Bisti - Blog Posts

Bisti Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook The badlands of New Mexico are a fabulously sculpted and otherworldly place. There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) with LED Light Panels, dimmed very low to near starlight intensity and left on for the entire exposure. The idea is to add subtle lighting to accent detail. Royce Bair and myself have created a public service website, www.lowlevellighting.org, to explain Low Level Lighting. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

A Candle Wax Landscape by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Thanks to everyone for the kind comments! This is a panorama from the Bisti Badlands in the NW part of New Mexico, USA. The landscape resembles melted wax in many areas, an is the result of erosion of an ancient sea bed over millions of years. It is "otherworldly" and a unique experience at night. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images shot at 18 mm, f 3.2, 25 sec., and ISO 6400. There is Low Level Lighting, or LLL, to gently illuminate the foreground. This is very dim constant light that attempts to match starlight, so dim you can hardly see it. In this case I have used LED light panels with warming filters turned down very low. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

The Rubber Duckie of the Badlands (Bad Duckie!) by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: I posted this on 500px as the the Bisti Sphinx, but remarked that it looked more like a Rubber Duckie. Well everyone who bothered to remark liked Rubber Duckie better, so it is now the Badlands Duckie. There was one vote for Napoleon's Hat! It is about 10-12 feet, 3-4 meters high, and sits up on its own pedestal on top os a small ridge. The elevation gives a wonderful view of the badlands in the distance. It may have another name, but I could not find one. The hoodoo in the distance on the lower right is called the Ostrich Hoodoo, which may help for the location. This is a panorama of 15 vertical images, all single exposures, taken with a 14-24 mm lens at 18mm, f3.2, 20 sec, and ISO 6400 and stitched together in Lightroom. Sky and foreground were taken at the same time. Foreground was illuminated with a single dimmable LED light panel with a warming filter, set to low and left on. I've been away from Flickr for a while due to being out in the field photographing quite a bit. I hope to have some good photos to share in the future. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

The Bisti Seal by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Many times I have seen formations called names such as The Eagle Rock, or The Lion Rock, or The Old Man, or other names, and usually they look mostly like a big rock. Well, this is called the Seal Rock, and it really looks like a Seal! 24 mm, 20 sec., ISO 6400, f/2.8. The small blue-green fuzzy object just above the right side of the Milky Way is the comet 252P/LINEAR. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Table Top Hoodoos by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Well that's what I call them for lack of a better term. These are in the Bisti Badlands, and are mini hoodoos, only about 2-3 feet, or 65-100 cm high. There is at least one area with numerous small table top hoodoos. Here you can see more of them receding into the background. I'm always afraid I'll stumble in the dark and knock a top off. lol Fortunately that has not happened! The area was the floor of a vast inland sea millions of years ago, and many layers of sediment were formed, eventually compacted into sandstone, some layers harder and some layers softer. The unusual shape is caused by greater erosion of the softer lower layer, and slower erosion of the harder upper layer. Shooting in this direction the sky is wonderfully dark with minimal light pollution. More to the W &NW there is more light pollution. Shot at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Visions of an Alien Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Set the Table for One... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: A quiet night in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico. There are many of these "Table Top" Hoodoos scattered around the area. These develop when the base , a softer rock, erodes faster than the top, making for a wide variety of shapes. These table tops are one of my favorites. When the flat tops are really long or wide, they have been given the name of "winged hoodoos", and some are quite long and wing-like. Here I was playing around with the lights. Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., and ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Winged Hoodoo in the Bisti Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Winged Hoodoo in the Bisti Badlands, New Mexico. There is a marvelous variety of hoodoos in the badlands. Over millennia sedimentary rocks of different hardness were laid down, and the softer lower layers erode faster than the harder upper layers, resulting in unusual shapes. I accidentally left a light on in the back canyon, and did not realize it until the photo came up on the display, but I think it added to the appearance. This is a single exposure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Solitude in the Bisti Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a small a wash or small valley,ravine in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, located in the NW section of N.M. near Farmington. I took this in a attempt to give a representation of what most of the landscape looks like. There are numerous small valley-like washes like this, intermixed with flat areas with numerous small to medium sized Hoodoos. Many of those ridges are steep enough to be tricky to climb over, and so you go around and around to get by them. It is impossible to walk in a straight line. There are no paths and so it is easy to get lost. A GPS device is a must! It beautiful and erie scenery though, and well worth a visit. This was taken with a Canon 6D, and a Nikon 14`24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 seconds, and ISO 6400. This is a single exposure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Stranger in a Strange Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This was the name of a book published in 1961 by Robert A. Heinlein (a very good early sci-fi book), and this is how I felt wandering around the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico at night. It is an extensive area with no marked trails, and a maze of washes, ravines, hills, ridges, etc. It is a broken landscape full of small to moderate sized hoodoos of every shape imaginable. There are also a number of petrified trees. It is incredibly easy to get lost at night because you cannot walk anywhere in a straight line. I used a GPS app and still had trouble getting back to the car because of deep ravines. Anyway it is an amazing place and well worth a trip. This is a single exposure. This photo was lit with reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight/torch. I reflected the light off of a formation to my left, diffusing the light, and also illuminating the scene from the side. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

