From a roadside pullout along Texas State Highway 118 with a view looking north. My thinking in composing this image was to capture a look to a far off point with the highway and center strip as a leading line into the image. By getting down low and also using LiveView with the swiveled-out screen, I was able to capture a more sweeping view across this West Texas landscape. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 5 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

While at a parking area pullout at Bruhel Point with a view looking to the north. This is a stop along the Pacific Coast Highway. With this image captured, I decided to pull back on the focal length and go wide angle. While having a focus with an image captured is important, sometimes it’s best to soak in the whole view, especially with an ocean coastline and watching the waves come rushing to the shore. I felt it important to angle my Nikon SLR camera such that I could include the foreground present to lead the viewer into the image with the more distant hillsides and coastline.

A setting looking to the southwest at a roadside pullout just outside of Marathon, Texas. My thinking in composing this image was to use the road and center stripe as a leading line into the image with Santiago Peak as that distant point in the image center. I took advantage of the swiveled out LCD screen and used LiveView to center and line up the image as well as finding a focus point. That would also help to minimize my time on the road, even if there was no traffic present. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 4 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

Getting to this lake takes some determination and a nice 4 wheel drive vehicle. I think the give away should have been the sign that was posted "Primitive Road". Not having an actual 4 wheel drive we just took our time and after a couple of screams and some unmentionable words we made it to the lake.

However, the view will be divine. Indeed, it is because of this view, this incredible location, that Summit Lake Campground is an absolute gem in spite of itself. The lake rewards every effort, and the campground provides some of the more open camping areas around the lake. To be sure, there are plenty of pullouts along the primitive roads that follow the north and west shores, but most are in the dense lodgepole and ponderosa growth and miss the sun.

While standing on the shoreline of Starkweather Lake with a view looking to the southeast on a hazy, overcast day. The location is in Inyo National Forest at a roadside pullout on the drive to Devils Postpile National Monument. My thinking in composing this image was to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward and capture a more sweeping view across the lake with the reflections. That would also minimize what I felt was the negative space from the haze of the overcast skies above.

A car negotiates a rain wet Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park on an August afternoon. Completed in 1932, the spectacular, 50 mile long Going-to-the-Sun Road bisects the park east to west. The paved two-lane highway spans the width of Glacier National Park and crosses the Continental Divide at 6,646-foot-high Logan Pass. It passes large glacial lakes and cedar forests in the lower valleys; canyons and cliffs; culminating at the windswept alpine tundra atop the pass. Scenic viewpoints and pullouts line the road offering dramatic views and photo opportunities. One thing I found interesting is that the view from the road varies depending on the direction you are traveling. I drove both ways a few of times and saw different things each time.

The road is nationally significant for its design and monumental engineering accomplishments. The original roadbed, bridges, tunnels, culverts, retaining walls, and guard walls were built in the “NPS Rustic” style. Individually, these structures are often significant examples of period engineering and design philosophy; collectively, they comprise a vital, integral component of the road’s unique character. Most of these structures were designed to harmonize with the roadway setting by using native materials and by blending with landforms as much as possible.The Going-To-The-Sun Road is a National Historic Landmark, is included in the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

From a roadside pullout along Texas State Highway 54 with a view looking north to the Guadalupe Mountains and namesake national park.

While at a roadside pullout along the main park road in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park with a view looking to the southwest. The view is looking across the waters of Lake Sherburne.

While on the main Scenic Drive in Capitol Reef National Park with a view looking to the north-northwest from a roadside pullout. My thinking in composing this image was to capture a look across this high desert landscape to the monocline and cliff wall leading off into the distance. The asphalt road would be the leading line into the image for the viewer. The blue skies and clouds would be that color contrast to complement the earth-tones in the lower portion of the image. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 5 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

Alright, alright, I know, a lot of cloudy day BS lately. I still have some sunny day BS in the backlog, so I will change things up. This was back on the first day (not taken today as the lying EXIF would tell you) with the new toy and found myself at NTW looking at stored units I wish were out on the road. One of the cooler pullout job regulars shoves back into the Departure Yard past a whole lot of EMDs on this pleasant April afternoon.

