Sego Canyon Pictographs

My first encounter with Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) rock art came in the mid 1990s while on a visit to the Moab, Utah area. I had head about an incredible panel of rock art near the town of Thompson Springs, Utah and decided to visit. I didn't really know what to expect, but I sure didn't expect a sandstone wall filled with large, ghostly, bug-eyed figures, snakes, and other mystical (or mythical) beings.

The figures are very large, some even approaching human-size. Some figures look like space aliens, some like humans with snakes for arms, others like red ghosts floating on the sandstone walls.

The site it literally only a few miles north of Thompson Springs (just off I-70 in east-central Utah), in a canyon that winds it way up into the Book Cliffs. The site it well-signed from town so it should be easy to find without a map or GPS.

"Barrier Canyon Style" refers to a form of rock art (mostly paintings, aka pictographs) that are most abundant in Utah and western Colorado. Age of the BCS art is tough to determine although many archaeologists consider these to have been painted by "Archaic" people well over 2,000 years ago. Regardless of its age, the images are compelling.

Were the ancient artists documenting their hero myths or creation stories? Were these paintings the work of tribal visionaries? Were the ancient artists illustrating ghost stories they'd tell their kids while everyone was gathered around a campfire? Or were they simply the work of people ingesting a little too much peyote?

My personal, unsubstantiated belief is that these BCS sites were backdrops or illustrations for some kind of storytelling. The sites that survive are, more often than not, situated in alcoves in the rock that act as natural sound amplifiers. I can attest to their amazing acoustics - just like standing at the apex of an old band shell and speaking to the crowd. They would be great locations to host storytelling sessions. 

The abundance of sites in alcoves doesn't prove much though - it may be that alcove sites survived preferentially because they were  more protected from the elements. But I prefer to envision a band of travelers settling down in a sandstone canyon and gathering around a fire built in front of the tribe's rock paintings. A storyteller gets up in front of the group - she's wrapped in furs to ward off the night's chill - and tells the children how the land was born, how the canyons were carved, and how the animals were made, using the art behind her to illustrate her tales. Then she teaches the children the names of the Spirits pictured on the walls - the canyon guardians, the bringers of rain, the thunder spirit, the protector of hunters, and maybe even the trickster spirits.

OK, so maybe I have a vivid imagination but these BCS sites, especially here at Sego, really bring that out in me. Maybe it's the bug-eyed guy up there on the wall with the snake arms who's causing me to daydream too much...

Please, if you do visit any of these sites, remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. These artworks are precious and irreplaceable; they're voices from the past and they are sacred sites for many First Nations people here in the US. 

Note on rock art photo copyright: I'm making my photos of rock art site available to the public as part of the Creative Commons. I can claim no copyright to these sites, and I don't feel it's right to place a copyright on my photos of them...the people who can copyright them were the ones who created the art and they're long since gone. Feel free to use the rock art photos on this page - I only ask that you give me credit for having taken the photo and provide a link to this blog.

Voices of the Ancestors

Did you know that the cliffs and canyons of western North America house one of the greatest collections of ancient art in the world? Among the red rocks that Desert Bighorns and rattlesnakes call home are alcoves that host galleries of Ancient American art - some of it dating to perhaps over 8,000 years ago.

People stare out of the cliff face - but they probably don't look like any people you've ever seen. These are figures out of ancient myth and legend - the stuff, perhaps, of great stories of quests, ghosts, gods, and magic.

Sego Canyon Site, Thompson Springs, Utah

Sego Canyon Site, Thompson Springs, Utah; largest figures approx 6 ft tall

Animals scamper across the rocks too: Desert Bighorns, snakes, lizards, dogs, coyotes, deer, elk, squirrels, birds, bears....some animals are alone, some in herds, others being hunted by humans.

Bear being hunted by Humans, near The Portal, Moab, Utah

Why is it that our western culture venerates the cave paintings of France and for the most part disregards the ancient art created by the indigenous peoples of North America? Yeah, those cave paintings in Europe are beautiful, but in my opinion no more so than what you'll see here in western North America. 

Perhaps these sites speak to the Native American in me. My Fox/Sauk heritage is pretty distant though, both in terms of distance from the western US and the number of generations back into my heritage. What Fox genes I have left are much diluted by Scots, Irish, and Rom, so I doubt my distant native heritage has anything to do with my love of this art.

