Hoodoos, or erosion pillars, form when hard material overlays softer material and becomes a cap rock when wind and water erode the surrounding sediments. Here you can see the softer, light sandstone is eroding around a darker ironstone cap. In a few thousand years it may become a pillar taller than you or me. Or the entire structure could collapse.
My own structure was compromised after a morning of landscape photography in the badlands. Lying flat with the tripod legs splayed out - and my own legs splayed out, too - I felt like I was in a yoga position without the yoga benefits. I'm not complaining. It is a privilege to be able to do this, and I know the day will come when I can't.
I started with a couple of horizontal shots before realizing that the flow lines, those rills in the sandstone, could lead the eye down to the round shape at the bottom, or conversely, up to the sky. A link or bridge, at any rate. I was considering visual design, not geology, at this point. Years ago a photography teacher told me to just work on the design elements, and "the content will be there." He was right.
Photographed in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape vertical b&w black and white monochrome badlands sandstone ironstone hoodoo formation geology geologic time rills caprock erosion eroding beauty beautiful wild prairie Dinosaur Provincial Park Alberta Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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In this image scale is indicated by the small bush at the upper right, which is only two feet high. I remember being surprised when I first visited the badlands along Alberta's Red Deer River, in the 1980s. I was accustomed to the mountain vastness; this was a terrain of miniature landforms, albeit over a huge area.
In the end, it doesn't matter. The intricacies of design, the shapes and forms stark against a prairie sky, leave an indelible impression. Thirty years later, these eroded hills and valleys remain a place to excite the imagination. I was pleased to have this park all to myself last week. Although a few hikers were about, I didn't meet anyone on a trail, no one was there to ask what I was doing or what lens I was using: no distractions. I could actually study the landscape, instead of just jumping in to grab a shot before someone encroached on the space. Truth is, I go out of my way to find locations - and the right timing - to make this happen!
Photographed in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape square B & W black and white monochrome badlands sandstone sky beauty shape form texture eroded erosion wild prairie fossil location dinosaurs! UNESCO World Heritage Site Dinosaur Provincial Park Alberta Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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Large numbers of Mule Deer find home and haven in the badlands. I saw them at dawn and dusk, but by mid-morning only tracks in fast-drying mud reveal their presence, as most of them take shelter in cottonwood groves along the Red Deer River. There were no human footprints in sight; by late October the tourist season is over.
Much of Dinosaur Park's badlands are off limits due to the international significance of palaeontological finds here. Digs are ongoing. Even in the open areas such as this, where hiking and exploring is encouraged, I have found fragments and shards of fossilized bone. It's fascinating stuff, but I came for the landforms and related photo ops.
Photographed in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape landforms vertical black and white B & W monochrome badlands animal tracks deer tracks Mule Deer Odocoileus hemionus mud clay sandstone sedimentary layers wild prairie textures lines shapes beautiful Dinosaur Provincial Park Alberta Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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I had never photographed the badlands in black and white, but on my recent visit I went around with a monochrome mindset. Of course, shooting RAW, all data is retained, so I still have the option of processing the image in colour. And I did try it out with some of these. The black and white resonate more deeply with me, however.
I remember my old friend (and former student) Curt telling me, "I don't like colour shots converted to black and white." This was back in the days of film. He was suggesting, I think, that black and white involves a different way of looking, and that one's work would be best served to begin with that point of view, rather than tack it on as an afterthought. With the fluidity of the digital age, I do it both ways, but I think maybe a deeper dive is possible if the vision, the concept, is determined at the outset.
Landscapes in black and white: a time-honoured tradition. I'm going to fill this space with them over the next few days.
Photographed in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape monochrome black and white B & W badlands sandstone mudstone ironstone bentonite clay rugged eroded erosion spectacular wow wild prairie landforms Dinosaur Provincial Park Alberta Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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Down low again with the tripod and 14-24 mm. Because people are allowed to roam through this area, there were footprints intermingling with the deer tracks - but most of the steep slopes were untouched. I was grateful for this; nothing ruins a good landscape shot as surely as a lot of scuff marks from hiking shoes and boots. And the sandstone here is soft, crumbly stuff.
I was at the base of this slope, where the water-cut rills bottomed out into flat white hard-packed ground. I tried not to leave tripod marks. Pay a little attention to where you step and place the tripod feet, and it's possible to move through a landscape like this with minimal impact and few traces.
Photographed in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape graphic lines textures shape parallel stone rock sandstone eroded erosion badlands black and white b&w monochrome wild prairie Dinosaur Provincial Park Alberta Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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