Got up WAY too early to catch sunrise at Lake Tahoe during a near freezing morning. I started at the brink of eagle falls, and there were virtually no clouds. I got some decent pre dawn shots while my face got numb, moved up the road to the pullout and a great display of clouds started to move in right before my eyes. There was still a slight bit of sunrise color, and the reflections were spectacular. I knew it would be a great opportunity for the 10 stopper, and I think this is the best shot I have captured using that filter. I also got use my new tripod (55XCPRO3), and joystick head (327RC2). The joystick head is awesome, and allows you to frame your shots quickly and precisely. The 3 hours of sleep was definitely worth the trip! Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think;-)

At a roadside pullout along the Loop Drive in White Sands National Park with a view looking to the southeast to a nearby yucca plant. I decided to keep it simple in composing and lining up the image with that one plant. Centered and keeping the horizon more or less running across the middle portion of the image. I liked how the white sands highlighted the plant in the lower portion of the image. The mountains and blue skies above I also felt were a color complement to the white sands. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 6 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

A setting looking to the north while taking in views through a nearby aspen forest. This was at a roadside pullout along the Alpine Loop Scenic Backway in Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. My thought on composing this image was the zoom in with the focal length and focus on one section of the forest around me. I wanted the aspens to stretch across the image from edge to edge as well as top to bottom. The idea would be to see only the whites of the trunks/bark and greens of the leaves.

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Clouds swirling around the mountains that afternoon played peek-a-boo, eventually revealing this peak. I was at the Teton Overlook pullout, but for the life of me I can’t identify this peak. Any suggestions?

While driving on the Oatman Highway just past the Seatgraves Pass, you will arrive at a large pullout area that looks towards the West. You can see Arizona, California, and Nevada from here. After parking, you will walk up to the top of a mound and see dozens of crosses and memorials for loved ones. The first time I came here I really wondered what the backstory was for this location. Something special is going on here.

On my latest visit, I was surprised at how many new memorials had been added in the last couple of years. I made it my mission to find out what was going on here when I got to Oatman. I went into a store to get my "Ass Family" shirt. (There are a lot of wild Jackasses that roam the town.) I asked the clerk about the memorial site and she said go to the store across the street and talk to Leanne. And of course, I did. Leanne told me that she is the keeper of stories for Oatman and the surrounding area. Here is what she told me:

She started by telling me that the land is privately owned and doesn't have a specific name. People have been using the site for memorial services for over 40 years. During Covid when we were supposed to be social distancing and not congregating in large groups, people in the area started doing their memorial services here in the outdoors with this amazing view. She told me that she has been to a few memorial services where the remains were also scattered, and every time, the wind was calm, and the weather was perfect during the memorial services. Even when it was really windy earlier in the day.

It was hard to keep a dry eye while walking through the mound and reading some of the messages that people left for their loved ones. I could tell while talking to Leanne that this place has the same feeling for her. I've travelled all across the United States and I think this is the most sacred place I've ever experienced. I'm sure I'll be back again in the near future on my way back to California. Happy exploring!

Here is a link to a touching memorial at the site:

www.flickr.com/photos/35900399@N07/54981414497/in/photost...

View of the Rio Grande River [which is running low] seen in Northern New Mexico between Taos and Santa Fe off of highway 68.

A setting looking to the south while taking in views across a mountain valley with evergreen trees present in this part of the San Juan National Forest. This was at a roadside pullout along US Route 550 (San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway) in southeastern Colorado. Off in the distance are the ridges and peaks of the San Juan and Needle Mountains with Mount Garfield in the image center, more or less.

At a roadside pullout along the main loop road in the Cades Cove area with a view looking to the southeast while taking in the Cades Cove Riding Stables and a backdrop of the Western Great Smoky Mountains (Cold Water Knob, Rocky Top, and Chimney Rocks based on PeakVisor app). This is in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My thought on composing this image had been to capture sweeping view looking across the grassy meadow leading up to the stables. I liked the way the stables were seemingly nestled in with a backdrop of the mountains.