Is it that I'm also an artist? We're getting warmer now. 

I know when I view this art I imagine that artist from so long ago, putting his (or her) time, energy, and creativity into expressing his thoughts and observations. I wish I could go back in time and somehow ask these artists what motivated them, what do those bug-eyed figures represent, and why create the art in the first place?

I think, though, it's just a realization of our shared human-ness. Those ancient artists were no different from us, really. Same genetics, same biology, same psychology. Their tools were different from ours but that doesn't make them any less human, less "us." Someone, many millenia ago, smeared pigment on a rock wall or chipped away the rock surface as some sort of message. I get that. We do something similar today: social media, blogs like this one, books, magazines, and web pages. 

Sego Canyon Site, Thompson Springs, Utah

So many non-natives here in Colorado and the west don't even know these sites exist, let alone how beautiful and awe-inspiring they can be, that I've decided to use a few upcoming blog posts for some profiles of these ancient American Rock Art sites. And as I visit more sites in the coming months I'll post about them here as a kind of rock art journal.

Note on rock art photo copyright: I'm making my photos of rock art site available to the public as part of the Creative Commons. I can claim no copyright to these sites, and I don't feel it's right to place a copyright on my photos of them...the people who can copyright them were the ones who created the art and they're long since gone. Feel free to use the rock art photos on this page - I only ask that you give me credit for having taken the photo and provide a link to this blog.

Wildlife Photography Tips: Raptors (Part I)

Birds of prey - fierce, graceful, powerful, and fast - and very difficult to get great photos of in the wild. How many times have you tried to photograph an eagle or hawk in flight, only to look at the photo later and see a small, dark, out-of-focus blob on your image rather than the graceful bird you remember?

I can't tell you how many of those blurry photos I've taken over my lifetime!

These past two years in Maine have given me time and opportunity to hone my photography skills with birds of prey and I'd like to share some of the things I've learned. These tips have taken me from taking photos like this:

Very blurry image of an American Kestrel, Nikon D60 and manual focus 300 mm lens

Osprey on nest, taken with Nikon D60 and Tamron 500MM lens

To taking photos like this:

Osprey fishing, taken with Nikon D300S and Tamron 300mm lens

...in the space of just a few months! Granted, I had few distractions so I was able to devote many hours to  photography every week, but if you're patient with yourself and learn from both your successes and failures, you can make substantial progress in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Know What You Want

The first thing: know what you want to achieve with your wildlife photography. Do you want to derive an income from your work, either part-time or full-time? Do you want to be able to create large prints from your photos, or are you satisfied with small, low-res images for the web? Do you want to sell work to publications like National Geographic, or are you taking photos only to share them with friends and family?

My own immediate goal is to derive a portion of my income through wildlife photography via print sales, stock photos, and freelance work. 

Equipment

The answers to these questions will drive the decision as to the type of equipment you'll need. Without a doubt, most serious, professional, successful wildlife photographers are using some fairly high-end equipment. If this is what you want, you'll need a camera with a high resolution, capability to "burst" photos, one that works well in both low and high light conditions, and has a good selection of lenses available. Currently my workhorse camera is a Nikon D300S, and I rent a D3 as needed for really special shoots.

With your camera, get the fastest memory cards you can afford and get several if possible. My camera takes both CF (Compact Flash) and SDHC cards. I carry both - the CF because they are faster and SDHC as backup if the CF fills up. Fast memory cards come in handy when you use your camera's burst mode (taking several shots sequentially, for action photography) because each picture file you produce gets saved much quicker. This allows your camera to take photos more quickly.

You can get decent photos with point-and-shoot type of cameras that have high magnification capabilities...however, you're more likely to get more and better photos of birds with higher-end equipment. 

Lenses are also a consideration. For serious bird photography, my recommendation is to buy good lenses even if you have to purchase them used. Fixed-length lenses offer slightly crisper resolution than than zooms, but zooms are more convenient if you don't want to lug several heavy lenses around all day. Modern photo editing software is so advanced that you can overcome much of the difference in sharpness with just a pass or two through a sharpening filter.

That being said, my workhorse lens for raptor photography is a Tamron 200-500mm AF zoom. I purchased this used three years ago and have taken a few tens of thousands of photos with it. I also routinely rent higher-end lenses as needed  until I have the moolah to be able to purchase one for myself (Nikon makes some great super-tele lenses that work better than the Tamron in lower light conditions but at $10,000 or more, these are not currently in my budget).