In The Still of The Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is Flattop Arch in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, located about 36 miles (60 Km) south of Farmington. There are relatively few visitors here and at night the probability is that you will be there alone. It's a rough terrain after you traverse the initial flat area near the parking lot. It's a highly varied landscape with areas of clustered hoodoos, flat areas, ridges and ravines, and a number of small arches. There are a number of hoodoos that look like wings or tables balanced on a rock pedestal. In this photo there is a constant or static light behind the arch, and the front lighting is reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight. The light is reflected off a formation to my right. This was taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, 14 mm, and ISO 6400. This is a single exposure. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

A Walk in an Alien Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is the most delightfully "otherworldly" place I have experienced at night. This is the "Egg Hatchery" or "Alien Hatchery" of the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico. They are appropriate names. This is a small flat plane between the hills, maybe the size of 1 or 2 football fields (whichever kind of football you prefer). Scattered around the surface are rock formations that look like giagantic petrified eggs and broken eggs. Many look like they are setting on egg cups or holders. At night the erie shapes and shadows let the imagination run wild. This is a panorama, and it may not show the detail well, but I wanted to show the feel of the landscape. I still need to process the closer version of the "eggs". It's a wonderful place to visit but take a GPS device. There are no trails and you find the areas of interest by GPS co-ordinates. Otherwise you wander around forever. This is a panorama of 210-240 degrees, created by 12 vertical images combined in Lightroom. All are single exposures (the sky is not added). Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec, ISO 6400. Hope you enjoy! All comments are welcomed. Thanks! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

Hoodoos in the Bisti Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This photo was taken in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, USA. This is an area of severely eroded rock formations creating a wonderland of small to medium sized Hoodoos and a number of small arches. Bisti is part of the Bisti/De-Na-Zen Wilderness, with Bisti being on the western side. The concentration of Hoodoos is some areas is amazing, with scores of small Hoodoos clustered together. Some Hoodoos are so small you have to avoid tripping on them, others up to 4-6 meters tall. After seeing other locations it's like "Honey, who shrank the Hoodoos"? The variety of shapes is very diverse, with Hoodoos looking like wings, birds, tables, golf balls, pillars, mushrooms, golf tees, dinosaur eggs, animals, etc. The moderate size makes the Hoodoos much more accessible, and actually easier to photograph. It's like nature went out of it's way to show us just how inventive it could be. These hoodoos are about 3-4 feet (1-1.3 m) tall. This is a single exposure. Oops! Just realized I uploaded the wrong file format, distorting the color.. This was corrected 10 pm EST July 9. Hope you enjoy! All comments are welcomed. Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog Twitter