- Marguerite Duras.

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While I planned the trip to northern California last summer, I had no plans to travel further north into Oregon. But while we were there, I realized how close Brookings, Oregon was, and it seemed like an excellent opportunity to scout the area. I had tried formulating a plan for the beautiful southern coastline of Oregon primarily by relying on Online resources, but they have been somewhat lacking in detail.

While we had uncharacteristically sunny days in northern California, the clouds started to fill the sky as soon as we crossed the border into Oregon. By the time lunch was done, we had a fully overcast day. At Brookings, I spent time checking out the locations I had originally marked in my maps and then started exploring as many pullouts and trailheads as possible. While only planning works for some places for wild a primordial coastline like that in southern Oregon, nothing beats in-person exploration.

While at a roadside pullout along the Avenue of the Giants (California 254) with a view looking up and to the southeast at nearby coast redwoods in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

A setting looking to the south while taking in views across ridges and peaks present at a roadside pullout for Tioga Pass in this part of Inyo National Forest. What I wanted to include with this image was the Autumn colors coming out in some of the trees as well as the mountainside leading up to Tioga Peak. After centering the image to capture that, I then metered it to not blow any highlights from the haze present that morning from nearby wildfires.

I worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 5 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image. I later used the ClearView Plus tool in that same program to bring out more details present in the haze that morning.

A setting looking to the northeast while taking in views across a ridge with eroded and layered volcanic formations in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

When I started off that day, I didn't know where I was going to go, but as I neared the Sierras, I know it had to be Mono Lake and Bodie. This was my first view of the lake from a pullout on Highway 395. Even with my short lens open to 18 mm, I couldn't capture it all.

- Alice Morse Earle.

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Recently while on a trip to Bishop, I badly miscalculated a sunrise shoot and had to take images from roadside pullouts rather than at my planned location. The best part about the pictures was the great light and the gorgeous mountains. The bad part was that since I had different locations planned, I didn't have enough reach even with 200mm, and the photos had a very “vacation snap” look.

The problem was that both these images were made from highway pullouts which were designed for the distant view of the mountain ranges. While both photos were taken in incredible light, but there was still a lot of negative space. Initially, I wrote them off but recently, while playing around with the crop tool, I applied my fav 6x17 crop, and I believe the crop made the images work. Most of the exciting elements in these images were in a horizontal orientation, and by excluding the negative space, the focus is back on the interesting parts of the picture. I am thrilled with how it turned out. The first of the two images is from an Rt-395 highway scenic lookout. I had gorgeous pink light filling up the entire scene but minimal cloud action in the sky. It started as an ugly duckling but is now one of my favorites from the trip.

At a roadside pullout along Highway 1576 not far from Dell City and the Salt Basin Dunes in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The view is looking to the west across the salt basin to the mountains and peaks in the national park. While on the drive from the Salt Basin Dunes, I'd seen this thunder cloud formation, but I only noticed what looked to be rain showers coming down during the drive. So that's the thought behind my composition in capturing the wide open spaces with the mountains and then thunderstorm clouds with the rain coming down. I pulled back on the focal length enough to include enough of this setting to capture the drama in this afternoon rain shower. While keeping the landscape and mountains in focus was important, having the mist of rain coming down was a priority, in my mind, that was the most likely spot to draw a viewer into this image. I did some initial post-processing work making adjustments to contrast, brightness and saturation while playing around as I learned how to work with DxO PhotoLab 5. I then exported a TIFF image to Nik Color Efex Pro 4 where I added a Polarization and Pro Contrast filter for that last effect on the image captured.

