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UltravioletPhotography

Goblin Valley


OlDoinyo

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Utah's Goblin Valley State Park is one of those out-of-the-way attractions that tend to be little-known outside their area. It lies at the end of a road that really takes one out to the middle of nowhere. Long ago, a shallow sea laid down some beds of clay and then a sand layer. The sand cemented itself into sandstone, while the clay remained unconsolidated. Uplift later raised the sediments to more than a kilometer above sea level; as they eroded, the sandstone fractured into blocks, allowing undercutting erosion of the clay below. The result is a desert valley filled with sandstone boulders perched on pillars of softer sediment--the eponymous "goblins." Acid erosion later sculpted many of the perched boulders into quasi-conical shapes, perfecting the impression.

 

I have been wanting to visit the site for some years, having driven by it in a hurry several times over the years. This year, I finally made time to spend an afternoon and a morning there taking photographs. A dust storm raged when I arrived, and the car was being pelted with Salsola tragus balls; but it happily subsided enough within a few hours to allow shooting. For photographing the rock formations in ultraviolet, I used the Asahi 35mm lens at its f/16 aperture. (I had the Steinheil along, but its field of view was inadequate for the purpose.) I was fortunate to have my full photo gear with me this time, meaning that I could use the Sony A900 rather than just the SD14 travel camera. The landscape appears almost monochromatic in the ultraviolet; the modest bandpass of the lens probably played some role, but even a couple of pinhole test exposures did not demonstrate greatly increased chromaticity, so this is largely a characteristic of the landscape itself. Even what little vegetation is in these photographs does not stand out from the background much.

 

The following gallery, then, depicts how this odd landscape appears in UV. The Baader U2 was used as the filter and display intent is BGR.

 

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Hi Clark --

 

These shots and this place are wonderful. (And I have put Goblin Valley on my list for when I get to see some more of Utah.) You have handled the monochromicity of these unusual eroded landscapes very well with your subtle renditions.

 

I'm quite liking the 2nd photograph as it appears that the road leads to a cool turretted castle. And of course I cannot help but think that #3 and #4 show big-headed cyclopian alien goblins. The last 2 photo are mushrooms run amok for sure.

 

Very enjoyable!

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