Despite moving back to Tulsa, and being very busy, Ren and I managed quite a bit of travel in 2018. I have been looking back at some of the photos I took last year, and thought I'd share a few of my favorites. I am still looking through them and may do another post or two as I pick out the best.
Back in January we had a total Lunar Eclipse visible here in Tulsa. As it happened the Moon was going to be in eclipse as it was setting in the West, while the Sun was rising in the East and giving us that early morning light we photographers like so much. I tried to plan an interesting photo and it turned out I could get a picture of the moon setting between the two tallest buildings in downtown Tulsa. It also happened that the best place to get this photo from was the top of the parking garage where I work. I could get the shot and wouldn't even have to take off from work to do it. Perfect! Well, almost perfect. Just as the moon was reaching the buildings the clouds moved in and covered it up. While it wasn't the shot I was after, I'm still pretty happy with it.
By the way, this coming Sunday, January 20th, is another Lunar Eclipse visible in the Americas. If you are lucky enough to have clear skies, bundle up and go watch. I am hoping to get some good pictures, but the weather here is looking iffy.
In February Ren went to the Kansas City Comic Con to help a friend with her merchant booth and I took a drive on the Glacier Scenic Byway, where I got this shot on the Missouri River.
This was taken in March at the Elk City Lake in Kansas. I wanted to see if I could get a portrait against this dramatic sunset. Normally you wouldn't shoot a subject straight into the sun. I used a wide lens, and used the on camera flash with the camera as close to my face as I could get and still focus. It worked out great.
In April I took a trip to the Talimina Drive. It was the New Moon and I wanted to do some Astrophotography. It turned out to be cloudier than expected and I didn't get much that was interesting that night, but those same clouds made for a nice sunset.
In June we traveled back down to Texas and traveled out west. One of the places we visited was Caprock Canyon State Park, where we saw Bison
In July we headed back to Arkansas. We are trying to visit every county in the US and in this trip we visited the last five counties we needed to make Arkansas the first state where we visited every county. I took this panorama at Artist Point north of Fort Smith.
In August we got a spell of uncharacteristically cool weather. It was near the New Moon and I wanted to go get some Milky Way photos. You need somewhere dark for those and some of the darkest skies in the US are in far western Oklahoma, so we headed out to Black Mesa State Park. Once again the clouds did not cooperate, and once again those same clouds made for a nice sunset. I got this photo of an abandoned house at sunset on the trip out west.
Since I did not get my stars, we made an unplanned side trip and headed for the mountains around Taos New Mexico. I got a lot of amazing photos on that trip, but I think my favorite is this panorama of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
On the way back from Taos to our camp in Black Mesa we took the side roads as usual, and found ourselves traveling through the nearly empty Dry Cimmaron River Canyon. This was a huge canyon that went on for many miles. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. When I go back west for star photos I will probably setup in the canyon.
When we got back to camp and it became apparent that the clouds were going to hold on, we decided to head South and finish the last few counties in southern Oklahoma an finish our second state. We spent the night a Lake Meredith in Northwest Texas, and woke up to an amazing sunrise.
In September we headed up into Missouri to the Hercules Glade Wilderness Area where I finally got my Stars. We camp in our hammocks, and some parks don't like you to hang them from their trees, so we have hammock stands we can use.
This is the fire watch tower at the campground. I wanted to get a good photo of it against the southern Milky Way, but the placement of the trees did not allow it.
In October we had planned a trip to Arizona but it had to be canceled. I already had the time off, so we decided to spend some time exploring things closer to home. This is an early morning photo of Keystone Dam in the fog.
In November we headed to Southwest Arkansas to get some pictures of the Fall foliage and some waterfalls. On the way we stopped to stretch our legs at a city park in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Arkansas is an amazingly beautiful state everywhere, but especially in the west. This was just a little creek on a country road. You find this sort of thing all the time.
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beautiful photography
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Beautiful clicks, I love the landscapes!
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Some REALLY fantastic shots hon! WOW!
Thank you so much @jaynie. Scott does such an amazing job with his photos.