Sun breaks though illuminating the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park on a rainy, August afternoon. Completed in 1932, the spectacular, 50 mile long Going-to-the-Sun Road bisects the park east to west. The paved two-lane highway spans the width of Glacier National Park and crosses the Continental Divide at 6,646-foot-high Logan Pass. It passes large glacial lakes and cedar forests in the lower valleys; canyons and cliffs; culminating at the windswept alpine tundra atop the pass. Scenic viewpoints and pullouts line the road offering dramatic views and photo opportunities. One thing I found interesting is that the view from the road varies depending on the direction you are traveling. I drove both ways a few of times and see different things each time.

The road is nationally significant for its design and monumental engineering accomplishments. The original roadbed, bridges, tunnels, culverts, retaining walls, and guard walls were built in the “NPS Rustic” style. Individually, these structures are often significant examples of period engineering and design philosophy; collectively, they comprise a vital, integral component of the road’s unique character. Most of these structures were designed to harmonize with the roadway setting by using native materials and by blending with landforms as much as possible.The Going-To-The-Sun Road is a National Historic Landmark, is included in the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Turnagain Pass has beautiful scenery everywhere you look.

While at Northtown, I was watching and waiting for H42 to get a light into Humboldt when a pullout job with 1913 pulled up with a cut of cars and started doing some switching. Conveniently, he stayed put long enough for H42 to make it into view.

Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña - Escocia - Isla de Skye - Passing place

ENGLISH

A single-track road or one-lane road is a road that permits two-way travel but is not wide enough in most places to allow vehicles to pass one another (although sometimes two compact cars can pass). This kind of road is common in rural areas across the United Kingdom and elsewhere. To accommodate two-way traffic, many single-track roads, especially those officially designated as such, are provided with PASSING PLACES (United Kingdom) or pullouts or turnouts (United States), or simply wide spots in the road, which may be scarcely longer than a typical automobile using the road. The distance between passing places varies considerably, depending on the terrain and the volume of traffic on the road. The railway analog for passing places are passing loops.

The term is widely used in SCOTLAND, particularly the HIGHLANDS, to describe such roads. PASSING PLACES are generally marked with a diamond-shaped white sign with the words "passing place" on it. New signs tend to be square rather than diamond-shaped, as diamond signs are also used for instructions to tram drivers in cities. On some roads, especially in Argyll and Bute, passing places are marked with black-and-white-striped posts. Signs remind drivers of slower vehicles to pull over into a passing place (or opposite it, if it is on the opposite side of the road) to let following vehicles pass, and most drivers oblige. The same system is found very occasionally in rural England and Wales. Sometimes two small vehicles can pass one another at a place other than a designated passing place.

Some A-class and B-class roads in the Highlands are still single-track, although many sections have been widened for the sake of faster travel. In 2009, the A830 "Road to the Isles" and A851 on Skye have had their single-track sections replaced with higher-quality single-carriageway road.

Originally I set up at Emerald Bay lookout, at the pullout with a small wall. About 5 min prior to this, these clouds were a beautiful pink and more than what you see in this shot, but I was setup at the wall pull out for Emerald Bay. I couldn't take it any longer and knew the Eagle Falls angle was the best for the light and cloud line up this morning. I packed my equipment as fast as I could and drove to the Eagle Falls parking lot, and hopped out of my car with equipment and got to this spot asap. This is what was left. I can only imagine what it would have looked like with the large all pink cloud formation if I had setup here first.

Thank you for looking.

Lots of scenic area pullouts in Badlands National Park (Lakota: Makȟóšiča) - southwestern South Dakota.

- Jawaharlal Nehru.

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After returning from the eastern part of Zion National Park, just after the tunnel, there is a series of switchbacks before the junctions that I always find quite striking. Over the years, I have tried a few compositions at the few pullouts along this part of the scenic drive. While we were there on our last visit, I thought it would be a good location to try and capture light trails at these twisting roads that snake up the canyon.

Thanks to the starlight view in new Nikons, framing at night has now become a lot easier, but what followed was a tedious half-hour of fiddling with the settings. The extreme cold weather certainly didn’t make it any easier. While my composition only included a small part of the road because it was icy and dark, most cars came slowly through the corners. I was not getting a single continuous light trail. I then hoped for two vehicles, one coming up and another going down, to pass each other in the middle perfectly. It took me a few tries to nail the perfect shutter speed, but after a few tries and a very cranky baby and wife later, we could continue our drive to grab some much-deserved dinner.