Osprey taking off after a dive, Nikon D300S and Tamron 200-500mm AF zoom

I switched from a Nikon D60 to a D300s for several reasons, but mainly because the D300S is plain faster. It offers higher shutter speeds, "burst" photos for action sequences, a greater ISO range, better low-light capability, a larger image sensor, better focusing, and a higher resolution. I can also create images in RAW as well as JPEG, something the D60 could not do. The D300S offers two card slots, one for CF and the other for SDHC cards. Before switching, using my D60 was an exercise in frustration when trying to take action shots of any bird but particularly Osprey.

Next post: Finding raptors to photograph...coming soon...

Note: All text and photos are copyrighted by Nancy Rynes, 2012. Please feel free to link to this site, but do not copy contents or photos for ANY purpose without my written permission.

Wildlife Art: an "Almost" Plein-Air

I'm often asked about my artistic process - what inspires me, how I paint, etc. Up until the last few years I painted mostly landscapes and the process was pretty simple:

1. Do several plein air (i.e., on-location) paintings of a scene.
2. If the scene warranted, do one or more larger studio works from those plein-air pieces.

Plein-air work is valuable for forcing the painter to simplify what she sees and to quickly put it down on canvas. It's also an unparalleled way to come to understand light, shadow, and color outdoors.

If you paint outdoors at all, you know that the camera doesn't begin to come close to your eyes in terms of seeing and recording the scene the way it really is.

Now that I'm painting mostly wildlife images, my process is a bit different. I still paint a few plein-air landscapes to keep my skills sharp, but painting wildflife on-location is challenging at best and usually impossible. Try getting an elk to stand still for an hour sometime - it just doesn't work! So for wildlife painting I rely heavily on my own sketches and photos, and my process is pretty straightforward:

1. Come up with an idea for a painting - from imagination or from reviewing my wildlife photos or sketches
2. Obtain reference material if needed (more photos, sketches, or plein-air paintings of the landscape)
3. Compose and sketch the painting to make sure composition and values work
4. Paint
5. If the painting turns out acceptably well, frame it and sell it!

Oftentimes the process takes months from inspiration or snapping a photo to the finish of a painting. Sometimes it's years before I use a good photo in a painting....but on rare occasions, the inspiration of painting happen all in the same day. I call these my "almost plein-air" wildlife paintings and one of them happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

One Sunday in late March I decided to take a walk around Florida Lake near Freeport, Maine. It's a rarely-visited park that's a haven for birds. Spring migration is starting so I brought my camera and tripod along in case I found some interesting animal subjects.

My luck was good - I found a beautiful pair of Ring-Necked Ducks. I observed and photographed them for 20 minutes while they simply hung out with eachother in the warm, early morning light...and while I was photographing them, the title of a painting came to mind: "A Companionable Silence." It seemed to fit the pair and the quiet of the morning.

I came home and immediately started in on the painting based on a slightly different view of the birds:

I realized that what struck me most about the scene was the golden, frosty quality to the morning light - so that's what I decided to highlight in this piece. Since the scene was so fresh in my mind I thought I stood a great chance of pulling it off - it was an "almost" plein air.

The first version I painted was a 24"x30" and included the drake, hen, and a decent handling of the background (slightly cropped view):

The painting itself had progressed quickly - I found it relatively easy to capture the quality of the light and the simplicity of the water reflections. I really felt in a painting "zone" while I was working on it. But there was something about it I didn't like but I didn't see what it was right away. I let the piece sit in my studio for a week, coming back to it the following Sunday.

Wow, it was obvious:  the view of the drake didn't work as well as I thought it would. While the view was technically accurate, it was just odd-looking in a painting and made his head appear deformed. I did like the hen's side of the painting though. I could have sanded down the paint surface of the drake and repainted him - definitely one option - but I'd honestly lost the "zing" I had when I painted the piece and I didn't think I'd be able to paint the new drake to match the lighting and atmosphere convincingly. I also wanted to be done with it so I decided to crop the whole thing quite drastically. After playing around with several different options for crops, this is the one I decided on (from 24"x30" to 15"x16"):

I also changed the name to "Solitude."