Ren
Good hits among those! Happy to see this :)
Thank You. Glad you liked them
Scott
Truly beautiful photos to enjoy!
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Thank you!
Nice work @xcountytravelers
The varied terrain that you guys have covered is impressive and the images are stunning.
Good work.
Gaz
It really amazed me at how diverse this land can be within 100 miles. One of the things we love a out driving is that you can see so many different things. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Ren
You're welcome
Thanks for sharing these photos and taking us with you an your travels!
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Beautiful photography. So many wide open spaces to travel. But to be able to sleep in a hammock ~ Even if it couldn't be tied to trees ~ Under stars like that ~ Would be the absolute pinnacle. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
It is absolutely amazing! When first started talking hammock camping i was doubious, but after the first night in one while we were in Missouri, i was hooked.
Ren
Lovely photos
Thank you.
Great shots. Thanks for sharing them to us. Have a great weekend.
Thank you @ikarus56. Hope your weekend is also amazing
lovely photos, we are so blessed to be able to travel and see so many beautiful places on this earth! @xcountytravelers
We feel the same way.
Scott
:) many more happy trips
You got some great shots there Scott
There's so many I like but I stopped at that "Road To Nowhere" :p
and the hammock under the stars... that's beautiful
Thank you for sharing your 2018 with us...
More adventures in 2019 :D
Thank you.
That was a great place, and we ended up having it to ourselves.
The scale of your photos make them really impactful for me. I must admit the one with the hammocks and stars is my favourite as the setting is so intimate but the photo covers billions of miles.
Thanks. A photo of the stars is pretty enough, but one looks pretty much like another. You have to put something interesting in the foreground to put your own stamp on it.
Scott
Outstanding photos! Your persistence in shooting the stars really paid off. Seeing all those great images makes me nostalgic for the West. :-) I may copy your idea of posting favorite pics from 2018.
Certainly. I look forward to seeing it.
Scott
great photos.
I didn't know you live in Tulsa. Are you from Oklahoma?
We are. We lived in Texas for several years, but the families needed us to come back for awhile.
Scott
My Dad grew up in Blackwell, Oklahoma and his parents were there until they passed over. It is not far from Tulsa.
Beautiful photos. You are very fortunate to get to do all this traveling. I love to travel and now I have the time, just wish I had the money!
I very much understand that. We don't travel as much as we would like because of the money.
Scott
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Oh my Gosh, that is some really great photography there! My absolute favourite is the one of the stars with the tower! I am such a nerd!
Thanks. I was happy with that one. I could not get the shot that i wanted, but kept trying things till i got something else that I liked. Problem solving is a big part of Photography.
Scott
Wonderful photolog. Looks like a busy year.
Thanks.
We try and keep moving as much as life will allow. It keeps us happy.
Scott
Getting more excited to travel everytime I see photos like this.😍
Great shots! I like 'em all! lol. That sunrise at Lake Meredith might be my favorite though that looks stunning!
Oh, I just loved waking up like that! The hammocks out in the open was amazing there!
Ren
Very nice recap of your trips. As always your pictures are amazing. I am hoping the weather gives us all a break for a few days so we can see the eclipse and the full moon. If...IF we get to see it as we should, it will be larger and have a red/orange glow to it. I can't wait to see the pictures you get 😊
I am hoping that he gets to do the photos he wants. Hoping so.
Ren
Me too. I think I'll feel the disappointment over here in CO.
That is quite ambitious trying to see every county in the US, I hope you are able to do it.
Arkansas does have some really beautiful streams and mountains when you get off of the main roads and back in the woods. It is one of my favorite places to explore.
Thanks for sharing the photos and the stories along with them.
We love Arkansas. I, Ren, am from the Devil's Den State Park area. My family owned it before the 1930s. Scott is from the Paragould area of Arkansas so we have major roots there. The Ouachita area is our favorite.
I spent a year living in Mayflower over on lake Conway and enjoyed the hell out of it, some day when I do retire it may very well be in Arkansas.
Hello @xcountytravelers, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!
Thank you so very much.