A setting looking to the southwest while taking in views at a roadside pullout along the main park road in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. The setting is of cloud hidden ridges and peaks of the Northern Lewis Range and Continental Divide.

A three image stitch of a weather system moving in, photographed from the imaginary safety of my rolling red Toyota blind. At this point there were a few distant flashes of lightning, and low rumbles. No rain on my position yet. I used my ancient, manual focus 24mm with polarizing filter for this image.

Coming tomorrow: the edge of chaos passing directly overhead.

Photographed from a gravel pit pullout along Newton Lake Road, north of Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

Jubilee Pass

(Southern California)

In tens of thousands of images over the years, sometimes one forces its way back into consciousness by chance, and triggers a memory dump. Such was the case when I sold a print recently, made when I was still shooting film, probably close to 25 years ago. I had made an unplanned, impulsive trip with Gordy, my old pal of well over 50 years now, to the southern deserts of California. Those were the days when airline tickets were dirt cheap, and car rentals and places to sleep even cheaper. For two or three days we post holed through snow near Telescope Peak, sweated up and down the Mesquite Dunes, wandered the Zabriski badlands, the Bad Water salt flats, and any number of other pullouts that just looked good. As always, the need to see more drove us southwards, towards the Mojave and Joshua Tree. Death Valley’s grip held on till late in the day, and we had no idea the distance to the Shoshone motel booked for that night. Coming out of the Valley we hit Jubilee Pass at almost sundown, and I had to pull over for what I was seeing in the rear view. In my recollection I grabbed tripod and gear and ran up the hills to a place I thought looked good. A long lens crowded ridge lines of mountains against a California sunset, and Kodachrome 64 imparted the purple hue of majesty, in shades of Crayola marching westward. A timeless landscape below a timely sky. We would move on as always to dinner and further adventures, as was our custom, but not before savoring for a while the view we achieved, as was also our custom. And I returned home with a little piece of 2 x 3 celluloid that compressed miles and years into a moment. While it’s often hard to know what triggers an emotion within someone else in my artwork, for me it was easy. A friendship of years and miles in a moment. A toast to many more.

One last look (for now) of a different pullout job on this afternoon, working past the line of units in the T-Yard.

The sun was just up. When I arrived at the Top Dogtown - prairie dogs, that is - I was scanning to my left, looking into the light, hoping for an owl. No luck. A family was nesting there, but they appeared to be still underground.

Then I arrived at the pullout, where an easy trail leads to a coulee overlook, and there was my owl! It didn't react to the rolling red Toyota blind. Good start to the day!

More owls to come...

Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

From a roadside pullout along the main park road with a view looking to the east to some nearby Joshua Trees and then more distant peaks and ridges. This location is not far from the Maze Loop Trailhead in Joshua Tree National Park. My thought on composing this image was to capture the recently fallen snow that had started to coat the landscape in the national park. Taking advantage of some nearby Joshua Trees to include in the foreground, I decided to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to create more of a sweeping view leading up to the ridges and peaks. I wanted to keep some of the blue skies and clouds that were present before the storm front moved in to balance the earth-tones in the lower portion of the image.

From a roadside pullout along the Southside Dr in Yosemite Valley with a view looking to the southwest across a nearby grassy meadow and then to more distant ridges and peaks of the mountainsides on each side of the valley. I decided to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly upward for this image. I wanted to have a little bit of the meadow as a way to lead the eye into the image. But the mountainside with the skies and cloud formations would be the main focus of the image. I felt that would create more of a sense of grandeur with the image.

Just came back from shooting the sunset at Steptoe Butte. The park closes at dusk so I had to find a place to park overnight while I waited to shoot the sunrise. I found a pullout on a non-trafficked county road, and I fell asleep. In the middle of the night, some local yahoo banged on my car, claiming ownership of the county road. He was armed, I wasn't, so I left.