While the painting didn't turn out exactly as I had planned I still felt it was a success. Yes, the painting itself "works" but even more valuable for me was realilzing how much easier it was to capture the feel of a place if I painted it as close in time as possible to the when I saw it. In this case, the time between photographing the scene and starting the painting was about 90 minutes.

All images copyright Nancy Rynes, 2012. You may share this blog post, but you may not use these images in any other way without my permission.

Wildlife Art: The Art of Patience

The most common question art buyers, viewers, and students ask me is: how do you get your source material?

My usual reply is: most of my source material comes from my own observations, sketches, and photos obtained while I'm hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, or even driving down a country road. I always carry at least one camera, sketchbook, and sketching pens with me at all times, and I keep my spotting scope and tripod in my car all year. Sometimes while I'm out, my path will cross that of a fox, coyote, or a flock of Wild Turkeys and if I have my camera with me I can often get great photos to work from later. Other times I'll go out to specific locations with the intent to photograph wildlife - these trips usually get me the best chances to view animals and as a result, the best reference material.

But how do I actually get those beautiful photos of animals to work from, they ask again.

Well, I have good photographic equipment and a decent spotting scope (more on equipment in my next post). But more importantly, I know where to visit to have a good chance of seeing animals, and I have the patience to stick around long enough to get the best observations and photos. Having a basic knowledge of ecology is a plus. I would say, though, that patience is the toughest to learn and at the same time, is the most important quality to cultivate for wildlife artists wanting to work from wild animals in a natural setting.

Why patience?

I believe that the best way to observe and photograph wild animals is to find them and then let them come in closer to you. I'll give you an example..a few weeks ago I traveled about 1/2 hour from my home to one of Maine's state parks. I knew that several species of ducks and other waterfowl were hanging out in one of the quiet tidal lagoons waiting for warmer weather for their northward migrations. Sure enough, when I arrived at Reid State Park I saw a Common Loon and about a dozen Red-Breasted Mergansers on the other side of the lagoon. They were too far away to get a decent photo of them so decided to sit tight and just observe for a while.

Over time, both the loon and the mergansers moved in close - really close! The mergansers got so comfortable with me that they came to within 10 feet of where I was sitting on the shore. I watched them for another couple of hours while they caught and ate small fish on the incoming tide.

Observing animals while they're getting comfortable with your presence is valuable in its own right. As an artist, this quiet time with the animals allows you to watch how they interact with eachother and their environment. Some of the things I note are:

• Where is the animal spending its time?
• Is it eating, sleeping, looking for a mate, or caring for its young?
• What is the light doing?
• What are the weather conditions?
• What are the other animals doing?
• Are the animals nervous or calm and relaxed?

Sit tight while you observe. Try not to move too much or make noise. Allow the animals to move around on their own and get used to your presence. Oftentimes they will move in closer to you...but it might take 1/2 hour or more! I have had to wait for 2 or more hours in some cases but it's always been worth it.

Once the animals do start to come in closer, take photos but still continue to observe. Keep your eyes on them at all times, especially if you're watching potentially dangerous animals like bears or elk. By watching them over time you'll have more opportunity to get the  best photos or sketches - the animal will turn just the right way in the glow of the setting sun to make its fur into a golden glow. Or an eagle will swoop down and steal a scrap of meat from a wolf's kill. Be patient yet ready, wait, observe, and allow the animals to be themselves.

Sometimes a blind or "hide" is the best way to keep animals from being nervous in your presence, and your car can easily become the perfect blind. I've used  my Rav4 as a blind many, many times but most notably while observing bison during their annual rut in Teton NP. Trust me, it's far safer to use the roof of my Toyota as a photographic platform when two fully-adult male bison are battling it out than it is to try to sneak up on them on the ground and "get just a little bit closer."

Practicing patience will reward you in ways that you can't even imagine. Below are some more examples of photos and paintings that came about solely because I had the patience to wait.

One note on ethics: stalking animals, a behavior you'll see a lot of humans doing when they visit National Parks, isn't good for the animal and it can be dangerous for you. Don't do it! If you want to photograph an animal and you start chasing after it to get a closer view, you'll run the risk of getting attacked, trampled, gored, or butted. This is where having decent photographic equipment is a necessity. A really good telephoto lens and tele-extender can keep your hide intact - and the animals calm - because it allows you to stay a safe distance away while still getting a reasonable photo.

