Torbraü, near Isartor, and not far from the Marienplatz. Despite advertising itself as the oldest hotel in the heart of Munich (since the year 1490), it was quite nice and convenient.

Hotel Torbraü

Marienplatz

After lunch, we met my friend, Rahman, and toured parts of the city that I’d never been to before. We finished with a walk around part of the Englischer Garten, before returning to the hotel to get an early dinner and some much needed sleep.

The next morning, we departed by train for Innsbruck. I’d been to Vienna, Graz, and Salzburg before, but never Innsbruck, and this was a convenient halfway point between Munich and our starting point in Italy.

Central Innsbruck

Griffon at Rudolfsbrunnen. The statue behind, from 1863, commemorates the 500th anniversary of Tyrol joining Austria.

We had a difficult night’s sleep at the hotel, the Gasthof Weisses Rössl. It was a warm day in Innsbruck, and the hotel was not air-conditioned. Further, the windows did a better job of keeping the warm air in, and the cooler air outside out.

Hotel of the White Horse.

Still, the rooms were nicely and interestingly done on the inside. Here’s a photo of one of the walls. To the left of the television is a wall with a plexiglas front, with the gap filled with salt. To the right, a similar panel, with the gap filled with peppercorns.

The Salt and Pepper Walls

Next stop, Italy. Stay tuned.

Sep 24

Gettysburg

Today, I visited the Gettysburg National Military Park and Gettysburg National Cemetery, the site of a bloody American Civil War battle in July of 1863. As with most of the Civil War battlefields, the park is filled with hundreds of monuments memorializing the dead and wounded soldiers.

Here’s an infrared photograph of the State of North Carolina Monument, sculpted by Gutzon Borglum (who also sculpted the heads on Mt. Rushmore and the carving on Stone Mountain).

Sep 23

Fallingwater

I’ve spent the past week in Pittsburgh, at a conference and visiting some professors at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Today, I escaped the city—Pittsburgh’s a great city, by the way—and did a little sightseeing in southwestern Pennsylvania.

I visited the Flight 93 National Memorial and the Johnstown Flood Museum. But most of my time was spent at Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater. There’s a hint of fall color just beginning to appear—this part of the country is beautiful.

A year or so ago, I visited Taliesin West. Both it and Fallingwater have an enormous sense of fitting exactly into their surrounding environments. Taliesin West sitting perfectly in the desert of Arizona, and Fallingwater belonging no other place than along the stream called Bear Run in Pennsylvania.

Aug 11

Hells Canyon of the Snake River

I am in Boise, Idaho, for a conference, and had a spare afternoon. I drove up Hells Canyon, on the Oregon/Idaho border, and did some hiking just below Hells Canyon Dam.

Here’s an infrared photo, taken with my infrared Nikon D200, converted to infrared by Life Pixel. It’s interesting how the infrared highlights the different textures of the water.

I took this photo just upriver of the Hells Canyon dam, looking downriver along the Hells Canyon Reservoir…

I’ll be back. I’d like to take one of the boat tours that heads deeper into the canyon.

Sep 5

August in Colorado

I was in Denver again this past week for work, and visiting friends.

And seeing a Rockies baseball game.

And seeing the Goo Goo Dolls concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. (Wow, that’s an awesome place!)

I also had a chance to do a little hiking. I borrowed a friend’s copy of the book Hiking Colorado’s Front Range, and selected a hike around Mount Galbraith, near Golden.

Here’s the GPS track from my hike. I used the new Garmin GPSMAP 62s, which I really like.

And an infrared photo, looking off to the southwest…

Thanks again to all my friends from Colorado, and my friends from Austin who were up there with me.

Mar 16

A Weekend in Denver

After leaving New Mexico, I went up to Colorado and enjoyed catching up with several friends. My first night, I captured this great sunset with the Denver skyline from my hotel room balcony.

My friend Micaela took me snowshoeing for the first time. We went up to Bear Lake, in Rocky Mountain National Park, and we had a wonderful time with a couple of feet of fresh powder in some places.

Despite her best efforts with snowballs, she did not cause me to trip over my own snowshoes and fall down.

Mar 15

Lent in Santa Fe

Santa Fe, New Mexico, is one of my favorite cities. Great for photography, great for shopping, great for opera, great for relaxing.

After visiting Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, I drove up to Santa Fe for an afternoon. It was the Christian season of Lent, and the St. Francis Cathedral had a figure of Christ on the cross in purple fabric. In the foreground is a statue by Estella Loretto.

Mar 14

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Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

I recently enjoyed a great visit to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It’s between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This monument is famous for its rock formations, but I didn’t really know what to expect.

From the moment I drove up to the gate, I felt welcomed. “Thanks for coming here!”, said the ranger—I think because he was proud of this place.

I visited the day after a snowstorm came through. Perhaps because I grew up reading Arizona Highways, I think that snow in the desert is a beautiful thing.

Here are a couple of self-portraits, giving you an idea of the scale of the rock formations.

I’ll be back, I’m sure.

Dec 25

Christmas at El Tovar, Grand Canyon National Park

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Here’s another HDR image, of the Christmas tree in the lobby of the grand hotel El Tovar, on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. (Click the image to enlarge.)

Conservation Photography and Other Photo Adventures

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