I lament the death of the Golden Rule. I was hurting no one and it was the middle of the night. Why couldn't he have just left me alone?

This is a view from an ancient site in the Grand Canyon called the Granaries, where the Anasazi people stored their grain in a side wall cavern. The hike up, as my friend calls it, was "The Stairmaster from Hell". Way, way down on the river you can barely see our yellow rubber rafts. We started at Lees Ferry and 226 miles later exited at Diamond Creek pullout. Lots of rapids, lots of hikes, lots of fun. Thanks to the great crew of Tour West, Joe, Kevin, Chris, Mark, and Art. Special thanks to our photography leader and his wife Sally, Adam Schallau, who were also part of the crew. This was too good not to do again!

While at a roadside pullout around the Low Gap area in Shenandoah National Park. The setting is to the east-southeast with the tall tree lined Skyline Drive.

Artist's Palette is an area of Death Valley National Park that contains rocks and mineral deposits of astounding colors, hence, the name. The National Park Service has built a one-way paved road with many pullouts through the area that enables visitors to get a closeup view.

At a parking area pullout to the Middle Oak Creek Trailhead with a view looking to the northwest to across the Mojave Desert landscape leading up to the sandstone formations and peaks. My thought on composing this image was to take advantage of some higher ground that I was located on and capture a sweeping view, looking down and then across to those peaks and ridges. I felt that bringing them a little higher into the image would bring out a sense of grandeur and minimize any flattening from the wider angle view. Given I was looking almost in the direction of the sun, I wanted to later be able to pull out some of the details present in the colored layers of rock on the mountainsides. I used the ClearView Plus tool in DxO PhotoLab 6 to help with that.

The story behind going to this location on a trip to Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks was a Ripley’s Believe It or Not comic that mentioned this location. I then went on Flickr and found quite a few amazing images and decided that I had to visit this place, at least for a short time, before heading back to Las Vegas for my flight to Austin. This is definitely a place to spend more time hiking and exploring on a future trip!

Just beyond Shannon Falls and along the Sea To Sky highway is a picturesque pullout. Here, we went for a short walk and on our way back, noticed fog in the hills.

At a roadside pullout along Kelbaker Rd with a view looking to the east to nearby peaks and ridges of the Central Mojave Ranges with the Marble Mountains. What drew me into this setting was the colors and shadows across those peaks from the partly cloudy skies and sunshine to my back (in the west). It helped to add a texture to bring out different details in this Mojave Desert setting. Composing the image was a matter of aligning the mountains with the clouds and having a balance between the two while, including some of the sage brush in the foreground that led up to the mountains.

A captured image from a road side pullout along the Brady Mountain Road in the Ouachita National Forest. The view is looking to the southwest along this tree-lined road. Many of the trees were showing autumn colors in the leaves present, which is what drew me into this setting. I didn't have to include much of the overcast skies above and think about blowing any highlights with this captured image. I could compose and meter the image by focusing on the trees nearby, ensuring I was able to bring out the many colors in the leaves.

While at a roadside pullout around the state park entrance with a view looking to the southeast at nearby coast redwoods in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. My thinking in composing this image was to take advantage of an opening through the trees and capture a view of the coast redwood caught in the afternoon sunlight. The rest was metering the image so as to not blow any of the highlights in the upper portions and tree crowns of the nearby redwoods while still being able to pull out the more shadowed areas later in post production.

A setting looking to the north while taking in views across this west Texas landscape present from a roadside pullout along Texas State Highway 54. Based on the PeakVisor app on my iPhone, identified points and peaks are Shumard Peak, Guadalupe Peak, El Capitan, and Hunter Peak, from left to right.

A view looking to the southwest on the main park road in Waterton Lakes National Park. This is from a roadside pullout just after the park entrance. My thought on composing this image was to angle my Nikon SLR camera so that I would capture a look across this nearby gassy meadow leading to more distant mountains. According to the PeakVisor app on my iPhone, those are of Mount Richards and Bertha Peak.