And it's not just possible effects on you that you need to be concerned about - your stalking of an animal is a stressor to that animal. If its behavior changes negatively as a result of you being there, back off a bit or leave. Is it deliberately moving away from you? Is it snorting, pawing the ground, or making deliberate and agressive moves toward YOU?

Remember, if you stress the animal with your presense it's likely going into "fight or flight" mode. You know what that feels like, don't you? Do you enjoy it? I can assure you that animals don't. Their bodies release stress hormones, their heart and breathing rates skyrocket, and their behavior becomes unpredictable.

An example: I was hiking in Yellowstone's backcountry several years ago and crested a hill after only about 1/2 hour on the trail. About 150 yards off in the distance I spied a bull moose and he appeared to be following the same trail as I and going in the same direction (west). I stopped. I knew immediately that this wasn't a good situation. It was autumn and the rut, which meant his testosterone levels (and aggression) were high. The wind blew my scent to him and he smelled me...then he spotted me. I knew instantly I needed to beat feet back to my car (about 1.5 miles behind me). He turned around, put his head down, and deliberately, and surprising quickly, started walking FAST directly toward me. With not a tree in sight to climb to safety, I turned around and walked as quickly as I could back to the car, stopping every so often to see if the moose was on my trail. He was, and was swiftly closing the distance between us. I walked that 1.5+ miles quicker than any mile I'd ever walked in my life! By the time I was in my car he was only about 25 yards behind me. I didn't stick around long enough to see if he would follow me into the parking lot - I chose to go to try out a different trail that day, one closer to Old Faithful (with more people around)!

In short, keep your distance from animals and have patience - you'll be rewarded with some wonderful photo opportunities!

Just this for today...

Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go out and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

- Harold Whitman

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.

- Rumi

The Value of Creative Expression

So how do we find our own unique creative style or "voice?"

What I'm talking about here is something authentic and "real" to you - not a technique that you "affect" just because it's trendy or startling or controversial or might sell better than other styles. Not something you contrive, but something you discover for yourself and refine or allow to evolve over time from your own creativity. Ideally, it's the essence of your personality and vision that is expressed through your artistic medium. Think of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, or John Singer Sargent...photographs by Ansel Adams...music by Beethoven or The Police or Billie Holliday. Each of these artists had his or her own unique form of expression that was instantly recognizable and somehow an outgrowth of their personalities.

I'll be honest - some of us seem to find this easier to do than others.

This then begs the question - how do we actually find or develop our own creative voice?
I'll start by saying that for most of us it's a longterm process. In essence, it involves coming to a deep understanding, acceptance, and even love for who we are as people. Obviously this doesn't happen overnight and likely explains why it may take decades for that uniqueness to fully flower in our artwork.

Do you really, deeply know and accept who you are, what you like and don't like, what you're good at, and what needs improvement?

Just as importantly, this process of developing your creative voice involves a lot of letting go. Letting go of expectations is vitally important...expectations that you might have about your work as well as expectations that others may have about you and your work. If you are constantly trying to "fit in" or please someone else (for example, paint the subject matter that your spouse likes rather than what you like) you will never give yourself the creative "breathing room" necessary to develop your own creative voice. If you place the expectation on yourself that you MUST sell everything that you produce, even experimental pieces, once again you likely won't have the creative space necessary to find your unique direction. In fact you just might sell everything you produce, even your experimental pieces, but placing the expectation on yourself that you HAVE to sell them will likely hinder your creative experimentation. If you expect that your work MUST look like so-and-so's work, then you unnecessarily limit your ability to express your own individuality.

(As a side note for professional artists - yes, you can give yourself space to experiment and find your creative voice while still producing your "bread and butter" work - but more on that later.)

There's another thing you must let go of in order to allow your true creative essence to shine - you must let go of fear. If you fear what others might think of your new work, you're not free to be truly creative. If you fear never getting your new artwork in a show you'll be chained to producing more of the accepted norm. If you're afraid what others may think of you personally, well then, you're definitely limited in your ability to be expressive both creatively and personally.

Unfortunately these things are hindering most artists out there right now. Rare is the artist who breaks the mold to put his or her unique stamp on their work.

It's your choice - which path will you choose?

All images and text copyright Nancy Rynes, 2012. You may link to this blog freely, but you cannot copy it without  my express written permission.